Parking camera installed

[scubaman]

Hi,

Not quite in the same league of upgrades as those of JtB’s, Bart’s, on many others’ but I decided to do a post from a minor but hopefully useful upgrade I completed yesterday whilst on the boat.

Also, as there have been quite a few posts of various types of parking/surveillance cameras I thought someone might find this interesting.

The backward visibility on my boat is quite limited from both helm stations and as I often berth stern-to, I wanted to install a reverse camera to assist in berthing. Running the wires up to the radar arch seemed a bit of a pain so I wanted to utilize the wifi I had installed to the boat earlier. After a bit of searching a found a suitable wireless outdoor ip camera with a wide enough lens to cover the bathing platform. Btw, many cameras have a surprisingly narrow field of view (and also often much narrower that has been advertised as I found out reading the reviews).

Anyway, I ordered a UCam247-HDO1080 from these guys http://www.ucam247.com. First that was shipped refused to start but was swiftly replaced with a new one by their customer service.

I cheated a bit with the power as I used the speaker cables that ran to the underside of the radar arch (the speakers were no longer in use as I had installed new ones to the cockpit earlier). I took the power from the relatively chunky cables feeding the stereos, which of course means that the camera is on whenever the stereos main 12v switch is on but the power consumption is 0,3 amps so it’s not a biggie and I can always switch it off if needed.

There is a conduit within the radar arch taking cables from the nav lights/radar/speakers/etc. down to the sides. To my surprise there is also a metal plate on the underside of the arch in the middle which took a bit of drilling to get through.

Eventually I had the camera up and running and ready for a testing.

The teak needs attention, I know.

The image quality is decent considering the dimly lit conditions. I had 15 fps regardless of the fact that I had taken the second antenna from the router and put it on the camera as I had stowed the original to a safe place (from which I’ll find it some day, I hope).

The field of view is just about enough but wider angle wouldn’t hurt.

I’ve used similar setup at home for years and it has worked reliably so I’m hopeful this will work as expected. I’m also considering installing extra wireless cameras in the future.

Looking forward to putting it to proper test .

Any and all comments welcome.

 

[sonvida2]

They are very useful indeed. I had two fitted, one pointing at each corner of bathing platform and fed into flybridge plotter.

Makes stern to berthing so easy. We operated hand signals when a simple thumbs up from MrsSV was all I needed to know we had a line on. After we fitted the cameras we always secured the stern first for safety (no matter wind / current). Once secured then a nudge ahead on the outside engine to hold the bow into position and secure. Simples

Ours were hard wired (2006)

 

[MapisM]

Not a lot to comment K, it really looks like a fine job, well done!
And definitely useful for your boat, considering as you say the helm positions.

Down to which light conditions is it effective?
It would have been handy this summer, when reversing at dusk in that Satamosaari dock, squeezing between other boats with just millimeters each side....
Though you actually handled that perfectly even without the camera!

 

[MapisM]

After we fitted the cameras we always secured the stern first.....

Ermm... Nothing against your procedure, quite the opposite in fact: that's what I've always done with any boat, regardless of the availability of a stern camera.
Just curious, which alternative exactly did you find easier BEFORE fitting the camera?

 

[sonvida2]

Ermm... Nothing against your procedure, quite the opposite in fact: that's what I've always done with any boat, regardless of the availability of a stern camera.
Just curious, which alternative exactly did you find easier BEFORE fitting the camera?

Ermm - bow in first, poor MrsSV then using lasso trick as shown by instructor, make fast then outside engine astern etc. Worked most times but the lasso trick is awkward from high freeboard or in bad weather. The stern method is much much quicker and never failed us in five years

 

[jfm]

Nice job Scubaman. Nothing to add really, though a wider angle lens would improve it if ever you come across one

In my first camera-ed up boat I had the rear facing cameras "normal". In my current boat I have them "reversed image", so the plotter screen looks like a car rear view mirror, which is what you have I think. Having tried both, I think it makes little difference, but I have a slight preference for the "reversed image" set up. Only slight

 

[Searush]

May I ask why your air horns are pointed into your own cockpit? Are you hard of hearing? If you ever need to use them I fear you may become deaf for a while. :encouragement:

 

[rafiki_]

As others have said, a really nice job Scubie. I will install something similar on Rafiki, but I am looking for a smaller camera. What is the waterproofing spec of your set-up?

 

[scubaman]

Thanks guys!

@SV: two cameras would make sense and one probably could make it work with ip cameras as well using a suitable viewer software. Your method for berthing sounds very good and safe. I meant stern-to as in med fashion where my wife picks up a buoy for the bow and I then reverse the boat in and tie the stern into the pontoon.

