novicecctv 0 Posted April 18, 2007 I am trying to find a outdoor wireless IR cam for a one camera system. He has a long driveway(100 ft?) off the main road. House with a single attached garage sets to left of end of driveway, with a seperate double garage slightly past the house. Front of double garage faces end of driveway, which is where I will be mounting the cam, between the 2 garage doors. He wants wireless, so wireless it will be, even thought the distance between the 2 buildings is only 75 ft. Receiver will probably be located inside the house in a mud room being built at this time at the end of the attached garage. So the signal will be effectively going through 2 walls. One exterior and one interior. Now of all the cams i have found so far, none really have all of what I "think" they need or he wants. He's looking to spend no more than $500 on the cam. I would like to keep it south of that as much as I can and still get a cam that does the job. What I am looking for: Wireless, IR out to 60ft or so, 1/3" color CCD, weatherproof, 420 or better TTL. Now the questions: 2.4 or 5.8 frequency? 6mm, 8mm or even 12mm lens? Will I be better off going with a seperate transmitter instead of one built into the cam? Would a outdoor receiver mounted on the exterior wall be better vs. the indoor one? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks. John Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VST_Man 1 Posted April 18, 2007 how do you plan on recording this IP camera? That needds to be answered first so you can select a camera that is supported via software. - stay away from IR and have him install motion lighting. IR is ok and will only last so long.replacing it will be expensive. - your situation will work using regular wireless routers. ie. 54G, netgear, ect. - 500 for a outdoor IP camera that has value is pushing it...... most person(s) that put a price on a camera ahead of the quote have already priced out equipment and think they can get the cake and eat it too. you install and take all the risks for the same or slightly higher. good luck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
novicecctv 0 Posted April 18, 2007 Thanks for the reply VST_Man. System is a P4 3.2 with a Geovision 250-4 card, but has only 2 channels. 15 FPS total. Made a mistake in my original post. Said the driveway is 100 ft long. Meant to say 100 yds long. Saw him today and he said it's closer to 110 yds long if he remembers correctly. Hadn't considered an IP camera because I figured it would be out of his price range for a decent one. Motion lighting is already installed, but light does not extend much past 30 ft., either from the detached garage or the garage attached to the house. Thus the IR. After further checking, I'm leaning towards a good outdoor IR camera linked to a flat outdoor rated TX aimed at a RX mounted on the side of the house. At which point I'll use RG59 to the system. And as far as a him putting a price on it, I am the one that insisted on it. He's a good friend and I'm doing this labor cheap (read free ) Still trying to learn CCTV, thus all the questions. If any of my thinking is wrong or someone has a better idea, please, I want to know. I hate making mistakes with my money, and I hate making mistakes even more with other peoples money. Thanks again for the reply. John Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CollinR 0 Posted April 18, 2007 $500, bwah! Run! novice run! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
novicecctv 0 Posted April 19, 2007 Can't! He's got me cornered!!! But seriously, what would be a more realistic price for such a cam? If I can explain to him the why's of what he wants is not feasible for that price, he will most likely see that needs to consider lowering his expectations, or increase his limit on spending. He's for damn sure not a cheapskate. And not unreasonable. This is the one i'm looking at that comes the closest to meeting his wants: PRO-EXTREME SuperVision High-Power 2.4GHz Wireless Night Vision IR Camera with 104 IR Illuminators. Didn't want to post as link as I'm not sure if that would be consider spamming. Only thing I would need to do is change the lens. Has anyone used this one or similar before? Thanks. John Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted April 19, 2007 I doubt it would go 100 feet though .. you would really need a seperate TX and RX and for $500 the only guys that sell stuff like that is very cheap gear such as COP USA, maybe some others similar to that also. I used the COP USA wireless TXs and RXs years back and yes they went over 100' but they get really hot and also lots of frequent interference at 1.2 or 2.4 ghz. Even so to get the distance (like 150' for a 1000' TX) they had to be mounted high. We soon realized they were rubush and chucked them and ran wire. That said, you might get lucky Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
novicecctv 0 Posted April 19, 2007 Thanks for the reply Rory. Well, I suppose I keep looking, or give him a list of choices with the pro's and con's of each and let him make the decision of which one. John Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted April 22, 2007 6mm, 8mm or even 12mm lens? Experience will tell you what type of lens to use. If you are looking to break in to the business buy yourself a cheap box camera and a 2.8 - 12mm lens and a 5 - 100 mm lens. Now if you are lucky it will have the mm numbers on the lens and a dot that shows you what setting you are at. When you go out to do a bid hook up your camera to a 13" tv with an extension cord with a built in triple tap, or purchase a seperate triple tap. A triple tap is a three way plug that you can plug in to the end of the cord. Now you can plug in the tv and your 12 volt power supply. Use a 25 foot premade cable (video/power) to connect to your camera. Stand on a ladder and imitate how the camera would be installed. Let your customer look at the monitor (tv) and they can direct you to the view they had in mind. Now turn the adjustment on the camera and show them different settings of the lens. What you see is what you get. Explain to them that this is not the camera for the install, and that you are only using it for reference only. By doing this up front will save you trouble after an install and the customer does not see what they had in mind. This will help out before a customer wants to back out of a deal, or wants you to pay for the upgrade to get what "he asked for to begin with". A majority of my installs are for residential houses. I am always using a 4mm lens bullet with 30 feet of IR. Bolted to a house the view will be perfect for watching a two car driveway! Now bolt one on each side of the house looking forward to the front yard (or backwards to the backyard), and bolt the fourth one to watch the back yard. Here is a trick. I bolt the camera just to the opposite side of the front door. You will not see who is standing at the front door but the video will show you who approached the front door, and you will have the driveway in the shot at the same time! Two birds for one stone! Remember that the camera cannot be to far from the driveway. At night you want the cars to be in the IR zone and not out of the night time video! A 6mm lens is the teeter totter point. 4mm and lower distorts objects in the distance. You cannnot watch a mail box with a 4mm or 2.8 mm lens. It is not going to work and you are going to have a pissed off customer! Cheap cameras always come with some where around a 3mm or a 4mm lens. This makes it "plug and view". If some one is in your yard you only care about the zone about 10 feet from your house. 9mm will be giving you a slight zoom feature. It is just like looking through a binocular. A 50mm meter lens will get you out to the middle of the street so that you can identify what kind of car is driving by. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
