Author Topic: Wx Cam adventures  (Read 29188 times)

xairbusdriver

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Wx Cam adventures
« on: June 06, 2015, 09:26:20 PM »
The camera arrived 6/4/15, 100' of Ethernet Cat6 cable, and the PoE 12V injector the day before. Spent Friday pouring over the plans of our 17 year old house (we'd installed a double run of coax back then, never thought about Ethernet  [banghead] ). I had realized that I could use the closet ceiling in the computer room for access to the attic. Then, at the bottom of the closet, it was only a few inches to an outlet to plug in the power injector!

Once into the attic, I managed to come down into the garage and then out to the location on the facia. Since most sloped roofs have extremely tight spaces along the eaves, I knew I couldn't get to the overhang, as it is, I still had less than 10 inches above the hole into the garage ceiling and the roff rafters. Since I was coming upwards from inside the garage, all I had to do was avoid drilling into the roof! This also made it easier to determine how far down from the ceiling to drill to the outside without hitting the brick!



The rest of the wiring shots were obscured by the sweat of my brow! [sweat2] Friday turned out to be the hottest day of the year! Worse yet, the main exhaust fan is caput! [banghead] Fortunately, last night we had a brief shower that cooled down the roof a bit. This morning, I could hardly tell it was a bit warmer in the attic than in the upstairs... at least for the first hour. :P Still, it proved interesting and difficult to find the passage from one part of the (north-south, garage area) attic to the main, east-west part. The rather low upper attic is crammed full of heat and A/C ductwork! There was nothing but crawling height where I had to operate, and only several pieces of plywood I had to move around to keep from walking on the rafters. One slip and I would have a ceiling to repair! [blush] I decided to call on the wife to pull the cable down to the lower part of the attic while I made sure there were no kinks in the upper part.

Last job will be to mount and connect the camera and then to decide how to run the cable to the mini. I now have the mini connected to the Apple Extreme via Ethernet. I'm hoping I can connect to the injector into another port in the Extreme. If I do that, I'll need another ~6' cable. If the camera won't work that way, I can just use the ~20' cable and go directly to the mini. In that case, however, I'll have to switch back to WiFi on the mini. Hopefully will get this done Monday! Sunday is a day of rest!! We only have a morning service at our church!

I've learned that any more attic wiring jobs will be done only in Winter, hopefully on a day with snow on the roof! Down my way, insulation is placed on and between ceiling rafters, not on the roof rafters. This makes for some very warm attics and good insulation on any exposed water lines. The only advantage is speed of installation and using blown-in material rather than precut rolls; those are usually more expensive and slower to install, and they need some means of fastening to both walls and roof rafters (with appropriate gaps for air circulation. Speedier means cheaper, of course. [rolleyes2]

I also learned to use a mask to avoid 17 years of dust and the loose fiberglass that is always going to be kicked up. Those things are an added heat source, but it saves coughing up the stuff, later. [tup]
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Blicj11

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2015, 09:58:55 PM »
I enjoyed your report and photos and concur with your observation of the Sabbath. Let's hope the dang camera works after all this!
Blick


xairbusdriver

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2015, 11:13:19 PM »
I'm a little nervous about a couple of warnings/suggestions in the sometimes inscrutable "instructions".
  • "Thunder-proof device is recommended to adopted better prevent thunder."
    "Actually, both my wife and I enjoy hearing thunder...
  • We assume no liability or responsibility for all the fires or electrical shock caused by improper handling or installation.
    Not even a few of the fires?!.
  • Installation:
    • "Step 2: Dig a hole according to position of hole on installation sticker."
    • "Step 3: Open accessories bag, take out expansion bolt and insert into the hole you just dug."
      I'm seriously thinking about using a drill, slightly smaller than the wood the screws included in the "accessories bag" to at least start a hole in the wood fascia board. All my shovels are way too large to attempt to dig a hole, even for starting the screws. OTOH, I may have to search for some of the very small Chinese shovels... [computer]

Oh yeah, there is an included mini CD! :o Full of useless Mac software, no doubt. ;D Just a reminder, never, ever, put a mini CD/DVD into an Apple optical drive!! >:( Fortunately, I have an external, tray drive that I can use, in case there actually is something on that CD. [rolleyes2]
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
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Bull Winkus

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2015, 06:03:37 AM »
Well, that's progress! Where there's progress there's hope for a post production celebration ritual!

Hopefully, that's the last of the attic explorations. You finished just in time. July is bearing down on Memphis like a runaway brush fire!

