madcowusa

Just reporting back that I went ahead and installed this in my crawler and everything worked out great and is powering an outside mounted Pelco PTZ and a fixed outdoor unit too. My primary concern is with any potential fire hazard. Probably overkill as the PS is fully enclosed in a sturdy steel box and the individual fuses are literally hair thin, but I added a generous surrounding of 5/8" type X sheetrock behind and above the PS. I did have this power supply operational in my office for a week prior and observed it never got hot, or even warm when the cameras were operational. My thinking is a 36" tall, clean and dry crawlspace with non-significant temperature extremes (Seattle area) is essentially a height challenged basement anyway. Yes, access takes about 30 seconds longer and if nuisance problems arise I will relocate the unit above grade and indoors. So far zero issues. Other concerns: I'm utilizing an existing GFCI that I installed in the crawler when I wired the house. It's not a dedicated solo receptacle, but I did opt to wire it off a very lightly loaded circuit that serves only a hallway, stairwell lights and a couple of outside lights. The typical amperage load is minimal and I did wire it end of run "load" at the GFI ( no further devices connected downstream). I found it unnecessary to drill through the floor rim joist to get power outside: I simply fed the 14ga cable through the wire mesh of the crawlspace vents with room to spare. I made a drip loop outside to prevent rain water being drawn inside. This is all well under a low deck so nothing is aesthetically amiss or vulnerable to sabotage. The power supply has standard round knockouts and I used the NM Romex clamps which left quite some free space when using 14ga wire so I taped up the clamp so no spiders could get inside the power supply - A tip from an electrical inspector from a while ago. The power supply did not come with a cord and I didn't want to hard wire it so I simply cut a 3' chunk off an old 12ga outdoor extension cord and wired that to plug that into the GFCI. Hope this is helpful to somebody. I'd post installation pics, but can't as yet. Sincere thanks for the responses.

Yeah, I can't PM anybody and it's a tad frustrating as I want to post some footage of my Pelco PTZ in action but can't. I'd be VERY interested in testing your app once the Android platform matures, especially with possible HVAC and light control. When I wired my house I ran tons of extra cable in anticipation of such things. I'm embarrassed to admit I have 2 runs of cat5e to my furnace currently coiled up in a switch box with cover plate awaiting smartphone/web control apps. Interesting indeed. Do please post your progress! Thx.

I thinking of mounting my Pelco MCS 8-5E power supply in the 3' tall crawl space of my home. It's an individually fused power supply enclosed in a heavy duty steel box with locking screw. I already have a GFI protected plug available and would allow me a nice central location to run power cables out to the outside through the rim joist of the floor. Just curious if this would be against any codes or be not a good idea? It hums you see, not too loud, but loud enough I don't want to listen to it in my upstairs office where the cctv/TV/network cables are located in a big structured media panel. Thank you.

Anything for the Android based G1 yet? I have a simple Axis 211 IP cam that I'm having a spot of bother seeing the actual picture, but can control all aspects of the setup.

If anybody is interested I posted some clips (4 so far) to YouTube of the Pelco DD4CBW35 PTZ in action. Obviously the actual video is better quality, but this gives an idea of the capabilities. I'm very happy with the unit so far. It was a new in box item from a reputable Ebay seller that cost $1100. Loads of fun for the money and it does serve a legitimate purpose besides my personal entertainment. I can't post links yet, so search youtube for "pelco spectra" The cameara is the Spectra IV SE in the results.

Thanks for the help! RS232>RS485 converter for $8 on its way to me. I am assuming I need to utilize just two wires of the cat5e attaching one end to the D+ and D- at the converter and then the other end at the camera's back box attaching to Rx+ and Rx-. Like this. RS485 D+..................................Rx+ (at camera) RS485 D-...................................Rx- (at camera) On the converter there are also terminals for GND and 5-12V. At the camera back box there is also terminals for Tx- and Tx+. I assume I don't need to use those to get ptz functioning? There's also a terminal block indicating UPT+ and UTP-. The Pelco literature is very well done, but definitely not intended for a ptz noob like me. I can't wait to get this camera up on a wall and will report back with my success or failure in a few days when the fine Chinese made converter arrives. Edit: Reporting back. Just wanted to close this out by saying thanks for the help. Received the converter today and hooked it up as above and everything works fantastic now with full Avermedia software ptz control. I'll post some video of the Spectra IV SE in action when I get a chance.

Can I ask for some advice getting a new Pelco PTZ to respond? I have a Spectra IV SE 35x in an environmental housing hooked up to a DVR card. The camera is on my desk with the lower dome off and up and running. Upon turning on the power the camera rotates, tilts and appears to be going through a self check regimen and seconds later gives the on screen configuration done message. The picture looks fantastic and I can adjust via the DVR software the brightness, hue, gain etc. However it will NOT respond to any PTZ movement requests when I click on the DVR card's software to move the lense. The Pelco manual has been of little help to me as it assumes one has a joystick/keyboard controller unit connected and dives straight into the Pelco on screen commands and how to set up everything - motion detection, window blanking etc. I cannot get to any of these commands via my keyboard, a virtual keyboard, the DVR software or any other method. I cannot even get the Pelco start up config message off the screen. I fiddled for hours with selecting Pelco D and P protocols, camera dip switches, baud rates and am stumped. I'm beginning to suspect I may need to run another cable via RS232 -> RS485 to get control of the PTZ function? I can easily run cat 5e to the camera if this is the case, but know nothing about hooking that up. The camera is currently back to factory default dip switch settings, everything is off except SW1-1 which the manual indicated Pelco D protocol at 2400 baud. I've matched these parameters within the Avermedia software (COM =1, ID=1, Baud Rate = 2400, Protocol: Pelco-D ). MY SETUP: Pelco Spectra IV 35x model DD4CBW35 (New) Pelco pendant dome with heater and blower Pelco MCS 8-5E 24VAC power supply AverMedia NV7000H hybrid DVR card (supports Pelco D and P) Camera connected via existing RG6Quad shield cable using rg6q BNC connectors and 14 gauge power cable over very short distance Dedicated Q6600 box Any pointers really appreciated. I'm very close to having this thing up and running. Do I need to run another cable to use the PTZ functionality or can this unit be controlled via RG6Q coax alone using DVR software? As you can tell I'm new at this and over my head a bit after great success with a used axis IP camera. Thanks.