Numb-nuts

of course the other advantage of using a cat5e cable for RS485 is that should you suffer a failure of one conductors you have three other pairs to switch to. (Assuming your video signal and power are on another cable) With 10m or less, it's often cheaper to buy a ready made cat5 cable and chop the ends off.

That's not a bad idea! I might look into that. Of course if may not give me the cover Iwant but I won't know unless I ask around.

Does anyone know of an insurer the UK that has a policy that can cover CCTV equipment? I know it sounds easy but I have tried and they either tell me it's covered under the buildings insurance but only up to a ridiculously small limit. I live in a housing association house and they cover the buildings insurance, my contents policy won't cover the CCTV cameras and I have an expensive dome camera at the front of the property. I cannot find an insurer?

I think the idea of using PIRs is probably going to be my best option for getting around the rain setting off my DVRs motion sensor recording. If I get a pet friendly one it may stop that darned cat from setting it off too and the shadows from the trees out of frame on a sunny day. As for using separate IR lights, the camera has built in infrared and the lighting it gives is just right. This particular location, there is only space for a single unit on the wall as it's tight and looking around a wall corner. The camera is quite exposed, but I read somewhere that spider spray applied to a piece of cotton wool and tucked into the camera works well for longer periods. If I tuck it under the sun visor that might help a bit. I don't mind leaving the feather duster tied to a 3m conduit pipe as it only takes a few seconds to clear the spiders webs and it is at my own home so I don't have to travel anywhere to do this. Just have to buy another feather duster for the house. Blasted spiders

That covert clock camera is one of the best I've ever seen. If you hadn't shown a close up of the hole, I might never have spotted it, ( well OK maybe after a while). I was aware that the pinholle cameras were the really useful for peering through tiny holes. I have seen one that is hidden in a IP65 junction box seen them in cereal boxes and of course my favorite, in a false ring-binder file on an office shelf. My all time no1 favorite for imagination was a super-mini wireless camera in a Ketchup Bottle this was something I saw on TV and it was a student apartment and one room mate was stealing the other's food, but nobody knew who it was. It was made a bit crudely but it worked and looked great, until you have a yearning for some ketchup. I have seen on ebay a safe money-hideaway which is disguised as a can of beans. I suppose you could use that with a pinhole lens too. I am amazed to hear anyone say a 50 mm lens for a board camera, but yesterday I was reading a post from a member asking other about 123 Security Products and they have the largest range of any supplier I have EVER seen. Shame I'm in the UK, you Americans are spoiled for choice both in CCTV and in woodworking supplies (my other passion) I was amazed to see a 50 mm board-camera lens (very narrow field of view) I also looked at housings and especially vandal-resistant. (nothing is Vandal-proof. We have to take what we can get here in the UK or send off the china or the US.

Considering their size, I think there are a reasonably good range of lenses. Obviously, there is a size limitation, but taking that into consideration there are auto Iris varifocal lenses that push the limits in terms of physical size but then if the camera was being used in a covert situation, it would be that much further away so not so noticeable. This is about as big as they get. I've not seen larger, but a 2.5mm lens gives an approximate horizintal angle of around 90 degrees and a 22 mm gives an angle of around 16 degrees. You can do a fair bit with a range like that. I think it's a 4 - 9 mm vari-focal, but where could you hide it, in a bird nesting box perhaps?

On the camera in question, cat5 cable was used, (interior grade) with a pair of passive baluns as the run was only 7 meters. The camera in question is an Eneo board camera 600 TVL and the picture couldn't be better now. Razor sharp in fact.

I have installed an Eneo board camera into a vandal-resistant housing less than 21ft (of cat5) away from my DVR. I have diagonal bars rippling across the screen although the clarity is quite good otherwise. The power is supplied through a regulated 12v 9 x output box which in turn is supplied by a dedicated spur from my electricity distribution box. Another camera supplied on the same PS shows no ripple so I doubt this is a ground loop problem especially as the PSU is brand new. There is a good chance the PSU is not the problem and I don't think there is a ground loop problem. I am going to remove and re-connect all my connections tomorrow in desperation. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. WHY ME?

How frustrating! I think if the user name is typically admin and then as was said earlier the default password is likely to be username duplicated. i.e. admin (case sensitive) also, as was said before, remove the battery or reset the system by removing the battery jumper. That should set the system to it's default settings and try again. Both things together could be your solution. Good luck!

The cable to just one of my cameras cost more than $24?

When kids ring your doorbell and run away, its a prank but when young adults do it it's a malicious act and an arrest-able offence here in the UK. Once the message gets around you can't do that without getting caught I hope they'll stop now. All my efforts were not i vain, I captured two of the idiots tonight and police apparently know who they are. They are going to wait until the early hours to call on this girl and cause the maximum inconvenience to her family as they don't do anything to stop her. According to the policewoman this girl is a menace in the area.

I don't have the relevant experience to comment however if I wanted to investigate the possibilities, I would be looking toward control software applications try the following sites CCTV Software ICatcher Console Personally I prefer the easier trade in suggestion, earlier, it will be easier to operate and maintain, less to go wrong and of course there is a small level of profit to be had on top.

