ZoneMinder Forums

Hello,

I'm looking at putting in 4 cameras for a housing duplex. We are in Alaska and I'm concerned about the cold weather and how it will impact the cameras.
Can anyone make suggestions on this topic? What I should look for before buying?

Also, I don't have power where the cameras will be installed. Can anyone advise me on how what type of hardware would be good to use if I want to do power over ethernet?

Thank you,

Tim

You will need to get cameras that are capable of POE like the Axis 211A. You will also want a weather proof housing to place it in. Now that you are in a cold climent you might consider a housing with a heater, but you would need to run power lines for 24VAC to each heated housing (prevents the lens from fogging up) at which case you could use the same power for the cameras. Your best bet would be to consult with a CCTV installer in your area to find out what you would need to have a functional system year round. Also your going to be looking for an auto iris lens for out doors use. Since your winters are very dark, you'll be looking for a camera with a low lux rating so that it can see well in that darkness.

Your best bet is to consult with an installer in your area.

TJ_IN_AK wrote:Hello,

I'm looking at putting in 4 cameras for a housing duplex. We are in Alaska and I'm concerned about the cold weather and how it will impact the cameras.
Can anyone make suggestions on this topic? What I should look for before buying?

Also, I don't have power where the cameras will be installed. Can anyone advise me on how what type of hardware would be good to use if I want to do power over ethernet?

Thank you,

Tim

There are plenty of hacks to put PoE into other hardware - it's not that difficult.

For heating remote locations, I have seen people put a single incandescent light bulb in a small NEMA like enclosure and it has provided enough heat to keep things from freezing solid. Of course, you say you don't have power at the site, so that might not help.

I'd say your biggest problem would be frosting over of any clear covers for the camera. Could cause trouble. Not sure what to do there.

I am building a system for Northern NY (near Canada!) and have just purchased two of these for proof-of-concept:

http://store.bluecherry.net/Outdoor_Alu ... ure_hb.htm

The downside in your situation is that they need 24v (need lots of juice to make heat.)

Can you run 2x CAT-5, and get power over more than one pair? Use one for signal / ethernet, and one for enclsoure power. Instead of POE, try PNE - power near ethernet...

May be out of your price range but have you considered solar power? Check out http://www.webcamstore.com/professional ... stemid=297

You could do the same sort of thing yourself with bits and pieces.

Just a thought.

Good luck!

Jerji

PoE cameras either have cheap optics or cost a fortune. You might want to look at Video Baluns, quality analogue cameras and analogue video input card in the PC. You can then power the camera and get the video back using Cat 5 rather than Co-ax. The Cat 5 has better performance than Co-ax so goes further, and leaves you with cabling that can support PoE cameras in case you want to change in future.

Having said that Video Input cards can be a pain in the butt to get working, it may be easier to use an IP camera or something like the Axis 2400 video server.

Powering the heater is a separate issue.

You could do 24 volt down a separate Cat5 for the heater, but use all 4 pairs to increase the current capacity.

You can get housings with 110/230 volt heaters - higher voltage, less current required for the same heater power. Less current, smaller cheaper cable required and less volt drop over the cable.

Don't put 110/240 volt down Cat 5, the insulation is not good enough, and possibility of electric shock as people do not expect 110/230 volt on Cat 5. If you are using 110/230v stick it down an appropriate cable.

24VAC housings with heaters are cheap. I wouldn't recommend the balun's that provide both power and video. Some are cheap and others provide 18VDC "hoping" it will hit 12VDC by time it hits the cameras (luckily I haven't seen these in a while).

You might look for just some cheap power wire. We have 500 foot spools now of 18awg 'power wire'. Use that with a 24VAC 20VA power supply to power the heater / blower.

Optionally you could local power you could pickup a weatherproof NEMA outdoor power supply (12vdc or 24vac).

