PoE camera runs and low-voltage wiring for your security system — clean penetrations, weathertight.
Security camera wiring is the infrastructure half of a camera system: one Cat6 run from a recorder or switch out to each camera location, a penetration through wall or soffit that will not leak in a February storm, and somewhere to put the equipment that has power and stays dry. A single cable carries both the video and the power to the camera — that is what Power over Ethernet, or PoE, means. The cameras and the recorder are your choice. The wiring, the penetrations, and the power are ours.
Battery and wifi cameras are easy to buy and harder to live with. They stop recording when the battery dies, they miss the clip you actually wanted because the wifi at the far corner of the house is thin, and somebody has to remember to charge them. A PoE camera has a wire: constant power, a full-speed path back to the recorder, and nothing to charge. In a county full of long driveways, detached garages, and houses tucked under redwoods, that wire is usually the difference between a system you rely on and one you quietly stop checking.
Penetrations are where camera installs go wrong, and the coast is unforgiving about it. Every camera means a hole through siding, stucco, or a soffit, usually on the weather side of the house. We drill on a downward slope from the inside out, seal to whatever the substrate actually is, and leave a drip loop so water runs off the cable rather than following it into the wall. Where salt air gets at the hardware we use corrosion-rated mounts and stainless fasteners. Homes a few blocks from the water in Pleasure Point, Capitola, or Rio del Mar chew through ordinary exterior hardware. A rusted mount sags, and a sagging camera is aimed at the ground.
On scope, plainly: Sunrise is a licensed C-10 electrical contractor, license #C10-1097237. We do the wiring, the penetrations, the mounting, and the power side — including a dedicated receptacle where the recorder and PoE switch land. We do not sell monitored alarm service. Monitoring is a separate California license and a different business, and we would rather say so here than let you find out later. If you already have a monitoring company, we are glad to run the cable they specify. Doing both the low-voltage and the line-voltage side ourselves means one trade in the house instead of two.
We walk the property with you and stand where each camera would go, looking at the actual view rather than guessing from a floor plan. We pick the head-end location, check whether there is power there, and check the routes. You get a written quote with camera count, locations, and routes.
Cable pulled from the head end out to each location, penetrations drilled and sealed as we go rather than all at the end, and any receptacle work at the head end done while the space is open to us.
Cameras mounted and terminated, recorder and PoE switch landed at the head end, every run tested, and the system brought up so all the cameras can be seen live before anything is buttoned back up.
We aim each camera with you looking at the live view on your own screen, adjust anything pointed more at a neighbor's window than at your driveway, label every run, and hand over the label map with the invoice.
What sets the number on a camera job is not the camera. It is how the cable gets to it and what the wall is made of where it comes through. Four cameras on a single-story house with attic over every one of them is a different job from four cameras on a two-story stucco house on a hillside, where two runs come from underneath and one needs a lift. What we quote is the camera count, the routes, the head-end build, and the exterior hardware the location genuinely needs. The equipment is yours to choose, so its cost is not ours to guess at. We walk the property and put a written number in your hands before anything gets drilled.
“Thank you to the Sunrise Electrical Contracting team for updating the new main electrical system on my mom's home after the storm damaged the power lines and home equipment this winter… They replaced Main Service Upgrade Overhead, and added a Sub-Panel Install/Replacement Outdoors… the team of Branden, Jimmy, Ian, and Tylor worked long hours during the storm for a few days to get us up and running again before the next storm arrived.”
“Sunrise Electrical rewired our house, replacing the old knob-and-tube wiring with seamless, safe, and up-to-code wiring at a very reasonable price. They were incredibly efficient, worked cleanly, and addressed all our questions and concerns with care. We can't recommend them highly enough!”
“Branden & his experienced crew installed a Level 2 electric charger together with an extra 240v outlet in our Live Oak garage. They were informed, congenial, & professional and their work was timely and permitted as required by the County. (The cost of the County permit was 53% of the entire project cost — no 5 stars for the County.) I highly recommend Sunrise Electrical!”
Pulled from what we actually hear on quotes and on-site. If yours isn't here, ask us — we'll answer in plain English.
We'd rather you get the right outcome than the Sunrise outcome. Some of this points away from us on purpose.
Look for a licensed contractor near you and verify at cslb.ca.gov. Ask specifically how they seal exterior penetrations and whether every run is tested and labeled — those two answers tell you most of what you need to know about how the install will age.
Browse our field guidesOur smart-home guide covers what is worth doing first in an older Santa Cruz home, including where cameras fit relative to everything else. Free to read, no email wall.
Read the smart-home guideA free site walk gets you a placement plan and a written quote. Standing where the camera would go and looking at the real view changes most people's list, usually shortening it.
Schedule a free site walkFrom Davenport to Pajaro Dunes, San Lorenzo Valley to Pleasure Point. Same crew, same warranty, same pricing.
Free site walk, a written quote with camera count and routes, and weathertight penetrations backed by a 20-year workmanship guarantee.