Great photo work! You really do keep your cool in hot situations.  [lol]

Can't wait to see the 1st production run.

 [cheers1]
Herb

xairbusdriver

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2015, 08:33:13 PM »
Quote
Can't wait to see the 1st production run
I'm still in contract talks with a couple of major distributers, as soon as those get worked out I'll let you know. Most of the time these distributers want at least two weeks in the major cities (like Little Rock, Springdale, Hope, and Fort Smith) before offering their videos to other outlets (Hardy, Ash Flat, Evening Shade, and Oil Trough). I think I can argue that Trixology is certainly a major site, however. [tup]
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Blicj11

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2015, 08:35:31 PM »
Make sure you include video of "digging your hole" and subsequently "inserting your bolt." That should swing the negotiations in your favour.
Blick


elagache

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Best of luck with this! (Re: Wx Cam adventures)
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2015, 10:47:34 PM »
Dear X-Air, Blick, Herb, and WeatherCat Do-It-Yourselfers . . .

Best of luck with this project X-Air!  I'm still hopelessly backlogged on trusty wagon projects, but I hope to upgrade my webcam once the biggest item on my plate is shifted over to Orinda Motors.  So I'm mostly just lurking on this thread but I will return to it when the time comes.

Cheers, Edouard

xairbusdriver

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2015, 12:09:04 AM »
Looks like I still need about a 30' cable from the PoE injector to either the Extreme or the mini. There is a (mostly) PC store in town and a very well stocked electronics store in Memphis (with 6+ branches in three surrounding states). I used to buy stuff there when I was playing with the TTL Cookbook by Don Lancaster! Remember him? The book is still available from several places!!
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
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LesCimes

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2015, 03:56:22 PM »
Hope you tested the camera first to be sure it works before laying all this cable.  :-)

Bull Winkus

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #9 on: June 08, 2015, 04:58:36 PM »
 [lol] [lol] [lol] [lol] [lol] That's funny!

Anticipation builds.

Herb

xairbusdriver

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2015, 02:52:08 AM »
Had to take some time off to 'mow d'lawn' as the French say. All I can say is that was the most successful event of the day.

I've tried EvoCam, the Mac version of an app from the company that sold me the camera, Network Device Finder which finds... network... well, you get the picture, even if I don't. My digital voltmeter says I have just over the required 12 volts but on a much shorter, indoor cable (my mowing must have turned the heat devils loose!). The injector is capable of 12 watts and the tech guy says the camera should not need more than 6. I will check the voltage at the outside terminus as early as possible tomorrow.

BTW, we have a <company> that makes much nicer 3-D classes just a few miles away. I might be able to get you guys some good deals!!! They probably make them for dogs, also...
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
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Blicj11

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2015, 04:20:19 AM »
Two great laughs!

Herb for the jpeg of the day and X-Air for the best French phrase I have heard in years.
Blick


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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #12 on: June 10, 2015, 11:18:20 AM »

I've tried EvoCam, the Mac version of an app from the company that sold me the camera, Network Device Finder which finds... network... well, you get the picture, even if I don't.

I take it there's still no webcam output...except in our mind's eye?

Don't remember what webcam brand you decided on but I do recall the LesCimes observation which has nipped me in the backside on more than one occasion. "I'd suggest that you will be happier with a reputable cam in the long run, though more expensive up front. At least that is the way I often end up buying, i.e. buying up. My wife has gotten use to it."

But it might be a PoE injector problem since you've got a 100+ foot ethernet run. I had to replace one of mine this past winter...it wouldn't supply enough power when the temps got down below 0?F.

Bull Winkus

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #13 on: June 10, 2015, 05:20:22 PM »
Still waiting?



 [bounce]
Herb

xairbusdriver

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Re: Wx Cam adventures
« Reply #14 on: June 10, 2015, 05:55:42 PM »
Right now, a brand new 50' cable with only a 15' run from the injector. The other end of the 50 footer is directly in the mini. I'm getting 12.41 v to the camera. But none of several IP scanners can see anything but what it can see via WiFi.

Connected to the Airport Extreme with a brand new 6' cable and can now also see all the iDevices. Still no sign of the camera. Unfortunately, I don't have any other Ethernet devices to plug into the Extreme. I may 'borrow' my wife's MBP and change her network connection to Ethernet... yep, that works. It shows up with a new IP address.

I'm going to swap connections at the Extreme to test each of them. Already know the WAN port works as that's where we get the WWW. I now know the one that I just used for the MBP works... Etreme ports are all fine.
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system