Enterprise Communications

Red Tagged on Inspection

by Colin Berkshire

We installed a security camera system at an office location. You know, those high-resolution IP cameras that connect to a rack mounted recording appliance? The type of thing you can by online from just about anywhere.’

The electrical inspector red-tagged the system and demanded that it be removed. The violations were:

  1. Each individual camera was not UL or ETL listed. All permanently installed electrically operated devices must not be “listed”.
  2. We had crimped the RJ-45 connectors to the ethernet wore ourselves. This may now ONLY be done by a licensed electrical installer.
  3. The wire that we used was not installed in a conduit or raceway. In a commercial building, all wire (even low voltage wire) must be mechanically protected and generally must be in a conduit.
  4. The wire we used was last-year’s Cat-5 wire. This no longer meets code. All POE ethernet wire must now have printed on it a “LP” designation.

 

We’re one of the first jurisdictions to enact the 2017 National Electrical Code. So your area may not YET be going through this nightmare. But it is coming. Beware.