Horizon

Hi Tom. The CDS is a light dependent resistor (LDR). It is part of the LED light boards like these: http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=AS_20160520030659&SearchText=ir+led+board+for+cctv The LDR is the small thing with the tube fitted over it. I expect it's connected directly to the CDS connector. You'll probably need to do some soldering to get one of the lights boards set up, as they don't appear to come with connecting leads. BTW, their 20-50m distance claim is often lies. It depends on how sensitive your camera is, and the one you linked to (1.0lux at F1.2) isn't very sensitive to low light. I also would have expected the camera's IR OUT connector to go to the IR board, so the camera can control it. Instead it goes to the lens, so not sure how the LEDs will be turned off during the day?! You might end up having both the lens and LEDs connected to the IR OUT socket.

Hello naiefelyemeni. I suspect part of your problem is that you've used To use twisted-pair for video, the video must travel through only one twisted-pair. So connect video pos to one wire, and neg to the other. The remaining twisted pair is unused (or you can use the wires for power as well). Use a balun at each end (camera and DVR).This might fix your video problems. You might be able to use copper-clad aluminium for short distances. At least it's not as horrible as copper-clad steel. Full copper is best for CCTV. The camera works without the negative power terminal connected because the camera designer has done a bit of a cheapy, and hasn't used an isolated power supply. The power supply negative is connected to the coax shield inside the camera. Basically you have a ground loop, which could mess up your images. Since you have a spare twisted-pair, you could try using this pair as an extra negative (ground) for the power supply. This might help stop some of the power supply current from travelling through the video twisted pair. So your cable would have: one pair for video one pair for power positive two pairs for power negative.

Hi JoshNZ. Yeah, it should work fine through your TV. The manual for your camera is here: https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CDIQFjAEahUKEwjGxKvQ6NzHAhWhG6YKHbSIBrs&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpdfstream.manualsonline.com%2F8%2F8ead7175-2659-43cc-b714-ed0193b49ca9.pdf&usg=AFQjCNH3wfqE44RsF3gZVxEYuu60fvpPvg The connection details are on page 15. Is this the one you're looking at? You might need to check the UTP jumpers. The jumpers must be connected. The UTP thing is for Unshielded Twisted Pair (Cat5E or Cat6 wire). It's no good unless you have the optional module described in the manual, so stick with coax. UTP is excellent for long distances, but you need a balun at each end.

Sure, this is mostly from memory, so lets see... I mostly play around with Ubuntu, so this description is from that point of view. Basically, the method involves using a packet sniffer to capture the camera's IP address when the camera is powered on. When the camera starts, it will either announce itself to the network, or request an IP address from a DHCP server. Yes, depending on who has been messing around with it, it may have either a dynamic (assigned by a DHCP server) or static (assigned by a human) address. What you need in the way of hardware is: PC or laptop running Ubuntu, with an Ethernet port A connection to the internet (to download stuff) A router that's running a DHCP server. You're probably already using one to connect to the internet. The tools you need are: VLC (a handy media player) TCPDUMP (a basic packet sniffer) To install the tools, on your PC open the terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T), and use the commands: sudo apt-get update (this updates your software repository) sudo apt-get install vlc (apt-get installs software - it saves messing about with the mouse) sudo apt-get install tcpdump "sudo" means that you are using elevated permissions to poke about with important parts of the operating system. It will ask you for your password, to make sure that you know what you're doing (or in my case, that I think I know, but probably don't). You want to do the next bit when your network is quiet, in other words when no-one is streaming videos, youtubing, or torrenting. Otherwise the camera's brief burst of activity will be hidden beneath a load of network traffic. Plug the camera into the router, and get ready to apply power. On the PC, use the command sudo tcpdump -i eth0 (eth0 is the copper/RJ45 Ethernet port connecting the PC to the router) Check that there isn't much activity, then turn the camera on. Within about 30 seconds or so, the camera should either announce its IP address, or request an address from the DHCP router. Either way, you now have the address! If you type that address into your web browser, it will (hopefully) take you to the camera's home page. And now you can see whether you know the username and password, or if it's time to start guessing!! If the camera is on a different sub net (ie the PC address is 192.168.15.1.5 and the camera's is 192.170.15.7) then you can temporarily change the PC's IP address onto the camera's sub net. If you're on different sub nets, then the PC will not be able to talk to the camera. To temporarily change the PC network address: sudo ifconfig eth0 down sudo ifconfig -a eth0 192.170.15.9 netmask 255.255.255.0 (192.170.15.9 is for example!!) sudo ifconfig eth0 up The PC network address is now 192.170.15.9, but it will return to its original address when it is next rebooted. The VLC media player is useful in that it can display the RTSP video feed from the camera. Instructions are here: http://www.ipcam-shop.nl/media/foscam-faq/MJPEG/How%20to%20get%20video%20stream%20on%20VLC%20media%20player.pdf VLC is also available for Windows. Anyway, there's probably an error two or three in the above, but that's pretty much how I got the last piece of junk camera going. Have fun!

