Collection: Utepo

Utepo PoE Switches in South Africa

Utepo makes network switches for surveillance installations. NeonSales stocks one Utepo product, a 4 port 10/100 PoE switch with a 10/100 TP uplink, at R1,296.

What PoE actually solves

Power over Ethernet sends power and data down the same network cable, which means an IP camera needs one run instead of two. On a new installation that halves the cabling, and on a retrofit it often makes the difference between a camera position being practical and not. The four ports here support four cameras, and the uplink port connects the switch back to your router or NVR.

Check the power budget

Every PoE switch has a total power budget shared across its ports, and cameras vary in draw. Four low-power fixed cameras will sit comfortably within it. Four PTZ cameras with heaters and illuminators may not. Add up what your cameras actually draw rather than assuming four ports means four of anything.

Common questions

Do I need this if my NVR has PoE ports? Not for cameras connected directly to the NVR. A separate switch is useful when you have more cameras than NVR ports, or when cameras sit far from the recorder.

Is 10/100 fast enough for cameras? For most IP cameras, yes. Very high resolution multi-camera setups benefit from gigabit, so check your camera bitrates if you are running 4K.

What does the TP uplink do? It is the port that connects the switch to the wider network, separate from the four PoE camera ports.

Related: NVRs · CCTV Cabling · CCTV Accessories · CCTV