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You might want to see if this fits the bill for you. Not sure about the direct burial aspect, but I have bought , and used this cable , from this Ebay seller. Can't beat the price, and free shipping. See Ebay auction number 300063474522 titled " New RG59 Coax Cable ....."

I have done exactly that with the motion sensors and strobe lights many times. No relays needed. Built my first one for my parents about 5 years ago. Use strobe lights off of electric lift truck. Most run from 12vdc to 48vdc. Don't consume too much amperage, maybe 1 or 2 amps at most. I found motion sensors very cheap on Ebay , that have 12 vdc outputs. Output contacts were rated for small amperage, but 5 years later, still going strong! I did the first one for my parents, so as anyone walks up to front walkway towards front door, output goes to strobe in back yard, underneath patio cover. Look for Microstrobe brand, or Firestar. Just check voltage. Next time you are out at your local Home Depot, Lowes, Costco, etc. check out strobes used on their electric lift trucks, they're on there for safety. When my son was in high school, I wired up the same strobe to the garage door, with a limit switch being held when door was closed. When he used to sneak in on weekend nights, limit switch would close contacts, then operating strobe in hallway to let me know he was coming in through garage door. Single father, teenage son, .......poor kid. Any more help, just ask!!

A neighbor of mine came up to me today , and asked if it were possible for me to put up a camera on my house, to watch his house. Never thought of that before, but I do have cameras watching my driveway, etc. that do view most of his house, about 100 feet away ( none wireless though ). Since my business background has no "wireless transmission" in it, I thought I would bring this up to the forum to see what sort of answers I could get. Looking away from ones' residence is one thing, but looking AT it is something else. Neighbor is across the street, at an angle to my view. Is it possible for simple wireless transmitter and receiver to go just a short distance? without spending thousands of $$?? Any suggestions? Thanks!!

I would need to send the signal about 100 feet to my neighbors' house. I might try one of the cheap 2.4Ghz transmitters I see on Ebay. Just not going to spend too much money on this, since it is not for me. I see wireless transmission projects, including some Pelcos and Vicons , on Ebay once in awhile.

Hello y'all !!, Got a couple of wiring questions concerning motorized lens connections. I would like to know how anyone else has terminated connections for motorized lenses, without using "factory made" controllers? In other words, how did you switch polarity on a Zoom lens, if you wired it outside a factory control panel? Did you use a specific relay? Actually need some sort of wiring diagram, that would be helpful. Thanks for any and all replys!!

Figured it out! I had to use two relays for each motorized function. One relay sends out "+" on one pole and "-" on another pole when "fired". The second relay does just the opposite. Used the NC contacts of dual pole relays . I used the NC contact of relays on my RF board to fire lens relays. In other words, my 12 relays RF board utilizes 10 of the relays (10 different frequencies) to control Pan, Tilt, Zoom, Focus , and Iris. Two relays each function. Can sit in living room and wirelessly control all functions. Works great.

I have never made any video into the DVD format, even though I have a DVD burner on the home PC and laptop. None of my videos, I don't believe, would be even allowable in a typical courtroom. I have made them for business owners, and the local cops only. Any of the videos I have made for anyone, are all capable of playing in a PC, as I check them out beforehand. I will always ask a business owner if they have Windows Media Player, as for me, that seems the easiest way to play (open) the video on a CDR. Although I have never made a video over 10 minutes in length, I have "cut and edited" scenes to show, for example, a car passing by several times within a certain time period. By using my Windows Movie Maker program, I can add music (sometimes breaks the monotony of the watcher) and describe upcoming scenes by adding titles before the scene, so someone can watch for a certain person in the movie. I usually save all the videos to an external hard drive for later.

I do believe that once a hard drive is formatted for a DVR, for the most part, it cannot be placed , ever again, into an operating PC, and vice versa. Different systems that read and write independently of each others program. Totally different. The best bet to retrieve video is to put the DVR output directly into the capture card and record the video into another file format, onto a laptop hard drive. This way your laptop, or PC writes the digital video into its' own readable file. Getting the video onto a CDR is another problem, but one step at a time!!

