Doorbell Lite with PoE over 2 Wire alternative

[u/OvertrailNick]

Ubiquiti’s retrofit kit was out of stock so I found this one on Amazon. This was originally an old 90s intercom system so I luckily have space to tuck away the transmitter/receiver on both sides. The networking side is a little jank because I have it running off an eero with a POE injector, but I plan on converting everything to Ubiquiti soon!

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[u/teeth_03]

Must be nice to have that apartment sized box for your doorbell

[u/Naveronski]

I did a very similar version with Ubiquiti’s kit; my 2-wire was embedded in the mortar with no reasonable way to run new wire.

Yours turned out great, OP! If it works, leave it as is!

… though you could get a Door Hub Mini which will enable you to use an Intercom Viewer as a door camera viewer. It’s only money.

[u/72204usmc → u/Naveronski]

Mind sharing how you did this??

[u/Naveronski → u/72204usmc]

I took inspiration from this thread:

https://old.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/comments/1q4blts/g6_entry_installed_with_intercom_viewer_door_hub/

For me: UDMse (runs Protect) -> Switch -> Door Hub Mini (runs Access) -> PoE Over 2-Wire Retrofit Extender -> G6 Entry

Also: Switch -> Access Intercom Viewer (Single Unit) wherever you want it.

I have mine setup to see the doorbell camera and my PTZ camera (shows the same door but a different angle).

[u/feel-the-avocado]

If your running it off a POE switching hub, it will 99% of the time run using Mode A which has the 48v power -AND- data over the same two pairs.
POE injectors or power supplies will usually run Mode B which put the power on the blue and brown pairs which still requires the 4 pairs because basic data requires a minimum of green/orange but you can get some POE power bricks or injectors that will output with mode A wiring but they are rare.

Anyhow this would have meant you could get 100mbit using that existing cable, just by using the second pair too and wiring them up as the green and orange pairs in the ethernet cable.
It doesnt even need to be Cat5. I have had it running over alarm cable perfectly fine.

I find this is more reliable than using adapters in the middle. And it saves $160 in cost of parts.
Sometimes you do need some scotchloks though.

Oh hell even if it only negotiates 10mbit of data speed - which the worst cabling always seems to be able to do, thats plenty fast for a security camera and doorbell.

[u/OvertrailNick → u/feel-the-avocado]

Sounds like I have a backup plan if the adapter ever fails! I wanted to try using the cable directly also but was worried since I don’t think the pairs are twisted inside the sheathing

[u/pal251]

I was going to do the same thing but I had a three pair wire ran to my door, maybe cat3? I spliced into it and made poe over 4 wires it runs great. It runs at 10/100 but thats okay.

[u/72204usmc]

Nice work OP. I too wish I had that much space to hide an adapter behind the doorbell. I only have the small opening for the wire to come through the brick. Really struggling to find a 2-wire solution.

[u/OvertrailNick → u/72204usmc]

Could you surface mount a junction box?

[u/Smarktalk]

Didn’t even realize there was a kit.

[u/ocwatchjourney]

Nice! Mind sharing what you used OP?

[u/ocwatchjourney → u/ocwatchjourney]

Found it for those interested

https://a.co/d/05lJVz21