“60 to 80 percent of
all applications are
covered by this box.”
Tommy Göring
RJ45 socket for standard Ethernet. And that’s where the re-
quests came in.”
The research quickly revealed that video cameras them-
selves are not a field for Phoenix Contact, as the technology
is extremely fast-moving. “However, with our Smart Camera
Box, we’ve established a connection between the camera and
the video center. Future-proof and complete.” The expert for
the Industrial Communication Interface division emphasizes
that normally, extra control cabinets have to be built for the
cameras in a video surveillance system, equipped with indi-
vidual solutions from various manufacturers, and then in-
stalled by two technicians.
“We can do better. So we started developing our solution
The splice box (above) is based on a new
development introduced in 2018
about a year and a half ago.” Tommy Göring opens the box.
“First of all, it is protected according to IP65 and IP67, so it will
remain leak-proof for years. And in temperatures from -40°C
to +70°C, nearly everywhere.” The smart box is powered by a
230 V connection, which is then forwarded to the cameras via
Power over Ethernet, a combined power and data cable.
Industry needs things to be tangible
No sooner said than done – a few days later, we meet with Connections abound
Product Manager Tommy Göring for an on-site appointment. The electronic interior and the connected camera are protect-
But before we get a demonstration of the advantages of the ed from spontaneous surprises from the power grid by means
handy gray box in the outside world, the expert has to briefly of plug-in and exchangeable lightning protection elements
explain how Phoenix Contact stumbled upon the topic of vid- from the company’s own TRABTECH surge protection product
eo. “It’s not hard at all. We’ve been active in equipping Ether- line. “They also send what is called an SNMP message to the
net networks for a long time. And from time to time, we re- video center when triggered by lightning or overvoltage.” If
ceived inquiries about whether our media converters weren’t bad guys tamper with the housing, special proximity sensors
also suitable for gigabit data transmission. But the automa- will ensure that another alarm is triggered in the control cen-
tion engineer doesn’t really need that with his small amounts ter. So the smart box can communicate.
of data. So we looked at what was actually being transmitted. The data usually reaches its recipient in the control cen-
And determined that high-quality video cameras also have an ter via fiberglass, particularly over long distances. “For this
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UPDATE 4/20
The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine