outdoor long-distance camera, advice?

A place for discussion of topics that are not specific to ZoneMinder. This could include Linux, Video4Linux, CCTV cameras or any other topic.
Post Reply
mighty
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 6:15 pm

outdoor long-distance camera, advice?

Post by mighty »

Hi all-
Trying to decide if I should take this project on given a small budget and big requirements.

I need an outdoor daylight camera at my home that will monitor a 100-foot-wide gate area that is 200 to 380 feet from the camera. It's not necessary to see faces or license plates, but vehicles and people should be roughly recognizable.

The camera will be 330 feet from the PC, through some tall trees. I would prefer a battery-powered IP camera in order to avoid running wires -there is no power out there- but cost and battery life will decide.

What are the options and rough costs with this setup? I have seen some very expensive cameras but I hope there are alternatives. I'm willing to sacrifice some reliability, and I'm OK with building my own enclosure, mount and power supply if necessary.

Thanks for your advice.
User avatar
kingofkya
Posts: 1110
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:07 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Post by kingofkya »

Well if you are running a wired ip cam get POE adapters. If you want to go 100% wireless use a wireless ip cam with a small solar pannle and 12v battery. Also don't forget diodes on the battery to prevent discharge as for the camera it really depends on what you want to spend.
Flasheart
Posts: 342
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:27 pm

Post by Flasheart »

http://www.axis.com/products/cam_207w/ is not an external camera, but the megapixel does give a much better image at the further distances.

Agree with king about PoE. Use a PoE injector such as http://www.ciao.co.uk/Buffalo_AirStatio ... r__5819772 at the house. Run cat5 out to the camera and have a splitter like http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=368 to extract it to the camera.

House all in a waterproof enclosure.

I have used Solar and wireless before. Results were not great. You'll need to do the maths and use plenty of panels and a hefty battery as wifi uses much more than wired. It will also be much much less reliable than poe/wired. I don't recommend this route unless you are prepared to spend a lot of time fiddling with stuff and cursing the world when you need to check something and you discover it stopped working 2 days ago.
User avatar
kingofkya
Posts: 1110
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:07 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Post by kingofkya »

oh and from experance the cheap 50$ ups that on ewith built in splitter can run 2 axis cams and poe switch for 1 week +- a day

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6842101344
rmorrison100
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 7:54 am

Re: outdoor long-distance camera, advice?

Post by rmorrison100 »

Same here, I vote for PoE.
Rascall M.
shinichy
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:07 am

Re: outdoor long-distance camera, advice?

Post by shinichy »

Hello Mighty.

Well, as your name suggests, you are really mighty. I appreciate the courage and for being an optimist. Mighty, regarding your case, what I can advice to you is to go for PoE adapters. They really fit, pretty much amazing home CCTV that's completely securing you.
jack520
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2011 7:55 am

Re: outdoor long-distance camera, advice?

Post by jack520 »

The post tell us more knowledge,we can use it in our life.Thank you for the
MarvinLamont
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:24 am

Re: outdoor long-distance camera, advice?

Post by MarvinLamont »

In my opinion, CCTV offers security cameras that encompass a vast variety of features that will take care of any security system need. Another feature of these security cameras is that they are weatherproof which gives them the ability to use indoors or outdoors.
GorgeousPaws
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:59 am

Re: outdoor long-distance camera, advice?

Post by GorgeousPaws »

i totally agree to it. Good advice!
ctopcctv
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jun 16, 2013 5:11 am

Re: outdoor long-distance camera, advice?

Post by ctopcctv »

mighty wrote:Hi all-
Trying to decide if I should take this project on given a small budget and big requirements.

I need an outdoor daylight camera at my home that will monitor a 100-foot-wide gate area that is 200 to 380 feet from the camera. It's not necessary to see faces or license plates, but vehicles and people should be roughly recognizable.

The camera will be 330 feet from the PC, through some tall trees. I would prefer a battery-powered IP camera in order to avoid running wires -there is no power out there- but cost and battery life will decide.

What are the options and rough costs with this setup? I have seen some very expensive cameras but I hope there are alternatives. I'm willing to sacrifice some reliability, and I'm OK with building my own enclosure, mount and power supply if necessary.

Thanks for your advice.
hi, mighty,
it is not a problem. you could solve it according to ours.
1. using a waterproof analog 700tvl camera, it is enough for your request, it it cheap, about $70/pc, no need IP camera.
2. using PVD video balun and network cable to transmit video and power for camera, you could supply power for camera in your house. there are one PVD video balun item recommended in cctvvideobalun, it could transmit up to 300m, enough for yours. it is only $5/pair.
Post Reply