Things you find.......

[WRS_Mark 0]

I have been doing a complete re installation at a site recently and came upon this rather unique setup. Apparently it worked at one time and maybe it's just me but it just doesn't seem like the type of setup I would recommend installing at a multi-million dollar facility.......

 

 

 

 

Anyone here ever try something like this?

[rory 0]

What on earth is it? Looks like an IR camera but those IR would be blocked by that ... lens??

[WRS_Mark 0]

It's actually a, well, HALF of a Bushnell binocular. The intention of the setup was to monitor the fuel tanks which can be seen in the background of the second picture. The original installer had some very unique ideas on pretty much everything for this 15 camera system. I even was electrocuted while fiddling with the BNC connectors at the DVR. And on the roof. It's been an interesting last few days.

[Kiwi 0]

That's one of the funniest things I've seen in ages!

[zmxtech 0]

I'm jealous.....

[rory 0]

lol, he booby trapped the connectors?

[WRS_Mark 0]

lol, he booby trapped the connectors?

 

He ran 110V AC power up onto the steel roof using clear speaker wire to sealed junction boxes holding indoor use 12V DC transformers. Of course, the boxes were not sealed after a while of sitting out on that roof through temperatures of 30c to -45c weather and they leaked, shorted out the transformers. One even blew the prongs right off the transformer. I have managed to track down the AC wires to a few outlets, but it is a rather large building so locating the others will continue to be an enjoyable experience.

 

A text book case of malicious hillbillyism if I ever seen one. 27 hours just to run new cables, install a power panel for the cameras and redo the connectors. Then probably another 12 hours to take out all the old coax and put up new cameras. I feel bad for the owner.

[Soundy 1]

A text book case of malicious hillbillyism if I ever seen one.

 

Hahahah, I love it And that lens setup is epic!

 

I know there's a webpage somewhere that describes mounting a board camera to a door peephole for a fisheye lens... been wanting to try that one too

[shoreviewsecurity 0]

WOW - A classic!!

 

This is a classic example of insuring a professional does the work initially. I know... define "professional". People are not willing to pay for quality work. Just too many fly by night companies out there. In the end the customer really does not know the difference I suppose. A shame as your customer is paying twice.

 

I've seen some wild stuff too but that takes the cake.

[tweak'e 0]

end of the day its the customers who simply don't care.

i would go and remind them of what would happen if/when that system electrocuted someone.

[WRS_Mark 0]

The camera worked! Sort of. It generated a kind of really low resolution B&W image before it would go gray screen. Also the image was reversed in that what was actually to the left showed up to the right. Out of 15 cameras 5 kind of work to different degrees of bad and really bad and one is acceptable. I asked if I could have the old camera as kind of a keepsake and possibly a donation if and when someone opens a Museum of Hillbilly Engineering, so I will remove it and take the thing home when I return with their new cameras in a couple of weeks. Now I will also have the perfect offering for those cheapskates who call me and want to know if I have any used cameras available.

 

Also, here are a couple of shots of the roof mounted and not-so-sealed-after-all conduit boxes with the indoor use transformers mentioned above:

 

 

 

I know this should really be under the Installations section. My apologies.

[rory 0]

lol looking at that no wonder you were getting shocked. And is that a huge pile of soldering with those 2 wires there??

[WRS_Mark 0]

No soldering. That is fused/melted something or other, but not one of the prongs. I could not find them. Those yellowish/pink wires used to be clear speaker wires and are still live. They were taped to the prongs on the transformers. The installer didn't believe in connectors other than to put a splice in the RG-6 every 30-50 feet or so. - And he was using 1000' spools of the stuff. An electrician is coming to trace the live wires that I could not trace to their source. I found one that runs into the side of an electrical outlet box. I give the original installer a 9.5 for originality and a 0.5 for execution.

[Soundy 1]

I nominate this for Worst Install Ever...

 

Not just for the level of some of the dumb stuff (120VAC speaker wire taped to transformer prongs? yo!), but the sheer scope of the stupidity, as from the sound of it, this extends to all cameras on the site. Juxtaposition plays in too - multi-million dollar site, you say??

 

Damn....

[rory 0]

here this is a funny one i came across the other day .. check the wiring on the other side of the wall. Not a client of mine BTW.

 

 

 

[rory 0]

poorly installed BNC connectors from yet another job i came across, and really just a whole overall mess of cables to work around. and no i wasnt redoing it as I wasnt getting paid and it would also mean redoing the DVR properly as some moron just set up XP on it as default with no tweaks, loaded the DVR software then walked away.

 

Dont think anyone can quite top the nightmare mark had to deal with though

BTW moved to installation forum.

 

 

 

 

 

as you can see they didnt even change the time zone to EST -5 and the time was off by 3 hours.

 

 

And they installed it all on a single partition

 

[Soundy 1]

here this is a funny one i came across the other day .. check the wiring on the other side of the wall. Not a client of mine BTW.