Hi there thetester. Swan claim that the camera can be powered from a 12 volt 2 amp plug pack, so you could try this before getting a POE switch. Actually, is this a POE camera, or the 12 volt only one? There seem to be a couple of options for the NHD-815, which is the closest match I can find to the SRNHD-815CAM. Basically, the NVR (or PC NVR) connects to the IP camera over a network, and requests images from it. These images can come in several formats, but the one I'll concentrate on is the MJPEG. See the "IP camera" and "M-JPEG over HTTP" headings here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_JPEG So the NVR requests MJPEGs using RTSP, and the camera sends a rapid-fire stream of JPEG images to the NVR, which then either copies these images to the hard disk, or has to decompress them to perform motion detection. A dedicated NVR has it easy - it has special hardware to do the JPEG decompression (similar to turning the JPG image back into a bit map). This makes the dedicated NVR very efficient, and it uses less electricity. The PC (being a "jack of all trades, master of none" type device) has to do the decompression in software. This is very inefficient, and the CPU has to devote a lot of resources to this task. Then it has to do the motion detection, which uses even more resources. As a consequence, the PC based NVR can be very power hungry, and run up a big electricity bill. You have to factor in the running costs of PC versus NVR. With a 16 camera setup, you could liken the PC to playing 16 BluRay movies simultaneously. Quite the workload! To lighten the amount of work, you can specify that the camera sends less images per second. Instead of (say) 25 per second, you could use 5. The motion looks more jerky, but the NVR only has to do 1/5th the work. ONVIF is a standard (or bunch of standards) that allow better interoperability between cameras and NVRs from different manufacturers. If your cameras and NVR are compliant with ONVIF (or ONVIF2.xx) then there is an excellent chance that they will work together. Unfortunately I don't think your NHD-815 supports ONVIF. The major challenge with IP cameras and NVRs (those that don't support ONVIF) is adding foreign cameras to them. The cameras from different manufacturers have different methods of requesting the RTSP stream. Many DVRs (especially the budget ones) are designed to only work with cameras from their own manufacturer. In your case, the Swan NHD-815 camera only works with the NVR4-73XX™, NVR8-73XX™ & NVR16-73XX™ recorders. See here: http://www.swann.com/us/swnhd-815cam You have a faulty one of these recorders, right?? However, PCs, being a "Jack of all trades" are very flexible, and if you can find out the RTSP stream, the NVR software (EpiCam, ISpy, Zoneminder, etc) might work with it. Having done some searching, this site: https://www.epicamera.com/camera_model.php?iId=944 claims the RTSP stream should be: http://[iPADDRESS]/videostream.asf?usr=[uSERNAME]&pwd=[PASSWORD] This site: http://www.swann.com/us/downloads/dl/file/id/1289/MPOECAM171213E_Web.pdf claims that the defaults are: [uSERNAME] = admin [PASSWORD] = 12345 Hopefully no one has changed the password! So if you know the camera's IP address, you should be able access the images. I can provide info on how to discover the IP address if anyone's interested. This post has become a bit long

Hi Karl. You probably need to adjust the back-focus on the camera. The adjustment allows the camera and lens to stay in focus when zoomed in and out. The procedure is something like this: http://www.vicon-security.com/Collateral/Documents/English-US/support/LensBackfocusAdjustmentPr.PDF Note that it may take several adjustments at max. zoom-in and zoom-out to get the back-focus adjusted correctly. BTW, so did they say what was wrong with the lens?

Hi Karl. That box acts as a remote control for the iris. The dial is attached to a variable resistor (although I haven't seen one that looks quite like that), which combined with the fixed resistor, allows the voltage on the white wire to vary between zero volts (iris open) and probably around 1 volt (iris closed). Have you tried connecting the lens to these red, black, and white wires, and adjusting the dial?

Hi Karl. I had a look at some old (1980's era) video-iris lenses, and the both opened their irises when I connected a 9 volt battery across the red and black wires. The only modern Computar motorised zoom I have uses a motor-driven iris. It acts as a remote controlled manual iris, with no automatic features. I think it is a T10Z0612MSP. The connection to the iris on my lens is through the white and brown wires. A 9 volt battery connected positive terminal to white opens the iris, connected positive to brown closes it. The only other problem I can think of with your lens is the yellow wire. It's for a remote ALC control, and might need to be connected. What's written on the label attached to the iris cable on your lens? What does it say about the yellow wire?

