Reyee SFP Modules & Fibre Uplinks for CCTV: UK Installer's Guide
Reyee SFP modules are the small plug-in transceivers that turn a spare cage on a Reyee switch into a fibre or long-haul copper uplink — and on a CCTV job they are usually the difference between one clean backbone and three daisy-chained switches. This guide is for UK installers speccing Ruijie Reyee networks: which Reyee SFP module fits which switch, when to use multimode versus singlemode, where 10G SFP+ earns its money, and how to size an uplink so a 32-camera site never drops a frame.
At a glance
Netview now stocks the full Ruijie Reyee transceiver range: 1G multimode (RG-MINI-GBIC-SX-MM850, 550 m), 1G singlemode (RG-MINI-GBIC-LX-SM1310, 10 km), copper SFP (RG-MINI-GBIC-GT, 100 m RJ45), 10G SFP+ SR and LR, 10G active optical stack cables in 1 m/3 m/5 m, hardened industrial SFPs rated to −40 °C, and 25G/100G optics for aggregation. Match the module to the cage — a 1G SFP will not negotiate in a 10G-only SFP+ port — then match the optic to the fibre already in the ground. Everything on this page ships same-day from our Leicester trade counter via netviewcctv.co.uk.
What is an SFP module, and why does a CCTV network need one?
An SFP module is a hot-swappable transceiver that slots into a switch cage and converts the switch’s electrical signal into light for a fibre run — or, in the copper variants, into a standard RJ45 Ethernet signal. Copper Ethernet stops working reliably at 100 m. Most CCTV sites are bigger than that: a warehouse yard, a school campus, a caravan park, a multi-building industrial estate. Rather than dropping a mid-span switch into a cabinet that has no power and no shelter, you run fibre from the head-end to each outbuilding and terminate it in an SFP cage at both ends. The fibre carries the full uplink bandwidth over hundreds of metres or kilometres, is immune to the induced noise and earth-loop problems that plague long copper runs, and gives lightning surge a poor path back into your recorder.
The second job SFPs do on a CCTV network is aggregation. Sixteen 4K cameras writing at 8 Mbps each is roughly 128 Mbps — comfortable on gigabit. Add live viewing on a wall of monitors, a second stream to an ANPR server and an off-site cloud push, and the single gigabit link between your access switch and your core becomes the choke point. A 10G SFP+ uplink removes it for the price of two optics and a patch lead.
1G SFP or 10G SFP+? Check the cage before you order
The single most common ordering mistake is buying the wrong speed class for the port. Reyee switches split cleanly into two groups: models whose part number ends in SFP have 1G SFP cages, and models ending in XS have 10G SFP+ cages. A 1G SFP will physically fit an SFP+ cage but most Reyee SFP+ ports are configured for 10G and will not fall back, so plan for it rather than discovering it on site.
| Reyee switch | Uplink cages | Module family to order |
|---|---|---|
| RG-NBS3100-8GT2SFP-P-V2 | 2 × 1G SFP | MINI-GBIC (1G) |
| RG-NBS3100-24GT4SFP-P-V2 | 4 × 1G SFP | MINI-GBIC (1G) |
| RG-NBS3100-48GT4SFP-P-V2 | 4 × 1G SFP | MINI-GBIC (1G) |
| RG-NBS3200-24GT4XS | 4 × 10G SFP+ | XG-SFP (10G) |
| RG-NBS5200-24GT4XS-P | 4 × 10G SFP+ (Layer 3) | XG-SFP (10G) + AOC |
| RG-NBS5500-12XS | 12 × 10G SFP+ | XG-SFP (10G) + AOC |
Ruijie lists the RG-NBS3200-24GT4XS with four fixed 10G fibre ports for high-performance uplink (Reyee product page), and the Layer 3 RG-NBS5200-24GT4XS pairs 24 gigabit access ports with four SFP+ ports on a 128 Gbps switching fabric. If you are still choosing the switch itself, our Reyee managed switch guide walks the RG-NBS range end to end.
