These may or may not be the best newsgroups for this question. If there is a better one, please advise me.
I bought a security camera to put in my barn. I presently have a pregnant horse that I want to monitor, and there are other times I want to watch a horse that is sick or something and not spend all my time in the barn (especially in cold weather).
The camera is intended to transmit 400ft. It's made by 2.4ghz Wisecomm brand. The instructions say it will transmit 400ft. in a straight line with no obstructions. Well, there is one tree, but this time of year there are no leaves, so I dont see that as a problem, and I have moved the receiver unit in the house to different locations, and put it by windows to eliminate walls, which are aluminum sided. The windows are just glass and fiberglass screens.
The camera works fine when I plugged in both the receiver (camera) and the transmitter inside the house, and I took it to the furthest corners of the house and even took it outdoors using an extension cord.
However, once I put it inside the barn, I do not get a signal on the receiver inside the house. The barn is only about 250 ft. away, so it's within the limits. Yet, when I took a portable tv and the receiver into the barn, it worked in there. My thought is that it's because the barn has steel siding, and the signal is not getting thru the metal walls.
Can anyone think of any way to make this setup work? I know I can return this camera and could buy one that needs a wire. They only come with 50 ft of coax, so I'd have to buy another 200 ft. But then, stringing all that wire thru the yard, and avoiding tree branches and still keeping it high enough over the driveway so that farm machinery can pass, would be a challenge in itself.
With that said, I got to thinking about plugging the transmitter camera AND the receiver (in the barn) into the inputs of an old vcr (I have several of them who eat tapes but the electronics still work). Then I could run the output of the vcr to the house, but via coax, but once again, I am back to stringing coax.
My next thought, is there some sort of transmitter that I could buy that would transmit the output of the camera (both parts) via an antenna on the barn roof, directly to my rooftop tv antenna on the house? I recall years ago, they had these things that were called "The Rabbit" or something like that, and they were supposed to transmit a vcr to the whole house. So far that seems like the most promising idea, but if I can even fond one of those things, will it transmit the 250ft, or actually more like 280 to my antenna.
Does anyone have any other ideas how to do this. So far, everything seems pretty complicated. I was concerned about the metal barn walls posing a problem, but the store clerk insisted that the 2.4ghz signal will go right thru any walls. So much for that......
Maybe there is an entire different camera system made for my needs, and if I need to return this one and get something else, that is another option, as long as the price is fairly reasonable. I paid $130 for this one, and it works well without the barn walls.
Finally, the antenna from the camera (receiver) is not removable. It's a built in rubber thing about 2 inches long and does not come off the camera. Otherwise I'd run coax from the camera, and mount the antenna on the roof of the barn. But it's not removable, so that's out.
Yes, I did email to
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks
Alvin