lighting

[ljarrald 0]

hi, i have just installed a camera overlooking my neighbours garden. it is fine in the day but at night it can't see much. here is a screenshot of it at night

 

 

in the picture below you can see my shed (square brick building) with the alley cameras on (one is in view, the other is hiding behind the telegraph pole) and the camera overlooking my neighbours garden. that street lamp lights up the alley but not the garden. i am wondering weather i should put a floodlight further down the pole and link it into the feed for the main light so they both come on at the same time. or i might ast the council to do it.

i have seen this done all around manchester so i don't see why it would be a problem.

 

 

if putting a light on the lamp post is not an option, i could put one on the shed. although i would rather not because:

A: because of how low it is, it could (and probably would) be fiddled with

B: it would look ugly

C: it would be us paying the bill

 

 

what are your thoughts?

 

thanks

-luke

[tomcctv 187]

i am wondering weather i should put a floodlight further down the pole and link it into the feed for the main light so they both come on at the same time.

 

 

 

Hi. lamp posts are powered 24/7 so going into the feed will leave your light on you would need a PIR light and then you would need to add protection (since uk street lighting is on a 3 phase link)

 

 

i would leave street lamp posts alone like you already know

 

1. its classed as theft

 

2. if you drill or mount anything (they will charge for a replacment)

 

3. your are not licenced to do electrical work in a public place.

 

but you can requset that the lamp post head be replaced (but needs planning permmision)

 

i would look at adding eco floods in the yard

[ljarrald 0]

i am wondering weather i should put a floodlight further down the pole and link it into the feed for the main light so they both come on at the same time.

 

 

 

Hi. lamp posts are powered 24/7 so going into the feed will leave your light on you would need a PIR light and then you would need to add protection (since uk street lighting is on a 3 phase link)

i thought that may cause confusion which is why i said "so they both come on at the same time" i meant taking a feed from the lamp connector.

also, its the only lamp in the alley and was added about 4 yrs ago and a substation is about 10 meters from it so they just tapped into the feed from there, it has just single phase coming in in SWA.

 

 

i would leave street lamp posts alone like you already know

 

1. its classed as theft

true.

 

2. if you drill or mount anything (they will charge for a replacment)

there won't need to be a replacement if i use heavy duty cable ties. the cctw camera they put on there was mounted with steel cable ties.

 

your are not licenced to do electrical work in a public place.

true

 

but you can requset that the lamp post head be replaced (but needs planning permmision)

 

i would look at adding eco floods in the yard

[tagfcuk 0]

My first instinct when I look at the picture is why is it still in colour when clearly the light levels are very low.

Is this a day/night camera?

A half decent day/night camera should perform down to around 1lux(or less) in colour and 0.01 lux in monochrome. To give you an idea of what that is consider full moon and qtr moon respectively (crude comparison but good enough).

The other thing you can choose would be a dome with IR. You are only going a short distance, yes some claim 80m but that is generally based on being able to see something reflective a long way away as opposed to illuminating something for the purpose of identificaiton a reasonable distance away.

 

With regards to touching the lights a couple of houses have tried it round here. Turned out they were growing weed. Funnily enough the electricity company and the police took a dim view.

[Numb-nuts 1]

Luke, I know this is not what your question was but both the domes in the pictures are at risk

because of their proximity to the yard wall. With all that wood piled up there, it is even easier to attack and even steal them, the telegraph pole you can't do anything about. Remember thieves lose nothing if they damage the item they are stealing. They would wrench it off the wall and cut any wires. If you can't relocate then at least try and fit a cage.

 

The garden you are looking into, I take it the neighbour has consented and that you are doing them a favour?

That being so, get them to have you install a PIR operated security light that way if someone did enter that garden, yard, then your camera would see and record. Is it the yard across the alley from you?

[ljarrald 0]

My first instinct when I look at the picture is why is it still in colour when clearly the light levels are very low.

Is this a day/night camera?[

nope, i just wanted to use the square housing. i like the fact that it is in colour as it will get the colour of skin and clothes. if i have decent lighting... it will not be a problem.

 

A half decent day/night camera should perform down to around 1lux(or less) in colour and 0.01 lux in monochrome. To give you an idea of what that is consider full moon and qtr moon respectively (crude comparison but good enough).

The other thing you can choose would be a dome with IR. You are only going a short distance, yes some claim 80m but that is generally based on being able to see something reflective a long way away as opposed to illuminating something for the purpose of identificaiton a reasonable distance away.

yeah, i do have an IR vantage camera like the others in the alley but i prefer the look of this one

 

 

With regards to touching the lights a couple of houses have tried it round here. Turned out they were growing weed. Funnily enough the electricity company and the police took a dim view.

pun intended?

why not just use their own elekky?

[ljarrald 0]

Luke, I know this is not what your question was but both the domes in the pictures are at risk

because of their proximity to the yard wall. With all that wood piled up there, it is even easier to attack and even steal them, the telegraph pole you can't do anything about. Remember thieves lose nothing if they damage the item they are stealing. They would wrench it off the wall and cut any wires. If you can't relocate then at least try and fit a cage.

 

The garden you are looking into, I take it the neighbour has consented and that you are doing them a favour?

That being so, get them to have you install a PIR operated security light that way if someone did enter that garden, yard, then your camera would see and record. Is it the yard across the alley from you?

 

iknow about the risk to the cameras which is the main reason there is one looking the other way. you cant get to em without being seen. if you throw a brick at it (like has happened in the past) a vibration sensor i put in the housing activates whacking the camera into alarm, sounding alarms in the house and outside. if signal is lost, the same alarms activate.

 

the neighbour asked me to put a camera there. i was thinking about asking if i could anyway. he said he'd like me to put cameras all round the outside of his house but he does not know if the landlord would allow it.

 

i think a pir light may be the way to go. it is just going to look ugly on the shed because it's gonna have to be at an angle and stuff but i will see about making a custom case for one (i have a friend who is a welder (dunno the proper job title) and has a big workshop full of metalwork machines)

 

i will now do a diagram of the cameras...

[ljarrald 0]

this first diagram is all the current cameras:

 

this one shows the cameras that will eventually be in (the one overlooking the shed and alley blindspot will stay, i just removed it from this diagram to save it getting cluttered)