CCTV(12v) inhouse technician permit?

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john davidson

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Sorry for the wierd post title, This is my first post so go easy on me.

For the last 10 I have worked in the cctv, IT, and cable industry.
Throughtout that time I have allways worked for large companies. Now I have an offer from a company to work inhouse, they want me to do all there new cctv stuff (All 12v) as well as computers.......

Now my problem is I guess I've always worked under someone else's license, I did get low-voltage certifitied in a different state then I'm in now but it was long ago.

What will I need to do in order to install the cctvs systems in the companies stores paper work wise. Someone told me I had to basically become a licensed contrator from the city even though I am in house with the company and only working on there cameras.....

I never had to be licensed before, and I was under the impression 12volts wasn't really even enough to need a low-voltage certification.(I do know the current code for cctv stuff what little there actually is <g>) I only had to get it when I worked with the phone company

Sorry for posting a book but any help would be appreciated thanks in advance
John Davidson
 
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To answer, we'd need to know what state you're in, and possibly what city.
 
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The company has stores all across the country, will I need to get something different for each city possible county? The Saint louis, MO, and jacksonville, FL. are the first two I'd be working on.....
 
In-house personell dept's rarely ignore the qualifications / certs of applications or resumes.

If you are being offered a JW position, because of an inside referral, they may encourange you to start ASAP, then later discover their mistake --insurance-liability exposures--.

You will be busted down to trainee scale until you get yourself thu school. If this is a bait-&-switch opportunity, for the employer to get more experience for less pay, they will get you to quit existing employers before leveraging the lower wage.
 
I would check with who hired you.Companies that require a journeymans card would want to see it first and i think this company would do the same.Most likely its not required
 
This is a highly controversial subject. There is no longer any possible doubt that "low voltage" and communication wiring and even fiber optic cable "NOT UNDER EXCLUSIVE CONTROL OF A UTILITY" is covered by the NEC. In this jurisdiction (Southern Maryland) this has been interpreted to mean that this type of wiring must be inspected. Since only a licensed electrician may request an inspection, the person responsible for this work will need to be either a licensed Master Electrician, or hold a low-voltage restricted license. You will probably need to check with each jurisdiction in which you will be working to see what their requirements are. This makes it very difficult for one person to go from state to state, jurisdiction to jurisdiction and do work. In Maryland each county (and some cities) are ther own jurisdiction with a seperate license and often different ammendments to the NEC. You may find that you spend more time getting licenses and taking tests than you spend doing work. I was hired awhile back by a firm that wanted to do work from Main to Florida wth me travelling from job-to-job as the Master Electrician. When I looked into the licensing hassles from state-to-state and jurisdiction to jurisdiction and the fact that most states require you to test in their state to get a license, I resigned. The owner determined that it would be easier to contract with an existing electrician in each area.
 
Just because it's covered by the NEC doesn't mean it needs inspected. And it doesn't mean you have to be licensed. Like everyone else said, this varies from location to location.

But if you didn't have to have a license before, and none of your previous work was inspected, then I don't see why that would change.

STeve
 
The real question is exactly what sort of work will you be doing? Are you designing the cable plant, pulling the cable, terminating installed cable, or just connecting the store's devices to the installed cable? The latter two shouldn't require specific permits or licenses, whereas the former two would.

FWIW, When I was in the fire alarm business years ago (in DC/MD/VA), we spec'd the cable types and endpoints, the EC for the job installed the cable and backboxes, we mounted the equipment into those boxes and tested it. Often they even connected many of the detectors. At a later job (IT cable systems), we worked with local ECs- our design, they pulled the permits & cable, we terminated and tested. Of course, that was 15 years ago.

Oh, ya. I'd also make sure that the company understands the multistate permit problems, and that they'll continue to pay you even where local regs don't permit you to do your entire job.
 
Thank you everyone, your input has been very helpful, It seems in MO I can run all the drops myself.

We have an secruity company install our alarms, they must pull a low-voltage permit, As long as the secruity company inspects my drops, I'm fine under the same permit.

Since every new store we do gets a alarm install, it wont be a problem, and they said they'd only charge us 50.00 for the inspection (Since they are there anyway). So as long as I'm doing my work to code and dont screw over the alarm companies I'll be doing alright.

The company is offering me 75.000,00 a year (the cctv is really the smallest part of my job, the maintence of the POS software and systems is the 'meat' of the job) so it would have broke my heart and my bank if I couldnt have worked it out<G>

Again thanks everyone
 
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