Residential Complex CCTV system, need suggestions...

[nickCR 0]

Hey Guys,

 

Thanks for all your replies!!! I completely agree with you guys and I think we need better cameras no doubt about it but we have a limit and that limit is the price we are paying.

 

I know there are cheaper software packages out there but you guys recommended eXact and they have a distributor here in Costa Rica.

 

We finally settled on the following:

 

Cameras: Vivotek ( I know there are other solutions, but we will need to explore them in future )

Wireless: Ubiquiti Nanostations M5 ( Very pleased about this )

Software: eXact

 

They will wire 2 cameras.

They will wireless bridge club house 2, guard house 1 and 2 and each camera on the north road.

 

We plan on expanding the system internally in future. So when this happens we will replace the exterior cameras and use those Vivotek cams inside the complex.

 

I did look at the image samples that the Vivotek provides. Like I said before we do not need to recognize anyone, that isn't important. We just want to know if something is happening some where so that security can go and deal with it.

 

So the Nanostation M5 will "NOT" output PoE to the Vivotek? We need to grab power for the wireless device anyway but it would have been nice to have only one wire going into the camera. This is only an issue in 3 spots since we will have the Nanostation connect into a router in the two guard houses and can power the router directly from the guard house.

 

Thanks again for all your replies! I really appreciate all the help!

[hardwired 0]

The Nanostation M5 will not output standard 802.3af power, but I was able to power a camera using a passive PoE injector like this reversed, with the power+data side going to the secondary port on the Nanostation, the data side to the camera, and the "power in" jack supplying power out to the camera's standard power supply connection. I tested this using Ubiquiti's 24 volt adapter to allow for maximum power at the camera.

 

Having said all that, you may just want to use a standard PoE injector on a separate CAT5 wire for the camera.... Also note that for static/lightning prevention, Ubiquiti recommends the use of shielded CAT5 with metal CAT5 plugs (see http://www.ubnt.com/wiki/index.php?title=Proper_installation for details). Also note that for a fully transparent layer 2 link, you need to use WDS.

[buellwinkle 0]

They Nanostations do not output power to the camera, but they sell an adapter that sits inside the Nanostation M from what I can tell from the pictures and it's $19 - http://www.ubnt.com/8023af

 

Go on their forums and ask, they have an active forum.

[nickCR 0]

I'll make sure that the provider is aware that the Ubiquiti products do not have PoE out of the box.

 

I understand Ubiquiti is quite well priced and PoE isn't needed by everyone ....

 

Anyway I was looking at that H264 WebCam 3.7 Professional and I might give their trial a go. If it works well then we can use it and maybe get some better cameras in place of that

 

The fact that it runs on Windows though might be an issue.

[thewireguys 3]

They Nanostations do not output power to the camera, but they sell an adapter that sits inside the Nanostation M from what I can tell from the pictures and it's $19 - http://www.ubnt.com/8023af

 

Go on their forums and ask, they have an active forum.

 

It takes a 8023af injector/switch and converts it to UB's power requrements. But the output from the nanostation is the same as the input which is not 8023af.

[buellwinkle 0]

The fact that it runs on Windows though might be an issue.

 

Where you going to run on Ubuntu/Debian? Looking at the spec sheet, it's a pretty old version of Ubuntu.

[nickCR 0]

The fact that it runs on Windows though might be an issue.

 

Where you going to run on Ubuntu/Debian? Looking at the spec sheet, it's a pretty old version of Ubuntu.

 

Yes was planning to use Ubuntu.

[btsforklift 0]

They Nanostations do not output power to the camera, but they sell an adapter that sits inside the Nanostation M from what I can tell from the pictures and it's $19 - http://www.ubnt.com/8023af

 

Go on their forums and ask, they have an active forum.

 

Panoptic Technology makes a similar device as well:

http://www.panoptictechnology.com/network-smart-adapters/

[HTElectrical 0]

last post was almost a year ago.

[nickCR 0]

True it was over a year ago!

 

I should update you guys as it actually took forever to get the system installed (mainly a funding issue).

 

We finally got the system installed and running ( final install of the server was 2 days ago )

 

There are a total of 10 vivotek cameras (3x - IP8332, 7x - IP7330)

The server runs Windows 7 Pro and has 5TB of space ( about 30 days )

Wireless is all Ubiquiti (2x Nanostation M5, 7x Nanostation Loco M5)

 

I've included a capture from the main blvd in the complex.

 

Thanks again to everyone for their help. We certainly ended up with a system that serves our needs!

 

Nick

[Soundy 1]

Congrats on your finished job! Looks like someone misspelled "STOP" though

[nickCR 0]

Congrats on your finished job! Looks like someone misspelled "STOP" though

 

Thanks man you helped a lot!

 

Also that image isn't full size because I couldn't upload a file bigger than 150 kb. I'm very happy with ExacqVision their software is very professional and complete. Only thing I wish is that I could setup software motion detection, which would alert the guards via audible or messages. I know we can do this with external alarms but that requires additional equipment.

 

You're being sarcastic about the stop obviously but alto is stop in spanish. Remember i'm down in Costa Rica.

 

BTW very disappointed in the cannots ( canucks ) ...

[Soundy 1]

You're being sarcastic about the stop obviously but alto is stop in spanish. Remember i'm down in Costa Rica.

I was being facetious, actually... or tongue in cheek... or just silly. That's why the

 

BTW very disappointed in the cannots ( canucks ) ...

You and me both... but feeling much better today after the people's response to last night's madness - the TRUE fans stepped up and did the right thing.

[nickCR 0]

Yeah man pretty impressive to see some many people make it out to help put the city back in shape and the police are doing a pretty good job of rounding up the culprits. An article I saw said there was a professional photographer on-site taking extremely hi-res images of the crowd and events and he has provided all of the pictures as evidence. lol at 12 mp can you imagine the quality that you would see lol.

 

I just noticed this thread has almost 5,000 views, cool

 

Anyway we're very happy with the system, the Ubiquiti stuff has been rock solid. We have only had one location (internal) fail due to PoE injector being burnt out from humidity. I guess they didn't seal the box right. If it happens again I'll request another solution!

[Soundy 1]

Yeah man pretty impressive to see some many people make it out to help put the city back in shape and the police are doing a pretty good job of rounding up the culprits. An article I saw said there was a professional photographer on-site taking extremely hi-res images of the crowd and events and he has provided all of the pictures as evidence. lol at 12 mp can you imagine the quality that you would see lol.

I know several photographers from another forum who were down there snapping away with their pro and semi-pro DSLRs. Between that, the HD video cameras, news cameras, and thousands of cel phones, there's no shortage of images - last I heard, VPD had received over 100,000 photos and thousands more video clips.

 

Anyway we're very happy with the system, the Ubiquiti stuff has been rock solid. We have only had one location (internal) fail due to PoE injector being burnt out from humidity. I guess they didn't seal the box right. If it happens again I'll request another solution!

Niiiiice, good job!