First farm system

[Davie@Braco 0]

Hi, I'm looking for suggestions for our first farm system. We live approximately 1 mile (600m) from the farm and would like to be able to keep an eye on cows calving at night without having to drive there each time. Ideally i would like one ptz camera initially (perhaps with others to follow)to cover the calving pens which are no more than 25m from the camera with some kind of live connection to our tv at home. We have line of sight and there is an off the shelf wireless system available for £2000 which I have seen working and works well but apparently if you want to add extra cameras you have to add a complete new system on a slightly different frequency. That is getting a bit expensive for me. I dont think we need video storage at this point.

Has anybody got any other suggestions? Is it worth installing cable perhaps on the surface behind existing fencing? is there a broadband solution? There is a phone line nearby. Is there a cheaper wireless solution using IP cameras and a long range 802 transmitter which might also carry telemetry? Is there a cheaper solution using several fixed cameras and a multiplexer?

All suggestions appreciated.

[tomcctv 187]

Hi, I'm looking for suggestions for our first farm system. We live approximately 1 mile (600m) from the farm and would like to be able to keep an eye on cows calving at night without having to drive there each time. Ideally i would like one ptz camera initially (perhaps with others to follow)to cover the calving pens which are no more than 25m from the camera with some kind of live connection to our tv at home. We have line of sight and there is an off the shelf wireless system available for £2000 which I have seen working and works well but apparently if you want to add extra cameras you have to add a complete new system on a slightly different frequency. That is getting a bit expensive for me. I dont think we need video storage at this point.

Has anybody got any other suggestions? Is it worth installing cable perhaps on the surface behind existing fencing? is there a broadband solution? There is a phone line nearby. Is there a cheaper wireless solution using IP cameras and a long range 802 transmitter which might also carry telemetry? Is there a cheaper solution using several fixed cameras and a multiplexer?

All suggestions appreciated.

 

Hi davie. you say that you live 1 mile (600m) from the farm ................. is it a 1 mile. its just that 1mile is 1610m

 

so as we can tell you what is best

[Davie@Braco 0]

Sorry, my mistake its 600m, I was mixing up 1km being 0.6 miles or thereabouts.

[Guest]

Hi, I'm looking for suggestions for our first farm system. We live approximately 1 mile (600m) from the farm and would like to be able to keep an eye on cows calving at night without having to drive there each time. Ideally i would like one ptz camera initially (perhaps with others to follow)to cover the calving pens which are no more than 25m from the camera with some kind of live connection to our tv at home. We have line of sight and there is an off the shelf wireless system available for £2000 which I have seen working and works well but apparently if you want to add extra cameras you have to add a complete new system on a slightly different frequency. That is getting a bit expensive for me. I dont think we need video storage at this point.

Has anybody got any other suggestions? Is it worth installing cable perhaps on the surface behind existing fencing? is there a broadband solution? There is a phone line nearby. Is there a cheaper wireless solution using IP cameras and a long range 802 transmitter which might also carry telemetry? Is there a cheaper solution using several fixed cameras and a multiplexer?

All suggestions appreciated.

 

Fit a DVR or NVR in the cattle sheds with a single IP link to the house.

 

An alternative will be to use IP cameras with on board recording hard wired networked to a switch in the cattle shed.

 

The use of the single IP wireless link allows you to look at the images on your computer which in turn can be linked to your TV with an appropriate video card (which depends if your TV has VGA or SCART/AV inputs).

 

Ilkie

[ChrisP 0]

Definitely setup a point to point link using access points.

 

Use high resolution analog cameras and connect them to a dvr locally at the farm.

 

Good IP cameras can get expensive.

[Soundy 1]

How much area (like, within a circle) does this initial camera need to cover, and how much do you need to zoom in? You might want to consider a single megapixel camera with a wide lens (upward of 90 degrees) or any of a number of panoramic megapixel cameras now available, that will capture 180 or 360 degree at once. That would allow you to view and record the entire area, and zoom in digitally after the fact. The one drawback is that this won't allow you to zoom in as much as a good PTZ, but if that level of zoom isn't necessary, it's not a big deal.

