ZoneMinder Forums

I work in a small factory and we have just installed a new machine.

We are after something cheap to be able to monitor some of the areas of the machine from the workstation.

I was thinking along the lines of a PC running Ubuntu, with 4 wireless IP66 rated camera's. There would be no real need to store historic recordings, just view live footage.

The PC would remain in the office area (keeping it clear of dust etc) and the camera's would sit around the machine.

We would then use a USB dongle type computer to view the camera feed from a browser situated on the workstation.

Is this a workable idea?

Thanks in advance...

Daz

If you value your troubleshooting time over the long run, don't use WiFi. It is not reliable enough. Run a wire. You still have to power the camera, so you have to run at least 1 wire anyway. WiFi works fine for mobile devices, but it is the worst possible method to transmit real time information that needs to be available 24/7.

Powerline adapters would work better than wifi. They actually work pretty well as long as all your powerline adapters are on the same electrical phase.

Four IP cameras, at a low frame, with zoneminder set to monitor mode only, should be doable on a standard desktop pc, provided the cameras are not high megapixel.

Thanks for the heads up with regards to the wifi. Wire seems to be the sensible option.

I presume it would be ok to run 4 cameras into a hub, then a single network wire back to the hub main office? (the electrical curcuit on the machine will be on a different phase, so powerline adapters are out)

Also, can you get cameras that work at short distance (macro), we are manufacturing items with a ball inserted in the end. It would be great if it could detect if the item was there or not.

It may be a bit of a push to detect, but we could get the camera pretty close to it.

The item in question is the end of a shear stud. (I can't attach a pic as i'm a new user )

Daz

Mount your network switch such that all your wire runs from the device to the switch are <= 100 meters. That distance includes the length of the patch cables. You are in a factory, so naturally you need to mount it in a safe location as well.

Many cameras ship with a 2-4mm lens, which is wide angle, which you don't want for this application.
Recommend you choose a camera with a "varifocal" lens. This will allow you to mechanically adjust the focal length of the camera to zoom in or out, thus making it a bit easier to mount the camera such that you get a good view. You don't necessarily have to mount the camera up close as long as the camera lens can be adjusted to zoom into the desired area.

ZoneMinder detects motion by comparing the rgb value of each pixel to that of the previous frame. If the value has changed sufficiently, then this is counted as "motion". ZoneMinder does not do analytics. It cannot detect if an object is present or not in the literal sense. However, that doesn't mean you can't adjust the motion detection parameters to get close to what you want to do. As long as the desired event involves some sort of movement in the cameras field of view, you've got a chance. Recommend you start by reading the documentation in WiKi that describes how to set up zones and motion detection.