Quentin wrote:PoE cameras either have cheap optics or cost a fortune. You might want to look at Video Baluns, quality analogue cameras and analogue video input card in the PC. You can then power the camera and get the video back using Cat 5 rather than Co-ax. The Cat 5 has better performance than Co-ax so goes further, and leaves you with cabling that can support PoE cameras in case you want to change in future.

Having said that Video Input cards can be a pain in the butt to get working, it may be easier to use an IP camera or something like the Axis 2400 video server.

Powering the heater is a separate issue.

You could do 24 volt down a separate Cat5 for the heater, but use all 4 pairs to increase the current capacity.

You can get housings with 110/230 volt heaters - higher voltage, less current required for the same heater power. Less current, smaller cheaper cable required and less volt drop over the cable.

Don't put 110/240 volt down Cat 5, the insulation is not good enough, and possibility of electric shock as people do not expect 110/230 volt on Cat 5. If you are using 110/230v stick it down an appropriate cable.

A Video Balun is just a matching transformer with appropriate BNC / RJ45 and Power connectors, if it provides power, it is not strictly just a video Balun.

The URL:
http://www.eql.com.au/cctvbalun.htm

gives a graph of volt drop over distance of Cat 5 for several different camera power consumptions.

The Cat 5 cable & Video Balun extends the cable run for a camera versus Co-ax.

By installing Cat 5 cable, it gives you the option to swap to IP cameras in future.

Don't try running a camera heater off of the same Cat 5 as the camera, run an extra cable for the heater.

Baluns are like cameras and cards. I have seen some very good ones, and some junk. Right now we are using a very good one with signal and power over the line. It is fantastic. Another one without power was complete junk.

Lee, can you please provide a link to that good combination balun?

We get them direct in bulk from a guy in China. I could probably spare a few. Send me a PM if you want the details.

For what its worth ... I have a couple of "old" X-10 (wide-eye) cams which I mounted on our garage over-looking the driveway. I live in MN and the temp will be dropping to around -10F tonight. I have 2 cameras outside, one has been out there for about 6 years, the cold seems to have affected it in that its color range is fairly narrow and it seems to be less sensitive to light. The images seem dark. I mounted another one outside this year, (old camera, newly outside) and the image is quite nice.

You can pick one up on e-bay for around $45, might be worth experimenting with.

I have a new Sony "night vision" camera which I'm thinking of mounting outside ... trying to figure out how I can keep it warm. I think I'm going to build a small enclosure for it and use an aquarium heater to heat the enclosure. Its cheap enough and I think it will do the trick .

Good luck, let us know what you've decided on and how it's worked out

Josepy

proper cctv housings with heaters arnt that much and id say not worth the hassle. In the uk (ie myself) use vista or dennard housings. But they range from £30 to £200 but id expect to pay aroung £70 ish for a nice cable managed one. Cheaper ones are available but im not a fan lol

First off, I'd not worry about the cold. Just plug in your cameras and see what they will do when it gets cold. I'm running some b&w Lorex cameras here. The tech spec sheet says they are good to +14F. This morning my thermometer is at -20F, and they are putting out just as good a picture as they do when it is 70 degrees. The cameras don't seem to care, and they never build frost on the lenses because they are the same temperature as the outside air.
Hardware temperature specs on electronics is more of a guess than a science.

I've got an axis 221 sitting outdoors with the axis heated enclosure. My maintenance department didn't get around to building an enclosure for where I had my power supplies plugged in, which was necessarily outdoors. Camera dropped offline, I snorkel-lifted my way up to the transformers, and got zilch off both. They died from exposure.

Is it safe to assume that just protecting them from water is the goal when we enclose the replacements, or do they care about temperature? I'm in the midwest, rarely but has in my lifetime gotten to 0 degrees fahrenheit, with an upper range in the summer pretty much never higher than 100.

Edit: Cold isn't an issue, and bluecherry has an outdoor 24v power supply box that the axis 9v transformer should also fit into, mission accomplished.