newbie needs input

[jkowalski11@comcast.net 0]

happy easter to all.i am an old school,fly by the seat of your pants do it yourselfer.i recently aquired a pelco dd5ac camera W/ bb5a-pg-e back box.am new to security systems but have intermediate cable/comupter/elect wiring skills.i would like to mount this camera on a gable end of my house. bought a 24v transformer and powered up bb,fans & led came on. whats next? ole lady is on my butt for spending too much time doing research and not enough time on other projects.u know the drill.anyone help?

[Soundy 1]

Well the next question then is, what do you want to do with the signal? Are you going to record it, or just watch it on the TV? If you're planning to record it, are you going to get a dedicated DVR, or just an add-in card and software for an existing computer?

 

Main thing is, is this going to be a serious security item, or just something to play around with? That determines how much more you're going to spend on it.

 

First thing you need to do is run wires from the camera location, to wherever you want to control/watch it from. RG-59U coax is the cable of choice for the video signal; anything 18/2 or so will work for power, and another for control... or something in 18/4 (intercom cable or something of the sort). Lots of people here will recommend "siamese" cable, where the coax and power (and sometimes control) are all joined by a web to make a single cable - it's a lot easier to run (in most cases), but tends to be a little pricier and not always as readily available.

 

Once you have that down, you'll need to be able to control the camera. If you go with a standalone DVR, you'll need to make sure it has this capability, and support for Pelco D and P protocols. If you're running into your PC, or if you just want to be able to watch it, you can control it from your PC's serial port (you'll need a DB9-female connector), using software like ike PTZ Contro. OR you can just get a dedicated PTZ keyboard/joystick unit (lots on eBay).

 

That's your basics The one question I'd have is, what's the capacity of your transformer? PTZs tend to be pretty power-hungry, especially if they have heaters built-in, once you start driving them around. I'd recommend a transformer rated at 75VA or better, or you'll run into problems.

 

Hope that helps