[Davie@Braco 0]

Soundy, I would like to watch two calving pens holding half a dozen cows each at either end of a shed roughly 70x20m. I had in mind a ptz camea with 30x optical zoom.

 

Chris P, could you expand on what you have in mind for a point to point link as I am a bit of a newbie with cctv.

 

Thanks

[ChrisP 0]

I use these for my long range point to point connections:

[edit by mod-store link removed]

 

Here is an example:

[edit by mod-store link removed]

[hardwired 0]

I use these for my long range point to point connections:

 

Here is an example:

 

Those appear to be Ubiquiti RocketDish 5G antennas,presumably with the Rocket M5 radio, those are very effective, but way overkill for a 600 Meter link, the NanoStationM5's (http://ubnt.com/nanostationm) would work fine, at a retail $160.00USD or so per pair.

[Davie@Braco 0]

Looks promising! am i right in thinking this link would be able to handle telemetry for one or more ptz cameras, controlled via my laptop and that to change cameras I would just choose another IP address? Any suggestions for a suitable camera with the right balance between cost and performance? Light level not a problem as flourescent lights are on all the time.

[cglaeser 0]

Soundy, I would like to watch two calving pens holding half a dozen cows each at either end of a shed roughly 70x20m. I had in mind a ptz camea with 30x optical zoom.

 

You should be able to cover 70x20m without having to resort to ptz. A ptz will add unnecessary cost and complexity, especially given the other issues you have to solve. Just use an appropriate number of cameras. If you need to zoom into an area for a closer look, then use a higher resolution camera and use digital PTZ instead.

 

Best,

Christopher

[speleomike 0]

Hi Davie

 

I have just setup over the last two months my first farm monitoring system also, for alpacas. It's working really well and I can see them from 250 km away! See this thread here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=21740

It's under: Board index » Video Security Systems » IP Cameras and Software Solutions

My post on the last page has a pic of them

 

I used a Mobotix M24 camera, 2 x Ubiquity NanoStation M5, make sure you get a correct PoE (Power over Ethernet) connector for Mobotix if you get one of those. The Ubiquities come with a PoE. Then a small switch in the house and connect to that and you will be able to monitor them. For a cow shed I would use 2 cameras if needed and not one with pzt for reliability. But then again the Mobotix are very pricy.

 

Mike

[tomcctv 187]

Hi, I'm looking for suggestions for our first farm system. We live approximately 1 mile (600m) from the farm and would like to be able to keep an eye on cows calving at night without having to drive there each time. Ideally i would like one ptz camera initially (perhaps with others to follow)to cover the calving pens which are no more than 25m from the camera with some kind of live connection to our tv at home. We have line of sight and there is an off the shelf wireless system available for £2000 which I have seen working and works well but apparently if you want to add extra cameras you have to add a complete new system on a slightly different frequency. That is getting a bit expensive for me. I dont think we need video storage at this point.

Has anybody got any other suggestions? Is it worth installing cable perhaps on the surface behind existing fencing? is there a broadband solution? There is a phone line nearby. Is there a cheaper wireless solution using IP cameras and a long range 802 transmitter which might also carry telemetry? Is there a cheaper solution using several fixed cameras and a multiplexer?

All suggestions appreciated.

 

Hi Davie. for what you are looking to do i would just have broadband connected to the phone line.and just use standard cctv cameras. going ip is just not the expence you need for this application.

 

i would use the following.

 

4 CNB VCP551

1 avermedia eb3004 dvr

1 microphone

 

this will allow you to zoom in when needed from your home pc or laptop or mobile. you have lighting in the barn so you will see everything as 4 camera display and mouse control zoom.

[SEANHAWG 1]

Also, Keep in mind that controlling a PTZ over a network can sometimes be "fidgety".

[Davie@Braco 0]

Thanks for the advice guys, will let you know how I get on.

[bpzle 0]

Use high quality cameras which have high resolution which might be expensive but will give great results.

 

Thanks Captain Obvious. What's next? A crappy ad for your junk Chinese CCTV?