That's going to introduce a lot of people to the joys of outdoor long wires and their interaction with lighting. I've seen the induction current from ground surge turn 25 pair cat3 into vapor ... there's fun to be had there.
Other common issue with novices running outdoor cabling are people running belowground cables strung outdoors on poles in the open air - UV degradation can take such cables (or rather, their insulation) apart in a matter of less than a year. Or silicone cables that end up in stagnant water, which can dissolve them (don't ask me about specifics, but it's a hotbed of issues in PV power plants). Or people not burying their cables deep enough, i.e. below the frost line, and the ground freezing over killing the cables.
Outdoor wiring is fun for everyone involved. If anyone here wants to deal with that crap, please read up on using the correct cable for the job, and FFS have a certified electrician sign off on the grounding of such cables and surge arrestor designs and installation.
This was not mission critical so I just "went for it" and it worked out. It was a great payoff since it only took 2 days to mount all the cameras and lay the cables. It would have taken much longer to dig trenches and put the cables in buried pipes. I treated it like a prototype and figured I would improve later based on actual problems that came up.
I did make sure all of the boxes with wire connections, power supplies, and PoE switches were in waterproof boxes and I used silicone sealer where cables entered the boxes. I opened up one box yesterday and not even a cobweb!
Let me guess: unifi. I love em but I have two dead cameras because I assumed outdoor meant outdoor.
For my own outbuilding office (above our detached garage), I ran fiber to avoid this issue.
I’m about to start construction on my own outbuilding office and want to not screw this up.
If someone is trying to sell you multi-mode fiber, they're 20 years behind the curve. (No, the transceivers are no longer notably cheaper.)
If someone is trying to sell you unarmored fiber, they want another sale after rodents chewed up your first fiber ;D
For waterproofing, note there's lateral and longitudinal waterproofing. You want longitudinal, otherwise the fiber can pull water like a hose straight into your patchpanel. (It's rare but it happens.)
Cheapest source I know is fs.com, for an outbuilding office order something that comes with connectors preattached (and add a good amount of slack). Splicing on connectors by any reasonable professional calls up mind-boggling hourly rates.
I think the total cost for fiber and transceivers was under $200.
I guess ability to power via same cable is an advantage here vs having to still have separate wire (or say local solar+battery for sensor).
It's not going to be much power, that's for sure.
You might be able to get a commercial system that delivers 1 watt at 24 volts. [2]
Given the optical power required, and the sensitivity of the human retina, I'd say this is a bad idea in all but the most demanding circumstances. If you've got to send power with extreme electrical isolation(i.e. lightning strike proof), consider something like compressed nitrogen powering a very small turbine, or a rotating fiberglass shaft between motor and generator.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-over-fiber
[2] https://www.fiberopticlink.com/product/fiber-optic-isolation...
I’m in New Zealand and our sun just destroys everything. The UV eats everything up and I’d not expose a cable to sunlight.
Plenty of places are hotter or have more UV but also have air pollution which blocks UV. Our relatively clear air lets the UV come ripping through.
At least sunlight won’t toast my switch though.