 

*shudder*

[WRS_Mark 0]

This could turn into a pretty long topic of discussion.

 

My supplier in New Orleans sent the following picture to me a while back when I first started on my nightmare repair. It is a DVR which was housed in a barn. Probably with the animals. Apparently it smells as bad as it looks.

 

 

You know, I really should ask them to send me up that DVR (if customs would allow it through), combine it with the mutilated RG-6, the speaker wire, conduit boxes, maybe some used transformers and the cameras I will be removing and just offer it to the next jerk that calls me wanting a used multi camera system with all the bells and whistles but who only has $250 to spend including installation...... I would have to record their reaction to that one when I show up with their equipment.

[jeromephone 6]

the dome camera install pix.

 

If they had just used 8 inches of reaceway you never would have looked for the mess on the other side. I don't know how many times just a little extra effort and minimual cost makes the job go from total mess to professional looking. We just did a wiring job that was perfect except for 5 wires running at a diagonal across the patch panel. (we fixed it) however what does the customer see not the whole job the one screwup. Teck fixed that on his own time.

[Soundy 1]

This could turn into a pretty long topic of discussion.

 

My supplier in New Orleans sent the following picture to me a while back when I first started on my nightmare repair. It is a DVR which was housed in a barn. Probably with the animals. Apparently it smells as bad as it looks.

 

Impressive pictures!

 

Few years ago, I did subcontract IT work at our government-run auto insurance company. One of their departments had their own little private LAN in their office; all their systems were separate from the rest of the company. When we were moving them to new facilities, we took down all their workstations... then I asked them where their server was. Nobody knew, so I had to start tracing network cables.

 

Finally found it: an old IBM Model 90 Server (486/66!), tucked in a dark corner under a bunch of boxes. We shut it town, pulled it out, opened it up... the thing was packed solid with dust. And I mean SOLID. It had been running back there for AT LEAST 5 years, untouched and unattended... it just did its job and nobody ever thought about it.

 

Of course, this was a machine that was built for just that type of operation... and no, it wasn't running Windows.

 

You know, I really should ask them to send me up that DVR (if customs would allow it through), combine it with the mutilated RG-6, the speaker wire, conduit boxes, maybe some used transformers and the cameras I will be removing and just offer it to the next jerk that calls me wanting a used multi camera system with all the bells and whistles but who only has $250 to spend including installation...... I would have to record their reaction to that one when I show up with their equipment.

 

Classic!

[WRS_Mark 0]

here this is a funny one i came across the other day .. check the wiring on the other side of the wall. Not a client of mine BTW.

 

You know, the company I am doing this re installation for did unsuccessfully try to track down the installer who put together the original system, probably to draw and quarter him. Maybe he is now doing installations in the Bahamas. Did you look to see if there was any speaker wire run to conduit boxes on the roof?

[squelch 0]

Can't believe what some guys do to "try' and get the job done! Can't get enough of those pics..Keep em coming

[WRS_Mark 0]

Oh! I just remembered I took some pictures from another repair I did for a customer. He had the system installed this summer and a connection failed to one of the cameras. The customer had the installer move a camera up on the house from the original position so he drilled a hole THROUGH the eaves trough, nearly hit the heat tape in the trough and then sealed it up with silicone. Of course, the trough began to leak water onto his outdoor light. The customer mentioned to the company that installed it that I was located nearby and that I would be able to repair the connection. That was great as far as they were concerned but it turned out they will not pay for the repair. I sent these photos to the surveillance company manager, never got a reply and when the customer went in to see what they were going to do he was told I have no idea what I'm talking about and that everything was fine. I included the shot of the front door in my email and politely explained that it looked pretty sloppy. Oh well, I guess I just don't know what I'm talking about......LOL

 

 

 

It's a pretty old house owned by retirees, but still no reason to make it look like that.

[shoreviewsecurity 0]

How do you guys deal with the cold up there?? I see the one pic has snow on the roof. I can't imagine.

 

Our policy is " No Installations When The Temp is Below 40 Degress "

 

Just kidding but the older I get the more I HATE the cold. Rory I'm heading your way.

 

I wish

 

I also like the sign on the door. Can't miss that!

[WRS_Mark 0]

How do you guys deal with the cold up there?? I see the one pic has snow on the roof. I can't imagine.

 

That was a month ago. Temperature was in the mid 20's Fahrenheit with a quick dump of snow, so not bad. It has warmed up since.

 

Winter is okay for doing installs. You just have to pick your days so as not to cause damage to the cables when you are running them outside by flexing them too much. Just keep your hands warm and only out of gloves for short periods of time. I had a customer call who needed a repair done on his Trango receiver last winter. It was about -15c that day (a heat wave considering how cold it normally was) and I had to climb up a 65' high tower, found that a wire just needed to be cleaned up at the contact point. Lightly sanded it and reinstalled it. Not so fun but money is money.