@MapisM: thank you for the compliment, that is a second wine bottle I owe you :-D. The camera has a night vision mode courtesy of infrared less (should be good to 0 lux according to the marketing department), but the shed was light so that it hadn’t entered the night vision mode but was coping with the ‘normal’, hence the grainy pic.

@jfm: The brochure suggested a viewing angle of 68 degrees but it appears to be around 60 or even less, so yes, a wide angle lens might be a good idea. Yes, the camera was in rear view mirror -mode in the pic. It’ll be interesting to get to try it for real and see which mode becomes the preferred one.

@Searush: That’s a part of the loud lifestyle of us moboists . My hearing is fine, thank you, as they are not in the Kahlenberg-territory to be honest. That’s the way they are fitted at the factory.

@rafiki: the spec is IP67 so it should be fine, especially with the radar arch providing a bit of shelter.

 

[MapisM]

Ermm - bow in first

Ops, sorry. Stupid question, in hindsight.
I'm so used to mooring stern to the dock, that I didn't even consider that you were talking of going alongside...

 

[MapisM]

Yes, the camera was in rear view mirror -mode in the pic. It’ll be interesting to get to try it for real and see which mode becomes the preferred one.

Having had the opportunity to try both, I can second jfm view: reversed mode is indeed a tad more intuitive, but not a night and day difference, by all means.

 

[MapisM]

I meant stern-to as in med fashion where my wife picks up a buoy for the bow and I then reverse the boat in and tie the stern into the pontoon.

Actually, the typical Med style mooring is slightly different, because there's no buoy at the bow, and the bowlines are tied to the dock, lying on the bottom when not used.
Which means that you must reverse stern to the dock, secure the upwind stern line first, and then bring the bowlines upfront.
But that's just for the records - in terms of convenience of having a reverse camera it doesn't make any difference, of course!

 

[Pinnacle]

Nice job K! I anticipate it will take much of the stress out of mooring. Look forward to the report on the first trial (next May?).

 

[pan]

Fitted this wired camera last winter, viewed through Raymarine E120, plus 2 engine room cameras, as we had to run power, thought may as well used wired cameras, work great for Med stern to docking & checking for swimmers in busy anchorages.

 

[Hurricane]

I fitted two security cameras when we first had the boat.
I didn't like the bespoke (Raymarine) ones - they didn't look robust enough and I'm sure that they rust and look awful.

Instead, I bought a couple of these (well ones like these anyway) and wired them into my Raymarine G Series system
http://rfconcepts.co.uk/dome-camera-ir-armoured-70eh-36ir-sony-effio-silver-weatherproof-ip66.html
They are still working and I do use them when docking.

I fitted them on the bottom of the flybridge over the cockpit and you wouldn't know they were there.

And this is the quality of the image on the Nav displays.

 

[scubaman]

Pinnacle: yep, early May I hope to be giving it a proper try.

Hurricane: I remember your posts about the subject earlier. It seems that there is a lot more cameras to choose from if one was installing a wired system. Your domes look a lot more professional, for instance. I like wired as it's bound to be more reliable but in this case going wireless was a no-brainer.

 

[pan]

Have to admit a bit of plagiarism Hurricane, it was your thread that pointed me to the cameras you used, got to say the images are excellent, thanks.:encouragement:

 

[vas]

Thanks guys!

@jfm: The brochure suggested a viewing angle of 68 degrees but it appears to be around 60 or even less, so yes, a wide angle lens might be a good idea. Yes, the camera was in rear view mirror -mode in the pic. It’ll be interesting to get to try it for real and see which mode becomes the preferred one.



@rafiki: the spec is IP67 so it should be fine, especially with the radar arch providing a bit of shelter.

Nice setup scubaman!
two points, sometimes (used to be the norm in the past!) guys selling lenses are advertising the DIAGONAL fov, not horizontal (making it impossible to calculate) and cheating by around 10%

IP67 BUT afaiks installed upside down. Careful it wont "leak" from the mount area - although they should really have sorted it out.

cheers

V

 

[scubaman]

IP67 BUT afaiks installed upside down. Careful it wont "leak" from the mount area - although they should really have sorted it out.

Fair point. There is a reset -button on the underside (now upside) which seems a bit of a weak point. Putting a tape over it might be a good idea.

 

[vas]

Fair point. There is a reset -button on the underside (now upside) which seems a bit of a weak point. Putting a tape over it might be a good idea.

good idea, or a blob of thermosilicone? I guess it will withstand the blazing heat and extreme UV of Scandinavian summer

cheers

V