Hmmmm. It might be that the battery isn't "fresh" enough, and the iris is stuttering. It should be nearly silent when operating, and will take a couple of seconds to fully open. I doubt the lens is faulty - it looks very clean and well cared for. I think I have one of these stashed away somewhere (not 30x sadly). I'll see if I can dig it out tonight and have a play. Your other option is to replace the 9v battery with a 12v plug pack. The battery is best to start with, because wiring mistakes are likely to be less damaging to the lens. The lens is designed to be powered by 12v from the camera. The simplest solution for you is to find someone to solder an iris plug onto the cable. It's pretty much guaranteed to work then, but it is fun to experiment

Hi SpacedOut. That's a seriously nice lens - 30x zoom! I've got a couple of older lenses similar to this one (only 10x zoom), but mine use a motor to drive the iris, I think yours uses a galvanometer type movement. Is this the data sheet for the lens? http://www.rmaelectronics.com/content/ComputarGanz-Lenses/H30Z1015AMS.pdf Yes, connecting the red, black, and white wires to a camera that supports video auto iris should work fine. Otherwise, you can probably trick the lens to fully open the iris. I'm assuming the iris is closed at the moment? I haven't tried the following, but in theory it should work... The iris cable should have four wires inside it: Red, black, white, and yellow. For the purpose of this experiment, we'll power the iris from a 9 volt battery; the kind you use in a smoke detector or remote control. Connect the red wire to the battery positive, and both the black and white wires to the battery negative. Ignore the yellow wire. In theory, this should open the iris. What happens is that the "video auto iris" monitors the video signal, and adjusts the iris so that the video signal from the camera sits at a particular level. Kind of like cruise control on a car. What you've done with the battery is that you've powered up the iris controller, which is monitoring the video signal on the white wire. Since there is no signal there, the controller commands the iris to open so that the camera image becomes brighter, and the video signal stronger. Since the signal can't get stronger, the iris fully opens. Disconnect the battery, and see if the iris stays open. If it closes, then its using a galvanometer style movement, with a return spring. You'll need to permanently apply power to keep the iris open, in which case you could replace the 9 volt battery with a 12 volt plug pack, or anything between 8.5 volts and 16 volts - don't exceed 16 volts or you'll wreck the lens! Also, make sure the plug pack is direct current (DC), not AC. If you want to use the auto-iris function, you could probably feed some of the composite video signal out of the camera into the white wire. It's slightly more complex, and probably not necessary if you're using this lens for astronomy. BTW, the "level" and "ALC" don't use buttons, they are trimmers used to adjust the image brightness, and how sensitive the iris is to bright objects in the image (peak and average). The buttons you are looking for will be dust caps.

Hi alroogy1959. I can't really provide too much detail on this ('cause I'm not familiar with your setup) but... On your side of the router (the LAN side), the Samsung DVR must have a different IP address, but can use the same ports. On the Internet side of the router, the two DVRs will appear to have the same IP, but must have different ports. This is done through the router's NAT (Network Address Translation) feature. You need to choose new port numbers, and set NAT so that the ports you assigned to the Samsung are routed/translated to the Samsung's IP address and ports. Like what you did with your first DVR. When you remote-view the DVRs, you use the same IP address for both of them, but different ports. This is because when looking at the router from the Internet, the router only provides one IP address. The DVR remote access software should allow you to change the ports it uses. I'm not sure what DNSDY is or does.

Hi Tibbu. It's worthwhile checking that a ground loop is the actual problem, before spending money on an isolator. Does the TV have a grounded (3 pin) power plug? If it does, then you might have a ground loop problem. Have you tried unplugging the other stuff from the TV's AV and HDMI ports? One of the other devices plugged into it might be grounded, so unplugging them could remove the ground loop. Although if the TV has a 3 pin power plug, then you will probably continue to have a ground loop.

Looking at the Eyenix website, the EX-SDI is using a form of low latency JPEG compression to increase the range of HD-SDI. You could think of this as a new standard, because (as I understand it) HD-SDI carries raw, uncompressed video. So the choices are now: HD-CVI, HD-TVI, AHD, HD-SDI, EX-SDI, or IP. Yay! more choices!

