WRS_Mark

bpzle, Just an idea, but considering this is as the OP stated, an install for some friends, would it be possible for him to install the system and have the owner just pay a licensed installer to stop in and sign off on it?

If it is going to be a toy more than anything, have you considered a good PTZ camera instead of fixed cameras? I always wanted to mount one on my house but because I have neighbors on all sides of me I cannot out of respect for their privacy. As for the DVR, I like PC based equipment simply because they are expandable and components are available everywhere should you decide to upgrade or need to replace a part.

250GB isn't a lot of storage space so if there are multiple cameras running at a reasonably high frame rate it would not surprise me if the recording is gone by now. My condolences for your monetary loss. Hopefully Indian banking laws will allow you to recover the money somehow.

Thanks Tom, I don't have an iPhone and figured that might be the case so I forwarded that information to my supplier in New Orleans and they loved it! And nice to see there are people with good taste in the UK.

Thanks for the information. I have a customer who has been driving me nuts about this. However, when I went to the site: http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/app-store.html , I typed averdigi (as well as several variations just to be sure) into the search box and there were no results. I hope this isn't another example of you tea sippers getting preferential treatment over us coffee guzzlers here in North America.

Thank you for the information. I think if I can get 3-5 years out of a standard housing before the thing looks as though it has been there since WW1 then everything is fine. The idea of spending, what? $500/housing for stainless steel (prices found online) versus less than $30/housing from my supplier for an aluminum housing on 32 cameras does seem a little crazy. I will just make sure to replace the fasteners with stainless steel before I perform the install.

It will be interesting to see how well the standard IP66 rated aluminum housings last. Thinking about it, I suppose it is tough to tell how well they will stand up in an environment with such a high salt content -much worse than ocean spray. I know this might sound nuts (and make you question whether I might be the guy connecting Bushnell binocular lenses to an IR camera and using it to zoom in on objects), but I was thinking even if applying a layer of heavy duty shrink wrap to the camera housing just to help protect the finish and improve the chances of the seals lasting by applying a seam of silicone where the housing clamps down. I suppose if the housings begin to prematurely corrode I could replace them with a stainless steel housings. It is a long term project with the plan to install at least 32 1.3MP IP cameras over the next little while so I will have the opportunity to change things. Still, it would be nice to do it right the first time out without going totally overkill.

Taking the Libertarian approach to life are we? That can sometimes work against you I suppose.....

Yeah, I did some looking around and you are correct about prices on the stainless steel housings. They are more expensive than the cameras. But this is one of those installations where the customer is not concerned about cost as the system is being used to monitor equipment for break downs, equipment becoming jammed or critical areas where machine failure is imminent, so if the system can save them from sudden downtime it pays for itself very, very quickly. And good point about the wipers. The way the areas is cleaned is by having a guy walk around with a pressure wand washing things down. I was thinking that if there is some left over residue on the window then the washer/wiper could be used to remove it.

Always being honest does not mean having to divulge ALL the unnecessary details.

I think I will just take my chances with electrocution instead. At least if someone finds me unconscious, I won't be lying on a bed of pre owned French Safes.

Thanks for the ideas. The Pelcos are very similar to what I am going to try first, with an application of silicone spray on the top, back, and sides just for good measure. They will get sprayed with a pressure washer from time to time as well (IP66 rated). The stainless steel housings definitely look like the way to go for the next phase. Especially the units with the washer/wiper combination. Appreciate the suggestions.

Nice! So you get to wear a HAZMAT suit AND deal with the excessive heat, eh?

The owner really wanted to make sure he got his money's worth out of you, didn't he?

Indeed. Certainly there must be some insane install photos out there. It could become a Sticky here. Even ones which turn out all professional looking and such but with a high degree of difficulty such as, well, mounting a camera in a waterfall to monitor fish impacts on the rocks below would be information worth spreading.

Welcome to the forum. The place is packed with unbelievably knowledgeable people. It's time well spent here.

You should just have to flip the switch at the back.

