A P2 camera installation at each weight rack involves three pieces of hardware:

Perch Camera (P2) — A camera mounted at the rack that captures movement for rep tracking and form analysis. The P2 has a single USB-C port that serves as its only physical connection point — it carries network connectivity (for Ethernet installations), data to the tablet, and power to the tablet, all multiplexed through the same port. It requires AC power.
Tablet (iPad or Android) — The athlete-facing touchscreen interface used to control the experience. The tablet pairs to the Perch Camera over USB-C or Bluetooth, and reaches the local network over Wi-Fi (or, less commonly, Ethernet via a USB-C adapter). USB-C pairing is strongly preferred — see Camera ↔ Tablet: USB-C vs Bluetooth below.
USB-C Hub — A small accessory that fans out the camera's single USB-C port into the connections actually needed at the rack. A hub is always required for Ethernet installations, and optional for Wi-Fi installations where the tablet connects directly to the camera over a single USB-C cable.

All hardware is co-located at the weight rack. The rest of this guide covers the equipment needed, the two supported wiring configurations (Wi-Fi vs Ethernet), and the wiring details to be aware of.

Required and Optional Equipment

USB-C Hub (required for Ethernet installations)

The P2 camera has a single USB-C port that must be expanded for any installation that uses wired Ethernet, and for any installation where the hub is needed to add cable length between the camera and the tablet. A hub for P2 must provide both of the following:

1 × Ethernet port — used for wired network connectivity to the camera
1 × USB-C data port (not just a USB-C power-delivery / charging port) — used to carry data and power to the tablet

The distinction between a USB-C data port and a USB-C PD-only (power-delivery) port matters. Many inexpensive hubs include a USB-C port that only delivers power to the hub itself or that only charges downstream devices, without carrying data. The P2 requires a USB-C data port on the hub for the tablet connection so that the tablet can both communicate with the camera and be charged through the same cable.

Sample hub that meets these requirements: Anker PowerExpand USB-C Hub with Ethernet and Power Delivery. If you source your own hub, verify the USB-C port supports data — the hub's product spec should explicitly call out USB-C data, USB 3.x data, or similar. A USB-C port marked only as "PD" or "power in" is not sufficient.

USB-C Male-to-Female Extension Cable (optional)

By default, the USB-C hub sits directly at the camera, plugged into the camera's USB-C port. In some installations, it's preferable to mount the hub farther away from the camera — for example, to keep the hub accessible at the side of the rack while the camera is mounted high or in a hard-to-reach position, or to route Ethernet to a cleaner location.

A USB-C male-to-female extension cable can be used to move the hub away from the camera. We recommend 6 feet (1.8 m) or shorter; longer runs can introduce signal-integrity problems on USB-C and may cause intermittent disconnects. A sample cable that works well is the UGREEN USB-C Male-to-Female Extension Cable.

This extension cable is optional. Installations that mount the hub directly at the camera do not need it.

Network Connectivity

The P2 camera supports two installation patterns for connecting the camera itself to the network: Wi-Fi and Ethernet. Both patterns are fully supported, and the choice depends on the facility's networking environment.

Independently of how the camera reaches the network, the tablet pairs to the camera over either USB-C or Bluetooth, and reaches the network over Wi-Fi in nearly all deployments. The tablet can use Ethernet through a USB-C adapter, but doing so consumes the tablet's only USB-C port, which means USB-C pairing to the camera is no longer possible — the camera must then pair to the tablet over Bluetooth, with the reliability caveats described below. For this reason, Wi-Fi is the recommended way for tablets to reach the network. The tradeoffs between USB-C and Bluetooth pairing are covered below.

Wi-Fi Installation

In a Wi-Fi installation, the P2 camera connects to the network wirelessly, and no USB-C hub is required (assuming the tablet sits close enough to the camera for a single USB-C cable to reach).

Camera ↔ Network: Wi-Fi.
Camera ↔ Tablet: USB-C cable, plugged directly between the camera's USB-C port and the tablet. This cable carries both data and power to the tablet.
Tablet ↔ Network: Wi-Fi.

This is the simplest wiring pattern and works well when the facility's Wi-Fi network is reliable and has good coverage at every rack. If a USB-C hub is needed in this configuration purely to add cable length between the camera and the tablet, that is also supported — but no Ethernet port on the hub is used.

Ethernet Installation

In an Ethernet installation, the P2 camera reaches the network through a wired Ethernet connection by way of the USB-C hub. The tablet still connects to the camera over USB-C and to the network over Wi-Fi.

