Need help picking out Equipment for remote Location- Needs to boot back up easily

[nayr]

all domes will get sunburnt if you expose em to UV, go look at the headlamps on some old cars.. and those had UV Stabilizers in em already. Domes are for indoors, not outside.

The dahua will do you good, Ive had one like CaliGirl's installed for several years and its still doing great.

 

[CaliGirl]

I think it is safe to say that nayr does not like dome cameras. He talked me out of one, and with good reason. Yes they provide better protection against the elements and vandalism but at the expense of reduced optics. You're trying to shoot a camera lens through a curved piece of plexiglass. That never turns out all that well. Also you have the haze factor from sun exposure as you're talking about.

The less plastic your camera lens has to shoot through the better!

Use 303 aerospace protectant on any of of your outdoor plastics to protect them from the uv rays. Careful about armorall and other popular brands. They don't work the same.

 

[duranged2001]

Thanks so much for the information. I was on the site in your link to order the camera, but the only option for signal system is PAL. I know this has been discussed before, but I really need to know if this is just a ordering quirk or if I should wait for NTSC-specific stock. I just can't handle an order dispute with China right now ;-)

Thanks!
David

 

[CaliGirl]

Nayr or one of the other Dahua experts will need to chime in. I ended up with the PAL version. Guys on here told me that it DOES NOT MATTER. But with that said, if I change the default sub stream by any measure, the iOS apps iDMSS and Easy4IP crash every time. PAL is limited to 25fps while NTSC can go up to 30 FPS. I do not know if the PAL correlation has anything to do with the iOS apps crashing. Currently we think it has to do with the old firmware on the Dahua NVR.

Thanks so much for the information. I was on the site in your link to order the camera, but the only option for signal system is PAL. I know this has been discussed before, but I really need to know if this is just a ordering quirk or if I should wait for NTSC-specific stock. I just can't handle an order dispute with China right now ;-)

Thanks!
David

 

[duranged2001]

Nayr or one of the other Dahua experts will need to chime in. I ended up with the PAL version. Guys on here told me that it DOES NOT MATTER. But with that said, if I change the default sub stream by any measure, the iOS apps iDMSS and Easy4IP crash every time. PAL is limited to 25fps while NTSC can go up to 30 FPS. I do not know if the PAL correlation has anything to do with the iOS apps crashing. Currently we think it has to do with the old firmware on the Dahua NVR.

Thank you. I will be acessing the camera remotely via direct connection, along with Blue Iris for motion detection/recording. Security will not be the camera's primary purpose. We will use it mostly to "check on the weather" and general remote sightseeing. The 30x zoom will be great for watching horses, deer, and other wildlife.

I just want to make the "correct" choice. If the consensus is that PAL will make no difference for how we'll use the camera, then i won't fret too much.

Thank you,
David

 

[nayr]

PAL will make no difference, over half my equipment is PAL and its presented zero issues.

 

[CaliGirl]

The fidelity of the Dahia 30X 4mp is seriously impressive.

 

[hiky]

Very very impressive footage, thank you for sharing

 

[logbuilder]

CaliGirl,

I just finished reading this entire thread. Very interesting and informative. Many would have given up but you stuck with it. If it had been plug and play, you wouldn't really have known anything should you needed to tune, troubleshoot, configure. Since you had to get so deep into understanding everything so that you could make the right equipment choices, now, should you have a problem, you know what to look at.

Like you, my place is also very remote. No local internet providers so I use a satellite based service. Metered connection with a monthly limit of 10GB. That limitation really places limits of what I can do. I've chosen to have a still pic (no video) based security system feeding a remote website. Nobody sold such a thing 7 years ago when I put in my first system so I pieced together components and software. Cameras were all analog. Now I find myself needing to rebuild the system (due to a capture card failure) with newer components so I am having to get deep into the weeds as you did. I've decided on a BlueIris based system. My older system was based on software called Webcam7. I'm almost there. A couple of functional hurdles and some tuning. I'm enjoying it.

 

[logbuilder]

Actually, the real power of DNS is that it allows for a change in an IP address and propagating that out to the world.

 

[Q™]

Actually, the real power of DNS is that it allows for a change in an IP address and propagating that out to the world.

