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Cut and connect manually the Nest power cable

Ruud
Community Member

Hello,

I bought a Nest Camera Outdoor, but I don't have a power outlet near where I want to hang the camera. Can I cut the supplied power cable and connect it manually in an electrical box? 

I can of course also mount a socket, but I don't want that.

I hope someone can confirm me if this is possible. 

Thanks.

Ruud

36 REPLIES 36

David_K
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

Cutting the supplied power cable isn't going to be supported by Google so I would get advice from a local electrician or Nest Pro. If it's an option for you, you could also drill a hole in the wall and connect it to an internal power socket instead.

Ruud
Community Member

Hi, thanks.

The walls are 1 meter thick and I don't want a socket on my outside wall.

What does it mean it won't be supported by Google? 
I can't imagine that it will affect the operation of the camera if I cut the plug off and connect this cable to electrical. 

David_K
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

If an issue were to arise as a result of you cutting the supplied power cable, Google may not be able to support you as you've modified the provided cable. That of course is at their discretion, but wanted to flag so you're aware.

Ruud
Community Member

I forgot to clearly state in my initial question my main concern is the technical functioning of the camera after cutting the power cable.... So in summary: cutting the power cable should not be a problem in a technical sense. However, I could run into a problem with the warranty.  Is that right? 

David_K
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

I'm not an electrician so wouldn't want to confirm either way, and I suggested consulting the advice of an electrician or Nest Pro installer. As for warranty, that's correct, you may have an issue as Google would not recommend you modify the provided cable.

firmwaredev
Bronze
Bronze

You most definitely can not cut the power cable and connect it to your electrical box.   The power cable is comprised of an ac/dc adapter on the plug end.   As such, the wire contains the converted DC voltage, not the A/C that comes from the wall outlet.    Now, you could cut the power cable and lengthen that cable by adding in a length of wire with the same number of conductors (should be two, but could be more).  Then run that resulting cable through the wall and plug in inside.  That's your only option.   I would recommend you have someone do this that does have knowledge of electrical circuits.

Ruud
Community Member

Okay. Thanks everyone. When I receive the camera I will try it and let you know the result.

Try what?  Don't connect it to your A/C  electrical panel.  That will destroy the device and/or cause a fire.  Extending the cable is fine, if that's what you mean.

Ruud
Community Member

Sorry. I'm going to follow your advice and extend the cable.

I can't send a photo, but I don't think the camera is equipped with an AC/DC adapter, but just a bare plug.

The 6th photo via this link shows the cable: https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B01MG7M0XR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's very unlikely A/C is going straight to the camera.  Likely the AC/DC conversion is going on in that little round puck on the end the second cable (end opposite the mains plug).  It looks like the end on the cable coming from the camera is just a USB connector of some sort. That would definitely be DC.

Ruud
Community Member

Okay. And what does that mean to a layman like me?

Well, it means a couple of things are possible:

1.  The DC portion of the cable ( the part between the little usb connector and the camera )could be extended with with some wire(s).  You'll need some skills to do this - soldering, etc.  The wires are probably going to be fairly small and might not be so easy to work with for patching in an extra length of cable.  But it could certainly be done.

2. The mains plug on the end of the second cable could but cut off, and then those wires could be connected directly to A/C inside your electrical panel (or inside some other electrical box for a circuit that is available that has mains A/C).  You need to make sure you know which is ground and which are the load and neutral wires.  If you don't already know what those terms mean, don't do this yourself.  Get an electrician to do it for you.

 

3.  You could extend the A/C portion of the cable in the same way as describe in 1.).  That might be a little easier, as the wires are going to be a bit bigger.  You need to make sure you use wire that's sufficient to the task and designed for high voltage A/C.  Everything needs to be properly shield with heat shrink tubing, etc. It's pretty easy to make this not code :).  Again, I'd hire an electrician if you don't know what you're doing.

Ruud
Community Member

That means in answer to my initial question that it is (in a technical sense) no problem at all to cut that cable at the indicated place and then connect it... Thanks again for all the answers, help and advice!

Ruud
Community Member

Hi again. Camera received . I cut the power cable at the plug. Blue and brown wire connected and we have visual!!! Thanks again.

Leeh1974
Community Member

hi Ruud ,  I am also keen to do this due to the same issue of not wanting to drill a massive hole in my outside wall. Can you tell me what you found when you cut the cable, ie how many wires present? And what you reconnected on the plug side to get it working again?  Thanks. 

Ruud
Community Member

I do have an electrical wire on the outside of my house, with a black and blue wire. I connected this (via a terminal block) with the power wire of my NEST camera. Blue on blue and black on black. And finished!

