Mr.J

Might have given the wrong impression there, this is a personal residential system for me to play with, but my boss pays my wage Considering three at the moment, but only two which are high quality, the last will probably be a close range pinhole camera for the front door.

Thanks for the help guys, has answered a few questions and gave me a better incite into the system. As for wattage, 50 watts is 1200 per day. What I'm now considering is running everything except the IR LED's until motion is detected, I have found an article which rates a DVR at 10 watts. Two good quality security cameras which will have a clear enough picture at 10 meters would be nice but power usage is unknown. I did ask a sales person at a flea market who told me his camera used 5 watts although the more powerful the camera the more power it would use? As for motion detectors maybe a laser motion sensor would be better as it would not accidentally trip as often, I can also set these at heights which wildlife can't set off. The next step down to conserve energy is an IR digital still camera but my disadvantage there would be no active video can be hooked up to a real time CCTV screen. I will check my federal and state laws before I do this in case it is illegal. Thanks for the advice. EDIT: Found a security website which lists one of their security cameras at 3.3 watts including LED's http://www.ozspy.com.au/products/14-Commercial-CCTV-Cameras/200-Colour-Outdoor-IR-Camera It appears I didn't look hard enough the first time

I'm sure lots on this forum have a short fuze for newbies asking the same questions over and over again so I'll start by saying I have read around the forum a fair bit a short while ago so I am not completely ignorant. My dream system was originally going to be a system of IR pinhole cameras motion activated set up around the house and garden viewable up to 10m but after reading around I found that a good camera with a clear picture would in fact cost me a lot more than I could afford. Right now I'll be settling for less, just need some advice on how to set up my system. I'm looking to set myself up a security system (Audio/video) around the house and play with it a little but there are two very important aspects I can't get wrong. I want none of the cameras to be visible and the system needs to use the minimum amount of wattage possible. I'm going to be doing all the wiring and setting up myself so I can learn along the way and cut costs. What I intend to have is an idle system which runs on motion detectors so if movement isn't noticed the system is using as little energy as possible, when the system activates I need it to record for a number of minutes (DVR) then go back into sleep/idle. I think I may settle for two hidden IR cameras which can have good clear images and one more hidden pinhole camera at the front door. I also want listening devices so I can transfer the sound inside and know what is being said outside. The question I have is how many watts do these electronics use? It's very hard to find information on how much it would take to constantly run an idle system. I'm sure cameras and motion detectors would use very little energy and the DVR would be the real energy juicer. By the way my budget it about $1000 but I'm sure the boss will keep paying me as long as I'm employed so I can add to it. Any advice would be a great help. Regards, Mr. J

Hey guys and gals, I have read your forum a bit in the past, done a number of searches, very helpful stuff. I'm looking to pick your brains in my next thread but thought if I am sticking around an introduction may be due. Cheerio, regards, Mr.J