Viewing over a wireless LAN?

I'm putting together a system for our dairy farm. A couple cameras will be watching the maternity pens to see if a cow needs assistance with calving. Cameras on the feed alleys to see if they need a late night snack. One on the tank room to make sure the drain valve is closed before milking. One on the milking pit to see what the employees are doing........ I think maybe a total of 8 or 9 cameras. I'm thinking standalone DVR with a monitor in the parlor office. Only need a day or two of storage. Some cameras can be motion detection activated. Some will be in a very dark area.

The only difficult part is that all of the farm buildings are on one side of the road. I need to view the action from the house across the road. No way to string any cables. No internet access at the parlor. About 400 feet clear line of sight from house to office. Would a wireless LAN between house and office work? (The house computer is an "off the shelf" Compaq presario, fairly new, XP home, Intel Celeron w/integrated graphics, no agp slot.)

My budget for this is approx $2000. I'm thinking maybe the Nuvico DVR? (I came up with that just from reading these forums). Our needs are pretty simple. Maybe a cheaper dvr and more expensive cameras?

Am I on the right track? Particularly about the wireless lan?

Thanks,

Mary H.

Oregon, USA

on the cheap side I would get (1) Netgear wireless router and a Netgear access point. And then I would get (2) Hawking direction high gain antenna's. Access point will communicate with the router and the DVR will connect to the Access point via RJ45 cable. That will work! I have pushed this equipment to 300ft. plus INDOORS to INDOORS, so if you mount the antenna outside (comes with a 3ft. cable) you should be able to hit 400ft easy.

On the router side you would use your PC to view it all

If is monitoring that is going to be the main thing, a lower end DVR might just do the trick. Spend a little more on the cameras, but the quesion is, how many cameras are you looking to put in?

Sorry for the delay, my connection has been down all morning.

VST_Man,

Thanks for your reply. You are suggesting that I connect the DVR to the Access Point with a cable,

then Access Point to Antenna (mounted outside) with a cable (would need to be 20 ft)

On the house side, I would need to mount Antenna outside that would connect to router with a cable. and then router to pc. Do I have the picture correct? I could handle that. Since there is only two machines in this network, couldn't I go without the router and access point, perhaps using a wireless usb adapter? Or is the distance too far?

Secruitymaster. Yes, monitoring is the only thing. I think 8 or 9 cameras would be plenty. I would like to spend a little less on dvr and more on the cameras because so much of the area to be monitored is inside a dark barn at night. I could put up a few lights if necessary.

Mary H.

Oregon, USA

The Hawking directional antenna comes with a short extension cable so your 20ft. is a no go. These cables are short so that there is no signal loss. attach the directional antenna's to the outside of the buildings, then pass the cable thru the wall and connect directly to the router and access point.........at both ends. run power to them. BUT, I'd try activating it all thru the walls first....as long as the walls are not metal construction..if nogo then then you'll have to mount antenna's outside.

I did this without any problems; distance was 300ft, anntennas were indoors (one on a window ledge inside and the other was in the computer room and shot thru the wall/brick...no windows) it worked very good. speed was also ok.

DVR is connected to the access point via RJ45 UTP network cable....CAT5 type. and you can run that cable upto 300ft. Then access point to directional antenna (make sure the router and access point antenna's are removeable types......some are directly cabled)

not that hard to do! keep the directional antenna's close to the router/access point due to cable length limits................run all cables to them. you can even mount in the attic if it does not get too hot.

oh, set this ALL up in one room and get it working BEFORE you extend it out...................you don't havce to bring the DVR in, just the networking equipment..get it all green and happy first.....right out of the box, then swap out 1 antenna at a time to make sure they work..........when done just unplug and move to the buildings................good luck. please post your results when you get it up and running...I'd even like to see it if ya don't mind.

http://http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833164155

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833127138

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833127143

Thanks VST_Man, I understand now. I guess I'll contact a couple of companies from the memberlist and get some prices. I've been probably to every web site and found your industry doesn't cater much to the DIYer. But I can't justify the price for a professional installer. Surely I can install a camera good enough to tell one cow from another! When I get my equipment list finalized I'll check back with you. Thanks for all your help.

Mary H.

Oregon USA