Long Range Wireless Cameras

[rrockoff]

Hi,

I live in a community of 20 houses in Las Vegas. The development has a drive up gate with a call box. I am looking into the possibility of mounting a wireless camera at the security gate to allow all of the homeowners to see the cars at the gate before they are buzzed in to the development. The distance from the gate to the call box is approximately 15 feet and the distance from the gate to the furthest point in the development is approximately 750 feet. I have done some research and found some cameras that advertise the 750-foot distance but they are a max of 750 feet at line of sight. At most there will be 4 houses between the gate and the furthest point.

I realize we will also need to purchase 20 receivers to show the CCTV signal on a TV or a computer at each house.

Has anyone attempted this type of setup before?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Rod

 

[rfdesq]

I am not a fan of wireless cameras. I'm afraid your first house will be fine but the last house will have nothing but complaints. Think about modulating the video from the camera to an unused television channel and inserting it into the head end of the television system, assuming there is a common one. If you do that you won't need 20 wireless receivers.

 

[Digger]

Hi,

I live in a community of 20 houses in Las Vegas. The development has a drive up gate with a call box. I am looking into the possibility of mounting a wireless camera at the security gate to allow all of the homeowners to see the cars at the gate before they are buzzed in to the development. The distance from the gate to the call box is approximately 15 feet and the distance from the gate to the furthest point in the development is approximately 750 feet. I have done some research and found some cameras that advertise the 750-foot distance but they are a max of 750 feet at line of sight. At most there will be 4 houses between the gate and the furthest point.

I realize we will also need to purchase 20 receivers to show the CCTV signal on a TV or a computer at each house.

Has anyone attempted this type of setup before?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Rod

Why not a wireless IP Camera if you can reach one person with a wireless router? Then anyone can monitor it through a computer connection.

 

[CollinR]

Why not a wireless IP Camera if you can reach one person with a wireless router? Then anyone can monitor it through a computer connection.

That would be the proper way to do this.

 

[rfdesq]

Why not a wireless IP Camera if you can reach one person with a wireless router? Then anyone can monitor it through a computer connection.

That would be the proper way to do this.

How long is the person in the car going to wait before driving off? I am assuming the homeowner wants to see who is at the gate before answering. Correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't the homeowner have to go to the computer, turn it on, open a web browser, log into the camera, and go back to the doorbell mic/speaker?

 

[Digger]

Why not a wireless IP Camera if you can reach one person with a wireless router? Then anyone can monitor it through a computer connection.

That would be the proper way to do this.

How long is the person in the car going to wait before driving off? I am assuming the homeowner wants to see who is at the gate before answering. Correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't the homeowner have to go to the computer, turn it on, open a web browser, log into the camera, and go back to the doorbell mic/speaker?

Doesnt everyone in the world have an ELK TS-07???

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Hi Rod;

I'm not answering your question with this reply, but I was also thinking of doing this for my HOA in Las Vegas (where you at in Las Vegas BTW?) for an 84 home gated community. I wanted to have a camera at the gate looking at cars as they drove up to it and one in our park.

My method was to incorporate "standard" type cameras and run them into an Axis 241Q video server. Our gate "phone box" was near a pillar and I could get a DSL line there. Power was already there so all I needed to do was provide a box with the Axis 241Q server and the DSL interface/modem. Then I would run coax lines from this box to two cameras (and have the future capability of adding another two if needed).

This way I could "lock" the Axis Server and DSL interface in an outdoor enclosure (of course I would have a couple of small ventillation fans inside the box) and use "cheaper" cameras outside on the poles. This way if the cameras were stolen or vandalized, we would not be out to much money.

The Axis Server also had the capability of pushing a screen shot image, which I would have done for our HOA site. Also, this gave the capability of parents watching their kids play in our park while they were at home.

It all sounded grand, but the associatoin got scared of the legal issues with live video. That plus some residents thought their privacy would be invaded. It's a long and sad story, but basically the plan was canceled.

FYI, there is also a "wireless" internet service here (Keyon) that would only require an antenna (approx one ft by one ft) for remote broadband access if a phone line was not available.

Good luck and regards,

BSR

 

[rrockoff]

Thanks to all who responded.

There is a phone line for the call box. BSR's suggestion of using DSL with hard-wired cameras may be the way to go.

I also like the wireless IP camera idea, as it could be inexpensive. I could easily host a webcam. There are two houses between my house and the front gate. I will have to purchase a wireless IP camera and give it a try.

Unfortunately, the idea of pushing the signal to all the homes through the cable head is not a possibility for us. The local cable service company (Cox) owns all of the outdoor access points (cable signal amplifiers hidden under ugly green boxes). Even if they allowed people to tap into their lines, none of the access points are close enough to the work site.

I am just in the planning stages of this project. I will provide updates when I get to the next step.

Rod

 

[CollinR]

You can use a decoder and then modulate that, so no computer is required for customers to see IP based video.

You would either need access to the headend to inject the signal or get an FCC license and broadcast it.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

The other problem I found with IP cameras (though I am far from an expert) is that it is hard to find low light ones that aren't terribly expensive. Also, there are some non-IP cameras with a feature that will "mask" the headlights at night time (SuperCircuits.com I think) that I was also considering using (so the headlines don't wash out the video and you can get a snapshot of the license plate/driver at night). Again, I could not find this feature with a pure IP camera.

The Axis 241Q server gives you a lot more flexibility on various available camera technologies at a better price. It also brings bennefits of IP camera technology (such as being able to send a screen shot to a hosting service/server) to non-ip cameras. I was also thinking of just using some cheap sub-$200 cameras for the two extra ports for maybe the exit gate. Lots of options. The cost of the Axis 241Q is around $700.

The only thing I was worried about was if the Axis 241Q would hold up in the hot summertime temps in our city. Even with exhaust fans in a housing the device would probably see a peak temp of 108 degrees F or so. Hmmm, come to think of it, are DSL modems rated to operate in that kind of an environment? I DO know that the Keyon wirless broadband access antennas will survive this heat as they use them all the time here (they actually have some type of processor inside the antenna so you can just power it up, then connect your cam/device directly into it).

One other feature to note on the Axis 241Q is you can have it monitor contacts (say on a community gate) to trigger a snapshot image sequence. This is nice as you do not have to rely on a "motion" setting (which has its own problems at times).

One other thing I was trying in insure was that I did not want to rely on any homeowners to provide power, internet access, or shelter for this project (they move, get mad, change their minds, etc...).