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Just keep in mind that heat is one of the biggest " killers" of electronic devices. In an attic would be so hot, I am not sure if even cooling fans would work in the middle of most American Summers. I have built my own DVR storage boxes out of 12 guage sheet metal , but always add cooling fans in them. There are Refrigerant-based Enclosure Coolers. Very expensive though. I build a lot of "Project Panels" for different applications (non-cctv), but have never installed one in an attic , that I can remember. Most are outdoors, but I always use one or more 4" fans in any enclosure. One note on the DVR's, though, in my own home, and many customers smaller businesses, I will take an old VCR, make a BIG label with my Brother Label Maker, and write in Big Letters " Security System VCR". Right on the front of the VCR. Of course the VCR isn't doing anything, but most burglars would not know a Time-Lapse VCR from a DVR. This (hopefully) would catch their attention.

I believe that conduit-sealing material is part of NEC. Need to be very careful, especially around "fume possible" conduits. There should be a special Condulet Fitting at the ends also, which allows this sealing material to be poured in. Does the current conduit contain "medium voltage" or "low voltage" wiring ?

One thing, when contacts are "closed", you can only read voltage when you have both sides. To read DC voltage, with a voltmeter, you must have both Positive and Negative voltage. To read AC voltage, you must a "hot" conductor and also a "neutral" or ground. I have had to prove this many times. Turn on a light switch in your house and read what voltage across the two terminals of the switch. When you open the contacts of the light switch (turn the switch off), you are now reading hot and neutral. Just be very careful.

In residential installations, I normally use a video distribution amplifier to all the TV's that the customer wants. TV's must have a secondary RCA jack input ( AV1, AV2, AV3). Will run cable from this amplifier to all TV's necessary. Customer just uses remote and switches TV to alternate AV input. Have same setup in my own home.

Just wondering if this is an electronic relay, or a set of "dry contacts". If you put your volt meter on an ordinary light switch ( as in your house-115vac), when the contacts are open, you will read your house voltage. When you turn the switch on, and close the contacts, you will not read any voltage on your meter, but, believe me, there is still 115vac on both sides of that switch. Sometimes, when you read voltage through an electronic relay , and not a set of dry contacts, you will read a small amount of voltage. Sometimes you get "bleed through" on electronic relays.

True. Hard to explain "overcurrent protection" to someone who is not working in an electrical field. First way to learn about fusing, would be to get a Bussman catalog. Has a lot of info in it. Better yet, attend a Bussman seminar, only if interested of course. I fuse everything, versus using CB's. I have inline fuses on my truck hitch trailer plug. Better safe and sorry.

It probably would not hurt to use a larger fuse such as a 2 amp. The voltage on any type of overcurrent device would be on the "load" side. In other words, if you are "protecting" something that is on a 12vdc circuit, you are OK with a 32vdc fuse. Fuses are normally rated for more voltage than what the device is on. Large fuses are normally rated for 250vac or 600 vac. A fuse is really trying to protect an electrical device from a short circuit for the most part, a lot quicker than a circuit breaker does. An "overload" is much less common, in my line of work, than a "short circuit".

WOW!! All I was trying to do was say "thanks" to you Englishmen. Here in the USA, most of us ( not me) are more pre-occupied with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, who are both basically "losers" as far as I am concerned. This young man must have pulled some "Royal Strings" , and instead of sitting at home partying with his girlfriends, decided to "man up" and show his countrymen what he is made of. Yes, we Americans got rid of Kings and Queens hundreds of years ago. So did Oliver Cromwell I guess. Bottom line , there are many people, in both the USA and the EU who basically despise our Western Culture, and would do whatever they could to destroy us and return us to the "Kings " of their culture. It was great to see this young man stand up and be counted, be his ancestry "Royal" or not. That is only my personal opinion, as someone who's ancestors basically "escaped" from the Kings ,Queens, and Tyrants of Europe, as most Americans of European descent did. By the way, US Army, 75th Infantry, 1st Battalion Rangers.

To all you Englishmen, from an American of a "small bit "of English descent, regardless of your "politics", I am glad to see that Prince Harry defied the press for so long, and was able to do his family, and his country proud. If it was an American newspaper that broke the "rule" about reporting his service, I would be one of the first to denounce the newspaper. Whatever your personal beliefs are, we are in this together.

