Operating speed domes on their side?

[atropine 0]

hi CCTV professionals,

 

I've got a use for a PTZ dome camera that would be better suited to an ordinary PTZ camera, but I don't have any spare. I was wondering if I could operate a speed dome on it's side. I have tried it just to test and it works, but I was interested to know how damaging it is to the camera and how much shorter it's life will be until it dies.

 

I don't' understand the mechanics of a speed dome so don't understand why the manuals always say not to be used other than mounted with the dome facing down.

 

If someone knows how they work, maybe you could tell me why the orientation of the camera is so critical, and if I should even bother mounting it on the side. EG. If it's going to die within the month, it's not worth it. If it could get a years life, then that would be ok.

Edited July 14, 2008 by Guest

[Smit9352 0]

If someone knows how they work, maybe you could tell me why the orientation of the camera is so critical, and if I should even bother mounting it on the side. EG. If it's going to die within the month, it's not worth it. If it could get a years life, then that would be ok.

I've had one mounted right side up for about... 11 months now without a problem at all. I would say that part of the reasoning behind this would simply be the fact that your controls are going to be really weird inputting commands into the controller to move it. But hey, go for it!

 

You should be fine but I don't know the "mechanics" of the ptz's I just generally know applications they are in and how they respond to them. I'm a field testerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

Thanks,

John

[atropine 0]

 

You should be fine but I don't know the "mechanics" of the ptz's I just generally know applications they are in and how they respond to them. I'm a field testerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

Thanks,

John

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

What worrys me is that there's a motor constantly going with speed domes. You can hear the whirring noise when you put your ear to them. I have no idea what that is about, but it could mean even if you're not moving the camera you're damaging it when you have them on their side.

 

Good to hear you had no problems. I"ll see if anyone knows the fundamental reason as to why user manuals always tell you that you will damage the camera if not orientated upside down (dome down)

[Smit9352 0]

Good to hear you had no problems. I"ll see if anyone knows the fundamental reason as to why user manuals always tell you that you will damage the camera if not orientated upside down (dome down)

 

The sound you hear are you sure you're not thinking of the whirring from the built in fan that circulates air?

 

Thanks,

John

[InNorthernWeTrust 0]

I actually had an application I was working on that required a PTZ to be mount sideways. The only manufacturer who would come out and say "Yes it will work fine." was the Extreme CCTV(moondance PTZ). Now that was about a year ago now, so there is probably something else on the market now too.

[Deluxecctv.com 0]

Sorry guys, but I am going to have to disagree on this one. I would not mount the PTZ on its side due to the pressure accruing on the base of the dome.

 

You see the camera module and head itself weighs a bit and puts pressure on the base of the unit, over time this will cause problems even though the unit is belt driven most likely. I have had customer do this and after about a year or two, the PTZ start to have stress cracks. You also have to think when the camera zooms in and out, this also transfers more weight to the front or the back of the dome. Hopefully this helps.

[cctv_down_under 0]

I tend to agree with that last message you will wear out the bands in the ptz.... if not reaching a high enough vertical plane is your issue then use a PTZ head and mount a standard camera on it, then you can mount the camera with modification to suit your angle?