creekside

I have a mare due to have her foal in the next month or so. I tried a wireless camera system with minimal success. I could see the mare but the image was pretty broken up. I need a good wired system. Costco has the quad camera etc. and I don't know what my minimal requirements should be. The barn is 100 - 150 feet from the house. The barn is has tin sides. The light is minimal (at night I can leave lights on but horses are not that fussy for that), the temperature in the winter (now) can get to -20C to -30C but is more commonly -10C. In the summer it can get to +30C but normall more like +20 (if we're lucky!!). I need to view an area of 12x20 feet. How many cameras do I need, does the Costco cheap quad cam suffice? One guy I talked to said I should get a FAC-300 camera (2), and a AVC-711. That would cost around 250 USD. I live in Canada so there would be shipping on top. I'm looking to spend around 400 canadian dollars. Any ideas???

Well, I'm not sure what a really good quality camera would do but this one is definitely fitting the job. I have to have one small light on in the alleyway, but as mentioned earlier I would have to be able to see in the stall to assist anyway. It's been as cold as -12 C and it seems to be doing just fine. I was a bit surprised when I first saw the size of the bullet camera, I was expecting something much larger. I guess size really doesn't matter - -ahahahah. Sic. Anway, the mare is not doing much except loving being inside at night and watching me slave over her stall in the morning. Not a bit closer, we've passed one due date and looking more like December 6 may even be a date we will pass. Normally when the mare starts to "bag up" you are looking at a good week or two. Not there yet!! Thanks for all the help and advice as I am extremely happy with what I see!

I don't know what brand as they say that they put them together themselves. Some part of it is Sony. The model was 3757 -- and I bought it from cctvimports.com which is also known as spycameras4less.com. We are located in British Columbia, Canada. It's supposed to be here sometime this week. So far the mare has not progressed any further. She's got milk but no bag so we're on standby. I'm not checking her in the night yet as she'd develop a bag first. Do you think I paid too much??

Well camera is on the way, mastercard charged, company does have 30 day money back guarantee so if it's crapola I guess I'll return it. It is in fact a bullet camera this is no good? It's fairly cheap I guess, 100 USD?? Definitely cheap compared with what we would pay here. We could hardly get coaxial cable here -- only one person would sell it. Other companies wanted us to buy the whole roll...

Ok, so that camera was not what I got. When I phoned the company (they sell 8 billion cameras) and talked to the camerageek she said I needed a: 3757 SONY 1/3" HIGH RES HAD CCD SENSOR EIA: 768X494, CCIR: 752X582 (HxV) 600 TV LINES .2 LUX @ F2.0 MORE THAN 48 db EIA: 1/60s - 1/100,000s, CCIR: 1/50s - 1/110,000s YES INTERLACE 2:1 0.45 BOARD LENS f3.6mm @ f2.0 INTERNAL, NEGATIVE SYNC. 1 Vp-p / 75 OHMS DC 12V / 110 mA 14oF - 122o F 21.4 x 80.6 mm 80G Who knows, I'll just be glad to get it here as you are completely correct in sensing she is near! I have no idea when but she's just ginormous so I hope it's soon...she looks like a big orange mastadon! Please tell me this is a great camera and I'll be thrilled...ok just tell me the real deal...btw glad you are back coop!

I may have gotten pressured into this. I realize that the camera does not have a model listed. Here are the specs: BW PROFESSIONAL CCD CCTV CAMERA .05 LUX NEW Pick up Element Number of pixel 1/3" SONY CCD image sensor 512(H) x 492(V) (EIA) Resolution 470 TV lines Min. Illumination 0.05 Lux / F2.0 S/N Ratio 1/60 More than 46 dB Electronic Shutter >(1/50) to 1/100,000 auto Power Source DC12 ¡Ó 10% brCurrent consumption 120 mA Dimensions 47 mm x 42 mm x 70 mm P.S. Does not come with a lens. What do you think? I have noooo idea what all of it means but it seemed to satisfy a lot of the info you people left for me...It's not a done deal yet, what do you think. Desparately needing advice!!

The mare is in the stall, apparantly she wants me to hurry things up a bit. I need to get the camera ASAP. Anyone know what a machine vision camera is??? Will it do?

Thank you for making it so plain. Now, what brand? What model? So it sounds like 1 camera will do it... Funny, I had a horse named Cooper...

Ok, so day/night or wide dynamic camera -- got that part. I have looked at some with heaters but they are pricey!! In a normal year temperature would not be that big of a deal because the horses normally foal out in Spring where if temp was -10C I would fall off my chair. Normal temps that time of year are more like +10. So, what is going to happen if I don't have a heater and have a camera that goes to -10 and it gets colder than that? What happens to picture? Cable -- what?? Fibre optics I don't think are a choice. Can't you just use coaxile cable?? To sum it up are you saying I need cable, a camera, and that's it? The camera plugs right into VCR/TV/COMPUTER?? P.S. Thank you all sooooo much this is such a weird situation. I bought the mare unbred (open) and had her ultrasounded in April 04 because I was going to breed her. As it turns out, that wasn't necessary. The previous owners do recall a certain amount of tomfoolary up until January 04. She was originally turned out in September with a couple of young men that apparantly found the old girl quite appealing. Anyway, horses gestation varies drastically from 320 - 365 days. So, take that variance, include a pregnancy date from September to January and we have a lot of room to play around (hahah). Anyway, needless to say, I MUST not miss the delivery as the foal will surely die in our cold winter climate. I need to see in the dark, a clear picture. I can have a couple low wattage lights on so as not to disturb her too much. Anyway, that's the history...

What is an IR? What type of system do you have for the 16 camera for the barn? "UTP cable with balun's. Pick a good DVR, camera's, and enjoy the views from the easy chair." Yikes! I don't know what that means. What is a DVR? I don't need to record what's happening, I need to see it live. What is a UTP cable with baluns? I'm so inexperienced with this I need the "Security system for dummies"!! Thank you for your response!