survtech

Probably not - they have some unique disadvantages. From Wikipedia: "Disadvantages of traditional Li-ion technology Lithium-ion batteries are more expensive than similar capacity NiMH or NiCd batteries. This is because they are much more complex to manufacture. Li-ion batteries actually include special circuitry to protect the battery from damage due to overcharging or undercharging. They are also more expensive because they are manufactured in much smaller numbers than NiMH or NiCd batteries. Li-ion batteries are becoming less expensive and over time we should see their price decrease significantly. Lithium ion batteries are not available in standard cells sizes (AA, C and D) like NiMH and NiCd batteries. Lithium-ion batteries also require sophisticated chargers that can carefully monitor the charge process. And because of their different shapes and sizes each type of Li-ion battery requires a charger designed to accommodate its particular size. This means lithium ion battery chargers are more expensive and more difficult to find than NiMH and NiCd battery chargers Shelf life A unique drawback of the Li-ion battery is that its service life is dependent upon aging (shelf life). From time of manufacturing, regardless of whether it was charged or the number of charge/discharge cycles, the battery will decline slowly and predictably in "capacity". This means the charge in an older battery will not last as long as in a new battery due solely to its age, unlike other batteries. This is due to an increase in internal resistance, which affects its ability to deliver current, thus the problem is more pronounced in high-current applications than low. This drawback is not widely published. However, as this capacity decreases over time, the time required to charge it also decreases proportionally. Also, high charge levels and elevated temperatures hasten permanent capacity loss for Lithium ion batteries. This heat is caused by the traditional carbon anode, which has been replaced with good results by Lithium titanate. Lithium titanate has been experimentally shown to drastically reduce the degenerative effects associated with charging including expansion and other factors. See "Improvements of lithium Ion technology" below. At a 100% charge level, a typical Li-ion laptop battery that is full most of the time at 25 °C or 77 °F will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year. However, a battery in a poorly ventilated laptop may be subject to a prolonged exposure to much higher temperatures, which will significantly shorten its life. Different storage temperatures produce different loss results: 6% loss at 0 °C (32 °F), 20% at 25 °C (77 °F), and 35% at 40 °C (104 °F). When stored at 40%–60% charge level, the capacity loss is reduced to 2%, 4%, 15% at 0, 25 and 40 degrees Celsius respectively." The best battery for solar cell storage is probably a lead-acid type. For solar use, a deep-cycle lead-acid battery is recommended. They are designed to deliver a consistent voltage as the battery discharges versus a standard lead-acid battey, whose voltage drops as the battery discharges. From Advanced Energy Group "Sealed deep-cycle lead-acid batteries are maintenance free. They never need watering or an equalization charge. They cannot freeze or spill, so they can be mounted in any position. The Concorde PVX series (Sun-Xtender) is an excellent choice. Sealed Gel Cell (gelled-electrolyte) batteries are relatively maintenance free, however unlike a high quality sealed lead-acid battery like the Concorde PVX extra care must be taken to insure a Gel Cell battery is not charged above 14.1 volts for a 12 volt battery, for example. Over charging a Gel Cell even once for a sustained period can really shorten it's life and even ruin it. Any charge source or charge regulator used must have user adjustable settings for sealed Gel Cell batteries to insure charge voltage does not exceed a safe limit. If your application dictates a sealed, gelled battery the Deka-East Penn MK series is an excellent choice."

How to Make a Solar Power Generator for less than $300

It's not the current per se, but the current times the number of hours you would need to supply battery power in ampere/hours. If you want 1 amp at 12VDC and would need it for 12 hours, you would need at least a 12 ampere/hour battery. That power is mainly available only in lead/acid batteries. You will probably have to use a "gel cell" alarm battery or the like. The other thing to consider is that your solar array must have sufficient capacity to run your camera(s) and recharge the battery simultaneously. You should also allow extra capacity in both the solar cells and the battery to allow for cloudy days, battery aging, dirt on the cell, etc. if you want 100% uptime. Also, keep in mind solar cell placement. If it is in shade for part of the day, it won't be charging the battery or operating the camera.

