alpine0000 0 Posted November 30, 2008 man, you guys... thats quite a project. i think id rather aim a camera at a little digital weatherstation in my house. or find an easier method than the madness that scorpion described... haha. i work 7am-7pm seven days a week. i barely have time to install the cameras, let alone a project like that! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted November 30, 2008 http://www.temperatureguard.com/vm502.htm http://www.qsystemsengineering.com/ We tried to talk you in to alternatives! How would you like to be the guy who built by hand all of the computers and circuits that went in to the apollo space craft! Yikes! That is a lot of twist on connections, and def not a weekend project!! What the heck do you do for a living to be working 24/7?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alpine0000 0 Posted November 30, 2008 i am a database administrator. i am in iraq setting up and monitoring computer servers for the army. its a 24 hour operation. one crew is on 7am-7pm, and the next crew works 7pm-7am. there is very little free time here. with my 1-2 hours a day that i have to myself, i usually am either at the gym, or calling my gf and family back in the states. i travel all the time. last month i was in kuwait, and germany. I've also been all over the US, just in the past 12 months. We wont even talk about the past 10 years... everyday is groundhogs day here i do appreciate all of the input from you guys! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Monitor Your Assets 0 Posted December 1, 2008 hello marc! This is a great idea. I thought about doing this initially, but realized there were a few drawbacks (also see my explanation in my first post in this thread on it) *if its dark in the room, i wouldnt be able to see the LCD display when logging in *if the battery dies on the device while im away (which seems like every couple of months i have to replace either the battery on the indoor device or the sensor mounted outside) its useless *id have to dedicate a camera to it still not a bad idea, though. it may be a great alternative if i cant find another method to make this work. the main reasons id like to integrate it into the onscreen display are: *can view the temp anytime i log in, day or night *do not need to dedicate a camera to it *will be on the same battery backups that the rest of my cctv system is on, unlike the battery powered weather station that i have, so never need to worry about batteries. I have an alarm clock from Oregon Scientific. It has the following features: indoor & outdoor temperature and humidity; atomic clock; backlight LCD (turns on automatically when it gets dark); battery backup. If you have a spare channel on your DVR, you could have a solution for a few hundred dollars. No more than $100 for clock radio and maybe a another $200 for an entry level camera. A more elegant solution is to use a home automation controller such as a JDS Stargate or HAI OmniLT. Using that, you could remotely log in to check and control the temperature, control your sprinklers & lights, open the garage door, monitor gates, doors, water sensors, motion sensors, write schedules... You can even have it email you when the temperature (or anything else) reaches whatever threshold you desire so that you don't have to proactively watch your cameras. Cost of admission is about $1,000 depending on how fancy you want to get. Interesting how we're pushing security cameras / video recording units to monitor environments (not easy or elegant). It may be best to use a more suitable tool for the task, though I do love reading about Scorpion's ideas! -- Marc Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DaveM 0 Posted December 1, 2008 Hello All, I am a new member, but have been lurking for a year or so. I have one camera input doing just what you want, but it was just an afterthought since I had and extra input I wasn't using. I have an Oregon Scientific WMR968 weather station. It can interface to a PC with the right software, I use Weather Display, there are others. It is running on an old PC 24/7, and I have a video card with a TV output. I just leave the PC display showing the screen I want and feed it into a channel input. The PC also uploads to my personal website to give me detailed weather info, as well as providing data to a world-wide personal weather station network. As I said, the weather station already existed so this might be overkill for your purpose. It shows rain/wind/temp as well as keeping a history. Dave Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alpine0000 0 Posted December 2, 2008 the last few posts have really got me thinking i do have an oregon scientific weather station, with indoor and outdoor temp and humidity. also tracks barometer levels over the last 24 hours, and predicts rain, etc... however, it runs only on batteries and has no backlight, nor does it plug into my pc. i guess ive got some thinking to do when i get back in the states in a couple of months... i need to set up this temperature thing, and add a few cameras, and probly splurge on a PTZ for the roof. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CollinR 0 Posted December 3, 2008 Probably complicated but ... temp sensor --> A/D converter ---> text inserter Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner. If you shop wisely you can probably score that for ~$450, the bonus is you would have a bunch of unmentioned capabiltity as well. In my case I used an Applied Digital Ocelot which is for all intensive purposes a PLC for home use. Add to it's rs485 network a SECU16 and you have 8 A/D inputs or 8 digital inputs plus 8 digital outputs. The same setup rs485 network supports both temp, humidity and ASCII output. You can either use the prepackaged temperature bobcat or use your own probe and the SECU16. The text inserter would just be whatever you can find thats cheap. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cachecreekcctv 0 Posted December 3, 2008 Just to throw in another "suggestion" here. I work with Chart Recorders all day long, amongst other electrical devices. I have Chart recorders that track up to 3 different temperatures, of different devices, and record them in an "old fashion" way, different color pen tips. Still required by State Officials. Anyway, my suggestion, as far as the recording of several temperatures, would be to setup a Chart Recorder , which takes a little bit of knowledge, but they come with instructions. You can have either an RTD or a Thermocouple for your device. You can input an "alarm" temp, which triggers a relay on the Motherboard of the Chart Recorder. You could keep this Chart Recorder inside the home, out of the weather, and have one camera watching it. Pretty reliable devices actually. I have models that have been running for over 5 years, nonstop. You setup want you want to "chart", but usually it is temperature or "events". These Chart Recorders also have a digital display on the front, showing one, two, or three different temperatures, whatever you set it up for. Would be very easy to see with a camera, then keep a solid record of it for tracking purposes. If you go the "PLC" route, I would suggest the GE Fanuc Series 90 Micro. I have two in my own home. Very inexpensive to purchase and program. I work mostly with Allen Bradleys Contrologix and SLC series, but a little too expensive for residential use. Good Luck, this was just another suggestion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alpine0000 0 Posted December 4, 2008 Probably complicated but ... temp sensor --> A/D converter ---> text inserter Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner. If you shop wisely you can probably score that for ~$450, the bonus is you would have a bunch of unmentioned capabiltity as well. In my case I used an Applied Digital Ocelot which is for all intensive purposes a PLC for home use. Add to it's rs485 network a SECU16 and you have 8 A/D inputs or 8 digital inputs plus 8 digital outputs. The same setup rs485 network supports both temp, humidity and ASCII output. You can either use the prepackaged temperature bobcat or use your own probe and the SECU16. The text inserter would just be whatever you can find thats cheap. Collin, Thanks for taking the time to reply. I was wondering if you, or another member, might be able to steer me in the right direction with the temp sensor --> A/D converter ---> text inserter as far as hunting down the materials for it. I'll be able to wire it up just fine, but I have no experience with a/d converters or text inserters. I only have experience with temp sensors. For example, you say i could get all the equipment for about $450, but i was looking online at various text inserters, and they seemed to be between $500-$800 dollars and had different options and such. When you dont really know what you need, or where to look, it can be overwhelming. Can you recommend some model numbers, brands, links, etc to make it easy for me to initially acquire the correct things, without paying too much for something that I dont really need all of the features on? Like I said, once i get the equipment in hand, wiring it up will be no problem. I was an HVAC technician for 6 or so years, and ever since have been in the computer industry. Its just that a lot of CCTV details are still new to me. If anybody would want to PM me with links to a temp sensor, a/d converter, and text inserter that they would recommend for a nice price, thatd be great, too. My google searches havent gotten me much farther than where i started from. Thanks all! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
