Camera Powerusage

Post by **TANE** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:06 am

I have few small cameras that I use for monitoring.
This are 2.4Ghz cameras with night view
Cameras are 24h online...usage is max 10min a day.

I found out that the power consumption is about 6.4 watt per hour.
6,8 x 24 x 365 = 59568 watt per year
thats 14 euro per year.

This is what I'm going to do...
Cameras behind the TM13 (click sound is acceptable and they are cheap, also found out that they are two way..Pieter Thanks)
Power on only when they are in use..
Controlling is done via Pronto..and Homeseer.

okay...TM13 is also using some power.
1,4 x 24 x 365 12264 watt
In less two years...I'm saving.

<b>Een beter milieu begint bij jezelf</b> [8D]

Post by **Snelvuur** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:10 am

Although it saves consumption of energy, i would rather go with the big ones. Different washer, different fridge etc. To be honoust, the camera's are not the big wins i would think. Still its an idea... but if you buy a switch for every camera which costs more then say 14 euro's it would take multiple years to earn back.

// Erik (binkey.nl)

Post by **TANE** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:24 am

It's domotica...lol

TM13 cost 16 euro

Other biggest benefit is nobody can spy 2.4ghz ...is free in the air..

Post by **Digit** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 3:15 am

Why is it always about earning back the money you invest?

I think Chak's idea is very noble, actually. He's willing to invest in saving energy consumption by avoiding unnecessary power consumption. That he'll have a slightly smaller bill next year is a nice side-effect.
[:)]

I would see the lowering of power consumption as pure profit; i spend money on my hobby and save on the bill.

Post by **Dowser** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:21 am

Chak, I think you would make a greater saving if you instead wired a 12V power-network, first to your cameras and then to everything else that uses 12V.
You would get rid of all the overhead from the dosens of 12V trafo's you have at home, and switching your cameras on and off can be done with any cheap I/O board.

And as a bonus, redundant power would only need a car-battery.

//Markus

Post by **Snelvuur** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:16 pm

All the devices and nokia charger around my house and devices that dont need the power should be turned off. I got 14 outlets behind my t.v. allready, i still wonder why it just doesn't ignite pure on the consumption

My mediabox, wii, squeezebox, stereo etc could all be really off when not in use.

// Erik (binkey.nl)

Post by **TANE** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:52 pm

You can do lot of things for saving..
extra powernetwork is nice but to much work.
All my other power adapters for the phone, pda's etc are already behind domotica controlled TM13

My point is...if you have an energy saving light of 7 watt..you will turn it if when not in use.
One camera is using same amount of power...why just not turn it off when not in use.
When doing this my saving is about 100KW per year..

Post by **Snelvuur** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 5:02 pm

I do know that life time of disks running 24/7 is longer then turning it on/off everyday. Dont know camera wise. (and this is more googled then fact)

// Erik (binkey.nl)

Post by **Dowser** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 5:29 pm

One problem with having devices turned off when not in use is that they often have a too long boot-time to justify the saved energy.
The worst example I have at home is my Motorola IP-TV box, that takes about 5m for a cold boot...
A wireless camera does also have to boot up, even if the time is much shorter.
If you should use that for trigger-based recording that might be an issue.

//Markus

Post by **TANE** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:03 pm

I agree with you..for some devices it's difficult to power them off.
Standby is also not always working that fine
I had some problems with my self made MCE. Since December I have a new one from Acer standby on this device is working fine. Device will go in stanby after 20 min. of idle.

Boot time of my cameras is less then 1 second. if the boot time is problem..i will just schedule that the cameras are only on between 20:00- 22:00 (kids room)

Post by **Niknik** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:22 pm

Just curious, which cameras do you have - and what is your oppinion on those? (I'm searching for cameras myself.

Post by **TANE** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:32 pm

Are basic 2.4ghz cameras CMOS
Quality indoor is acceptable.
http://www.global-b2b-network.com/direc ... ceiver.jpg

Post by **MindBender** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:24 pm

I've been wondering about what my cameras dissipate too. And I've been thinking about the same solution, using SAIX modules. Yet my setup is a little different. I'm using four American Dynamics SpeedDomes (http://www.americandynamics.net/product ... ltra8.aspx), each connected to a WebEye video server (http://www.webgateinc.com/wgi_htdocs/en ... _eng&no=12). Today I did a couple of measurements and I discovered that each server with camera has a load of about 15 Watts in idle and 20 Watts when the camera is moving. So for all four cameras I pay about 90 Euro for the electricity they consume.

I don't use then on a daily base, so I could conserve close to 100% of this by switching them on and off using four SAIX modules. But for that I need to fork out about 300 Euro worth of Xanura modules. Besides that, I will no longer be able to have them guard the front door or to have them monitor the doorbell: By the time the dome had run its BIST the visitor has been long gone. So I guess I'll just keep things as they are now.

Though it would be nice to get rid of the whine sometimes produced by the dome's servos.

Post by **TANE** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:41 pm

WOW 35X optical zoom.

4 X TM13 will cost you 75 euro.
You can switch of the cameras that you really don't use.