I hope this is simple for someone out there. I recently purchased a Computar Motorized lens , but with Auto Iris. The motorized connections are easy to figure out and deal with, but not so on the AI function. I guess I have never actually wired up the AI pin, as every lens I have ever purchased before, came pre-wired, as I guess 99% are. Anyway, I was hoping someone could help me figure out the wiring part. The lens will go on a Sony SSC-DC393 Color Cam. The lens actually, was used, so I got a great deal. I tested the zoom, and focus motors, both work perfect, just need help in the AI wiring. I know my camera is functioning OK, as I can take another AI lens, and both work OK. Only 4 wires, but cannot get any combination to work. Thanks for all the help/suggestions!!

I myself have had to do that several times, in order to make something (video) that can be viewed on a normal PC. I take my laptop to the business. My laptop has a "capture card" which allows me to take the output of the DVR ( I usually take along several fittings to allow me to "T" into the line) into my laptops' hard drive. This function saves the video as an .avi file. Don't laugh, but I sometimes import this into Windows Movie Maker, making a "movie" for the local cops. Definitely wouldn't make it into court with such a thing, but at least the local cops know who to look out for. A couple of years ago, on Christmas Day even, a "jogging burglar" had broken into three cars, parked in a parking lot of local business. I added Christmas Music to the Windows Movie Maker movie of the burglar. The local Deputy got a kick out of it. Of course they already knew who the burglar was, the movie just helped it go from 99% to 100% for them. Like I said, I don't think it would stand up in court, but at least they know who the perp is.

Thanks. So there is a way to "bypass" the AI function on this lens, and allow the camera itself to take over the iris function? I might have to do that. When you did that particular operation, how did it turn out? Viewing OK?

Thanks, did all that already. Thought there might be something I missed on the lens. Could be the AI part of the lens is bad?? Any other suggestions?

The lens is a Computar model # T6Z5710AMS-CS. It still has the tag on both the motorized part, and on the AI cord. Never tried it, but the paperwork shows 9VDC going to AI. Could I use a 9v battery to open up iris???? Lens was hardly used, kept in housing all the time. I have wiring diagram in box, so that is not the problem. I actually never saw lens in action, so other than the two motors, I can't honestly state that the AI function works. I have another Computar lens, similiar to this, but with motorized iris, and it works on same camera. Just one less motor to deal with, on AI lens I guess.

Thanks for the reply. I was sort of hoping to see if anyone had done this motorized lens wiring with relays, as I have designed and built a RF wireless remote control panel that allows my P/T unit to operate wirelessly. It is a Vicon 24VAC model. I bought a RF unit (board) with built-in relays, and use 4 of them on the Pan/tilt to operate, but would like to operate the motorized lens also. From my panel, to the pan/tilt I use Belden 9-conductor cable, and would have to add more conductors on the next test. My RF board is contained inside the "home built" panel, but there are several relays not being used at present. My cameras function well, as does the Vicon Pan/Tilt unit, I would just like to add one of my Computar motorized lenses in the future. I know about the 9-volt battery thing, I do it often, and it works well for the testing. I run my cameras on 12VDC from a power supply, also contained in my "home built" panel. This also allows me to run a small 12VDC fan, when my cameras switch to color in the daytime. Thanks!!

What makes a camera a true day/night camera? Is it the mechanical way of the camera switching from color to b/w? I always believed that cameras basically just "dropped" out of color mode when they reached a certain low lux setting. My understanding is that most manufacturers just drop the color out, and nothing actually changes in the actual view (TV lines)? If it is the mechanical "switch", how many true day/night cameras are there?

Just wondering if anyone out there knows how to find out which 1/3" b/w box cameras, from the major manufacturers, would have the Sony Exview chip in them? I know which of the Pelcos do, but just not that familiar with the other brands. I imagine one of the Sony SSC lines probably do also?. Thanks.