How many ports? There are a few that can handle the temperature: Garrett PS14P - "Temperature rating of –40°C to 75°C handles heavy duty applications" (http://garrettcom.com/ps14p.htm) Advantech EKI-2526PI - "Supports wide operating temperature -40 ~ 75° C" (http://www.advantech.com/products/EKI-2526PI/mod_GF-1RQ2S.aspx) Korenix JetPoE JetNet 3705 - "-20~70°C operating temperature for hazardous environment application (http://www.korenix.com/jetnet-ethernet-switch-3705-overview.htm) Do a web search for "low temperature poe switch" and you'll find more.

There is an entirely new (for CCTV) standard developed for digital over coax (and later twisted-pair and fiber). It's called HDcctv. Check out the HDcctv Alliance's website at http://www.highdefcctv.org/.

But it is more effective than a crashed drive with unretrievable data!

Here are the maintenance guidelines from the Sanyo DSR-M series - your mileage may vary: "The hard disk and cooling fan are consumables. Under use in an ambient temperature of 25°C, the hard disk should generally be replaced after 2 years and the cooling fan after 3 years."

He's done the same in a number of groups on LinkedIn. There have been a couple of complaints that he is not following up with sending the articles or links or whatever after people have registered on the Controlware site he links everyone to. I would love to know what their arguments are but apparently, he or Controlware are just collecting email addresses without providing the info they are touting. That is the moral equivalent of spam in my book.

Who's picking on him because he's from China? How about because he refuses to release make, model, specs, etc. I suppose we could just trust him and pay him $1000 for his pretty pictures, cross our fingers and hope he's not selling snake oil.

Or try Coax Seal. http://www.coaxseal.com/

You obviously don't have a clue about the differences between China and the U.S.. Here in the U.S., the newspapers not only don't always publish government propoganda, they often criticize the government openly. I'll bet you never see that in China! I would consider it but am afraid I'd be arrested for some trumped up charges like these: "Wednesday, 25 April 2007 By BosNewsLife News Center BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Four Americans and nearly two dozen Chinese house church leaders were believed to be in detention Wednesday, April 25, after they were reportedly arrested last week following a Christian worship service in China's Xinjiang province." In the U.S. and much of the Western world, we have freedoms you could only dream of, including freedom of religion, the press, speech, the right to congregate, to bear arms and many others. In China, you don't have those rights. From Wikipedia: "Since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the human rights issue of China has come to the forefront. Multiple sources, including the U.S. State Department's annual People's Republic of China human rights reports, as well as studies from other groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have documented the PRC's abuses of human rights in violation of internationally recognized norms. The PRC government argues that the notion of human rights should include economic standards of living and measures of health and economic prosperity,[1] and notes progress in that area.[2] Controversial human rights issues in China include policies such as capital punishment, the one-child policy, the policy of Han Chinese cultural integration towards Tibet, and lack of protections regarding freedom of press and religion." My "ancestors" were Scandinavian sailors. The American slang idiom "Swear Like a Sailor" is truthful

The location of the barrel connector should make no difference. Soundy's right about the BNC connections. Also, I've seen cheap barrel connectors that don't have gold-plated center pins get corrosion there and lose connection over time. The best practice is to minimize splices wherever possible. For one thing, each connection loses 1/2 db of signal so a barrel adds 1db of attenuation. Plus each connection is an opportunity for a bad connection so a barrel adds two opportunities.

RG-6 CATV cable (which is what you have), is not really well-suited to CCTV. You might get away with it for short runs, less than 100ft, but you really need CCTV cable; which has a pure copper center conductur and 95% copper braid shield. Quad-shield CATV cable has a copper clad steel center conductor and steel or aluminum shield.

Why not, it's a heck of a lot cheaper than an ND filter and works just as well.

Fluke 287 True-rms Electronics Logging Multimeter with TrendCapture

I never said that I dismiss IP cameras in general. I also never said that our Gaming Commission does not allow them. In fact, our Gaming Commission has no regulations for or against any specific camera type. They do, however, specify that all cameras be recorded at 30fps. That basically disallows most, if not all, megapixel cameras. Without megapixel's ability to see things analog can't, IP cameras offer no advantages and many disadvantages for our use. I am, however, tired of the hype saying that IP is superior, no matter what the application. Axis, for one, is a big promoter of that viewpoint. As far as casino gaming commissions and casino use of IP cameras: Hey, it's their funeral. I have yet to see a case study of a casino IP deployment that actually says how reliable the system is or lists any problems encountered. That data is usually swept under the carpet. So on that note, I would love to hear from other casinos' Surveillance Department with honest answers to my questions: * Are your IP cameras 100% reliable? Your camera's IP network? * If the IP network replaced an analog system, how do the continuing costs compare? * Who manages your IP network and, if it is your casino's IT department, how has that worked out? * Did you have to hire someone to configure and manage the system and what did that cost? If you have a Surveillance employee who manages and programs your system, how does that person's salary compare to your camera installers? * What is your PTZ latency? Is it acceptable? Do you have trouble controlling them? * What problems have you run into with lighting that you didn't have with analog cameras? * Was/is your IP system worth the expense?

