IP Cameras

[Piers]

I'm looking for two IP cameras. One to monitor the stbd side, the other for looking aft. Must be waterproof and both can be fixed (ie, no need to pan/tilt).

Any guidance?

 

[oldgit]

IP.

I have got one of these cheapo units outside my bedroom window,has been working 24/7 over winter,fairly robust and well put together.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-...-/260945970703?pt=UK_CCTV&hash=item3cc197860f

Only problem is camera facing due East,when sun comes over horizon it directly faces camera and combined with reflection off water can cause chip to
overload.Normally sorts itself after sun has moved on a bit .
Gives Ok ish pictures at short range with own infra red and will give a much better image than naked eye if dark.
Detail not so hot at long distance but below say 30 metres not bad at all.
Sorry but no close up shots saved to demonstrate.
Will work wired or wireless,however you may need to pretty familiar with computors to set up................ a combination of A Einstein and I Newton with Bill Gates helping might just be enough.

 

[stillwaters]

I'm looking for two IP cameras. One to monitor the stbd side, the other for looking aft. Must be waterproof and both can be fixed (ie, no need to pan/tilt).

Any guidance?

Just about to fit some on my own boat so can't vouch for the following but it may be useful.
I think it was Hurricane who fitted a pair of 70S armour dome IP66 cameras on the stern of his boat,recently posted on here with pics of results. Maybe search under cameras will find it unless he comes along soon himself.These are available from:-
www.rfconcepts.co.uk
Another interesting website I've found is:-
www.2seetv.co.uk
There are plenty of others as well but this one shows a good cross-section of both cameras and monitors,the sort that are fitted to motor homes and trucks,but no obvious reason why it should always be necessary to fit the very expensive stuff from Raymarine etc.,surely?
Their site has a number of IR cameras rated as highly as IP69 for a little over £50 which you may or may not want but,a daylight one in particular,VB4112 with an IP of 67 at a similar price looks especially neat to me.This is supplied as standard with a 2.5mm lens but if you google its ref.no. you'll also find it with a 3.6mm lens elsewhere.
I'm assuming you already know the following but,just in case:-
The 2 IP numbers stated are,first number - resistance to dust 0(none) up to 6 (best),second number - moisture,this time 0 (none) up to 9 (best). So IP67 should be ok.
Lens sizes work on the smaller the size the wider the angle of view/less depth of field. So a 2.5mm lens can show a view more than 90 degrees but will only be good for shorter distance definition etc.
Hope this helps.

 

[MYAG]

I'm looking for two IP cameras. One to monitor the stbd side, the other for looking aft. Must be waterproof and both can be fixed (ie, no need to pan/tilt).

Any guidance?

I would recommend a reverse image camera for the one looking aft, the image you see on your plotter/screen will then be the right way round.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Do you mean IP as in Internet Protocol (ie standalone w web browser etc)? If so, I get mine from use-ip.co.uk. Good advice available from Phil there.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[EME]

IP = Ingress Protection

 

[vas]

it seems that the OP means IP65 at least (as in ingress protection) as well as IP as in internet protocol and possibly power over IP as well.
I wonder how the IP video feed will be streamed to a screen, need to setup a net within the boat, a router etc.

V.

 

[Piers]

It's Internet Protocol I meant - not IP as in Ingress Protection!

Thanks for the help. I've found Axis cameras - anyone have any experience with them?

 

[Hurricane]

It's Internet Protocol I meant - not IP as in Ingress Protection!

Thanks for the help. I've found Axis cameras - anyone have any experience with them?

Earlier this year, our marina installed an Axis camera as a webcam for us to view the marina whilst we are away.
It was supposed to move to one of 8 preset positions every half hour.
That bit never worked and the result was that it always pointed in a one direction.
So, I set about programming it remotely and with a little time and effort, I was able to find some notes out on the internet.
Then, with the approval of our marina manager, I wrote a little application in php which runs on our berth holders forum's web server. Three times a day (09:00, 12:00 and 15:00), my php application "harvests" eight still images and stores them on our server. It does this by moving the camera remotely, taking a shot and then moving on to the next preset position. All sequences are "fired off" automatically by our web server so no manual interaction is necessary.

If you are interested, this link is to an application that displays the currently stored (last harvested) images - similar code was eventually incorporated into our forum software.

http://www.scmchat.com/extraweb/webcam/camera_display.php

Anyway, in answer to your question, I do have a document that I found on remotely controlling Axis Cameras - took me ages to find it. I can probably dig it up if you need it.

Back to cameras on boats, I bought some cheap dome cameras that I installed above the cockpit as docking cameras - they were just standard RGB cameras that I fed into the Raymarine monitors.
Let me know if you would like to know more about them.

 

[PRH]

Back to cameras on boats, I bought some cheap dome cameras that I installed above the cockpit as docking cameras - they were just standard RGB cameras that I fed into the Raymarine monitors.
Let me know if you would like to know more about them.

Yes please.....

 

[elton]

standard RGB cameras

 

[Hurricane]

Yes please.....

This is the brochure for the cameras that I bought.
http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/70ir.pdf

This is the actual model I bought.
http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/armour_dome_ir.htm

Nearly four years ago now.
One failed in the first year - replaced under warranty.
Since then I have kept a spare on board and they have been as good as gold.
They are a fraction of the price of the Raymarine bespoke ones.
Dont rust - still look as good as new.