Leeh1974
Community Member

So are there only 2 wires in the power cable? I presumed more as there are 4 terminals on the magnetic connector. 

Ruud
Community Member

There are 2 cables. The first with the plug to the adapter. The second from the adapter to the camera. The first cable only supplies the power and has only 2 wires, blue and black. The second cable I did not cut, but may have more wires.

Leeh1974
Community Member

Many thanks for replying  but you’ve lost me. I have the 5m weatherproof cable. Plug at one end, magnetic terminal at the other which connects to the camera (no adapter in the middle). Cutting the cable reveals what? 2 wires or 4? I presume it’s just a case of chopping the cable and reconnecting whatever’s contained within it.  

The original poster in this thead is talking about the older Nest Outdoor Camera.  I presume you're talking about the Nest Outdoor Camera (Battery).  The newer model has a single cable, with the ac/dc conversion happening in the plug.    Now you could still extend that cable, but yes I think there would be four wires within given the four conductors at the camera end.    Just label each of the wires on either side of the cut so you can reconnect in same order after adding in the extension wires.  

You'll want the wires that you splice in to be at least as large a gauge as the ones in the cable.   Also, there is some length at which resistance will become high enough you could get a drop in voltage at the camera.  It probably would take a lot of extension to do that, but it's something to consider.  Just add in the minimum you need.

That’s great. Nothing as fancy as that. I just want to chop and reconnect, so I can get it through the wall into the garage and not have a massive hole in the wall. Thanks again. 

Ah, gotcha. Yeah that should be pretty straightforward.

Ruud
Community Member

Sorry. I'm not a technician.

The 6th photo via this link shows the cable: Cable NEST via Amazon

Mine has 2 parts. The left one (in the picture) has 2 wires (blue and black). 

Leeh1974
Community Member

Thanks Ruud. As Firmwaredev said, I am talking about the cable for the new nest cam battery. Think I’ll just cut it and reconnect the ends together. £30 is a lot to waste on wrecking the cable if it doesn’t work. I’ll keep you all posted on how it goes. Thanks all. 

Scott23
Community Member

Hello Leeh we're you able to cut and reconnect the cable? I'm looking to do the same thing because the plug head is so annoyingly large. 

 

Leeh1974
Community Member

I’ll let you know. Cable en-route. Will do it next week. Using cam in battery mode at the moment. 

Scott23
Community Member

So the answer is it is a coaxial cable. And way smaller than a standard coax so I don't think using connectors like you would for TV will do the trick. I'm gonna try using heat shrink around it to reform the coax and see how that goes. 🤞🏼

Scott23
Community Member

Update: I was able strip back the two layers, similar to if you were doing an RG-6 cable. Overlapped the two ends, slid heat shrink over and shrunk on inner wire, the pulled outer layer back in place and did heat shrink there. Seems to work, but would probably pull apart if yanked. Might be worth investigating smaller sized coax connectors. It's possible an RG-62 cable connector would work since that is about the diameter of this wire.

tvran23
Community Member

Same issue here. I just want to cut and strip the cable with a wire cutter/stripper, slide one end through  small hole and then twist the exposed ends together and electrical tape or wire nut them back together on the other side of wall.   That will work right? 

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Just checking in to see if you still need assistance with this issue. Please let me know if you need further assistance. 

 

Best Regards,

Brad.

 

Thanks for your help, @David_K!

tvran23
Community Member

Yes any assistance would be appreciated. 

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

@tvran23

 

I am not pro when it comes to wiring in general, I would suggest that you reach out to Support and see if you can get some assistance through them as this is not something we would be able to assist you with.

 

Best regards,

Brad.

Scott23
Community Member

In my testing I was able to just wire but the inner and outer parts of the wire together and that worked fine. Just be careful when stripping and leave enough of the dielectric core on the inner strand to get the two parts separated. 

 

I ended up doing solder and heat shrink and that is working

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

@Scott23

 

Great suggestion. If you have a fix, please share it! This is definitely out of my expertise as I am no electrician, so all the help the community can provide is welcomed!

 

Best regards,

Brad.

SteveT1
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey folks,

 

Thanks for chiming in and I appreciate your help @Brad. I'm dropping by to ensure everything is covered here. Feel free to let us know if you still need help.

 

Best,
Steve

SteveT1
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi folks,

 

We haven't heard any updates from you. I'll go ahead and lock this thread in 24 hours. If you're still in need of assistance, feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.

 

Regards,
Steve