As MaxIcon says, it depends on a lot of things. The main limitation is the maximum temperature that the cable can tolerate. This is typically between 60 and 75 degrees celcius, depending on the manufacturer. Cable rated for outside use might handle more heat. So what you need to do is figure out what the maximum ambient temperature is (ambient, as in the temperature in the area that the cable is installed), and calculate (or guess) how much heat the current through the wire will cause. You need to ensure that when you add the heat caused by the current to the ambient temperature, the total does not exceed the temperature rating of the cable. Otherwise the cable's insulation will prematurely age and fail. The usual recommendation is that the current shouldn't cause an increase greater than 10 degC. Typically for Cat5, you can carry 0.6 amps in all eight conductors (4.8A total), and for Cat6, you can carry 0.8 amps in all eight conductors . These figures are based on carrying current through bundles made up of dozens of Cat5/6 cables, with a 10 degC temp rise on the hottest inner wires. Since you are only using a single Cat5/6 cable, you can probably carry an amp or more, but there are so many variables that it's hard to make a recommendation. For 12 volt cameras, your main limitation will be the voltage drop. The beauty of Power Over Ethernet is that the high voltage it uses minimises the effect of voltage drop.

Hi Korgoth. You're a bit out of date there. The POE++ standard allows 90 watts to be fed into a Cat5 cable, although you can expect to lose 10 to 20 watts over a 100m length. Cat6 has less losses. I don't know whether there are any switches that support this yet. The power supply requirements (90W per port) would make them a little pricey.

Hi BrownChiLD. Sounds like you've got a ground loop problem. The power ground is in parallel with the video signal ground. Can your cameras work with both 12VDC and 24VAC, or only 12VDC? The cameras that only work on 12VDC usually have an internal power supply that is grounded, which means that the video output ground and the power ground are connected together, which forms one end of the ground loop. The other end of the loop is at your central power supply, where all of the camera power grounds are usually tied to the mains ground. The DVR case is also tied to this ground, as is the DVR video input ground, via the BNC sockets. CAT5 twisted pair cable requires balanced signals, in that the video signal goes to the DVR along one half of the pair, and the return signal travels back to the camera along the other half of the pair, completing the circuit. The twists ensure that any interference occurs identically on both halves of the twist, so it can be cancelled out at the DVR end by the other balun. With the ground loop, some of the video signal is returned along the power ground. Interference from the power ground is added to the video signal, and can't be cancelled out, so it messes up the picture. The ground loop can be broken at the camera, or at the power supply. The cameras that can handle both 12VDC and 24VAC tend to be immune to ground loops because their internal power supply is transformer-isolated from ground, which breaks the ground loop. So if you swap out a 12VDC-only camera for a 12/24 camera, that could fix your problem. The other solution is to use separate power supplies, as you've found out.

Hi akimiya. Yes, 1500ma (1.5 amps) would be fine. you could easily run two cameras from the one power supply (but going to three might make the supply run hot). You don't want to provide less than 500mA. And the voltage must be 12 volts. If you buy POE (Power Over Ethernet) cameras, then you can power them from a POE Ethernet switch. This makes things a lot simpler, as you don't have to run a power cable as well as the Ethernet cable. Assuming that you're not using wireless, of course.

Hi Brundon. The Dahua camera has the bracket built it. There is a ball and socket joint that allows you to bend and rotate the camera. It's similar in concept to the bracket that's on the black and white camera.

Hi the toss. Yep, I think you've hit that one on the head, with the video RG6 being a beefed up RG59. Wow, there's so many RG59 and RG6 variations out there!

Hi ak357. I've got a camera at home on a 15 meter length of Belden 9248 http://www.belden.com/techdatas/metric/9248.pdf But unfortunately with that length, I could probably get away with using anything. My preference these days is to use twisted-pair. The point I've been wanting to draw people's attention to is that there are reputable cable manufacturers that are offering RG6 for video use. The RG6 is claimed (no I haven't tested it) to have lower attenuation than RG59, allowing longer camera runs. Or you can use twisted-pair, which has its own advantages.

Hi tom. Yes the cable Qsee supply should be fine.

Hi the toss. Yeah, I feel the pain as well. It's been an interesting couple of days filling in the gaps on what I knew and assummed I knew about coax. Thank you for motivating me to do this. Yeah, the RG standards are a mess. I thought it was tightly controlled, but seems to be a free-for-all now. It looks to only be defining the diameter of the center conductor. Well, that and that a RG6 connector will crimp onto a RG6 cable. RG6 and RG59 still have a characteristic impedance of 75 ohms, but the other specs (return loss etc) are all over the place. The only way to really tell what you're getting is to have a look at the datasheets. I most cases, you are correct to tell people not to use RG6, because most people think RG6 is the aluminium braided, copper-clad-steel cable TV coax. This stuff is no good for CCTV, although it is really cheap to buy (copper is expensive, compared to steel and alluminium). However, if the person wants to use RG6 because they have a bucket full of RG6 connectors (don't ask!), then 100% copper video grade RG6 will work fine.

