Pimp my eyeball cam

[Overthinker 0]

Most of us are familiar with the eyeball camera or as some call it the turret camera. I prefer to save turret for the cameras that actually protrude beyond the socket mount but that is just me. The form factor of the eyeball camera is by far my favorite. With a metal enclosure, glass windows, compact size, and no over hung loads it does deserve the designation of vandal resistant. In fact mine have taken some blows even with a baseball bat and still functioned showing the perpetrator.

 

Certainly one of the short comings of most eyeball cameras is the rather weak and narrow IR output. And yes I know that most people, myself included, prefer seperate camera and IR sources as long as the dichotomy doesn't get too bad. However sometimes that is just not practical or even possible. As a real world example take my home. In the area most advantageous to place and wire an outside IR illuminator, I would need to go squiding in a vaulted ceiling attic filled up to nearly the roof with shredded fiberglass insulation. Not an inviting prospect.

 

So for a few dollars I bought some additional IR illuminators on Ebay and mounted them to the bell housing of the eyeball camera. Since I wanted to maintain at least some of the vandal resistance I drilled a hole in the sided of the illuminator casings and mounted the IR illuminators to the bell housing with 5/16ths cap screws. I drilled out the center of the cap screws so the power wires could run internally.The old hole for the IR power cord came out the back of the units so I filled them with roofing caulk.

 

I have seen some bullet cameras that use additional IR illuminators but they always mount them rotationally parallel to the camera optical axis. On this camera I have it set for about a 60 degree field of view so I angled my illuminators back 15 degrees from the camera optical axis to spread out the IR hot spots instead of them all falling in the same area. With the unit assembled it is even easier to mount to the soffit than before since the retaining ring for the eyeball bell housing is now held captive by the IR mounting studs. I also cut a foam spacer to keep the vacant area inside of the bell housing from becoming a boxelder bug nirvana.

 

Do I think this modified camera could withstand a hit from a baseball bat? No. But this one is mounted 14 feet off the ground and even a big wet snowball will not affect it. Now with the camera field more evenly illuminated motion detection is no longer influenced nearly as much by moths, june bugs, and cottonwood fuzz. It was a fun little project. Far more fun than squiding through shredded fiberglass. And it makes a compact solution to my particular security imaging problem.

[shockwave199 0]

That's pretty cool man! Of course if you have before and after pics from what the camera sees that would great. How are you powering them?

[the toss 0]

Excellent job

[thewireguys 3]

Nice work " title="Applause" /> Now lets see some video

[ak357 0]

Here is idea for your next project

Edited May 5, 2012 by Guest

[SEANHAWG 1]

Good Job Overthinker. I see a business in the making.

[nDAlk90 0]

Here is idea for your next project

 

 

Wow... Whats the distance it can see? 500ft?

 

You probably need special toggle bolts for this camera when mounting.

[Overthinker 0]

First many thanks to all for the kudos.

 

Okay some answers to questions in reverse order

 

ak357: LOL yeah that looks like a real eyeball burner. However they all seem to suffer the same limitation. And that is even on the most flexible designs you can only adjust the IR emitters in one plane. Although on mine rotation is fixed after being optimized for an application I still have vertical adjustment... to say better illuminate an upper deck with one and the entrance to the deck access stairs with the other.

 

thewireguys: I typically do not show video from my system for security sake. The internet is forever. However I am making another camera assembly and I will take some with and without stills with metrics on a generic testing grounds when finished.

 

shockwave199: The camera and IR emmiters are powered by a single input. A camera plug is connected to the IR emitter power cable. So the line power feed first goes to the IR power cord. Inside one of the IR housings a second male 5.5 x 2.1 comes back out of the IR emitter housing, through the 5/16ths stud ,and back into the camera bell. This line powers the camera. All of the power cabling is internal so it is either up inside the soffit or running inside the 5/16ths studs when installed. This way no cabling is is exposed to vandals. The power source is a adjustable voltage switching supply located about 60 feet away. I read 12.12 volts at the power connection with a total power consumption of 7.86 watts.

[ak357 0]

ak357: LOL yeah that looks like a real eyeball burner. However they all seem to suffer the same limitation. And that is even on the most flexible designs you can only adjust the IR emitters in one plane. Although on mine rotation is fixed after being optimized for an application I still have vertical adjustment... to say better illuminate an upper deck with one and the entrance to the deck access stairs with the other.

 

Have u ever use or try camera with so called "smart IR" ?

[rey 0]

it's really awesome. maybe i should call it a "cannon" but not a cam.

 

Any burglars? I'm shooting at you. fire in the hole.

[Overthinker 0]

ak357: LOL yeah that looks like a real eyeball burner. However they all seem to suffer the same limitation. And that is even on the most flexible designs you can only adjust the IR emitters in one plane. Although on mine rotation is fixed after being optimized for an application I still have vertical adjustment... to say better illuminate an upper deck with one and the entrance to the deck access stairs with the other.

 

Have u ever use or try camera with so called "smart IR" ?

 

 

 

Yes I have used cameras with smart IR. However the smart IR works even better when you can aim the IR in multiple dimensions to even out the intensity differences.

[vector18 1]

Very nice idea. I Like it alot. What was your cost for the emitters and I would love a before and after

pic of the protected area at least.

[Overthinker 0]

Hi Vector18,

 

I am glad you like it. There are a lot of people on here so if just one person in ten would share one of their ideas... that could be a lot of good ideas.

 

The camera with the emitters came to about $80. The camera was $67 and the emitters were $4 a piece on Ebay. I have seen emitters come and go on Ebay so I finally took the bait. The rest of the hardware was leftovers from other projects so it is hard to place a cost on them but I would suspect that the $80 total would cover them.

 

I am not sure whom it was that manufactured the emitters. They had no labeling of any kind when they arrived. From looking into the front of the TO encapsulation it looks like they are a 45 degree dispersion angle. They didn't have a really harsh hot spot so I only set them back 15 degrees. Anymore and some of the emitter IR would fall outside of my camera field of view.

 

Many people seem to want to see the before and after results. Since I replaced the old camera at the same time I modded the new one I currently have no valid comparison stills. Just playing with the new camera and emitters in the dark with a monitor convinced me it was worth doing. As I mentioned I am making another camera with emitters (exact to the previous) so before I mount it to the soffit I will take some images with just the camera IR and with the supplemental emitters. It will be a lot easier to play around with the unmounted camera for comparisons than one that is already mounted 14 feet off the ground.