Hummer Forums by Elcova - car keyed again..goin to survelliance

Here's some info on how to set up a vehicle surveillance system. Here is a quick list of what you will need:

1. 2 Marine (deep Cycle) Batteries, costco/walmart/sports authority, get the most amp hour model that you can. Should be in the 90-115amp hr range. You'll need two if you want to run the cameras 24/7 so you can charge the depleted one while running the system with the fresh one. If you have the vehicle in a safe location at night and don't need to run the system 24/7 you can probably get by with one battery. They will probably run in the $75 range each. They will normally last 18hrs at at time, but may take up to 12hrs to charge back up depending on the charger.
2. Marine Battery Charger. $40
3. Get a cheap cooler and take the top off the cooler. This is used to hold the battery so any acid does not leak onto the inside of your car if the battery starts to leak. Make sure you secure the battery and cooler so it does not tip when you turn corners. Some stores will sell plastic battey holders, this will also work if you can find them.
4. You need to decide how many cameras you want to have. If you go with more than one camera, you will need a quad unit (DC) that can compress multiple cameras onto one screen, cheap quads will run around $100 and can compress four cameras onto one screen. For the cameras, I would recommend a small pinhole camera similar to the ones at http://www.cctvwholesalers.com/custo...80&cat=0&page=
The main thing you are looking for is a camera that is good for low light, the lower the lux rating, the better it will work at night. You also want one with a wide angle lens. I would stay away from color cameras if you are going to do any video at night or in parking garages. Mounting the cameras is normally fairly easy just using a product from radio shack, I think they call it skotch lock, it is similar to velcrow, but is made out of a plastic and it works well so you do not have to screw the cameras into your interior.
5. The last thing you will need is a DC time lapse VCR, get a model that can record at least 24 hours on a tape. Some models will go longer, but you want to set the time frame as low as possible so that it takes the most amount of frames per second. I normally use the 12hr setting unless the vehicle will be set out for more than 12hrs. This will be the most expensive purchase, models will probably run $500-$900 depending on the brand. Panasonic makes a good one, but it also runs in the upper 800's. If you only need 8hrs at a time, you can get by using your home vcr and a power inverter.

The last thing you will need to do is to wire the system up. RCA cables are generally used to run the video cables to the quad unit, if you do not use a quad, and just have one camera, the camera cable will go right into the vcr input. Some companies sell cable that has both the rca and power in the same cable, this normally works well, but I have seen some cheap cable where the the video signal goes in and out because of bad video cable or connections. After you run the video cables into the quad, you will then run a single video cable from the quad output into the vcr video in. Depending on the type of vcr and quad, you may need to by some cheap rca/bnc adapters to adapt the different cable connections. Radio Shack again. It will also help to have a small tv set on hand when you do the install so you can view the cameras as you are setting them up. To do this you will run the video out on the vcr to the rca input on the tv.

Next is the power run. All of the cameras, quad unit, and vcr need to be ran to the marine battery, try to use at least 18 guage or lower cable. When you buy the cameras, you can normally buy power extension cables which makes things easier since most of the cameras only have about a 12" lead. Home Depot sells a nice wire nut cable that has an open lead on the one end to connect to the battery and a wire nut on the other end to screw all of the cables into. Normally all black cables will be the negative, and the ones with the white stripe or writing on it will be the positive. Make sure you get this part correct, swiching the polarity will normally ruin the cameras.

One last note, keep your windows cracked slightly, the marine battery can put out some fumes when it is being used.

If you want any help, drop me a private message and I will try to assist you. I also have a lot of spare surveillance parts from the jobs I have done and would be happy to loan some to you.

Hope this helps.

Jeff

05 Desert Tan Sut