Are you saying that I "fear" the IT side? Far from it. As a matter of fact, quite the reverse is true. As the Network Administrator of our system, I know much more IT than the average CCTV installer. Although I'm not formally trained on the stuff, I've been working with networks since Netware 2.0a. VLAN programming and certain aspects of Windows Server are my weak areas. But that's not the point. Installing and managing large-scale IP systems requires a much higher skill set than analog systems. The average salary for a CCNP in SoCal approaches $100k. Compare that to the average CCTV tech's salary of $40-50k. And CCNP's don't like to get their hands dirty so we can't expect them to install cameras. How do we justify hiring one? As I said, we can't take advantage of the casino's IT department due to regulations so we are on our own or have to hire outside integrators every time the system needs to be upgraded or expanded; an even more costly proposition. Cisco is the penultimate case. They haven't simplified their programming at all. In fact, programming their switches reminds me of using DOS in some ways. Could that possibly be so that Cisco training remains expensive and justifies the huge salaries CCNP's make?

That's where I disagree. IP camera manufacturers may have made the cameras and the systems relatively simple to set up in your mind, but not in mine, or I think in many of ours. First of all, IP cameras are not "plug and play". Their setup requires, at the very least, a laptop computer and a basic knowledge of network connections. This contrasts with the typical analog camera - maybe flip a switch or two and connect coax and power. Second is the transport system itself. Network switches are notoriously difficult to set up, especially in larger systems where managed switches are the norm. Programming and managing the typical managed Cisco switch, for example, is anything but straight forward. Network equipment manufacturers have a long way to go to simplify their products and companies like Cisco don't seem to have any incentive to do so. Network security is another factor. It's all fine and dandy when you have a qualified IT department involved but what if you don't? Our casino is a case in point. Although we do have a relatively highly skilled IT department, we can not utilize their skills to program and manage the Surveillance network because it is contrary to policy and regulations for them to see our cameras or control our system. So what do we do? We could hire a Cisco-certified tech but the cost would be quite high. Our Surveillance techs make a decent wage but a CCNA or CCNP would probably make more than I do as manager.

You want a "machine vision" camera. There are a number of manufacturers. Here's a link to one: http://www.automation.com/content/jai-pulnixs-digital-machine-vision-camera-boasts-high-frame-rate JAI PULNIX's Digital Machine Vision Camera Boasts High Frame Rate The TM-6710CL, a Camera Link version of JAI PULNiX’s popular TM-6710 machine vision camera, features non-interlace, quad-speed, 120 fps video at full VGA resolution, and utilizes a 1/2" Kodak KAI-0330D CCD for high image quality (648 (h) x 484 (v)). The camera has simultaneous analog and digital video output. The full-frame electronic shutter with asynchronous reset permits shutter speeds ranging from 1/60 to 1/32,000 sec. The Camera Link digital interface allows easy connection to other equipment, as well as software control for gain, A/D/ ref., shutter, and mode selection. The large 9µm square pixels provide the light sensitivity needed for high-speed image capture and provide a precise geometry for superior definition in any orientation. The camera’s exterior dimensions are: 46.1mm x 39.6mm x 140.0mm. Suitable applications for the TM-6710CL include motion analysis, high-speed on-line inspection, gauging, character reading, high-definition graphics, and high-speed surveillance. They're not cheap! A web search turned up pricing of about $2,400, although someone's selling them on ebay for $600.

