Advice on wireless camera system

[simon.perkins 0]

Firstly, as I'm new here my apologies if this is in the wrong section.

 

Secondly, hello everyone

 

Now, to the point. I am currently looking into purchasing some wireless cameras to record on a small business site. They are mostly going to be used to spot intruders rather than having the video used as evidence against them so perfect clarity is not as important as it could be to me, also I have no need for audio recording.

 

With this in mind I am wanting to place 4 wireless cameras within a 150m radius and they will be required to transmit through thin metal plates and some brick work to a secure DVR. Night vision would be a plus side, however I do not require anything too great as I have said, it is mostly to detour and spot any would be intruders.

 

Could anyone please advise me on what kind of system may be needed and where I might purchase it online? I am currently looking into it myself though I am feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of CCTV products currently on the market.

 

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

[tomcctv 187]

Hi. the first big thing is to save you money. wireless does not work. (and not at 150m) also you will find that going wired is cheaper.

 

 

They are mostly going to be used to spot intruders rather than having the video used as evidence against them so perfect clarity is not as important

 

 

there is a reason why people install cctv ... clarity is not important till its needed. if you dont need good footage then just put up some signs.

 

 

 

what is your budget ???

[buellwinkle 0]

You can do wireless for a few miles, just keep in mind that wireless must be line of site, no trees, walls, people in the way to be effective unless you go 900Mhz, then you can go miles without interference but so can other people so you have to make sure there's no 900Mhz in the frequency you pick that will interfere.

 

Then you buy wireless bridges, and the cheapest 900Mhz that I know of are Ubiquiti, they cost about $350 each. If you have line of sight they are way cheaper, maybe $80 each for 2.4 or 5.8Ghz. They then have a PoE adapter so you run A/C to the bridge, and the bridge PoE to the camera for connectivity and power.

 

Wireless is far from cheap and it's fairly complex to setup, but if you are putting the cameras where they can't be hardwired to a switch, this is the way to go.

 

As for cameras, if it's for live view only, consider getting a nice PTZ camera, then you can look around with the camera. Panasonic makes some affordable PTZ cameras like the bb-hcm581a and put it in an outdoor dome enclosure. One PTZ may replace a bunch of fixed cameras and with the wireless costs, it may save money in connection costs.

[serverguy 0]

We do loads of wireless IP cameras, on most large external sites it is far cheaper than running cable.

 

But you have to be network engineer first and cctv installer second. Not the other way round.

[thewireguys 3]

We do loads of wireless IP cameras, on most large external sites it is far cheaper than running cable.

 

But you have to be network engineer first and cctv installer second. Not the other way round.

 

What wireless gear do you us?

[serverguy 0]

You can do wireless for a few miles, just keep in mind that wireless must be line of site, no trees, walls, people in the way to be effective unless you go 900Mhz, then you can go miles without interference but so can other people so you have to make sure there's no 900Mhz in the frequency you pick that will interfere.

 

Then you buy wireless bridges, and the cheapest 900Mhz that I know of are Ubiquiti, they cost about $350 each. If you have line of sight they are way cheaper, maybe $80 each for 2.4 or 5.8Ghz. They then have a PoE adapter so you run A/C to the bridge, and the bridge PoE to the camera for connectivity and power.

 

Wireless is far from cheap and it's fairly complex to setup, but if you are putting the cameras where they can't be hardwired to a switch, this is the way to go.

 

As for cameras, if it's for live view only, consider getting a nice PTZ camera, then you can look around with the camera. Panasonic makes some affordable PTZ cameras like the bb-hcm581a and put it in an outdoor dome enclosure. One PTZ may replace a bunch of fixed cameras and with the wireless costs, it may save money in connection costs.

 

Why do you need 900Mhz? We have literally hundreds of wireless bridges out in the field running on 2.4Ghz or 5.8Ghz all operating trouble free. And price is a lot less than you suggest especially if buying in any quantity.

Edited March 24, 2012 by Guest

[serverguy 0]

We do loads of wireless IP cameras, on most large external sites it is far cheaper than running cable.

 

But you have to be network engineer first and cctv installer second. Not the other way round.

 

What wireless gear do you us?

 

Mostly Ubiquiti stuff for simple hops.

 

Alvarion for more mission critical stuff.

 

For more unusual sites we use a variety of mesh gear.

 

We have tested a lot and the Ubiquiti gear always comes out well even against equipment costing 10x as much.

 

You can easily get 75 meg both ways out of a Ubiquti bridge up to 2 or 3km costing £50 in total. Can't run cat5 for anything like that.

[thewireguys 3]

We do loads of wireless IP cameras, on most large external sites it is far cheaper than running cable.

 

But you have to be network engineer first and cctv installer second. Not the other way round.

 

What wireless gear do you us?

 

Mostly Ubiquiti stuff for simple hops.

 

Alvarion for more mission critical stuff.

 

For more unusual sites we use a variety of mesh gear.

 

We have tested a lot and the Ubiquiti gear always comes out well even against equipment costing 10x as much.

 

You can easily get 75 meg both ways out of a Ubiquti bridge up to 2 or 3km costing £50 in total. Can't run cat5 for anything like that.

 

Agreed we have installed Ubiquiti, Fliudmesh and Ruckus. It's hard to beat Ubiquiti. We use Ruckus PTP links when we need more then 100MBps but Ubiquiti can now do 1.4Gbps over wireless for the same price

[serverguy 0]

 

Agreed we have installed Ubiquiti, Fliudmesh and Ruckus. It's hard to beat Ubiquiti. We use Ruckus PTP links when we need more then 100MBps but Ubiquiti can now do 1.4Gbps over wireless for the same price

 

FluidMesh is good as well, have used that before.

 

If you need a gig probably better of going with an optical link if you've got something solid to mount it on?

 

IP / digital cctv is definitely the future, makes wireless very possible.

 

Should think analogue cctv will be dead in a few years time.

[thewireguys 3]

 

Agreed we have installed Ubiquiti, Fliudmesh and Ruckus. It's hard to beat Ubiquiti. We use Ruckus PTP links when we need more then 100MBps but Ubiquiti can now do 1.4Gbps over wireless for the same price

 

FluidMesh is good as well, have used that before.

 

If you need a gig probably better of going with an optical link if you've got something solid to mount it on?

 

IP / digital cctv is definitely the future, makes wireless very possible.

 

Should think analogue cctv will be dead in a few years time.

 

Fluidmesh is nice but not cheap and there MITO units are Ubuquiti NanoStations with custom firmware.

 

Ruckus would give us 300Mbps but for the same price you can now get Ubiquiti's new AirFiber units and do 1.4Gbps.

[buellwinkle 0]

Why do you need 900Mhz? We have literally hundreds of wireless bridges out in the field running on 2.4Ghz or 5.8Ghz all operating trouble free. And price is a lot less than you suggest especially if buying in any quantity.

 

You may not need 900Mhz, but he said it has to go through metal plates and brick walls. Do you think 2.4 or 5.8Ghz will do well going through that? Maybe, but not likely without some degradation. Heck, I can't even get it to go 50' in my house with just drywall in-between. 2.4 and 5.8 is cheaper, a lot cheaper but requires LOS, 900Mhz is NLOS and has better penetration. Avalan was the big maker of 900Mhz bridges but the Ubiquiti ones are faster and cheaper, making 900Mhz more affordable.