Dome Camera help

[Jim Barrett 0]

G'day folks,

I'm installing a dome camera on an outside wall and I need for it to see closer along the wall then the housing shroud allows. Essentially I need to get a viewing angle that's closer to 90 deg.

I've coped with this problem before by shimming the off side screws and then caulking the space made by mounting at an angle but this time I need quite a bit of angle.

Anybody got any gadgets or neat solutions?

[3RDIGLBL 0]

How much gap are we talking here? I have not seen shims specific for this sort of thing but it doesn't mean they don't exist.

 

Does it have to be a dome?

 

I'm not promoting anyone's site but I did find this ARM mount. Would something like this work. The dome would mount as if mounted to a ceiling.

 

[edit by mod - store link removed]

[Jim Barrett 0]

Yeah, vandal resistant 'cause it's in an exposed position in a pretty rough neighborhood. I thought of one of those brackets, I think I've even got a couple laying around but I really need the low profile of being mounted on the wall. If I get the tilt I need I'll probably be looking at 3/4" or more gap on one side.

Two tapered discs 1/2" thick ea that would rotate & ride on each other to create a slanted slab would be perfect.

Saw something like that to level flower pots one time but I don't know what that one was made of or where to find it.

[Deluxecctv.com 0]

Hang on a second, let's think about this one. If you use one of those brackets to mount the dome, it no longer becomes vandal proof. You can throw a rope around the bracket and the camera and rip it off the wall. Can you possibly post some pictures so we can get a better idea of what you are working with?

[Jim Barrett 0]

Sorry no pictures att.

Absolutely the bracket problem kind of defeats my purpose. The kids in this neighborhood chin themselves on a standard shoebox mount until it comes off the wall. I'm replacing trashed cameras and if I do it right about the worst they can do is spray paint the dome & with a good coat of rain-x it usually washes off or at most I replace the dome.

 

Basically a small dome camera on a wall needs to look straight along and down the wall and maybe a bit inwards for the slightly recessed door. I can manipulate the camera itself to see what I want but when I put the dome on it sees the rim of the cover ring.

This is a fairly low end camera that I'm trying out to see how it works and it's just lousy design. The XYZ mount doesn't sit high enough in the housing.

I've run into this problem before though. Typically where the mounting wall sticks out farther than the wall the door is on.

If one owned a band saw one could cut a disc with a hole saw and then slice the disc at an angle and there you go you'd have a disc with one rim thicker than the other, at the angle you need. I don't own a band saw and that process sounds dangerous to me.

I was hoping somebody had solved this problem already. Or maybe I'm the only one out here trying to make cameras see around corners.

[Armyofone 0]

I,m thinking maybe a camera with a wider angle lense?

[thewireguys 3]

Bosch dome cameras have a patented dome shape for 90º vertical view..... but this would require you to replace your camera with a new one.

[Jim Barrett 0]

Yeah, I suppose a wider lens might let me move the mount over a bit but this one is made w/ a 4-9 vari-focal. The more I deal with it the less it seems worth it. I've never used this particular camera before and while it has some nice points I think this application requires something else. I'll have to look at what's involved in pulling the wires back through the wall and drilling another hole. Probably 20 min worth of work and a nicer install.

I'll have to take a look at those Bosch cams. At first blush. just looking at price, etc, they look pretty nice. Do they work well?

[CollinR 0]

Do they work well?

 

Not IMO when comparing cost:performance, do they even have a real daynight cam?

 

 

Anyway you can fix your troubles with a section of PVC pipe thats OD is about the same as the dome and wall thickness is enough to support screws. You can then use a saw and cut the required angles with relative ease. Then paint the PVC to either matchthe dome or wall.

 

The best method is as was mentioned, use the wall mounting bracket. It will not only solve this problem but also keep water spots off the bubble as now that part is pointing straight down.

[Wachhund 0]

If one owned a band saw one could cut a disc with a hole saw and then slice the disc at an angle and there you go you'd have a disc with one rim thicker than the other, at the angle you need. I don't own a band saw and that process sounds dangerous to me.

 

Why not go to a local machine shop and have them cut a piece of aluminum round stock for you. They usually don't charge much to do it and it will be more exact than if you did it yourself. If it is solid, they can cut the mounting holes for you and if it is hollow, just use longer screws.

[RickA 0]

I take it there are no eaves to mount under?

[Jim Barrett 0]

Nope no eaves, 3 story building.

Looks like I can reposition the cables fairly easily but I'll have to keep the machine shop solution in mind for next time. I can probably have 2 or 3 made up for not much more than 1.

I actually thought of the PVC solution. It dawned on me that I could use a 4" 22.5 deg elbow or a couple of flat caps on a short piece of pipe cut as described.

However, the point is to keep the low profile w/ nothing to grab on to. These kids used to be me & my buddies (same neigborhood, many years ago) & believe me, during a long hot summer we would have expended considerable effort figuring out how to blind that puppy or get it off the wall.

Thanks for your help everyone.

[kensplace 0]

These kids used to be me & my buddies (same neigborhood, many years ago) & believe me, during a long hot summer we would have expended considerable effort figuring out how to blind that puppy or get it off the wall.

 

Why?

[Jim Barrett 0]

Probably just for something to do, probably just to show the adults that they weren't completely in charge.

It's the nature of human beings to manipulate their environment and that was our environment.

Undisciplined curiosity.

It was how we learned problem solving and teamwork.

Actually, if we had run across such a thing back then (I'm talking kids maybe 12-15 and for me that was a loong time ago) we would have either stolen the camera and used it for our own purposes or removed it from the wall, dis-assembled it into the smallest pieces we were capable of (not break it, just take it apart) and left it someplace where the owner would be sure to find it.

I've been a tech for many years and spent a lot of time working in and around schools and offices. I've given up trying to figure out why people (not just kids) do what they do to the equipment I fix. I've seen situations where a camera was vandalized over and over again until we cut a hole in the brick wall to recess the entire camera and put it behind Lexan with steel frames and security screws but the plastic Aiphone intercom station six feet away was never touched.

I remember an office where I was doing door controls because the staff was concerned about dangerous/unpleasant visitors. When called back cause there was something wrong with the alert at a back door I found a pile of rocks just outside the door next to a pile of cigarett butts. Even found a few rocks inside the hallway. Staff people had disabled the door alert so the door could be propped open.

I guess I don't even bother to ask why anymore, I just use 30 years worth of experience to eliminate the most common possiblities and when someone comes up with something I haven't seen tried before I just rub my hands together & try to figure out how to out wit them.

If it was easy anybody could do it.