Multimode or singlemode? The 550 m versus 10 km decision
Choose multimode for runs inside a site and singlemode for anything that leaves it. Multimode fibre is cheaper to terminate and the optics are far cheaper, but the reach is limited; singlemode costs more per optic and rewards you with kilometres. The rule of thumb on a CCTV job: if the fibre stays within one building or one compound, multimode; if it crosses a public road, a river, a rail line or a field, singlemode.
| Module | Standard | Fibre | Reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| RG-MINI-GBIC-SX-MM850 | 1000BASE-SX, 850 nm | Multimode, duplex LC | 550 m |
| RG-MINI-GBIC-LX-SM1310 | 1000BASE-LX, 1310 nm | Singlemode, duplex LC | 10 km |
| RG-XG-SFP-SR-MM850 | 10GBASE-SR, 850 nm | Multimode OM3/OM4 | 300 m / 400 m |
| RG-XG-SFP-LR-SM1310 | 10GBASE-LR, 1310 nm | Singlemode, duplex LC | 10 km |
Optics are always sold and fitted in pairs of the same type — an SX at one end will not talk to an LX at the other, because the wavelengths and the fibre core diameters differ. Order two of the same part number per link and label the patch panel accordingly.
The Reyee 1G SFP range
For the vast majority of CCTV uplinks, a 1G optic is all you need. The RG-MINI-GBIC-SX-MM850 is aligned to the IEEE 1000BASE-SX specification, operates at 850 nm and supports a link length of up to 550 m over multimode fibre with a duplex LC connector, with digital optical monitoring so you can read transmit and receive power from the switch CLI (Ruijie specification). That covers almost every in-compound run: gatehouse to head-end, main block to sports hall, office to warehouse.
Where the run leaves the site, the RG-MINI-GBIC-LX-SM1310 takes over. It is aligned to IEEE 1000BASE-LX, works at 1310 nm and supports a link length of up to 10 km over singlemode fibre on a duplex LC connector (Ruijie specification). Ten kilometres is comfortably more than most multi-site retail or council estates need, and it means one part number covers the whole job.
Copper SFP: when RJ45 in an SFP cage is the right answer
Sometimes the spare port you need is an SFP cage but the device at the other end only has RJ45. The RG-MINI-GBIC-GT solves that: it is a 1000BASE-X to 1000BASE-T media converter in SFP form factor supporting up to 100 m over Cat5e/6 with an RJ45 connector, conforming to IEEE 802.3ab, with an operating range of 0 °C to 70 °C (Ruijie specification). Typical uses on a CCTV job: patching an NVR into the last free SFP cage on a fully populated access switch, or linking a Reyee switch to a legacy third-party switch that has no fibre at all. Note that the port needs auto-negotiation enabled — forcing speed and duplex is the usual reason a copper SFP appears dead.
The 10G SFP+ range: SR on site, LR across the estate
Move to 10G when the uplink is carrying more than one switch’s worth of cameras, or when recording and live-viewing traffic share the same trunk. The RG-XG-SFP-SR-MM850 is aligned to IEEE 10GBASE-SR, runs at 850 nm and supports a link length of up to 300 m over OM3 or 400 m over OM4 multimode fibre at a 10.3 Gbps data rate (Ruijie specification). That is the standard core-to-access optic in a comms room or between floors.
For 10G that has to travel, the RG-XG-SFP-LR-SM1310 is aligned to IEEE 10GBASE-LR, operates at 1310 nm and supports a link length of up to 10 km over singlemode fibre, conforming to IEEE 802.3ae with digital optical monitoring (Ruijie specification). On a distributed estate — a college with four buildings, a logistics park with three yards — a pair of LR optics per building gives you a 10G ring that will still be fit for purpose when the cameras go 4K.
