Hooray! Much-needed accessory in my shop!

[lloydsp]

I just wired and got working a new POE PTZ camera for my router bay.

The router bay is far enough from my office that I cannot clearly hear whether or not a machine is still cutting over the noise the vacuum blower and two large dust collectors make.  So, I decided to add a camera so I could monitor them visually from my office.

I ordered a camera from Hugolog.  AVOID this product!  It will ONLY work on a smart-phone, and has no working provisions for viewing on any PC.  They claim to have software to do it, but 1) it doesn't work, even on the versions of browsers and operating systems they claim, and 2) they want all sorts of personal and hazardous information like your personal passwords to your network and PC in order to enable it (I set up dummies for the tests).  I ended up sending the camera back for a refund.  It just won't work on anything but my phone.

Then I ordered an outdoor WIRED POE camera from Techage.  It worked perfectly on the first try.  It has automatic dim/night illumination, and PTZ controls from my web browser.

Now, I can monitor my machines in a little window on my PC desktop while I work!  Yippee!

Lloyd

[Bob La Londe]

I put individual fixed cameras on each of my machines a long time ago.  It does really help out.  I used a DVR which I can access on my network, but I have a dedicated monitor on the wall above my PC monitors. 

[lloydsp]

Yeah... I don't know why I didn't do it a long time ago.  I even have a spare 'mini' PC I could hang up on the wall for a monitor, instead of having that little 'always on top' frame at the bottom of my screen.  That fish-eye camera I got covers both routers at once, so I don't need two for that bay.

Lloyd

[Bob La Londe]

Back when I was putting cameras on my first machines I was still contracting.  Whenever I installed a video system I always ordered extra cameras in case there was an issue.  Usually there wasn't.  Sometimes a camera would fail in such a way as I would not use that model or even sometimes that brand again for a customer.  As a result I had lots a good fixed cameras on hand and even the cheap PTZ cameras were relatively expensive.  The PTZs I actually used were a couple grand to start.  I already had a surveillance system on the shop and a few open channels on a DVR, so it was no big deal to add some cable and some cameras for the machines.  When a built the machine room I ran video and power cables to each machine location.  My system is not network or PC dependent at all.  It is network capable.  The main monitor is connected directly to the DVR.  Some of the longest lasting cameras were the cheap brandless low resolution "weatherproof" beer can cameras we used to make fun of in the industry.

[Bob La Londe]

On machines with enclosures the camera is inside the enclosure.