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RustyJL

Powering ACTi 5611 by 12v battery

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I am doing some research at the moment for work.

 

Looking at the KCM 5611 for excellent low light performance and 18x zoom.

 

This unit will be remotely mounted away from conventional power sources. Hence the need to power it from 12v battery.

 

I expect that it would be powered via a 4 port POE router via Cat5 up to 100m away, using the 12v source. If this is not feasible, is it possible to chop down the camera's 240v cord and plug it into a 12v battery using alligator clips?

 

My next problem is where to send the video. Stream the MPEG footage to a NAS via Cat5 cable, also running off a battery source located with the router. The H.264 would then be sent wirelessly over a 3g connection by way of a 3g usb stick, but I would have to have another 3g router connected to the POE router. I can not find a POE router with a usb port to allow a 3g stick.

 

Otherwise, send the MPEG and H.264 over a dedicated link to a remote computer that is powered by mains power, something like this (although I imagine the power required for this transmitter would make it a main supply only proposition):

 

http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-NanoStation-NSM5-5GHz-MIMO/dp/tech-data/B0049AVWAO/ref=de_a_smtd

 

The battery I plan on using is a large truck battery (like an N70ZZ - 100Ah).

 

My question is - is this feasible and how many batteries would you need to link up in parallel for this system to survive two weeks in the field, recording motion activations?

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You could run the camera staight off of the battery since it does 12v input. Depending on the other electronics like router etc. you may want to find some that also run off 12vdc so you dont have to use any kind of converters that will rob some of your battery time. Can you add a small solar cell panel to the mix that will at least keep the battery running longer? They have some solar charging devices that you can hook to the battery and it will also act sort of like a regulator and output the 12v DC.

 

I cant remember on the ubiquiti units I have worked with if the POE injector had a mains plug or a wall wart which would probably be the wrong voltage anyway (24v?). Of course an inverter would work but it will eat some of your battery just to do the conversion.

 

Seems like 2 parallel deep cycle marine batteries would give you more than 2weeks, maybe one battery with a solar cell could do 2 weeks.

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You could run the camera staight off of the battery since it does 12v input. Depending on the other electronics like router etc. you may want to find some that also run off 12vdc so you dont have to use any kind of converters that will rob some of your battery time. Can you add a small solar cell panel to the mix that will at least keep the battery running longer? They have some solar charging devices that you can hook to the battery and it will also act sort of like a regulator and output the 12v DC.

 

I cant remember on the ubiquiti units I have worked with if the POE injector had a mains plug or a wall wart which would probably be the wrong voltage anyway (24v?). Of course an inverter would work but it will eat some of your battery just to do the conversion.

 

Seems like 2 parallel deep cycle marine batteries would give you more than 2weeks, maybe one battery with a solar cell could do 2 weeks.

 

Thanks mate.

 

Looking at the Ubiquiti units, I could plug the IP camera directly into the unit and power it via PoE direct from there. I could send the MPEG and H.264 to the receiving side which would have a 240v supply which is where the NAS and 3g connection would be housed.

 

I have considered the solar panel idea - it will all depend on where the job site is, as this will need to be hidden from casual observers. Would 40W worth of panels be sufficient to keep this topped up?

 

How difficult are these Ubiquiti units to set up? Reading a few reviews suggests that I would need to have a good knowledge of networking to set it up? I like their ability to reliably send the signal up to 10kms between points.

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If you are comfortable working with IP cams and NAS the ubiquiti stuff shouldnt be difficult.

 

I am sure there are calculators that will tell you what the battery lifetime would be but if this is something that has to be done I would say start with one battery and see how it goes. We used to maintain some police radar trailers (they sit on the side of road and display speed to drivers) that ran off of 2 full sized deep cycle batteries. Certainly this setup with a constant running radar, large multi led display for the speed display and car counting equipment was a higher current draw overall. They had a 1 foot by 2 foot solar panel but all the stuff was late 90s tech so im sure the solar panel was no where near as efficient as modern ones are as well as the other electronics. This setup was expected to run 2 weeks before a recharge was needed.

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