Hi Pieter,
Do you leave your porch lights on each night for your camera? If so, do you find that a better alternative than having the lights sensored?
Kevin.
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
Maybe I should explain this in more detail...
I'm deciding whether to use a dome camera without IR and leave my porch lights on each night - or have a dome with IR and rely on the poorer picture without exterior lighting.
I feel that leaving the porch lights on may not be as effective as the 'snap' effect of the lights coming on with a motion sensor.
Can you explain your experience?
I'm deciding whether to use a dome camera without IR and leave my porch lights on each night - or have a dome with IR and rely on the poorer picture without exterior lighting.
I feel that leaving the porch lights on may not be as effective as the 'snap' effect of the lights coming on with a motion sensor.
Can you explain your experience?
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Snelvuur
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Your Bwired porch Dome camera
Use the IR, if its dark.. no lights can give you a better light then night vision.
// Erik (binkey.nl)
// Erik (binkey.nl)
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
Hi Kevin,
Did not see your topic up til now.
I had both options operational and decided to leave the lights on during the night. It gives us a more secure feeling and if you use energie saving lights it's not expensive. I now have a energysaving light on my frontdoor and led lights above my garagedoor (4 watts). alle the lights go on at nightfall and stay on till dawn. If you use a sensor you need a dawn good one because many times your lights will go on and off for no reason at all. My frontdoor camera is one without IR but needs very little light for a good picture. I tried the IR camera and again you need a good one, mostly I find the Images taken with IR not that good.
regards Pieter
Did not see your topic up til now.
I had both options operational and decided to leave the lights on during the night. It gives us a more secure feeling and if you use energie saving lights it's not expensive. I now have a energysaving light on my frontdoor and led lights above my garagedoor (4 watts). alle the lights go on at nightfall and stay on till dawn. If you use a sensor you need a dawn good one because many times your lights will go on and off for no reason at all. My frontdoor camera is one without IR but needs very little light for a good picture. I tried the IR camera and again you need a good one, mostly I find the Images taken with IR not that good.
regards Pieter
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Snelvuur
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Your Bwired porch Dome camera
@pieter, the mobotix is a night cam no? meaning, even is the lamp is off its still a good picture as far as i could recollect no?
// Erik (binkey.nl)
// Erik (binkey.nl)
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
Right the mobotix MD10 Night camera, but not on the frontdoor. This is the Mobotix http://www.bwired.nl/Cammobotix.asp it's a camera which has 2 lenses one for day color and one for night. The place in front of my house has enough lights to give a good image at night. I can set the IR LEDs on as well but it are the kinds of light you see, so currently they are off. This IP camera has a top resolution of 1280*960.
It's a good camera but costing a lot like 1400 euro's!
Pieter Knuvers
www.bwired.nl Online House in the netherlands. Domotica, Home Automation.
It's a good camera but costing a lot like 1400 euro's!
Pieter Knuvers
www.bwired.nl Online House in the netherlands. Domotica, Home Automation.
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
Thanks Pieter, that explains it well.
I think a permanently lit house is a better deterrent by keeping any would-be intruders away - rather than scaring them off while close to our property with motion sensor lights. I'll buy a non-IR dome and leave the lights on.
By the way, I have visited your site over several years, and it's interesting to see how it has developed. I note that you have kept much of your equipment rather than constantly upgrading so this obviously means you have chosen wisely.
I'm at the throw-away stage of development... buying various cameras only to find there is something better a week later! At the moment I have an unused Sony Handycam for recording license plates at the corner of our street, and 5-7 cameras both wired and wireless through a USB DVR running through my PC. Nothing sophisticated like a toilet sensor though
I think a permanently lit house is a better deterrent by keeping any would-be intruders away - rather than scaring them off while close to our property with motion sensor lights. I'll buy a non-IR dome and leave the lights on.
By the way, I have visited your site over several years, and it's interesting to see how it has developed. I note that you have kept much of your equipment rather than constantly upgrading so this obviously means you have chosen wisely.
I'm at the throw-away stage of development... buying various cameras only to find there is something better a week later! At the moment I have an unused Sony Handycam for recording license plates at the corner of our street, and 5-7 cameras both wired and wireless through a USB DVR running through my PC. Nothing sophisticated like a toilet sensor though
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by snelvuur</i>
<br />Use the IR, if its dark.. no lights can give you a better light then night vision.
// Erik (binkey.nl)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Hi Eric,
Agreed. I've certainly looked at doing this, but then I wondered why I'm using a front door camera anyway since the night recording quality is often not good enough to ID an intruder. My conclusion is that I want it for the motion sensor that my DVR uses, and it'll be far more useful during the day for that. Then there's the expense of a 0.0 lux IR camera!