Hi Tom. If you buy the Qsee QC858-2, you won't need any other cables, since Qsee provides pre-made ones for the cameras. Infact, they provide everything you need to set it up. You don't use coax with IP cameras, so don't buy any.

Hi TGMcCallie. That looks like quite a good system. I can't find any details on the camera's performance though. It would be nice to find out how it handles low light. Also, I can't find any reviews for the Qsee system. Ask some questions on this sub-forum: http://www.cctvforum.com/viewforum.php?f=19 (IP/Megapixel Cameras and Software Solutions), and ask these people. They will be able to set you straight a lot better than I can. Some of them are very familiar with the Qsee products. Cheers!

Hi Tom. >Hoizan are you saying that I need to run a RG59 single Coax and a Cat5 multi stran cable for power use. That way if I wanted to >go to a IP system then I could only add balhm converters. You only need baluns if you are sending analog video over the Cat5. To use Cat5 with IP cameras, you will need to learn how to crimp the plastic RJ45 plugs. Not difficult, but takes practise. Note that there are two types of plugs; those for stranded core Cat5, and those for solid core Cat5. Get the wrong one, and the crimps don't work! >Am I reading you correctly that I do not want to run the RG59 Siamese cable? Yes, instead of siamese, you run Cat5 alongside the RG59. Cat5 for power, coax for video. No baluns required. >I have not installed my system yet and Costco has a HD -NRA 8 camera 1080P system for the same price that I paid for my >12 camera analog system. If I were you would you do the IP system. I just don't know how they hook up and work as compared to the analog system. Yes, I'd go with IP, but this is largely because I'm familiar with it. Others like HD-SDI because there is less messing about with settings, although I can't speak of this from experience. One day I'll get some HD-SDI gear to play with. Usually it's a matter of following the instructions, which are hopefully clearly written, and not a mangled mixture of Chinese and English (Chinglish). The other thing is that in New Zealand, HD-SDI is not very popular. If I look on TradeMe (the main NZ auction site), I see 8 listings for HD-SDI, mostly from the same seller. If I look for IP cameras, there are over 300 listings. This tells me that in NZ at least, IP is the way of the future. It's kind of like VHS versus Beta, or BluRay versus HD-DVD. This may be different in your country, but the uptake of HD-SDI here is not very stunning. I can't find any details of your Costco camera on the 'net, so here are some things you should take into account: IP *The cable (usually Cat5) is cheap to buy, but you are limited to 100 meters maximum. This is a limitation of the Ethernet standard, not the cable. *Crimping the RJ45 plugs onto Cat5 is tricky. You will need to practise to make good crimps. Some deals include pre-made cable, which is nice! *If you get a POE (Power Over Ethernet) capable NVR (Network Video Recorder) and cameras, you can power the cameras directly from the NVR. Its convenient because you don't have to run a separate power cable to each camera, the power is sent down the Ethernet cable. *If the NVR supports eight cameras, make sure it has the eight camera ports (RJ45 sockets) built into it. Some cheap NVRs require you to buy a separate network switch, which adds to the cost! *If the NVR is ONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum) compatible, then you have a better chance of using cameras from other manufacturers. Otherwise you need to buy cameras from the same folks that you bought the setup from. I think the standard is up to ONVIF 2.3 now??? This feature may be useful a few years later if a camera needs to be replaced. *There can be a lot of messing around and confusion with IP addresses. HD-SDI *Mostly used to upgrade from existing analog setups, where Ethernet cables can't be installed easily or cheaply. *Fussy about the quality of the coax you use. *Maximum distance is limited by the coax quality. *Very similar to analog video to wire up. Coax for video, and separate power to each camera. *It's easier if you want to add or replace or upgrade cameras, as HD-SDI equipment is supposed to be interchangeable. Analog/composite *Very forgiving about cheap dodgy coax. *Can be used with coax and separate power, allowing upgrade to HD-SDI, or Cat5 (with a balun at each end), allowing upgrade to an IP system, or coax and Cat5 allowing upgrading to pretty much anything. *Extremely easy to replace and upgrade cameras. Practically any manufacturer's composite video camera will work. Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, Bosh, Pelco, Pacom... *Usually it provides "good enough" quality. Choose the camera and the lens that best captures the scene. This is just some thoughts and opinions. Maybe someone else would like to add to them?