Nasty. I hate being on a steel building in hot weather. Helped a friend install a camera system at his acreage in late June when it was in the mid-30's Celsius. Had to wrap the cables around a communications line from the Quonset (Galvanized Steel building -might as well have been on top of an oven when I mounted the cameras) to the house while standing in the bucket of a tractor. I would post a picture of that but that might not be a good example of "Professional Installation Procedures".

Like Soundy wrote, it isn't ideal and I wouldn't recommend it myself unless it is the only option. I haven't used it but I did an expansion to an existing system a while back where the installer ran a pair to a 12V DC to a box style camera and the other pair to a 24V AC heated housing. It had been operating for 4 years like that without a hitch on a 150' run.

That was a month ago. Temperature was in the mid 20's Fahrenheit with a quick dump of snow, so not bad. It has warmed up since. Winter is okay for doing installs. You just have to pick your days so as not to cause damage to the cables when you are running them outside by flexing them too much. Just keep your hands warm and only out of gloves for short periods of time. I had a customer call who needed a repair done on his Trango receiver last winter. It was about -15c that day (a heat wave considering how cold it normally was) and I had to climb up a 65' high tower, found that a wire just needed to be cleaned up at the contact point. Lightly sanded it and reinstalled it. Not so fun but money is money.

Oh! I just remembered I took some pictures from another repair I did for a customer. He had the system installed this summer and a connection failed to one of the cameras. The customer had the installer move a camera up on the house from the original position so he drilled a hole THROUGH the eaves trough, nearly hit the heat tape in the trough and then sealed it up with silicone. Of course, the trough began to leak water onto his outdoor light. The customer mentioned to the company that installed it that I was located nearby and that I would be able to repair the connection. That was great as far as they were concerned but it turned out they will not pay for the repair. I sent these photos to the surveillance company manager, never got a reply and when the customer went in to see what they were going to do he was told I have no idea what I'm talking about and that everything was fine. I included the shot of the front door in my email and politely explained that it looked pretty sloppy. Oh well, I guess I just don't know what I'm talking about......LOL It's a pretty old house owned by retirees, but still no reason to make it look like that.

You know, the company I am doing this re installation for did unsuccessfully try to track down the installer who put together the original system, probably to draw and quarter him. Maybe he is now doing installations in the Bahamas. Did you look to see if there was any speaker wire run to conduit boxes on the roof?

This could turn into a pretty long topic of discussion. My supplier in New Orleans sent the following picture to me a while back when I first started on my nightmare repair. It is a DVR which was housed in a barn. Probably with the animals. Apparently it smells as bad as it looks. You know, I really should ask them to send me up that DVR (if customs would allow it through), combine it with the mutilated RG-6, the speaker wire, conduit boxes, maybe some used transformers and the cameras I will be removing and just offer it to the next jerk that calls me wanting a used multi camera system with all the bells and whistles but who only has $250 to spend including installation...... I would have to record their reaction to that one when I show up with their equipment.

No soldering. That is fused/melted something or other, but not one of the prongs. I could not find them. Those yellowish/pink wires used to be clear speaker wires and are still live. They were taped to the prongs on the transformers. The installer didn't believe in connectors other than to put a splice in the RG-6 every 30-50 feet or so. - And he was using 1000' spools of the stuff. An electrician is coming to trace the live wires that I could not trace to their source. I found one that runs into the side of an electrical outlet box. I give the original installer a 9.5 for originality and a 0.5 for execution.

The camera worked! Sort of. It generated a kind of really low resolution B&W image before it would go gray screen. Also the image was reversed in that what was actually to the left showed up to the right. Out of 15 cameras 5 kind of work to different degrees of bad and really bad and one is acceptable. I asked if I could have the old camera as kind of a keepsake and possibly a donation if and when someone opens a Museum of Hillbilly Engineering, so I will remove it and take the thing home when I return with their new cameras in a couple of weeks. Now I will also have the perfect offering for those cheapskates who call me and want to know if I have any used cameras available. Also, here are a couple of shots of the roof mounted and not-so-sealed-after-all conduit boxes with the indoor use transformers mentioned above: I know this should really be under the Installations section. My apologies.