<br />Use the IR, if its dark.. no lights can give you a better light then night vision.
// Erik (binkey.nl)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Hi Eric,
Agreed. I've certainly looked at doing this, but then I wondered why I'm using a front door camera anyway since the night recording quality is often not good enough to ID an intruder. My conclusion is that I want it for the motion sensor that my DVR uses, and it'll be far more useful during the day for that. Then there's the expense of a 0.0 lux IR camera!
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
UPDATE:
I've put in a Pinhole/UFO camera, a Sony CCD 1/3" without IR, and I leave the porch lights on all night. It works perfectly this way, but I also have motion-sensor lights for the side of the house to give any would-be intruders a fright if they travel any further into the property.
Because of the large number of untrained moths that are attracted by the porch lights, I have set the motion sensor on my DVR to several very thin rectangles - this seems to stop most of the false alarms but will still activate on a large object.
I can't praise the use of a porch cam enough. All sorts of things go on while I'm at the bottom of the house, or asleep that I never knew about. Cars, cats, leaves, joggers... all faithfully recorded for later analysis.
For example, this morning I saw from the video records that a motorcycle courier had earlier put a letter into the letterbox, and also saw that when my wife took our dog for its morning constitutional later, she didn't look inside. So I was able to go upstairs knowing that collecting that letter wouldn't be a wasted trip.
Our regular mailman visited later in the morning, but I saw he didn't drop anything off, so stayed down in my office.
I don't know how I lived without it!
I've put in a Pinhole/UFO camera, a Sony CCD 1/3" without IR, and I leave the porch lights on all night. It works perfectly this way, but I also have motion-sensor lights for the side of the house to give any would-be intruders a fright if they travel any further into the property.
Because of the large number of untrained moths
that are attracted by the porch lights, I have set the motion sensor on my DVR to several very thin rectangles - this seems to stop most of the false alarms but will still activate on a large object.I can't praise the use of a porch cam enough. All sorts of things go on while I'm at the bottom of the house, or asleep that I never knew about. Cars, cats, leaves, joggers... all faithfully recorded for later analysis.
For example, this morning I saw from the video records that a motorcycle courier had earlier put a letter into the letterbox, and also saw that when my wife took our dog for its morning constitutional later, she didn't look inside. So I was able to go upstairs knowing that collecting that letter wouldn't be a wasted trip.
Our regular mailman visited later in the morning, but I saw he didn't drop anything off, so stayed down in my office.
I don't know how I lived without it!
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
He Kevin,
Good to hear your chosen setup works good. Next step is to put a sensor on the mailbox.
It gives you a signal and you can start recoding when the mailbox gets open and file it separately.
regards Pieter
Good to hear your chosen setup works good. Next step is to put a sensor on the mailbox.
It gives you a signal and you can start recoding when the mailbox gets open and file it separately.
regards Pieter
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
Hi Pieter,
I had thought about a mailbox sensor, but I already have 2 alerts in that area - a laser security beam with buzzer across the entranceway, and buzzer connected to the porch camera motion sensor plus the automatic video recording.
I admire the detail you achieve in your automation, but for me it's overkill. At the moment my setup is mainly as remote eyes around my property, and if we catch an intruder on DVR then so much the better.
The number of mailbox openings per month doesn't really interest me
I had thought about a mailbox sensor, but I already have 2 alerts in that area - a laser security beam with buzzer across the entranceway, and buzzer connected to the porch camera motion sensor plus the automatic video recording.
I admire the detail you achieve in your automation, but for me it's overkill. At the moment my setup is mainly as remote eyes around my property, and if we catch an intruder on DVR then so much the better.
The number of mailbox openings per month doesn't really interest me
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
@Kevin
Ok understand Kevin, but you where telling about not walking to the mailbox for nothing etc. that's what I mend with the sensor
Ok understand Kevin, but you where telling about not walking to the mailbox for nothing etc. that's what I mend with the sensor
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by l0rien</i>
<br />...you do know that it's illegal(at least in the Netherlands) to film, record, motion detect, whatever, anything on public ground...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Yes, but I live on the other side of the world. And I own part of my street. It's a private road, and I pay part-share of the annual maintenance etc, so I'm effectively recording and protecting "my" own property.
<br />...you do know that it's illegal(at least in the Netherlands) to film, record, motion detect, whatever, anything on public ground...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Yes, but I live on the other side of the world. And I own part of my street. It's a private road, and I pay part-share of the annual maintenance etc, so I'm effectively recording and protecting "my" own property.
