Run Wire Through Soffit protects your system wires and cables from anyone trying to cut it, whatever burglars who intend to enter your home or maybe your kids while they’re playing.
Professional and most of the house services companies advise to run wire through soffit for any device you want to install like security cameras, and Spotlights.
In this article, we take a security camera as an example to run wire through soffit.
Nowadays, a lot of homeowners love to have a completely wireless surveillance system, as it has many advantages and has fewer wiring problems than wired systems.
On the other hand, the Wired Surveillance system is stronger than wireless security systems and could work for long hours without having connection problems.
Now, you may ask
Can I Drill Into Soffit? (Explained)
The short answer is yes, you have the ability to drill into your soffit if it is Wood, Vinyl, or Aluminum.
In case it’s a cement attic it will be hard to drill into it, as it requires special tools, not like other types of soffit that can be drilled with a simple one tool.
So, to learn how to run wires through soffit you should have a Wood, Vinyl, or Aluminum attic. If not, you can complete reading and increase your knowledge.
In case you have A Vinyl Siding soffit you can read our complete guide for the Installation process of Security Cameras on Vinyl Siding.
Important Factors to Consider When Running Wire Through Soffit
We get our experience by trying things more than one time, the first time we make mistakes and so on the second, third, .. until we learn and the same for installing and running wires through soffit.
Analog CCTV cameras are the first cameras we use to monitor and see what happens around us, and it’s plug-and-play.
So, we learn how to install it correctly and what to consider before starting the installation and mounting process. The first one is
What Tools Do I Need For The Setup?
Before you even start running wire through soffit you must ensure that you have the right tool and that nothing is missing in the installation process.
Although most top security cameras usually come with a complete kit that includes an installation guide, cables, mounting screws, and anchors.
But this kit isn’t enough you need more tools to get the job done in a short time and perfectly, like
- Drill
- Screwdrivers
- Fish Rod
- Wire Cutter
- Plastic Tape
- Helmet with Flashlight
- Installation Template
These tools will help you run wire through soffit in no time, and save you money from hiring an installer.
Where to Place Security Cameras, Spotlights?
Security Cameras and Spotlights must be mounted in a high place in the attic, not above the street window.
Near devices can be damaged easily by anyone if they are mounted in the wrong place. So, you need to choose the places of security cameras and spotlights carefully.
For monitoring security cameras, the most common important places are the front door, Back door, and garage. On the other hand, Spotlights will be placed in the low-light areas.
What is the Plan to Run Wire Through Soffit Correctly?
Dwight D. Eisenhower, former U.S. President Say
“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.”
Definitely, Planning is everything, and the same in running security camera wires through the attic, walls, outside, or inside you must have the right plan.
In run wire through the soffit planning process.
First, you need to decide where to place your cameras as we mentioned above.
Second, measure the cable’s length and calculate the wire connections between the cameras and the Central Hub device DVR/NVR.
Third, If your camera is a plug-in cam, make sure you mount it near an electric outlet.
If you purchase a POE (Power over Ethernet) system you can skip this step as Ethernet cables deliver both data and power on the same cable, unlike Coaxial cables.
Fourth, decide what are the important areas you want to cover to direct the security cam for it.
For spotlights choose the darkest places to mount a spotlight in and direct it to this area.
Now, Let’s see
How To Mount Security Camera To Soffit Steps
Step1: Prepare the Location
The first step you should go through to run wire through soffit is to prepare the location where you want to install your device in the attic.
Clean the place from any dust and use a pencil to mark the camera location exactly, then remove any obstacles that may affect the mounting camera process.
For the wood soffit, put the camera Installation Template on the wood and mark the big hole and drill it to pass the camera main wire, then mark screw places in the wood to fix the cam.
For a Vinyl or Aluminum attic, remove the Vinyl/Aluminum soffit first, then measure the width of the camera location.
After that cut a piece of wood for it, this piece is easy to drill and will help you mount your camera in it.
Ste2: Drill Holes
The next step is to Drill holes to help you run wire through soffit and with the installation template the job will be easy.
Wear the Helmet on your head and gloves on your hand if you have one, and turn on your drill.
For the first and last part of the wires make sure you drill a bigger hole than you want by using a hole-saw bit to fit all wires.
At the wire connections between the camera and other devices make sure that you make a suitable hole to pass only the wanted wire and cable.
If there is shortness in the wires and want to splice them, you must ensure that the holes you make in the ceiling or wall are enough to pass connection joints.
The last thing in this part is to drill small holes for the camera’s mounting screws and power cables if the camera has one.
Step3: Run Wire Through Soffit
Here’s the important step in the whole process of running wires and cables through the attic.
First, Bring the Fish rod that you have, then tape the start of the camera cable, whatever coaxial or Ethernet cable to one of the ends.
Second, Put codes on wires if you have a large surveillance system with a lot of wires to avoid confusion.
Third, Warp the Electric tape at the start of the wire for more protection, and then Push the fish rod through the hole that you’ve created before in the attic space,
Fourth, Go to the destination of the cable and pull the other end of the fishing, you may need a friend’s help in this step.
Additional tip: you can use a small cable tester device to try every cable before connecting it to the system.
If you're interested in installing security camera in Elevators, Discover Our Latest Guide: How to Install Security Camera in Elevator
Step4: Connect the Wires to Devices
The last step in the How to run Wire through soffit task is to link and make a connection between the security camera and the central hub Video recorder box.
After finishing the technical part which is considered the hardest in the whole process. Now we can get the job done in less than 5 minutes.
First, in analog CCTV security systems.
make a connection from the CCTV Camera to the system wires. For Coaxial cables, you may need to pick a BNC Connector (male and female) to establish a strong connection.
Plus, the DC power cable of the camera can be attached to DC Power Pigtail Cable Wire to extend the power cable length.
Second, In the PoE IP Network system.
If you have an Ethernet cable for your system, then you need to purchase a small Ethernet cable extender to enable you to make the right joints without splicing.
In case, you have a BNC cable and want to attach your IP security cameras to Network Video Recorder then you need to use Ethernet to BNC connectors.
Third, After attaching cameras to the system cables, use the wire codes we made in the previous step to hook up all the cables to the NVR/DVR in their respective ports.
Fourth, Now all your system is connected correctly but we don’t know how to watch camera-captured videos. So in this step, we connect the DVR/NVR to the external monitor.
Bring an HDMI cable, insert it into the NVR/DVR port and then connect it to your smart monitoring screen to see live stream video clips of your camera.
Furthermore, you can download your system mobile application on your mobile and use it to link the cameras to the Video recorder.
So, with one touch on your mobile, you can enable the remote view feature to see what happens in your house wherever you are.
Fifth, The last step in how to run wire through soffit is to power on the system and try it.
For more about how to run security camera wires through soffit, watch the below video
Source: Heads of Tech
Summary
Truthfully, knowing how to run wire through soffit is more helpful than you think, you can use it with security cameras and spotlights or any device you want.
Besides it giving you power as it increases your system protection, it also keeps your house design beautiful without messy wires.
There are other ways you can use as an alternative to run wire through soffit like hiding wires in cable raceways, or conduits.
Plus, there are effective methods you can use in case you don’t like to run wires of the camera in the soffit, you install the camera system on concrete, or mount cams on a brick wall.
Resources: Reolink, SixSevenDiesel