They run off 12v but the manual says that it must be a stable supply so I incorporated a cheap voltage stabiliser - I can dig that out as well if you need it.

As I say, I use them as docking cameras
See from this photo - I can't see over the dinghy when docking so they are really helpful.

They do take a bit of getting "used to" though.
Generally, I set mine so that the port screen displays the port camera and visa-vers for the starboard one. Not a silly comment this - think about it - do you want to see it as you do when you face forward or do you want to think of them separately. They can be reversed like a car rear view mirror but, personally, I prefer to view them simply. Well, I've got used to them now.

Here's a view of the actual image on one of my monitors - sorry, I havent got a pic whilst docking - usually too busy!!

The screens also allow split screens so I can put both cameras on a single screen - kind of joining the images together as a single image. Again, I haven't got a pic of two video feeds at the same time but this pic should show the concept.

Hope that helps - just ask if you want to know more.

 

[Piers]

This has been really helpful - thank you.

Great cruising to you all.

Piers

 

[henryf]

Sorry for coming late to the party.

On of my businesses is www.cctv42.co.uk we aren't massive fans of IP cameras (Internet protocol). They are generally 2-3 times more expensive the stNdard analogue cameras when compared like for like and you are very limited as to what lens combinations are available.

Once you have more that one camera and if you want to record the image then you are better off plugging stndard cameras into a DVR recorder and using that to control remote access etc. You can even have really clever features like motion detected images emailed to you.

Fixed lens wide angle cameras will give an overall view of the situation but you have no hope of identifying people a little distance from the camera.

Finally PTZ (ones that move) are generally a waste of time. 2-3 times more expensive than fixed cameras, they don't cover areas when they are looking elsewhere and they also won't provide usable images whilst moving. You are much better off fitting more fixed cameras for the same price.

For security purposes unless you record the images you aren't going to capture many criminals.

Finally tKe all the figures quoted with CCTV cameras with a big pinch of salt.

We don't sell specific marine products although the stuff is all 12 volt - incidentally good cameras will cope with quite a wide voltage discrepancy. We did trial a mobile system which fIled on a number of points. Looking at another one at the moment, local storage of data, remote interrogation / live view, GPS location, 2 way audio and so on.

Hope that helps. More info specific to cameras etc on the website.

Henry

 

[PRH]

Brill thanks Hurricane. Which 12v stabiliser did you use?

 

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by Hurricane View Post
standard RGB cameras

Sorry I meant to say standard analogue composite cameras.

When posting all I could remember was lots of wires. Each camera goes to each of the four displays. Thats so that you can quickly switch to any camera from any monitor. Raymarine do a central Video unit but AFAIK it's not a quick process switching between sources. In my set up, all you do is just "poke" one of the buttons along the bottom of the display. TV, Satellite, PC and other navigation video sources also feed in a similar manner. This was one of the main reasons for choosing the Raymarine G Series in the first place. I can have an extreemly sophisticated system without compramising the basic navigation system. The system defaults to the Raymarine nav feed so anyone using the boat who isn't familiar with the system can just use it like any other Raymarine system - to the beginner, the system is exactly like a standard C series system but behind the scenes, it has all this extra functionality.

 

[Hurricane]

Brill thanks Hurricane. Which 12v stabiliser did you use?

For right or for wrong (I'm no expert), I used one of these http://www.amperordirect.co.uk/prod_adp_90dc-125525.asp
EDIT: this link only goes to the base page - it's the Best Seller 12v Voltage Stabiliser.

Cut all the connectors off the wires and installed it permanently into the boat.

I believe that you have to be a little careful with these kinds of things – they can emit RF which isn’t what you need on a boat! However these devices have worked for me – I’ve got a couple of others on the boat for other voltage sensitive kit (a WiFi router that is particularly sensitive for example). AFAIK they don’t emit any significant RF or disturb any other kit.

 

[scubaman]

I thought I'd bring this thread back up as I'm planning something similar.

Piers, did you find a suitable camera?

My plan is to install a wireless (docking) ip camera, get a 12v router and use an iPad or phone to view the picture. Primary reasons for going this route are:

- ease of installation (just needs the 12v for the camera)
- my older RL-generation Raymarine won't do VGA and I don't feel this justifies an update

Not as robust as cameras hard wired into plotters, but hopefully good enough for docking.

There are several camera management apps available for both iOs and Android that can handle multiple cameras, so bandwidth permitting, I could have two or more.

This is one of the cameras I've briefly looked at.

I'd be interested to hear your comments and experiences on this. Eg. I remember Hurricane commenting somewhere on the lag with wireless connections being something to take into consideration.

 

[SolentPhill]

I thought iP cameras were not easy to view online, they are ok wired but using wireless and logging on from another place and they are confusing, anyone who can do it easily then I could do with a hand.

I've been a week or so trying

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

I thought iP cameras were not easy to view online, they are ok wired but using wireless and logging on from another place and they are confusing, anyone who can do it easily then I could do with a hand.

I've been a week or so trying

Hiya Phill

What specifically are you trying to do?

Cheers
Jimmy