Inexpensive microphone compatible with Dahua/Empiretech PTZ6C4G-45X ?

I

IslandEye

n3wb
Nov 17, 2024
18
1
Canada
We just received a pendant type PTZ camera (PTZ6C4G-45X) from Andy. I don't think these have an internal mic but have wiring for Line in and Line out. Installing it on a pole on our dock and wanted to install a microphone to listen to the birds and ocean. It would have to be pretty much salt spray resistant, even though I could mount it under the junction box or under the rain hood that I am adding to protect the camera itself from our somewhat incessant Pacific Northwest rain.

I don't see any external mics advertised on the Empiretech website and the specs on the camera aren't much help in identifying what type of microphone would work with the unit.

Thanks if anyone has any ideas on what mic would work!

Cheers
 
tigerwillow1 said:

I've been using a few of them for about 5 years. Work good, no failures.
Click to expand...
Thanks All - Very useful info, miles ahead now from where I started on this :)

Unfortunately there is no 12V output from this Dahua PTZ camera to power the mic. So on to figure out how to power the microphone with 12 V given that the camera is remote, way out on a dock and the only power is the PoE+ (48 V) that the camera drops down to it's required 24V 25W (meaning I can't just use a 12V PoE splitter to power both the mic and camera (which has either PoE or 24V power options).

Maybe find a 24 V PoE splitter - take that into the camera and use a 24VDC to 12VDC bucking voltage converter for the mic? Like this one? Gigabit Inline PoE Splitter/Converter with 24 Volt 25 Watt PoE or DC Output
 
Bummer. I'm not a big PTZ user and have only one of the "mini" ones that uses a 12 volt supply. Even with the 24 volt spliiter you're faced with the microphone's maximum 20 volt supply spec. Yes, a buck converter should work. If I were faced with this I'd maybe just hack 10 or so forward biased diodes together to drop about 5 volts. Either way, it's a bunch of hassle to go through. I've seen in passing a couple of Dahua cameras that have a 12 volt output to power a microphone. Too bad that's not more common in more models.
 
Thanks for the ideas about diodes etc.

From what I'm finding about available PoE splitters, it seems that the most reliable way to power both the 48V 25W PoE+ camera and the 12V 17mA microseven mic at this remote location may be to just bite the bullet and pull a pair of 18 gauge 12V wires along with the PoE cable run (about 150 feet).

To get the optimal 12 to 20 V power to the mic at the camera end, it would be best to use about a 19V wall wart in the house (to allow for voltage drop on the long 12V wire run).
 
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There's another thing you could try. I'm reluctant to bring it up in public because it sounds like an ugly hack that shouldn't work, yet it's exactly what I'm doing with one camera to drive an IR illuminator and it's working just as good as doing things the right way. The hack is to use a totally dumb rj45 splitter, one that splits all 8 wires into 2 ports. Plug the camera into one of the split ports, and a 12 volt poe splitter into the other. Power the microphone from the poe splitter, and don't use its rj45 output. My use of this is in an underground box so I made up a dummy rj45 plug to try and keep junk and moisture out of the unused jr45 socket.

What I call the totally dumb splitter:
Capture.JPG

Where did the 1 amp come from? I've never measured it. Microseven says 17 mA.
Capture.JPG
 
tigerwillow1 said:
There's another thing you could try. I'm reluctant to bring it up in public because it sounds like an ugly hack that shouldn't work, yet it's exactly what I'm doing with one camera to drive an IR illuminator and it's working just as good as doing things the right way. The hack is to use a totally dumb rj45 splitter, one that splits all 8 wires into 2 ports. Plug the camera into one of the split ports, and a 12 volt poe splitter into the other. Power the microphone from the poe splitter, and don't use its rj45 output. My use of this is in an underground box so I made up a dummy rj45 plug to try and keep junk and moisture out of the unused jr45 socket.

What I call the totally dumb splitter:
View attachment 209559

Where did the 1 amp come from? I've never measured it. Microseven says 17 mA.
View attachment 209561
Click to expand...

Good idea!! - That sounds like a useful, straightforward solution and glad it worked for you.

Sorry, had edited my initial wild guess of 1A to the actual 17 mA from the spec sheet. Just ordered a Microseven microphone (appears they sent it by post which will disappear into the vacuum of the Canadian Postal Strike ....)
 
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