AOC stack cables: the quickest way to link two switches in the same rack
An active optical cable is a fixed-length assembly with the transceivers permanently attached to both ends, and it is the cheapest, tidiest way to link two 10G switches sitting in the same cabinet. There are no optics to lose, no LC patch lead to kink, and no dirty end-face to clean. Netview stocks three lengths — RG-XG-SFP-AOC1M (1 m), RG-XG-SFP-AOC3M (3 m) and RG-XG-SFP-AOC5M (5 m) — which covers same-rack, adjacent-rack and across-the-comms-room. Measure the cable route, not the straight-line distance: a 1 m assembly that has to travel up and around a cable manager will not reach.
Industrial SFPs for gatehouses, car parks and roadside cabinets
Standard commercial optics are rated for a heated indoor comms room, not a steel roadside cabinet in February. Where the switch lives outdoors, pair a hardened Reyee industrial switch with a hardened optic. The RG-NIS-GE-SFP-550M-MM850 is an industrial 1000BASE-SX module at 850 nm with a 550 m multimode reach, and the RG-NIS-GE-SFP-10KM-SM1310 is its 1310 nm singlemode counterpart at 10 km. Ruijie rates the NIS-GE-SFP series for operation from −40 °C to 85 °C (Ruijie NIS-GE-SFP series datasheet), which is what you want in an unheated enclosure on a car park perimeter.
They pair naturally with the DIN-rail Reyee industrial switches — the RG-NIS2100-8GT2SFP-HP and the four-SFP RG-NIS3100-8GT4SFP-HP. Our Reyee industrial PoE switch guide covers enclosure sizing, redundant power and DIN mounting for those builds. Where trenching fibre is impossible, a Reyee wireless bridge is usually the next best link.
Beyond 10G: 25G SFP28 and 100G QSFP28
Most CCTV sites will never need more than 10G, but two situations do: a large video-analytics or ANPR back end where several servers share one storage fabric, and a campus core that aggregates a dozen 10G building links. Reyee covers both. The RG-VG-SFP-SR-MM850 is a 25G SFP28 short-reach optic at 850 nm, with a matching 7 m active optical assembly in the RG-VG-SFP-AOC7M(M). At the top of the range the RG-100G-QSFP-SR-MM850 is a 100G QSFP28 short-reach module on an MPO multimode connector. Neither belongs on a 16-camera retail job — but if you are quoting a data-hall core alongside the surveillance system, they mean you can keep the whole estate on one vendor.
Chassis switches: M6000 and M7000 line cards
For the largest builds Reyee offers modular chassis switches, and the interface modules that populate them are ordered separately. The RG-NBS6002 chassis takes M6000-series cards such as the RG-M6000-16GT8SFP2XS, which combines 16 gigabit copper ports with eight gigabit SFP cages and two 10G uplinks on one card. The larger RG-NBS7003 takes M7000 line cards: the all-fibre RG-M7000-8XS-EA with eight 10G SFP ports for aggregating building uplinks, or the high-density RG-M7000-48GT2XS-EA with 48 gigabit copper ports and two 10G uplinks for a large camera floor. Chassis builds are rare on pure CCTV work, but they come up on hospital, airport and university frameworks where the surveillance VLAN rides the client’s core.
How to size a fibre uplink without guessing
Work from recorded bitrate, not camera count. Add up the main-stream bitrate of every camera behind the switch, add the sub-stream load if you have wall monitors or a mobile app in constant use, then allow at least 50 per cent headroom for retransmission, firmware pushes and motion-triggered bursts. A rough guide: sixteen 4MP AcuSense cameras at 6 Mbps is around 96 Mbps, which sits happily on a 1G uplink; thirty-two 4K cameras at 10 Mbps is 320 Mbps and still fits, but add remote viewing plus a second recording target and 10G becomes the sane choice. If you also need to work out how much disk that traffic turns into, our CCTV storage guide does the arithmetic.
