Bloomin' spiders

[Numb-nuts 1]

On Friday I installed another high resolution IR camera to watch over my car.

The picture quality is quite impressive but within 24 hours, I was experiencing some

strange difficulties. Friday night it rained and the rain was so intense it was making the

motion detection record even after setting to sensitivity level 1. I haven't figured this one out yet

 

Within 24 hours of installation, I noticed during IR operation that a small

light source was visible within the picture shaking around and setting off the motion

detection. Took me a while to figure out what it was becuse it only happens during IR

operation and as the camera is about 4m up the wall, I saw no cobwebs.

Tonight I tied a feather duster to a 3m length or plastic conduit and waved it over

the front of the camera, problem solved, What was it?

 

Those of you with a lot of experience will know what I am about to say.

It was a spiders web having caught a fly in it and the IR light was reflecting off it

making it look as though someone was shining a torch into the lens.

 

Any suggestions about the rain setting off the motion detection so easily would be appreciated.

Think I'll have to try some of that anti spider spray.

The camera does a a huge onscreen menu system but I left it at default.

[cglaeser 0]

To minimize problems with insects, I use IR illuminators mounted a couple feet from the camera.

 

To solve complex motion issues such as rain and wind, I use outdoor PIRs. Optex and Crow make excellent outdoor PIRs.

 

Best,

Christopher

[rory 0]

Spray some bug spray around the camera. You may have to respray anytime it rains heavy though.

The food stores here are nasty and when I did alarms we had to do this with the Motion detectors to help prevent the ****roaches and spiders from setting them off all the time. Literally ****roaches would make homes inside of them without spraying it with some baygon

[Numb-nuts 1]

I think the idea of using PIRs is probably going to be my best option for getting around the rain setting off my

DVRs motion sensor recording. If I get a pet friendly one it may stop that darned cat from setting it off too and

the shadows from the trees out of frame on a sunny day.

 

As for using separate IR lights, the camera has built in infrared and the lighting it gives is just right.

This particular location, there is only space for a single unit on the wall as it's tight and looking around a wall corner.

The camera is quite exposed, but I read somewhere that spider spray applied to a piece of cotton wool and tucked into the camera

works well for longer periods. If I tuck it under the sun visor that might help a bit.

 

I don't mind leaving the feather duster tied to a 3m conduit pipe as it only takes a few seconds to clear the spiders webs and it is at my own home so I don't have to travel anywhere to do this. Just have to buy another feather duster for the house.

 

Blasted spiders

[SEANHAWG 1]

PIR motion detection for outdoors is great and highly recommended. About the only time we use the DVR's motion detection is for indoor use. Otherwise, we just recommend to record 24/7 for outdoor use because if not, you will be plagued with false alarms.

[rory 0]

PIR motion detectors outside = false alarms too.

Better off with beams.

 

Regarding motion recording on the DVR, even with the false alarms from shade, noise etc, if masked out somewhat it can still give you much longer recording time than just continuous record.

[Birdman Adam 0]

With some motions they have jumpers that can be set for different ranges. Like 25' or 15'.

[cglaeser 0]

PIR motion detectors outside = false alarms too.

 

Here are two more important equations:

 

Camera motion false alarm >> PIR motion false alarm

 

PIR motion positive alarm in total darkness >> Camera motion positive alarm in total darkness

 

The last time the police came to pick up my written report to give to the DA, he said, "Can I ask you a question? How are you doing this?"

 

Granted, most people are happy with a grainy video clip of the two dudes stealing stuff from their car that they can post to YouTube. In which case, no PIRs needed or that. Any Costco surveillance system will work fine just fine.

 

Best,

Christopher

[rory 0]

Here are two more important equations:

 

Camera motion false alarm >> PIR motion false alarm

 

PIR motion positive alarm in total darkness >> Camera motion positive alarm in total darkness

 

The last time the police came to pick up my written report to give to the DA, he said, "Can I ask you a question? How are you doing this?"

And another even more important highly secretive (it seems) equation:

PIR motion false alarm >> BEAM false alarm

 

BTW why was he asking you how you could write?

[rory 0]

BTW one shouldn't be using a video system as an alarm system to begin with, therefore video motion detection should not be seen as false alarming or whatever, it is not geared towards that. Bottom line if choosing between video motion or continuous the motion gives you alot longer recording, which makes a difference to some people. Ofcourse if the night time image is going to be too dark or "grainy" as one put it then just use continuous for night time, but I would suggest doing it properly and adding more light.

[SEANHAWG 1]

I should have used different terminology, what I meant by false alarm is false recording triggers meaning you will have several recordings of nothing with pixel based motion from the DVR, night time Noise, Wind Blowing the Housing (if you have a housing).

 

IMO, the best solution would be to have a large enough hard-drive to record 24/7 to eliminate the problem of too many false triggers, or the possibility that the motion detection will accidentally fail.