I had a spare housing/camera combo , so I did a favor for my neighbor last year. The camera lens was a 2.8-10mm AI lens, so I just turned it up to zoom in (across the street) on their pickup. Directed one of my IR floods at the pickup for a week or so. Had good video of teenagers breaking into the neighbors truck. It did help, though, as my two other cameras on the front, both using 2.8mm AI lens, to see where the troublemakers came from, and where they went after breaking into the truck. That made a lot of difference, as they had been walking by his truck every night at around midnight, coming from the same direction every time. I made a video CD for the neighbor and he recognized the pair of thieves as neighborhood kids.

Got the two IR Led w/housings for around $150 total. They are 12vdc, so had to get a decent power supply for them. Only draw around 20 watts, so won't break the bank here. Photocell control. If you walk by and stare real closely at night, you can see a slight red glow, but you really have to look closely. I installed them under the eaves of my home, about 20 feet from the sidewalk. I know they are cheapies, but when it comes to IR's, I am still in the "test driving" phase. Nothing like spending hundreds of dollars for something you wish you hadn't.

I have mostly used Hoffman Panels. Hoffman makes steel, stainless steel, fiberglass panels. Have used all three designs for indoors and outdoors. You just might have to make your own subpanel to mount inside, but sometimes they come installed. Their stainless panels are super expensive , as one would think, but when there is an auction at a large company closing, warehouse sale, etc. , they sell for 10 cents on the dollar!

My thought is that you are getting a "reflection " from the IR LED's on the camera lens. Had that same thing happen before. Does the problem only show up at night when the IR's are on?

I have a similiar problem as his van , parking across the street. In fact, the two times my neighbors' pickup was broken into, I had the hoodlums on video. Mainly, it was my Pelco b/w with the Exview CCD (of course the new IR LED's helped). I put my IR right on my neighbors' pickup, looked light daylight!! Helped to identify local (two blocks away) hoodlums. Look into an IR floodlight !!

Don't laugh, but if you think that the 120vac circuit itself is losing power, there is an old trick to try. Find a 120vac digital alarm clock, probably like the one you have on your nightstand. Take any backup battery out. Plug that into a receptacle you are having problems with. If and when that receptacle loses power for a few seconds or so, the alarm clock will start flashing, as if it needs to have the time reset. Don't forget to take the backup battery out first

You bet my fingers were cramping when I got done. And those of my son, who just happened to drive over to borrow some money from me. Guess what he did for his "borrowed" money! Glad I was off that day, and it was raining. I did end up buying another IR LED arrangement, with 140 LED's, and it works very well. Have had it powered up for many months now and still going strong. Uses 12vdc and gives a pretty good pattern. Definitely "lights up" my driveway area enough to make me happy I bought it. I put two in, one under each eave in corner of driveway, get excellent coverage that way.

My coax feed goes straight back to my DVR. I originally had it going through a Pelco Multiplexer, 16 channel, that I bought used. I took that one signal from the multiplexer and had it go into just one channel of the DVR (for one month , for testing purposes) Since I wasn't home all the time, I wanted something to verify when the cameras switched from one mode to the other via the photocell. There is no data/signals going through my home made photocell panel, only 120vac and 24vac. What I did on my DVR is to use the BNC "T" adapters. Two cameras feed into each incoming port, one b/w and one color. Since the power goes through the relay system, only one can be powered up at any time. I had to quiet down the DVR "loss of signal siren" , as when the cameras switch over to b/w mode, the DVR , for a few seconds, loses , and then regains the incoming camera feed signal. Been pretty busy lately, had to work all weekend, so will get that schematic done ASAP. Like I stated before, the reason for all this , and I didn't know someone made a panel for this, was that I just couldn't get the best of both worlds in cameras. My cameras that have the Sony Exview in them are outstanding at night, especially with the IR. But watching my front door in the daytime, I just couldn't beat my JVC color.

Tried to build my own by using IR Leds' bought off internet. Big Pain In The xxx (BPITA). Soldering them yourself it super tedious, and when you get done, you have to go buy outdoor mount for it. Went to Home Depot and bought regular outdoor floodlight housing, took out internals, and installed LED board. In the end, I didn't save anything , cost wise. Maybe someone else has had better luck with home-made IR's?