When an office buys CCTV and door access, the conversation is about cameras and card readers. The part that decides whether the system still works in two years is the cable behind them: how far each camera is from the switch, how the locks get their power, and whether every link was tested before the ceiling closed. Most of the faults we are called to on security systems are cabling faults, not equipment faults.
FIBER TECH SOLUTIONS
Adding CCTV or door access to an office?
Fiber Tech Solutions installs CCTV, door access control and EM locks across Singapore, with the cabling behind them tested and certified link by link.
Plan the positions with the data points
Cameras and doors belong on the same drawing as the desks and wireless access points. They sit in the ceiling or above a door frame, so they are easy to forget until the boards are up, and a camera added afterwards means opening the ceiling again. Mark every camera, reader, door contact, exit button and lock on the layout, then count them into the cabling the same way as the data points. If the office is being fitted out, this is part of the decisions to settle before the ceiling closes.
Camera runs and the 90-metre limit
Most office cameras today are network cameras on the same kind of cable as a desk point, Category 6 or 6A, run back to a network switch. A copper link has a 90-metre limit between the outlet and the patch panel. On a large floor, or where cameras cover a car park, loading bay or back corridor, the furthest positions can fall outside it.
There are two clean answers. Put a second switch in a cabinet closer to those cameras and link it back with fibre, or move the rack. What does not work is a run that is a few metres too long and "seems fine" on the day: it is the camera that drops off the network every afternoon a year later.
Power over Ethernet: size the switch, not just the ports
Power over Ethernet (PoE) sends power down the same cable as the data, so a camera needs no socket of its own. It is the tidiest way to power cameras, and it means the recorder can stay up through a power cut if the switch is on a UPS.
The catch is the switch. Each switch has a total power budget, and a camera with infrared night vision or a heater draws more than its label suggests at night. Add up what the cameras draw at their worst, then pick the switch, rather than counting ports and hoping. A switch that runs out of power budget drops cameras without warning.
Door access: readers, controllers and wiring
A door on an access control system is more than a reader. It usually has a reader outside, a door contact that knows whether the door is shut, an exit button or sensor inside, a break-glass unit, a lock, and a controller that ties them together. Each one needs a cable back to the controller, so a single door can mean several runs.
Two things are worth insisting on:
- OSDP, not Wiegand. Wiegand is still written into specifications, but it is unencrypted and easy to copy at the reader. OSDP with Secure Channel encrypts the link and supervises the wiring, so a cut cable raises an alarm instead of failing silently. The differences are set out in OSDP vs Wiegand. The wiring differs, so decide before the cable is pulled.
- Controllers where they can be reached. Put the controllers in a locked cabinet or the comms room, not in a ceiling void above the door they control. Someone has to service them, and they should not be reachable from the side of the door they protect.
EM locks: power and the fire alarm
An electromagnetic (EM) lock holds the door shut while it has power, so it needs a reliable power supply with battery backup, and its cable has to be sized for the current over the length of the run. A lock that is underpowered at the end of a long cable holds weakly, and a door that can be pulled open is not a locked door.
The same lock must let people out in an emergency. Doors on an escape route are normally wired so the fire alarm cuts the lock's power and releases it. Settle the release with whoever handles the fire alarm and fire safety approvals before the doors are wired, because it means a cable between the access system and the fire alarm panel, and it is checked when the premises are inspected.
Keep security cabling separate and contained
Security cable should run in its own containment, kept apart from power cables, and be labelled as security. Mixed in with general data or laid loose above the ceiling, it gets cut during the next renovation by someone who does not know a camera depends on it. Containment sized with room to spare also makes adding a camera next year a small job rather than a ceiling job. Our page on cable support systems covers what good containment looks like.
What should leave site with the job
A security system is handed over properly when someone else can maintain it. Before award, agree that the handover includes:
- Certified test results for every camera and door link, not a ping test
- An as-built drawing showing every camera, reader, lock and controller and the routes to them
- The labelling schedule, matching the labels on the cable, outlet and panel
- The power arrangement: which switch powers which cameras, and where each lock's power supply sits
More on what to check before a security system is bought is in the integrated security management checklist.
Where Fiber Tech sits
Fiber Tech Solutions Pte Ltd came to security systems from the cabling side. The company installs and maintains CCTV, door access control and EM locks across Singapore, holds IMDA Wiring Contractor (Class) Licence No. IW105464, and tests and certifies every link before handover. It has cabled more than 1,000 buildings since 2007. To discuss an office security installation, get in touch.
— Written by the team at Fiber Tech Solutions Pte Ltd, IMDA-licensed wiring contractor and FOA-certified fibre specialists, Singapore.