I could never use a dog as a weapon even though I am a former owner of Giant Schnauzers. The consequences of a dog biting are too severe on the dog, that would not be fair>

Thats great, thanks for that!

I just bought a roll of RG59 + 2 to install my PTZ camera which is 24VAC and the power supply is a 3 amp (I have not seen any quotes for the current drain) The power pair is smaller than I expected it to be @ 2 x 0.75mm2. I king of expected it to be about 1.5mm2 What is the correct calculation (formula) to work out what size conductors I need for low voltage AC or DC voltage please? Also, a second calculation for voltage drop with distance might be helpful for the future. Forgive my ignorance but if you don't ask you don't learn right?

It is quite common to have the foil shield as well as the braid, in 75ohm cable in the UK. particularly with shotgun cable. Don't ask me why I am sure there is an explanation but I am unaware of it. Could it be to do with our damp climate perhaps? The foil shield under the braid is supposed to be either a vapor barrier or loss protection I am not really sure?. I am guessing here, but at the terminated end, it would not make that much difference if you cut the foil back. If you did leave it intact and push it into the connector body, there is a good chance of shorting the connection, so why take risk? It's still in contact with the braiding. If the cable has a foil and no braid, get rid of it as quick as you can, it isn't suitable for cctv. Good description soundy, I completely understood your description.

MY PTZ Dome Camera is a Xvision XSD27ZS used with an Iplex controller

You are welcome here Pat, I have learned a lot on her and contributed a little. Yes the pros are on here some of them get a little shirty when you suggest something they don't approve of but they don't mean any harm. Really they are a seriously well experienced and deal with equipment most of us amateurs can only dream of. One of the gripes the pros on here have is people trying to do things with cameras that weren't designed for the job. In a way I agree, if you want a camera to do a specific job, you need to invest in a camera that is designed for the job and not try and work around with something thats not. Fine with commercial customers, they should pay for the correct euipment, but us amateurs and DIY'ers can't always justify the expense of special cameras. Never the less, I have had some excellent advice and learned a lot I might otherwise have spent years finding out. The Pros are very generous with their advice and I have read some excellent posts on here. Good DIY skills are helpful too.

When I install these Power plugs, at the camera end, although I enclose them in a IP66 junction box, I usually slip a short length of 10 mm heat-shrink (adhesive lined) over one of the plugs and after engaging the plugs, pull it back over the join, then shrink it to secure them. Great to have a handy butane gas heat torch, fits neatly in the pocket or tool pouch.

I have installed a number of cameras in a number of locations over the years, not professionally of course, but the one thing that has puzzled me all this time was that whenever I fitted 2.1mm DC line plugs I often noticed a very loose fit in many of them, usually when I solder one on to make a custom power lead for wireless cameras. It's not a major discovery and may seem rather a small issue to many of you but it has worried me in the past. I have now discovered that the DC plugs come four distinct sizes. CCTV manufacturers use the 2.1mm x 5.5mm short. Specifying 21.mm is not enough as often I have been buying 2.1mm x 5.00mm short or long and hence the poor fit. I know that most of you will yawnat this but I posted this in case anyone else has encounterd the same problem

I have to admit to being tempted sometimes, but I am one of those people who are always looking for the correct solution or a better solution. The Molex are a particularly good idea as they are readily available, and you can add RS485 telemetry wires in the spare terminals, but you do need the correct crimp tool, I have the AMP superchamp so I can crimp those. I have to admit though that rather than hunt down RS485 connectors, I prefer to use 1 amp connector block but I feel a bit guilty doing it. By the way the short connectors are 9 or 10 mm and the long are either 14 or 15 mm long

Just for the sake of a few pence, I have decided now to buy BNC and other crimps from Farnell and RS Components. I know they only sell quality brand connectors like Tyco eTC Yes they cost a bit more but if a BNC fails you need to buy anotther and go replace it too better to pay twice the price and get a better BNC crimp What worried me though, when I ordered them they arrived with the words TYCO 'made in taiwan' so I am assuming they were made to a quality specification for Tyco. They appear to be a good quality but appearances as we all know can be deceptive. These are the Farnell Offerings BNC Crimps Tyco BNC Crimps Multicomp BNC Line Jack crimps Tyco / Greenpar BNC Line Jacks Tyco

Very useful Soundy, could you elaborate please, for those of us that didn't go to school when they should have?

I have only one 27 x zoom PTZ camera at home. The reason I got it was because I want to get close up shots of the troublemakers that loiter in my street so I can support a diary proving it is a regular and frequent occurrence and that the young adults are often intoxicated and extremely intimidating to residents, guests and passers by. When I sit at my computer, I can see and view the street from my CCTV monitor. When something occurs I want to instantly record, so I thought that I would put a toggle switch in one of the DVR's alarm ports and set the record to alarm in so I can just flip the switch, recording the 20 seconds before the alarm triggers and all the action until it is switched off again. Can anyone see any obvious flaws in this strategy?

I'm sitting here grinning thinking should I shouldn't I ? No I'll leave that to your imagination chaps then you've nobody to blame but yourselves.