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Yes, but I live on the other side of the world. And I own part of my street. It's a private road, and I pay part-share of the annual maintenance etc, so I'm effectively recording and protecting "my" own property.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">No problems here, just giving a heads up, just in case. My father in law got in trouble while installing a simple bell, attached to a motion detector in his own driveway. His neighbors have rights of passage to get to their back door, which made installing the setup illegal.
I wonder if facial recognition would be possible with the right camera angle at the front door or driveway. Software would be no problem, but I'm not a hardware guy. Would be nice to hear who's on your premises, before they've announced themselves via doorbell or otherwise.
I wonder if facial recognition would be possible with the right camera angle at the front door or driveway. Software would be no problem, but I'm not a hardware guy. Would be nice to hear who's on your premises, before they've announced themselves via doorbell or otherwise.
Your Bwired porch Dome camera
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by l0rien</i>No problems here, just giving a heads up, just in case. My father in law got in trouble while installing a simple bell, attached to a motion detector in his own driveway.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"><br />Ugh. Bet there will be more of this happening worldwide as people claim back their privacy rights.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I wonder if facial recognition would be possible with the right camera angle at the front door or driveway.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"><br />That's an interesting idea. At the moment I have almost all my house exterior covered by cameras so I know who's coming well in advance. But ONLY when I'm in my office. If I'm anywhere else I'm effectively blind. A house-wide voice notification would be ideal.
Off the subject a little - I've often wondered why phone systems can't notify the caller by voice announcement. It must be easy enough to do with caller ID these days. I have a Panasonic PBX system with 8 extension phones and a doorbell, and even with all its sophistication this kind of thing is not available. I have tried rigging up wav files from the phone software, but like you I'm not a techie and I haven't found anyone who knows how to do it either.
Getting even further off the topic, I often wonder why the so-called high tech home is so boring and mundane in operation. Many automation systems make a big fuss about us being able to control our lights remotely, yet I rarely hear of anyone claiming this has changed their lives. All the complex sunset and sunrise computations this software makes for turning lights on automatically is still just too simple to call it automation in the true sense.
An advanced house would be one that recognises me and lets me travel around in a bubble of convenience... turning on lights at the level I like when I enter the room, sensing when I might want to watch a tv program and alerting me, playing music only in the room I occupy, letting me talk via built-in mics and speakers to anyone else in the house.
Instead it does impractical things - like the bed demonstrated at the 2008 CES. When you go to lie down, the system dims the lights, turns the tv on and raises the pillow. But what if I want to go to sleep instead, or read? And do these things differently each night? I'd have to override the system. It's just not brainy enough.
And don't get me going on remotes. I still have 13 remotes for my stuff because there is no remote that can ably do the job. Sure, Crestron, Pronto etc may appear to do it, but they're still not intuitive in themselves.
I have no fear of robots taking over our world at our basic level of automation. I have yet to see a program that recognises me when I sit in front of my computer and turns it on with my preferences open.
End of rant against the machine
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I wonder if facial recognition would be possible with the right camera angle at the front door or driveway.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"><br />That's an interesting idea. At the moment I have almost all my house exterior covered by cameras so I know who's coming well in advance. But ONLY when I'm in my office. If I'm anywhere else I'm effectively blind. A house-wide voice notification would be ideal.
Off the subject a little - I've often wondered why phone systems can't notify the caller by voice announcement. It must be easy enough to do with caller ID these days. I have a Panasonic PBX system with 8 extension phones and a doorbell, and even with all its sophistication this kind of thing is not available. I have tried rigging up wav files from the phone software, but like you I'm not a techie and I haven't found anyone who knows how to do it either.
Getting even further off the topic, I often wonder why the so-called high tech home is so boring and mundane in operation. Many automation systems make a big fuss about us being able to control our lights remotely, yet I rarely hear of anyone claiming this has changed their lives. All the complex sunset and sunrise computations this software makes for turning lights on automatically is still just too simple to call it automation in the true sense.
An advanced house would be one that recognises me and lets me travel around in a bubble of convenience... turning on lights at the level I like when I enter the room, sensing when I might want to watch a tv program and alerting me, playing music only in the room I occupy, letting me talk via built-in mics and speakers to anyone else in the house.
Instead it does impractical things - like the bed demonstrated at the 2008 CES. When you go to lie down, the system dims the lights, turns the tv on and raises the pillow. But what if I want to go to sleep instead, or read? And do these things differently each night? I'd have to override the system. It's just not brainy enough.
And don't get me going on remotes. I still have 13 remotes for my stuff because there is no remote that can ably do the job. Sure, Crestron, Pronto etc may appear to do it, but they're still not intuitive in themselves.
I have no fear of robots taking over our world at our basic level of automation. I have yet to see a program that recognises me when I sit in front of my computer and turns it on with my preferences open.
End of rant against the machine