Your comment (or reply...not too certain what it is) has relevance and context only to those who have a good memory of all 269 posts which have been submitted to this entire topic. To have relevance and context, you need to link your comment (or reply) to the specific post you are referencing by quoting that particular post, as I have quoted your port in this reply.

 

[logbuilder]

I've always harbored the belief that -- one of the problems DNS solves -- is that the human brain will remember "www.google.com" much easier than "74.125.21.106". How's that for useless tech trivia?

Your comment (or reply...not too certain what it is) has relevance and context only to those who have a good memory of all 269 posts which have been submitted to this entire topic. To have relevance and context, you need to link your comment (or reply) to the specific post you are referencing by quoting that particular post, as I have quoted your port in this reply.

You are absolutely right. My bad. This forum software is a bit different than what I am used to. I'll be more diligent in the future.

 

[Q™]

Attaboy!

(and your first "thanks" as a reward)

 

[CaliGirl]

What kind of mini junction box can I buy that will accommodate the PTZ dongle and the RJ45 connection on the tree? I would like to replace the make-shift extension cord cover come spring.

These junction boxes look perfect until you realize there is no way to feed the camera dongle with the alarm wires, rj45 female connector through the waterproof ports?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012NJUUG4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3TW2MFTPWQSC2

Same thing with the Dahua turret cameras. These boxes would be great but there is no way to feed the dingle through the water connectors? Is the only option to cut off the Dahua dongles and recrimp rj45 connector? I am afraid to do that on the Dahua PTZ.

https://www.amazon.com/Lemonbest-Waterproof-Electrical-Underground-Protection/dp/B01IQUQF3Q/ref=sr_1_9?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1475530701&sr=1-9&keywords=junction+box+black

 

[nayr]

ok in your last pic there, look at the harness right where it splits out, see how its bulked up and the same diamater as the ethernet port?

measure that diamater, find a water tight cable gland that will fit it.. then attach it to whatever box you want and cinch it down onto that wide point

 

[CaliGirl]

Oh perfect. I didn't see that there were different sizes available. I will buy a multi pack and have different sizes ready. Thanks

Learning lots of cool things on this project.

 

[Ford]

If the cable gland that is big enough to pass the dongle through will not tighten down enough on the cable (they will only shrink down so far), you will either have to make the cable larger in diameter with some rubber tape:

https://www.amazon.com/3M-Scotch-Moisture-Sealing-Electrical/dp/B001B1AP3O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475534123&sr=8-1&keywords=2228+Rubber+Tape

or use a split gland like:

http://www.icotek.com/us/product-catalog/cable-glands/

The split cable glands are pricey.

I like to mount the cam on a junction box (normally the lid) (even the large PTZ's, there are big sturdy boxes available) and drill a 1" diameter hole in the lid to bring the dongle into the box. This results in a nibble-proof assembly.

 

[nayr]

it will tighten down on the point I illustrated just fine.. any other point, probably not.

 

[CaliGirl]

Loving the Dahua cams. Had a contractor visit to work on something and got an email when he arrived. Got an image of who he was. Checked the playback the next day and saw exactly when he left. So helpful.

Getting some gorgeous images of the fall to share with friends and family.

 

[Razer]

Another great product that I find quite useful for remote locations is a web power switch like these:

http://www.digital-loggers.com/lpc.html

https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Digital-Loggers-Outlets-Protection/dp/B00EZWD146

You can then reboot and control power remotely which you can do with other smart home solutions, but the real winner here is that is will monitor the internet by pinging sites every so often and reboot automatically when there are issues. You can program which outlets do what, so say I want my modem and router to reboot after it cannot ping google for 15 minutes. I want them both to shut off for 15 seconds, and the modem to come on in outlet 1 first, after 120 seconds then power up my router in outlet 2. Now hopefully internet is restored, if not I can say I want it to now wait 30 minutes before trying again, and then I want it to wait an hour before the next one and so on. SUPER handy as so many times a simple reboot is all that needs to be done to restore internet but that's not easy when its a remote location!

I have 80+ of these in operation at sites and like them a lot. Super inexpensive, and so handy. I can access and power cycle just a POE switch, or just an NVR or whatever I want all from a web page. It has saved literally hundreds of visits from techs for simple stuff. You may have zero need for one of these in many cases, but for those that have remote locations they are pretty nice.