So I recently tried to install the ADC-721w camera on the side of my house to watch my garage. I ended up cutting the attached cord just above the little splitter knob thing so that I could fish the wire through the wall and splice it directly onto the power adapter cord and plug it in indoors.
I was a bit perplexed to see three wires in this cord… black, white, and yellow. I tried splicing these to the included power adapter in a variety of different configurations and could not get the device to power up. I obviously started with the white wire from the camera to the positive on the adapter, and black to negative… but maybe something needs to happen with the yellow wire?
When this thing powers up an LED should light up on the device and a wifi network should be created, yes?
Not sure what to do, hopefully I didn’t just brick a $300 camera…
Jason, my girlfriend recently had Vivint’s outdoor camera installed. I assisted with the install (the installer did not have a hammer drill) and noted the power supply is setup similar to the main panel with two screws to hook up power. Is this not an option with the ADC camera and if not can you purchase extension cables to reach to an indoor (such as an attic) outlet? What is the extra pig tail for?
Jason, yes, that is exactly what I did. Can’t get a photo this weekend. I cut it just before the splitter, where it is only a single cable, and also no way to splice it back together, which was dumb. any idea what I should do?
There is not too much worry if you only want to extend the power cable. Often we will cut the plug in adapter cable halfway down its length and splice a length of 18/2 cable in between to reach a further receptacle. You do not want to cut the camera tail itself though.
Yes, you can get DC power extension cables with barrel plug ends to extend the power cable without cutting however. (Best not to void warranty) Here is a link to one.
If you cut the tail before the outer sheath ends and the power and I/O cables separate, then likely only one of those three cables is for power. It will likely have an inner hot wire (+) and a Ground sheath of stranded wire (-). It is probably the black wire. Carefully strip the outer rubber sheath and check if there is a mesh of thin wire around an inner core.
Natedog, I just exactly did the same splicing on an ADC camera and now I’m can’t re-power it up. Just came across your post from almost 2 years ago, so I’m hoping you somehow fixed it? What was the trick? Thanks in advance!
There would be no trick to resolving unfortunately if the camera tail has been severed. You may be able to isolate the ground and positive voltage wires to power the camera, but this opens the cabling to the elements, allows humidity to corrode the wires, and can damage the camera.
Since it is already cut, try the instruction from above:
“If you cut the tail before the outer sheath ends and the power and I/O cables separate, then likely only one of those three cables is for power. It will likely have an inner hot wire (+) and a Ground sheath of stranded wire (-). It is probably the black wire. Carefully strip the outer rubber sheath and check if there is a mesh of thin wire around an inner core.”
