the toss

+1

The number of times I have needed anything more than a multimeter , a test monitor , a signal source & normal fault finding proceedures can be counted on one hand.

My reply was directed to nifter53. Anyone else who reads it & is interested can ask questions or do some research. The tester in the link is above the handyman level so someone thinking of buying it would probably have a level of interest/understanding that is beyond the DIY plug & play. If it doesn't interest you then just move on.

Are you saying that the camera stopped sending video OR the DVR stopped recording ?

Make sure it is capable of measuring below the standard 1V pp composite signal level. Ideally what you want is something that measures in IRE units. Composite video level = 140 IRE Sync pulse (15.75 Khz) = 40 IRE White level = 100 IRE Colour Burst = 40 IRE V I sync = 40 IRE

Modulate it & inject onto TV coax.

The REAL lesson to be learnt from this is that simply throwing up a couple of cameras will not automatically solve all your problems. There is not a camera around that can't be rendered useless by a hat , a hoodie & a pair of sunglasses. Like everything , there are limits as to what is practical , possible & affordable.

Yes , very easy & not as uncommon as you would like to think.

you have been blessed by the cable fairy

I pre measure so that I can install the cam while on the ladder. Then after I climb down, the outside work is done. DVR MAN except for aiming & focusing. Sometimes it lays in a coil that becomes a tangle when you pull it out. Sometimes that tangle is in an inaccessable spot & requires that all the cable be pulled through , tangle sorted out & then relaid. Siamese can be a pain because of the twist that remains when pulled out.

You don't even need to measure the cable , just pull it through till you reach your destination then cut it off. You need to ask yourself why it has taken so long to change your method. A creature of habit no doubt.

Most DVRs now days have a composite o/p , a VGA o/p & more recently a HDMI o/p. Has yours only a composite o/p ? sorry , forget that. I forgot we were talking about the spot o/p

Most DVRs have all chans enabled as the default, so plug in a camera & there it is. However some need to have the video i/p channel enabled in the setup menu

Nope - cause I don't use them. Any reason it has to be VGA ?

I agree with point 3 above, but if you do it correctly there should be no problem. Look at the front of pretty much any outdoor housing for a box camera and what do you see? A sheet of glass. If the OP were to put his camera inside a small box (open on one end), paint the inside of the box flat black, press the open end of the box against the window glass, and disable the internal IR illuminators (if any), what would be the problem? It MAY be a sheet of glass but not the same as in your window. Glass has a high attenuation to IR. I am guessing that if the camera was anything less than perpendicular to the window then you would get complete white-out from reflected/refracted IR

Just yesterday I was at a petrol station to re-point his forecourt cameras. I had just pulled up below one camera & while idley gazing up at it saw a green light which I can only presume was a laser , playing over the face of the camera. Though I couldn't see where it was coming from, it had to be reasonably close to accurately aim on the camera. When I went & checked the footage it didn't show up & all cameras were recording normaly. I have no explanation for that. ps - I don't do substances

Grab yourself a TV & plug into the spot mon O/P on the DVR . This will prove the DVR. My guess is the composite to VGA converter. They are notoriously unreliable.

v- and video - are usually both "earths". One is your voltage earth & the other is your video signal earth

I'm also with soundy on this. If you have seen the results of a direct lightning strike you would realise that there aint much around that is goint to offer "protection". Earthing the camera can actually cause the destruction when there is a proximity strike because it will feed the voltage transient to the camera. Read up on voltage gradients from lightning strikes & you will understand that earths aint earths when it comes to lightning

pvc conduit with elbows would look nicer going around that brick pillar

If you can disable the IR on the camera just get a stand a lone IR illuminator & mount it outside the aviary.

I'd stay away from ebay cameras simply because there is no comeback (warranty) Gheck out Rhino. they have some well priced entry level cameras. Go up a few levels & they come with a lifetime (25yr) warranty which I have already tested out. $100 may be cheap but it is wasted if the results are crapp or it only lasts for 6 months.

At 18m the voltage drop won't be much of an issue. What may cause you grief is the quality of the premade cable in regards to the video signal though it would have to be REALLY crappy to cause too much of a problem over 18m

As odd as this post looks as one other user commented, it sounds like the ICR malfunction. If the shift of focus happens after the day/night switch, then that's the only thing I can think of. Contact the manufacturer or the place where you bought it from. Check out his sig

Does anybody see something odd about this post ?