Camera ↔ USB-C Hub: USB-C cable from the camera's port to the hub (optionally lengthened with a USB-C male-to-female extension).
Hub ↔ Network: Ethernet cable from the hub's Ethernet port to the rack's Ethernet drop or switch.
Hub ↔ Tablet: USB-C cable from the hub's USB-C data port to the tablet. This cable carries both data and power to the tablet.
Tablet ↔ Network: Wi-Fi.

It is worth noting what the hub is doing here: the camera's single USB-C port is carrying network traffic (to the Ethernet adapter inside the hub), data to the tablet, and power to the tablet, all at once, multiplexed by the hub. This is why the hub specification matters — a hub without a true USB-C data port for the tablet will not work, even if it has an Ethernet port.

Camera ↔ Tablet: USB-C vs Bluetooth

The P2 camera and the tablet can communicate over either USB-C or Bluetooth. The two options are not equivalent — they have meaningfully different reliability characteristics, and the right choice depends on how many cameras are deployed at the facility.

USB-C (strongly recommended for multi-camera installations). A wired USB-C connection between the camera and the tablet provides a reliable, high-bandwidth, interference-immune link. The tablet is also charged through the same cable, so no separate charging logistics are needed. This is the default and preferred pairing method for any permanent installation.

Bluetooth (supported, but with caveats). The P2 camera can pair to the tablet over Bluetooth instead of USB-C. Bluetooth is convenient when a wired connection is impractical — for example, in temporary setups or when the tablet needs to be physically separated from the camera. However, Bluetooth pairing has real drawbacks:

RF contention. Bluetooth shares the 2.4 GHz band with Wi-Fi and many other devices. In facilities with dense wireless traffic — gyms, training centers, and any space with many devices — Bluetooth links can become unreliable.
Cross-talk between racks. In multi-camera installations, multiple Bluetooth links operating in close proximity can interfere with each other, causing intermittent disconnections, dropped data, and pairing confusion between adjacent racks.
Tablet charging. The tablet must be charged separately when paired over Bluetooth. This adds another cable run and a charger to each rack.

Bluetooth pairing is also required if the tablet itself is wired to Ethernet via a USB-C adapter, since that consumes the tablet's USB-C port and leaves no way to plug in the camera.

For any installation with more than one P2 camera, we strongly recommend USB-C pairing for every camera. Bluetooth is best reserved for single-camera deployments or temporary configurations where wiring is genuinely not an option.

Choosing Between Wi-Fi and Ethernet

For most facilities, Ethernet is the more reliable choice and is strongly recommended for permanent installations, especially in larger facilities or anywhere live video playback is in use. Ethernet provides stable bandwidth and avoids contention with other Wi-Fi traffic at the rack. See the Perch Cast Facilities Guide for general guidance on cabling and bandwidth.

Wi-Fi installations are appropriate when:

Running Ethernet to the rack is not practical.
The facility's Wi-Fi network is robust and has reliable coverage at every rack.
The deployment is small enough that contention on Wi-Fi is not a concern.

Note that tablets reach the network over Wi-Fi in nearly all deployments, regardless of how the camera is connected. Tablets can technically use Ethernet via a USB-C adapter, but doing so consumes the tablet's only USB-C port and forces Bluetooth pairing to the camera — see Camera ↔ Tablet: USB-C vs Bluetooth. For this reason, plan on Wi-Fi coverage at every rack for the tablet, even if the cameras are wired. The Wi-Fi network used by tablets must have the same network access as the cameras — see the IS&T Procurement Q&A for the LAN and firewall requirements that apply.

Power

The P2 camera needs power at each rack. There are two supported options, and one of the two is required for every installation:

AC power. A standard AC outlet at the rack, with the camera plugged in via its supplied power adapter. This is the default and is recommended for any permanent installation.
Battery pack. Where AC power is not available at the rack, a battery pack can be used to power the camera instead. This is useful for retrofits in older facilities, more mobile installations, and other situations without wall power available.

In both cases, when the tablet is paired to the camera over USB-C, the camera also provides power to the tablet through that same connection — no separate charger is needed for the tablet. The USB-C hub, where used, is bus-powered from the camera and does not require its own power supply.

If the tablet is paired over Bluetooth instead of USB-C, the tablet must be charged separately, since Bluetooth does not carry power. Plan for an additional power source (AC outlet or battery pack) for the tablet in that case.

Power over Ethernet (PoE) is not supported. Even in Ethernet installations where the camera reaches the network through a USB-C hub, the P2 cannot be powered over the Ethernet connection. Every rack still requires either an AC outlet or a battery pack to power the camera.