Ira

I have some LED displays I want to be able to monitor via IP camera. For example, one display tells me the percentage of LPG remaining in my tank. The displays are all just a few characters (no more than 10), and the smallest characters are about 1/2" tall. If possible, I would also like to be able to detect whether or not some "regular" LED's (small indicator LED's) are on/off. All of the above are mounted on a sheet of plywood fastened horizontally on a wall. Everything I need to see is mounted on the top half of the plywood, so the area I need to see is about 8' horizontally by 2' vertically. My preference would be to mount a camera on the opposite wall, about 25' away, but I don't know if anything in my price range ($750) can be mounted that far away and see the detail. If necessary, I could ceiling mount a camera closer to what needs to be monitored. I really don't want the extra cost of a zoom lense camera. Lighting is currently provided by a total of eight 4' flourescent fixtures (two 40 watt bulbs per fixture), mounted on the ceiling. The area is about 25'x28' total. Walls are "open studs", unpainted, so there is little light reflection. Ceiling is open joists, also. If necessary, I would spend a little more to provide better lighting for the camera. Any ideas on what type of camera (what megapixal resolution) would work? Would it work from 25' away? Thanks, Ira

According to the documentation...the FD8362 does not have built-in illuminators. It does have the removable IR cut filter, and can switch to B&W mode when it switches to "night mode". So for a driveway camera setup... Let's say I pair the FD8362 with a good IR illuminator (thinking about the RAYMAX 50 Fusion) that is set up to always be on during dark hours. Distance from the camera to the end of the driveway is about 80' and I would like to cover as much of that distance as possible. So here's the odd thing about my setup which makes it hard for me to know if this will work...I have driveway sensors that, when tripped at night, will turn on a few 200 watt halogen floods pointed at my driveway. None are pointed directly towards the camera location, and they don't put out very much light. But I wonder how this will affect the camera image at night. The scenario would be that the camera is in night mode (IR cut filter removed, B&W mode) and the RAYMAX IR illuminator is flooding the driveway area in IR light. A car drives up and causes the halogen lights to turn on. What will that do to the camera image? If it makes it useless, is there anything I can do short of not turning on the halogen floods? Thanks, Ira

I agree that digital zoom is pretty much useless, and didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I mentioned it because the Axis PTZ suggested had a similar 3x digital zoom capability. The purpose of all of the relays on the wall is to feed state info to a home automation system. Each one tells me something like my water softener is regenerating, my water well pump is running, my irrigation system master valve is open, my standby genset is running, etc., and all of this can be monitored from my home. All these things being monitored are out of sight/sound from my home. The open white can on the right side, and most of the devices around it, are connected to the home automation system and/or LAN. However, relays do sometimes fail. If I get notification via a relay that my genset isn't doing its weekly exercise run, it's possible (but not very probable) that it actually did run but the relay (or the wire going to the relay) failed. Being able to see the LED indicator on the relay itself is just a little more info to figure out what is going on. But that's why I said it would be nice to be able to see the various LEDs everywhere, but not critical. The only two important items to see (for now) are the LPG tank monitor display and the water well pump monitor display. It sounds like the Axis M5014 might not work unless I mount it on the ceiling within 10 feet or so of the wall, since the lens is a 3.8mm. Any MP cameras with pan and tilt in the same price range that have a lens that will do this from 25'? There have been times when I wished I had a PTZ camera in there, besides needing to read a 1/2" display. Thanks, Ira

I even amaze myself sometimes by how much I will spend to make up for laziness. I like the idea of a megapixel PTZ camera in there, but I hadn't stumbled across any in my price range. I'm very new to this stuff. The stuff I want to monitor is in my "shop" which is about 150' from my home. Some of the stuff affects various things in my home. Where possible, I have set up home automation devices so I can get email/voice notifications and/or actually do the monitoring from my home without cameras. There are still a couple of important ones that don't have any good way to tie into a home automation system. So...I have a Panasonic BL-C210A that I bought for something else. It's not a megapixel camera. It has a 3x digital zoom (like the Axis M5014). With the camera sitting on a ladder about 10' from the "wall" I want to watch, I'm not able to see enough detail, with our without zooming in. Pardon the mess due to the "work in progress", but here is a snapshot taken by the BL-C210A (no zoom)... Near the bottom right, just below the plywood, there is a grey display sitting on a white shelf. You can just make out the red LEDs. That device monitors my LPG tank level. About the middle of the wall, there is a grey fiberglass box with a clear acrylic cover that has six relays in it. The relays each have an LED that would be nice to see, but aren't visible with the BL-C210A. The similar, larger box on the far left also has relays with LEDs. It also has a water well pump monitor in it that has an LED readout. That LED readout is the one with 1/2" letters that I really want to be able to see with a camera. So if the Axis M5014 can show enough detail, do you think it can do so from 25' away, or will it need to be mounted nearer on the ceiling? Thanks, Ira