Unusual application. Help needed!

[leshka]

Hello,

I got stock with my research. Hope some of you guys out there can help!

I’m rebuilding a fire damaged rv where my family of 4 will be traveling fulltime for few years. I’m looking to install outside cameras for protection and at the same time for documenting the trip.

So I suppose vibration is my enemy. I’m on 12V DC. Power consumption is a big issue. File storage should be taken into consideration (H.264 feature). Dome is a plus but not required (aerodynamics). I’d prefer IP cameras. I’d like the cameras to be activated by motion detectors. Weight as another crucial factor. I'm fighting for every pound. And we are on a budget...

One of the cameras would go on the roof. The purpose is to monitor the clearance (I don’t care about the resolution much) And also it should help monitoring lifting and rotating solar panels on a tracker I’m building. So it would be nice to have a motorized mount.

Again, these are outdoor cameras and will be exposed to heavy rain, wind, dust, desert send and etc. However it is unlikely that they will be in cold temperature. If the cameras are not protected by dome I can try to build fiberglass/aluminum protective hoods. At this moment wiring/installation is not an issue since i have no walls yet.

I can't find anything suitable. The closest thing i found is Vivotek MD7560 and MD7530. However these cameras have no Auto-iris and useless for outdoor applications. not to mention that these are not day/night.

I would appreciate any advice!

Thanks,
Alex

[buellwinkle]

What country are you in, because I never heard of those model Vivotek. Are you going to driving down the road with these camera mounted outside the RV? If so, you may need more than just a typical IP66 housing. So maybe some very tightly weather sealed domes may be the way to go.

Axis has a vandal resistant outdoor dome, the P3344-VE that's HD (or 1 MP) and will probably work well on the outside. These run about a grand.

As for Vivotek, their equivalent is the FD8361, but I'm not a fan. The images I've seen from their cameras are soft. They run cheap, about $750-800.

If you want something flush and totally cool, I love the Mobotix Q24. It's tiny camera in near flush faceplate, doesn't stick out like a dome. It takes a 360 degree shot as fisheye in 3 MP. Then it has software to undistort the image so it appears as a few flat images. All the software needed is included for free and it has DVR logic bult in, so it can write directly to network attached storage like a 1TB WD My Book World Edition and manage it without having to have a PC on 24/7 like most other solutions. Also, Mobotix are very frugal on electricity, using only 3W so it won't be a huge drain on the battery at night.. These run about a grand.

Best of luck on the trip and hope you share some shots of the trip with us.

[leshka]

Thanks for getting back to me Buellwinkle. I'm in NYC. MD7530 and MD7560 are replacement for FD7130 and FD7160 that are EOL Vivotek uses IP67 housing on them.
I'm really new to this.. just a couple of days research. I guess my main concern is vibration. I can't find any information on how does vibration affect a camera. Why is it damaging? Can I use some tough outdoor camera on a bus or should i install special vibration resistant ones? This drives me crazy, because there are only few of these cameras on the market and they are for indoor use only.

And... a grand for a camera is way over my budget. I may have to buy one good camera and three cheaper once. One camera will be installed on a roof just to monitor rotation of solar panels. So i don't care about image quality.. just reliability.

Thanks again,
Alex

[leshka]

I suppose it was stupid of me trying to get an answer here. Noting but hidden advertisement....

[bpzle]

May I ask what is your budget? If you think $1k is too much for a single IP camera, wait until you see the entire system price! Have you looked at analog cameras? I love IP but I think for your budget you're going to have to step down a knotch or two... or three on your expectations. Can't have a Rolls for a Kia price.

[leshka]

I found 1280X720 at 30 FPS Megapix IP cameras with 100ft Dynamic Range IR; motion detector; dual Stream; progressive scan; one way audio; POE; Auto Iris, Auto Focus and Auto White Balance and etc for $224. With top of the line mobile computer used as DVR, Cat6 550 MHz cables, anti vibration mounts, 2Tb Black Caviar HDs, NetGear network storage with build in video server and 3 HD IP cameras my system cost $1700.

You can build a Rolls for a price of Kia.

[buellwinkle]

I like to build a BMW at the price of a Smart car.

I would chose something with zero moving parts, the Mobotix M12D-SEC-DNIGHT. 3 MP, costs about $1,300 if you shop it right. Since all the DVR software is built in, no need for a computer, probably the weakest link when you think about vibration. You can then get a 32GB SD card to store the events (best option for vibration) or you can store on a NAS, like a WD MyBook World Edition, 1TB for $169.

Most cameras do have moving parts, lenses that need focusing, IR CUT filters that move via solenoids, auto-iris mechanism, vari-focal mechanism, many points of failure that are affected by vibration.

Then you can use any cheap laptop to view the recorded events or live video. The best laptop is a Lenovo Thinkpad as they have shock mount their hard drives and they do well with vibration. How do I know, I ride a motorcycle, a compaq or a dell would die after a week of commuting, I know from personal experience, the Lenovo's just keeps on working, never had a failure with them.

So total price, about $1,400 and you have one of the best camera out there.
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[bpzle]

[thewireguys]

[Soundy]

[bpzle]