[rory 0]

Best and cheap DVRs dont really go hand in and though, where most have a max 2TB drive ($250-350) capacity anyway but while most clients can only afford a 500GB HDD ($100-150) .. gotta do what you can to get that extra recording length. Id rather have recording of the trees blowing than miss that extra week of recording because I had it on continuous. In most cases when you do continuous record on 8-16 channels one is lucky to get 1-2 days out of even a 1TB drive, at least if the resolution is set to 640+ and say 15fps each channel (Eg. Geovision)

[SEANHAWG 1]

In most cases when you do continuous record on 8-16 channels one is lucky to get 1-2 days out of even a 1TB drive

 

I can get a whole day out of an 80 gb hard drive off of my 16 channel recording D1 @768 bit rate on all channels, Just checked. I havent tried a 1tb yet on our new DVR but if its anything like our old DVR, I should be able to get 8-10 days for a 16 channel which is usually enough for residential applications as you will usually know if something is tampered with the very next day it happens. 500 GB on a 4 channel should get you atleast 10-15 days recording D1, depending on the DVR. Here in the states, the price difference between a 500gb and a 1TB is minimal considering the extra storage you get from a 1tb. For a 500gb, you can get a nice SV Seagate for $50 with free shipping, a 1TB will cost you about $75 with free shipping. You can even get a 1.5TB Seagate Barracude for under $100 easily and is sometimes cheaper than the 1TB Seagate SV, but is probably not as sturdy as the SV series. Check Buy.Com, Amazon.Com and NewEgg.Com for great deals on hard-drives.

[rory 0]

I can get a whole day out of an 80 gb hard drive off of my 16 channel recording D1 @768 bit rate on all channels, Just checked. I havent tried a 1tb yet on our new DVR but if its anything like our old DVR, I should be able to get 8-10 days for a 16 channel which is usually enough for residential applications as you will usually know if something is tampered with the very next day it happens. 500 GB on a 4 channel should get you atleast 10-15 days recording D1

 

 

In any event, Geo 1480 with 10 cameras, D1, Mpeg4, 1TB drive, Max 15fps record per ch, approx 5 days, and thats only 50% continuous and 50% motion - but its all high quality color which makes the image size larger.

 

See the problem is when you go over 7ps per channel .. it really starts to eat up that HDD space.

Also Its best not to use H.264 if you have the choice, the difference in recorded quality is like night and day, but eats up more space. Set all the cameras to BW and will get maybe 5 times the recording length.

[rory 0]

Here in the states, the price difference between a 500gb and a 1TB is minimal considering the extra storage you get from a 1tb. For a 500gb, you can get a nice SV Seagate for $50 with free shipping, a 1TB will cost you about $75 with free shipping. You can even get a 1.5TB Seagate Barracude for under $100 easily and is sometimes cheaper than the 1TB Seagate SV, but is probably not as sturdy as the SV series. Check Buy.Com, Amazon.Com and NewEgg.Com for great deals on hard-drives.

Here HDDs are at least 2 times the price, but even the price from the manufacturer's or distributors of installed hard drives are about that in the US - remember not every drive works properly with every DVR (could be as small an error as the occasional jump in the recordings) so to cut back on technical support they like to suggest the ones they have tested with it. Most of the cheap DVRs dont seem to mind too much though, or DVRs recording in low frame rates, but if one is buying the DVR with a hard drive installed already its still normally a big difference in price, sometimes double, from a 500 to a 1000 gb.

 

BTW some drives are cheap for another reason, they are slower than the others, eg. the green drives, 7200rpm or not.

[cglaeser 0]

BTW why was he asking you how you could write?

 

He wanted to know how I was able to catch six criminals in a two year span. It's a very good question, but most people are not interested in knowing the answer. Most homeowners just want some cameras that will record the theft. The installers make money on the installation, the burglars make money on the sale of stolen property, and the homeowners get to post a video of the theft on YouTube. Everyone is happy.

 

Best,

Christopher

[rory 0]

BTW why was he asking you how you could write?

 

He wanted to know how I was able to catch six criminals in a two year span. It's a very good question, but most people are not interested in knowing the answer. Most homeowners just want some cameras that will record the theft. The installers make money on the installation, the burglars make money on the sale of stolen property, and the homeowners get to post a video of the theft on YouTube. Everyone is happy.

 

Best,

Christopher

True I hear you, thats why they hire professionals like us, we put away dozens a year.

[Numb-nuts 1]

Getting back on topic, I think the ide of installing the IR seperately to the camera and a few feet away is a good idea

but the rain problem is yet another issue. I think the PIR route is the one I need to explore as if I get a pet friendly one

animals (cats) won't trigger the cam and rain is not significant enough even when heavy.

 

I can run a cat 5 to the PIR to take the alarm signal back to the DVR. I may even use PIRs on the other cameras at night because cars seem to turn around near my house but out of view and the lights often set my DVR recording on more than one camera. I can probably run just one DC cable and a cat5 to run all the PIRs as they don't have to be located adjacent to the camera to be useful do they, they just need to cover the appropriate trigger area.

 

By the way, I feel a 500GB HDD is quite large enough for a 4 channel domestic CCTV system, however I am aware of recording space and want to preserve the space as diligently as it will allow. I don't record people passing the house, but anyone approaching activates the motion sensors in cam 1 which is 'record linked' to camera 3. I am very satisfied with the way cams 1 & 3 work, just camera 4 that needs some triggering refinement. Camera 2 is a PTZ and will act as a static camera when it's not monitored.

[SEANHAWG 1]

If your DVR allows it, you can also set your PTZ to zoom in on certain areas once your PIR's detect motion.