Anyone using Video Surveillance ??

[Red Sea Purple Tang]

As I'm putting up sheetrock in the fish room, I had one of those man moments. I thought having some web cams hooked up so that when I'm on vacation I can keep an eye on stuff.

I do admit, that this may be a weenie idea, but is anyone else doing this?

 

[edwing206]

there's another guy who wanted to do the same. might be expensive though

 

[hatfielj]

its definitely been done already. I can't remember who it is but there is a guy on here that has his tank on a web cam that can be viewed by anyone on his website. He even made it so that you can move the camera around yourself. If I find the link I'll post it.

 

[Red Sea Purple Tang]

I think I remember that guy as he kept coming into the frame without a shirt and he was rather large.

 

[dgasmd]

rberrie

 

[mflamb]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=788647
Home of the BocaReef netcam. For live video of my reef, click on the little red house.
User Name - guestuser
Password - bocareef

Hobby

 

[tgunn]

I have considered a cam on the fish room so I could look in and see if the skimmer is overflowing or the sump water level was getting too high (indicating a stopped pump or stuck float valve on the RO/DI).. Only problem would be that I couldn't do anything about it remotely. :lol:

 

[Red Sea Purple Tang]

That's my goal. I wanted 3-4 cameras on different filtration systems so that I can see them remotely. I'm not interested in a web cam system so that people could see it. It's more for my peace of mind when I go on vacation. Then if something is weird, I can call in the troops.

I'm currently looking at something like a video server so I won't have to by another PC. The cameras would have to have RCA plugs, in stead of USB, but, I have found some cameras with the RCA plugs that have "night vision", so that I don't have to keep the fish room lights on the whole time I'm on vacation.

 

[twon8]

i got a wireless camera that broadcasts to an ip on my home network. it can be set up to be viewed on the internet, but i havn't bothered.

it was a little over 100 for the camera, and it has a built in web server and 802.11 wireless transmitter. it was super easy to set up.

 

[tgunn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8726641#post8726641 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Red Sea Purple Tang
That's my goal. I wanted 3-4 cameras on different filtration systems so that I can see them remotely. I'm not interested in a web cam system so that people could see it. It's more for my peace of mind when I go on vacation. Then if something is weird, I can call in the troops.

I'm currently looking at something like a video server so I won't have to by another PC. The cameras would have to have RCA plugs, in stead of USB, but, I have found some cameras with the RCA plugs that have "night vision", so that I don't have to keep the fish room lights on the whole time I'm on vacation.

My ultimate goal is to link some sensors in with a web cam so that I could detect things like water on the floor, sump water level too high, etc and then be notified via email or SMS to my cellphone. From there I could log in and take a look at what's going on and as you said, dispatch the troops.

I know most of the video surveillance software can detect motions in certain regions; I wonder if you could some how use that to "look" for certain problems like a high water level in the sump.

Tyler

 

[Red Sea Purple Tang]

Thanks for the info twon8....if you don't have a home network, would a video server work?

 

[46bfinGA]

i would be interested in doing something like this in the future.does anyone have any links showing what is needed to accomplish this,and how to properly set it up? Like camera setups for Dummies?

 

[Red Sea Purple Tang]

Like camera setups for Dummies?

That's what I'm talking about!

 

[marinelife]

I had a camera on my tank when I was away on vacation. Worked out great!

 

[RobbyG]

There are several tanks on RC that are using Panasonic or Sony Network cameras that are directly connected to the internet. You can pan tilt and zoom from any location and they have built in Logon accounts. I was unable to find an open one right now but I will look again later. Bad news is the really good Network cams are expensive $500 - $1800.
Here is a link to a guy who shows you how to setup one that is PC dependant and seems to better fit the description of what you want.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...erpage=25&highlight=tank web cam&pagenumber=1

 

[BlueCorn]

I've had one on 24/7 for years. I use "EvoCam" to generate the applet.

<applet CODEBASE="http://64.113.118.18:8080/" ARCHIVE="evocam.jar" CODE="com.evological.evocam.class" WIDTH=320 HEIGHT=240>
<param NAME="image "VALUE="webcam.jpg">
</param><param NAME="refresh" VALUE="1">
</param><param NAME="type" VALUE="simple">
</param><param NAME="archive" VALUE="evocam.jar">
</param></applet>

 

[BlueCorn]

Granted the lights aren't on yet so it's pretty dull.

 

[RobbyG]

Im seeing a grey Box Since your the Uber Mod I will rephrase it "a very pretty grey box sir!"

 

[Cuervo]

Use cameras for visual inspection, they make other sensors and controllers for other stuff - like water on the floor, temp too high, ph drop, etc, etc.

The best thread I've seen for tank automation is in the DIY forum, look for a user named DonW - the thread is called Re-Automating my tank. Surprisingly, it's not all that expensive to do a custom build that's smart enough to do stuff like turn off the lights if temps get too high. Actually you can get way way more intricate with the system he describes in that thread, and there are links to optical sensors as well as probes and such for monitoring PH/Temp/ORP. It's good stuff!

If you want a full blown video surveilance system, entry level is about $2k with a few cameras. My recommendation would be to go with a few stationary cameras on the home network. Then setup your PC so that you can connect to it remotely and look at each camera. You could setup each camera so that it can be connected too indicually from the internet, but that will require some fairly advanced configuration of your firewall.

 

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8734992#post8734992 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RobbyG
Im seeing a grey Box Since your the Uber Mod I will rephrase it "a very pretty grey box sir!"

It's java so if it's not enabled in your browser it won't work. It's also hitting a strange port that some proxy servers take issue with.

I also have a low-bandwidth version that is just uploaded snapshots:

http://www.hopdog.com/?page_id=3