int0

Hello-

I have a chronic litterer dumping garbage at the end of my driveway, which is 1/4 mile from my house. I've set up a couple cameras and managed to catch them in the act, but only with IR video. I can't tell the color of the car or the license plate. With daylight, I can use my regular video camera to zoom in at plate level and capture the plates at high speed with 1/1000 shutter speed. But this camera does not have IR.

I have a Hikvision DS-2CD2142FWD-I, just a value series dome camera. I set this up on my mailbox, and it works great except of course it can not read license plates at night, even with high shutter speed (1/1000 or 1/2000).

Before I go and spend over $1000 on a dedicated LPR camera, I was hoping I could get a few recommendations for a camera similar to this Hikvision that allows me to zoom (optical) in on the license plate area. Maybe that would allow me to capture the plates at night.

I do not have any cabling between the house and the location at this time, so the camera would also need to have the option to record directly to SD card. I have a batter for power.

If anyone has any suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated. Also, I am looking for LPR camera system suggestions if this won't work. I can mount the camera on my mailbox, but I need to capture a car moving at 55 MPH during the night.

Thanks!

Just a warning though. The longer the DC run, the more dependent the DC output at the other end will be with regards to total current draw. You'll be fine as long as both cameras are both powered together. If you connect/disconnect one at a time or one craps out on you, just know the remaining camera will see a 2Vdc voltage change. Most devices are designed to handle such fluctuations... but you never know.

 

PoE applications don't worry about this because there is one cable run per camera.

 

Play with this calculator. Enter your data, then see what happens to the voltage when it drops from 1A (both cameras) to 0.5A (one camera). You'll also notice that as the run becomes shorter, the voltage change become less significant.

 

http://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html

Thanks. I think my safest bet is to wire each camera separately, I have enough wire and old power supplies to handle that, and I think I can just get a voltage regulator for each one to make sure I only have 12 volts at the camera.

Ok, I tested with 1 camera on, and voltage was down to 10.25 with the infrared lights on. I believe that's a little too low for recommended use. If I use an 18-24DC power supply, can I hook that up directly or do I need some sort of converter on the other end?

 

2Vdc voltage drop for a single camera tells me it actually only uses about 0.5amps - hence the 1A camera requirement (you can measure that too). You could probably get away with 2A supply after all and even a 16Vdc supply since it looks like you'll be dropping about 4v total. Ideally, you would select a DC power supply at the source that would provide the ~12Vdc at the required 2-camera load so no special conversions needed.

I have a extra laptop power supply lying around, rated for 20VDC and 11A. I think I will try using that, although I am guessing I will need to step down the voltage anyway.

Thanks for the help!

Hello-

 

I recently purchases 2 security cameras. I need to place them approximately 300' from the nearest power source. I took a 12VDC power supply with 2A output and measured the voltage, and it was 12.25. I then spliced in 300' of 18 gauge twisted cable between the ends. I then measured the voltage again and was suprised to see it barely dropped, it was reading 12.23. So here are my questions:

 

1. Does this seem legitimate to run 300' with barely any voltage drop? If so, I wonder how far I could push it?

 

2. Is there a drop in amps over the distance?

 

3. Can I daisy chain the power to these 2 cameras? The cameras require at least 1A and the power supply is 2A.

 

4. Is there any risk of fire or damage to the camera with this setup? I assumed that as long as my voltage drop wasn't too great, it wouldn't be a big deal, but I don't know alot about these things.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

You're right in expecting a larger voltage drop. I suspect you made the measurements without the load? (cameras powered @ 1A each). Attach both cameras and measure again. You'll probably find you need an 18-24DC power supply to get that 12Vdc at the other end. Also, if both cameras require 2A, best to go with at least 3A. A supply with at least 4A or more is better.

Ok, I tested with 1 camera on, and voltage was down to 10.25 with the infrared lights on. I believe that's a little too low for recommended use. If I use an 18-24DC power supply, can I hook that up directly or do I need some sort of converter on the other end?

Hello-

I recently purchases 2 security cameras. I need to place them approximately 300' from the nearest power source. I took a 12VDC power supply with 2A output and measured the voltage, and it was 12.25. I then spliced in 300' of 18 gauge twisted cable between the ends. I then measured the voltage again and was suprised to see it barely dropped, it was reading 12.23. So here are my questions:

1. Does this seem legitimate to run 300' with barely any voltage drop? If so, I wonder how far I could push it?

2. Is there a drop in amps over the distance?

3. Can I daisy chain the power to these 2 cameras? The cameras require at least 1A and the power supply is 2A.

4. Is there any risk of fire or damage to the camera with this setup? I assumed that as long as my voltage drop wasn't too great, it wouldn't be a big deal, but I don't know alot about these things.

Thanks for any help.