Sub $200 IP Camera

[buellwinkle 0]

NotSoSimple, is there a recomendation in the manual or from the company as to how to make that weathertight? I wouldn't worry about moisture getting in the wire, but I can see the copper corroding inside the RJ45 connectors. I would have expected a weather tight seals like in the connectors used under the hood of a car. Or are they expecting that you run the connector in the wall and then plug your Ethernet cable into it while indoors?

 

This is how the Brickcom works using a similar pigtail. As you can see, the connection is made waterproof. Is the Dahua similar?

[dmoore 0]

NotSoSimple, is there a recomendation in the manual or from the company as to how to make that weathertight? I wouldn't worry about moisture getting in the wire, but I can see the copper corroding inside the RJ45 connectors. I would have expected a weather tight seals like in the connectors used under the hood of a car. Or are they expecting that you run the connector in the wall and then plug your Ethernet cable into it while indoors?

 

This is how the Brickcom works using a similar pigtail. As you can see, the connection is made waterproof. Is the Dahua similar?

 

I have quite a bit of experience with non-weather proof RJ45 connections used in outdoors locations. The best solution I've found yet is to just spray the connection with CorrosionX:

 

http://www.corrosionx.com/corrosionx.html

 

Short of leaving the cables in standing water, this works excellent.

[buellwinkle 0]

Do you spray the RJ45 jack and plug seperately, or plug them together and spray the outside? Doesn't it get inbetween the connection and interfere? Just asking, don't know.

[NotSoSimple 0]

Interesting stuff dmoore.

 

Got the cam in. Unfortunately (And fortunately) I think I am going to run conduit and CAT5E out to the garage where the cam will be mounted. This means I wont be able to mount and use it for a couple weeks. Wife has projects she needs done first.

 

About the connectivity. In the base of the mount is where the wires come out. It has a pigtail about 15" long and then splits for the barrel jack (power) and RJ-45 (network). See below for a pic. So out in the open it would be rather susceptible to the elements. In my case I have enough freedom I think I will recess a single gang box into my sofet and just place the cable connections in there.

 

The one thing I didn't notice anywhere on the website, videos, etc is when the IR LEDs are activated, it has a red glow to them. So much for being stealth with the camera. Is this normal for IR LEDs?

 

[bike_rider 0]

Did you get a chance to get this installed?

 

Most IR LEDs do have a visible glow. You can get external illuminators in the non-visible range, but they are expensive and cameras are not as sensitive to that wavelength, so you need a more powerful one.

 

Can you turn off the LEDs on this camera?

[NotSoSimple 0]

I did and it has been running for a couple weeks. As far as I can tell, no you cannot turn off the glow of the IR LEDs.

 

My one complaint is the IR Glare off of the hood I have it pointed down and out and between the 'halo' glare from the hood and the 'reflection' from my asphalt driveway the picture quality suffers.

[bike_rider 0]

I did and it has been running for a couple weeks. As far as I can tell, no you cannot turn off the glow of the IR LEDs.

 

My one complaint is the IR Glare off of the hood I have it pointed down and out and between the 'halo' glare from the hood and the 'reflection' from my asphalt driveway the picture quality suffers.

 

That's about what I expected you would get. I wonder if you can remove the front "glass" and mask off the LEDs (black paint, RTV silicon, liquid electrical tape, etc)

[NotSoSimple 0]

I still want to be able to use the IR though. I kind of just chalked it up to how it will be.