Outdoor Camera Mount

[Swancoat]

I'd want to know more, usually outdoor cameras, or at least the better ones, have some sort of heater to help with condensation, and in your case, I'd be worried about humidity if it's not an outdoor rated camera. YMMV.

I probably sound like I'm talking myself into it (and I am...) but I'm wondering if the camera-generated heat is enough to keep condensation off of the camera as well. Even Panny's outdoor rated camera runs off of POE. I'm definitely no expert, but can you actually actively heat something from POE's small amount of power?

Also, How much of a problem IS condensation? The camera will be at the exact same ambient temperature as the outside surroundings. The only time I ever see condensation is on a humid day, when the surface of something is colder than the air temp like a cold drink, poor windows, etc... It's not like I ever go outside and see the bricks on my house or things in my yard dripping with condensation.

 

[Kevin L]

Swancoat, see my post above your post about condensation.

Kevin

 

[Helheim]

The panny WV-NW474S are the only ones I found that the heater was run off the PoE, most require another power source to run the heater. There are few cameras that claim they don't need a heater like mobotix and stardot as well. I just bought a stardot I'll be testing out.

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=68803&surfModel=WV-CW3H

 

[Del91574]

As an example, a lot of the Speco cams I've installed have a pair of tiny heaters just inside the lens's split glass. Not a ton, but it's there. Same goes with a bunch of the Bosch cameras as well. Not a huge heat thing, but when they're sealed up tight, I know it makes a difference, because I unfortunately had to adjust and set a pile of them on a job during/in between a huge rainstorm. Not ideal, but deadline and customer demand.

The cameras fogged up from the electronic heat in itself and cleared itself out in a couple of hours, I don't think the cameras running would do that itself.

Then again, we get blasted with all sorts of temperatures and weather extremes here in the NE, but my rule of thumb has always been outdoor for unconditioned or exposed spaces, unless an enclosure is involved. I factor in for rain driven by wind, humidity and mist, not to mention everything else, but I can't gamble and I doubt my clients would want the same when comparing an OD to an I/D camera.

 

[Swancoat]

Well, I decided to go ahead and gamble on the indoor cam. It's tight under the eave, and far enough in from the edge that I think it should be relatively immune from rain even if it blows.

Probably not good enough for a commercial installation, or for installers doing a job for someone else, but I'm just doing this at my house, and there's no missile codes there. (Plus, I found a review on Amazon of a guy using the same cam outdoors and protected and it seems like it's ok for him).

I'll update the thread with any experiences of note.