Then check three physical facts before ordering: what fibre is actually installed (OM1/OM2 legacy multimode will not carry 10GBASE-SR to 300 m), what connector is on the patch panel (LC duplex for everything except the 100G MPO), and the true route length rather than the plan distance. Fibre installed by someone else is worth testing with an OTDR or at least reading the DOM figures off the switch once the optics are in.
Five SFP mistakes that cost installers a return visit
Most SFP faults are ordering or handling errors, not failures. These five account for the bulk of them.
- Mixing speeds. A 1G MINI-GBIC in a 10G-only SFP+ cage will not come up. Check whether the model ends in SFP or XS.
- Mixing wavelengths. SX (850 nm multimode) will not link to LX (1310 nm singlemode). Always order matched pairs.
- Dirty end faces. A fingerprint on an LC ferrule can cost several dB. Clean both connectors with a proper cleaner before insertion, every time.
- Over-bending the patch lead. Fibre has a minimum bend radius; cable-tying it tight round a rack upright creates a fault that only shows up under load.
- Forcing port speed on copper SFPs. The RG-MINI-GBIC-GT needs auto-negotiation enabled; a hard-set 1000/full will leave the link down.
Quick picker: which Reyee SFP for which job
| The job | Order this |
|---|---|
| Gatehouse to head-end, same site, under 550 m | 2 × RG-MINI-GBIC-SX-MM850 |
| Second building across a public road | 2 × RG-MINI-GBIC-LX-SM1310 |
| SFP cage but RJ45 device at the far end | 1 × RG-MINI-GBIC-GT |
| Core to access switch, 10G, same building | 2 × RG-XG-SFP-SR-MM850 |
| 10G between buildings up to 10 km | 2 × RG-XG-SFP-LR-SM1310 |
| Two 10G switches in the same cabinet | 1 × RG-XG-SFP-AOC1M / AOC3M / AOC5M |
| Unheated roadside or car-park cabinet | 2 × RG-NIS-GE-SFP-550M-MM850 or -10KM-SM1310 |
The whole range sits together on our SFP modules & transceivers category page, and the switches that take them are in the Reyee networking buyer’s guide.
Frequently asked questions
Will a third-party SFP work in a Reyee switch?
Sometimes, but Reyee switches are tested and warranted with Ruijie optics, and a generic module that fails to read its EEPROM correctly will simply stay down. On a job you are warranting, use the matched Ruijie part — the price difference is a few pounds and it removes an entire class of fault-finding.
Can I mix a 1G SFP with a 10G SFP+ at the other end of the link?
No. Both ends of a fibre link must run the same speed and the same optical standard. Order the pair together.
How do I check an SFP is actually receiving light?
All the Reyee optics listed here support digital optical monitoring, so the switch will report transmit power, receive power and temperature per port. A receive figure well below the module’s sensitivity means a dirty connector, a bend, or the wrong fibre type.
Do I need singlemode for a 200 m run?
No — multimode SX at 550 m or SR at 300 m on OM3 covers it, and the optics cost a fraction of singlemode. Save singlemode for genuinely long or off-site runs.
What is the difference between an AOC and two optics plus a patch lead?
An AOC is a sealed assembly with the transceivers moulded on, so there is nothing to clean and nothing to lose — ideal in-rack. Separate optics plus a patch lead are the right answer whenever the fibre is structured cabling you did not install.
Do Reyee SFP modules work with the free Ruijie Cloud platform?
Yes. The optics are transparent to the management layer; the switch reports port and DOM status into Ruijie Cloud exactly as it does for copper ports. Our Reyee Cloud multi-site guide explains the remote-management side.
Ordering from Netview
Netview is an authorised UK wholesaler for Ruijie Reyee, and we hold the fast-moving SFP lines in stock in Leicester for same-day dispatch. If you are unsure which optic your existing switch takes, send us the model number and the fibre type through netviewcctv.co.uk and we will confirm the part before you order. Browse the full SFP modules and transceivers range, or see every line we carry on our brands page.
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