Tailbone215

Anyone know of an inexpensive source for these products or have a used set in their toolbox they no longer use? Thanks.

Use an old Dewalt 4.5" side grinder that does exceptionally well with the proper disk installed for the job at hand. Fantastic for cutting in tight spots. Tried that with the above tool and I was mildly unimpressed and took forever. Seemed more a novelty for a home owner than a work tool.

Do you buy the more expensive brands like Dewalt, Hilti, Milwaukee, or Rigid? Or do you cheap out and buy them the disposable brands such as Ryobi. There are two mindsets here. Some believe it is better buying disposable tools as the workers will destroy them just as quickly as they would the better tool.

If your local supply houses you deal with don't have it in stock, they will generally be able to get it for you by the next business day. If you are looking for a way to cut out the locals you will need to order it on-line and have it shipped overnight via Fed-Ex or UPS.

That is one tool I found to be utterly useless and never really found it beneficial for a replacement for anything else I have in my arsenal. Some people swear by them, but they have yet to prove to me it can do anything better than what can be done with basic hand tools. I prefer to travel light and only carry tools that have versatility.

Probably the best solution here is to skip the CCTV and just make sure things such as guns, cameras, jewellery, and other items that require an extra rider on the insurance policy are put on there. Sadly, even if you catch the burglars there are no guarantees you will get all your stuff back. Of course you can still install a cheap CCTV system just for show and a deterrent. Also,a good dog!

Sorry, Bosch cams are made in Portugal. They have a better skillset and value quality and pride in workmanship instead of trying to turn a quick buck. Plus, the Portugese aren't spammers. I just curried another goat and put some scotch bonnets on him. Damn, that goat was definitely high-def!

I put curry on all my goats and haven't lost one yet. Don't waste your money on cheap Chinese cameras as curry is the only solution for the goat.

Cool stuff! LON and BACnet are the way to go. Even the wireless stuff works great for HVAC control. Which system did you install? Sounds like a lot of data being thrown around the building(s). Any bottlenecks around the IP cams and video streaming servers?

Keep it simple! I feel using a good 24vac transformer with a circuit breaker is the best way to go. The cam has the necessary rectification circuitry to handle 24vac, use it. Of course, you can use 12vdc as well. There is no right or wrong answer here, just personal preference. Functional Devices makes some fine and convenient products, especially RIBs, which we have used in the past with great success.

I second the Fluke! Using anything else is like trying to drive a car with square wheels.

The simple answer here would be available stock, competitive pricing, and an easy exchange policy for defective merchandise. Frankly, for items I don't need in less than 24-hours, I find it best to cut out the middleman and buy direct on the more expensive items as this cuts out a lot of the game playing some distributors like to play. Of course, always keep open channels with a few local distributors for walk-in counter service. I don't look at any of these issues as "problems" as it is them that are competing for my money. It is too easy to take my business elsewhere should the bullcrap factor exceed my acceptable level of tolerance. That said, it was very rare that I had any problems with distributors as most are flexible and very easy to get along with. Loyalty cuts both ways.

I'm trying my best to keep is simple. Was trying to avoid a wireless link from the entrance gate to a house several lots down the road. Understand. Since you said you have power and phone at the gates I'm still not following why you would not use the spare(s) pair on the phone line for balun for analog or network or IP cams? For security reasons alone I would do my best to avoid planting an NVR at the source you are trying to view. Plus, how are you or your customer going to monitor the video from these cams if they don't go back to the house? Strange. Also, as you mentioned concerns about this running under CA heat, you will probably have overheating issues in a sealed box. Any ventilated box will be prone to attract dust and insects. Too many issues to cover.

I don't understand the logic of putting an NVR out where it is unattended and vulnerable to tampering? But, if you insist, you can use and watertight NEMA enclosure of proper size. Here's on ethat is too large for your needs, but it will give you an idea of what is available. http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/Great_Lakes_NEMA_12_Type_Enclosure.asp Hell, if you want total watertight you can hack up a Pelican case. http://www.pelican.com/case_category_mobile_military.php?CaseType=Mobile%20IT

Still sitting here trying to decide if you chose those words deliberately! They do work wonders and have so much stretch you can cover a whole cam if you had to.

I have to agree! There are an infinite amount of mounting possibilities in this situation to make a better install with less effort. Hell, a couple self tapping sheet metal screws work wonders.

A 12-pack of condoms. You never know when you need to keep something dry when working in wet environments.

No advantage to it at all, at least for our purposes. I always turn it off as it creates extra unwanted net traffic while pinging for other devices. Not that it is eating a great amount of bandwidth, just another pain in the ass when reviewing logs.

Use the conduit. If you seal the conduit and boxes properly you won't have any issues. This is the best protection for your cabling. Plus, pulling a new wire through conduit is cheaper and easier than trenching again. Even the jacket of direct burial cable can be nicked and water will get in. Been there with sight lighting and direct burial.

Might want to try adding a cooling fan or two to the DVR as your problem is heat. Keep it cool and it will last practically forever.

Nope. The tolerance was confirmed by Dallmeier - +/-5%. That's 11.4-12.6 volts. 13.2V (actually 13.35V measured voltage under a typical 0.5A camera load) would likely fry the camera; as admitted by Dallmeier. It's not that I doubt you, I find this one a little strange. Even mobile devices rated for 12v run at a nominal voltage of 13.8v or higher. Do they pair it with a rated power supply that they can guarantee these voltage tolerances throughout the usable life of the camera? Do you void warranty if you use another brand PS? I won't be buying these cameras.

That's not a problem at all. I have a wide assortment of heat shrink tubing that has an ID or 2" and smaller. Here's stuff we used for 500MCM cable that has a native ID of 2" and can shrink down to 0.63". Raychem makes some killer tubing that performs well. I wouldn't use anything else for direct burial or underground junction boxes.

True. I think one has to assess what he really wants to accomplish here. Most liquid tight boxes with the appropriate fittings and conduit are more than adequate for the task. As Matt pointed out the silcone grease does wonders for keeping moisture and water out of fittings, which we use. The OP was asking about sealing the connections, which when the camera is setup should never be touched again unless there is a problem. This heatshrink is easy to deal with should you need to gain access. Just score a line with a utility knife and heat up and it will split open like an over ripened watermelon and can be pulled off. Realistically, I never had many times where I had to open up a sealed connection other than to upgrade cameras. Of course, many find that using 3M electrical tape is fine for keeping water out of connections. Use what you feel works best for you are your customer's needs.

My suspicion here is the camera or power supply had other issues as there is no way in hell that 13.2VDC is going to fry a piece of equipment that is rated for 12v nominal. Most equipment (camera) comes with a built in voltage regulator that will drop the overvoltage down to what is needed. Any camera, no matter how expensive or how highly rated it is should be used if it is this sensitive to power fluctuations. Remember, we aren't using multi-thousand dollar lab grade power supplies in the field.

We use heat shrink tubing that has the thermoplastic adhesive on the inside. This stuff works so well it is designed for direct burial of high voltage cables. Here is a link that shows what the stuff looks like, but I don't know anything about this company and am not making any recommendations of where to buy the tubing. http://www.fab-corp.com/home.php?cat=280