One reason I uploaded a few videos to Youtube.com . I constantly get asked what the cameras look like during the day and also at night. I do show them the actual camera/dvr setup during the "sales pitch".

Never heard of that being done. Are you sure you don't want to keep a password on the webserver? Even on the LAN , it really doesn't take that long.

I had never used it before , either. VST_man is the one that told me about it. Thanks go to Kerry. I just tried it in a "fluke", as I was at a large company that blocks all downloads, as I guess their employees were downloading music, etc. ?? I tried it , and it worked. Believe me, I was surprised as much as anyone. I assumed that I had to have a VPN to do this, but I guess I didn't.

I was able to use the LogMeIn by accessing the link from another PC. My home PC has already installed the Avermedia ActiveX control, so I was basically accessing my Home PC, as 1 Avermedia is on the LAN. The 2 locations I tried from, would not allow me to install the ActiveX control on the PC's I was using remotely.

Pretty easy to tell if you are recording or not. Just stop the recording with the remote control. Follow directions, and try to playback recorded video. Should be pretty easy. Are you recording ? Be sure you can view recorded video from the 1304 first. Then try to access the hard drive.

I think they (Avermedia) did that, all the way up to the latest EB1704, which is different. Sometimes takes a little longer, especially when you have to look for something at the end of the file ( end of the hour or so) and you have to start from the beginning. Just have to put it in 16X , it only takes a little while.

There are 2 styles of USB I believe. Isn't one called "USB-A" and one is called "USB-B" ? I use the same cable from my Canon printer. I might have the nomenclature wrong (A and B), but I know it is a USB cable, just each end looks different. I don't have the "odd" end on my laptop or PC, but on the Avermedia and at least one of my printer, the Canon I believe.

I normally use the "outdoor" style heavy box. You are right about the screw size. The ceiling fan is a good example of downward (stretching)strength of most fasteners. Not to get off subject, but I normally put an 8/32 nut behind the mounting threads in the box, just to help out. A friend of mine didn't believe me that 2- 8/32 screws would hold a ceiling fan up, until I clamped a Visegrip on one screw, and hung my total weight (180 pounds) from that screw. American-made screws of course.

Seems pretty "light" on the power feed. Especially when running a system on the lower voltage (12vdc). Always worth buying a larger power supply than what is required. It's just that most people have no clue about voltage drop, and the size of wiring needed. I just went to a customers' store, where the previous "installer" ran Cat3 telephone cable and tried to power things up. Worked initially, but when the IR kicked on at night, camera didn't have enough voltage to run.

I believe that Category 5 is 5 twists per inch of cable, and Category 6 is 6 twists per inch. Should be same inside cable, regardless of color pairs.

Always use a threaded mount outdoors and look for a Cable Grip Bushing. Pretty common usage. Will thread in and have a rubber grommet to grip on electrical cable going into box. Tried to upload some photos, but system reads " check ftp settings". Always use that type of fitting outdoors, if you can't use a flex-type conduit.

The only other way I have done this, is through a "Log Me In" account. Your DVR should be on the Ethernet of your home , 192.168.10.XX. I can go through LogMeIn and view the live video feed. Tried it at a couple of different locations ( even ex-wifes' house) and it worked. Actually, I was surprised that it did.

Make sure you stop the recording first, just to allow the system to "idle". I went in my office and checked on my 1304 and 1504 (different consoles) just to be sure. I have only one HD in the 1304, but 2 in the 1504. I am running Windows XP MCE on new laptop, and Windows XP Pro on office PC, neither had a problem. Did you try to Uninstall and Reinstall the console software ? Maybe try that first.

I have had only one such problem with any of the Avermedias I have installed. I had the customer re-install the USB access software and it solved the problem. You should be able to "see" at least one of the hard drives on the HD list. My customer was using Windows 2000, so a little different, until I realized what the problem was. You should be able to "highlight" the individual hard drive, and then access the files contained.

Those, like most DC power supplies, were pretty basic 12 volts DC, usually 4 to 5 amps models. The input plug in the back of the unit, is just a little smaller than the standard 2.1mm. If you run just one hard drive, then find a 12vdc power supply at local electronic supply store. Is there a Radio Shack near you? Look at the input plug in the back, it should read " 12vdc" .

If any of the wires in the RG59 are touching, you should be able to tell by taking your Volt/Ohm Meter and check on the opposite end. Should be Infinity on non-bnc end.