I'm installing a number of security cameras on the external walls of my house. I am interested in also installing some sort of rain protection for same. The first thing that sprang to mind was to use inverted quarter- sphere uplighter housings. However, buying the housing alone without the light-holder and other gubbins is not easy, and paying out for the full enchilada can be pricey - when you want six! Can anyone suggest anything else?
JakeD
Weather-proof cameras?
As others have said, purpose-designed outdoor cameras are the easiest and most maintenance-free solution, but they can be expensive compared with indoor cameras.
How about bird-boxes, with the camera looking through the hole?
I've been running an Axis 205 (an indoor IP camera with a 135mm lens bodged on the front) outdoors for about 8 years, in what's basically a large hand-made glass-fronted bird box. Condensation on the inside of the glass can be a problem during colder weather.
Not too kind to birds who might want to use the box though...
Jamjars or sweetie jars.
Take the cable through a hole in the lid with a gland, screw the lid on tight with the camera inside. Maybe some distortion from the curved glass but some jars are square-ish.
Owain
I use pieces of large plastic pipe. That can be glued easily. And painted.
JakeD formulated the question :
Cheap as chips halogen outdoor flood light units - just take the lamp out and point the camera through the glass fronted housing.
You can get perspex / acrylic domes and mount the cameras in them. Since they give 360 degree visibility and 90 degree top-bottom they're handy for tilt-pan cameras, too. I've also found that they hold up niely to the weather - but sometimes they can mist-up inside.
Not cheap, though.
Harry Bloomfield wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAM.tiscali.co.uk:
Thanks to all for the suggestions. My cameras are already supposedly weather-proof, but I am thinking that rain drops collecting on the front lense could be an issue. I am hoping not to put any extra glass in-between the camera and the target area, because my cameras have IR LEDS, which I think would be reflected back at the camera by glss. The 110mm plastic pipe idea seems worth exploring.
JakeD
innews: snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAM.tiscali.co.uk:
I have lots of offcuts of plastic pipe. The pipe can be cut to size and put into boiling water and bent flat. Then a round piece cut to fit inside the back of a short bit of pipe, and glued with the same glue that is used for gluing pipes. You can make waterproof boxes of any shape this way. Agree that you don't want extra glass in front of the camera. You don't need any extra protection if you can put the cameras under the eaves.
Try cutting a plastic pop bottle to make a cover before you buy pipe. You can keep it in place with double sided tape or even blutack.
If the camera is already weatherproof put a lens hood on. Depending upon the field of view of the lens a short length of 40mm or larger pipe will suffice to keep the rain off. Experiment with lengths until you start getting dark areas forming in the corners of the frame. Paint the inside of the tube with blackboard paint and if splashing rain is a real problem choose a larger tube and line it with thin foam to stop splashing.
The built in IR illumination on most cheap cameras is of little use except at very short range.
Peter Parry wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Thanks to all for the good suggestions....
I'm wondering about that too. The main problem at night, even with my 30- LED camras is that the signal strength seems so low that my DVR's movement detector keeps getting false signals, it seems. I'm wondering if buying a standalone IR emitter to augment that of the cameras might help. Cartainly from about 4 mtrs away, a human looks almost like a ghost with my current setup lit only by the IR LED's. Luckily my floodlights usually get triggeed my movement, so the IR feature isn't needed, but I dare say the day will come when there is a power cut and some perp takes advantage.
JakeD
In message , JakeD writes
One other thing to remember, spiders just love to spin their webs in front of CCTV cameras, don't make it too easy for them.
Replace some of the LEDs with motion triggered lasers?
It's that showbiz instinct they have.
replying to JakeD, deday626 wrote: We added a battery backup to our DVR security camera system when we have poe
I've had Swann wide angle cameras installed for a few months and not notice d any rain problems and we've had quite a bit. Must be similar to the amoun t of dirt that window panes pick up. I notice the LED's have a limited lif e 10,000 hrs I think, so the cams will need renewing after a couple of year s anyway and won't need cleaning in the meantime.
The IR LED's seem to attract the local moths here. It can look like snowstorm.
One issue with tubes apart from the restricted viewing angle is that insects love to use them for their egg laying etc, so they tend to get bunged up with stuff. Brian
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