I honestly don't know the answer to that but I can make an educated guess. There are a number of possible solutions that would work in a situation where low latency is a necessity. One is the HDcctv method of eliminating the in-camera compression. I assume that if that idea takes off, at least a couple of IP manufacturers will likely offer that as an option. It could easily be accomplished using something like the Veracity or Nitek products and if those were built into the camera, the added cost would probably be minimal. There's no law saying that IP, or any other digital camera, must ride on a network. Existing analog systems typically use one-to-one transport. Another option may be 10G ethernet. That would allow a number of noncompressed megapixel cameras to ride on a network. Another possibility would be lossless compression, a la Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD consumer audio on blu-ray. Or more efficient encoders/decoders that insert less latency. Then, if you want to intermingle analog and digital cameras, someone is going to have to invent a device for LCD monitors that will allow them to display analog video without all of the de-interlacing and other garbage on existing systems. Or better yet, a class of CCTV monitors that handle both analog and digital signals well. Realistically, all of these concepts are simple engineering problems that any manufacturer could solve if they had half a mind to. Even latency issues can be resolved with PTZ's with just a little work on both the compression and packet size issues. If manufacturers could get PTZ latency down to 50ms or less, the problem would go away. I'm not certain that HDcctv has much chance of success on its own, given the huge lead of IP, but I would bet it will at least give IP manufacturers something to chew on. It may just trigger a change in direction on their part. And that would not be a bad thing!

If you are in the U.S., try Time Lapse Supply: http://www.timelapsesupply.com/sensormaticultradome.html

It was audio only. That's why I know the dialogue by heart. I modified our TV so I could record the sound directly by adding a cutoff switch to the speaker and attaching a cable to the speaker wire wire that plugged into the input of the tape recorder. I could record the sound without waking up my parents. The timer turned both the TV and the recorder on and off. They didn't come out with VTR's (reel-to-reel Videotape recorders) until the mid-to-latter 60's and the first ones cost as much new as a VW Bug at the time ($2,000). I bought a used B&W Sony CV2100 1/2" reel-to-reel VTR in 1972: http://www.labguysworld.com/Sony_CV-2100.htm In 1973 I bought a floor model Panasonic NV3020C non-standard color 1/2" reel-to-reel VTR from Arrow Electronics during their Washington's Birthday Sale (I miss those - great deals): http://www.labguysworld.com/Panasonic_NV-3020C.htm

They work real well too " title="Applause" /> Excuse me while I take some Dramamine before I watch the second demo.

Unfortunately, the days of the electronics "techie" are long gone. That is why Radio Shack remade themselves into a different kind of store. There are a number of reasons why we have disappeared - a major one being the complexity of modern electronics circuitry. Back in the day, with a little knowledge and a few parts you could build something yourself that actually performed a usable function: an AM radio or a Theremin, or whatever. Kits could be assembled that performed a wide variety of useful functions: test equipment, stereo amplifiers, even ham radios and musical instruments. Today, most of the electronics products contain complex VLSI chips on multi-layer PC Boards and both building and repairing them are beyond the scope of an amateur; in many cases whole modules must be replaced to repair an item. Also, most electronics equipment uses surface mount parts which require specialized tools to install and replace, if they even can be replaced. Even standardized replacement parts like resistors and capacitors are becoming less standard. Look in a DigiKey catalog, for instance, and you will see pages and pages of capacitors of every imaginable size, shape and mounting style. The advent of custom chips for most equipment makes stocking generic replacement parts like transistors and "DIP" chips obsloete. Then you have the increasing specialization of electronics equipment. Where would Radio Shack concentrate their marketing? I believe that is their major problem. Forget about competing with the "big box" stores like Best Buy for Consumer Electronics. And forget about competing with on-line stores for specialty items. That doesn't leave much for poor old RS to sell! My uncle owned an electronics (mostly TV) sales and repair shop. I bought much of my early stuff from or through him. There were no Radio Shacks or Lafayette Radios. There were a number of "electronics" stores in many cities, including where I grew up. Lafayette Radio and Radio Shack came around the latter 60's/early 70's. By the way, I have you beat, Scorpion! When I was 15 or 16 (early 1960's), I assembled a precursor to the modern (now obsolete) VCR. I had a Bell and Howell reel-to-reel tape recorder that I hooked up to a lamp timer to record TV when I was not home. I had several shows and movies "taped". I can still lip-synch nearly every line of the original The Day the Earth Stood Still. Klaatu Barada Nikto!

A PTZ camera would not be your best choice for that application. Remember, PTZ's only point in one direction at a time. They can not "follow" a person or vehicle on their own, requiring an operator to control their aim and zoom. They will not see what's going on if they are not pointed in the appropriate direction. You would be better off with two or three fixed cameras.