Remote camera recommendations

[iawestern]

Greetings,

In the near future, I will be adding a hidden staging yard in a closet next to the layout room. A remote camera system will be a must, and will probably use 2 to get the job done.

What brand(s) do you recommend for this? Are there any good wireless ones out there for a moderate price?

Thanks,

Van Wyk
[e-mail]

[nfmisso]

Take a look here:
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=135&type=store

[Anonymous]

You can find up to 4 camera industrial camera systems used. Just look around on Ebay, etc. Kalatel made one that is pretty good, and is installed in a lot of businesses. when they go belly up (90% do,) the equipment is normally pulled back in by lease companies, etc...

Camera's used are about $60.00, and the systems can cost as little as $100.00 used. They are Digital and can be networked to be viewed from anywhere in the world. (not needed, just showing the standards are pretty advanced.)

Although, SAM's club sells some pretty good lower end consumer units as well.

(personally, I like overkil... actually it is the system installed in my Headquarters location so that I can work from home and watch my employees from my layout!)

[Big_Boy_4005]

Check eBay, I just bought one last week for $44 including shipping, and it should be here today or tomorrow.

There a couple of things to watch out for when shopping on eBay. First is where the unit is coming from, most are made in China, but some ship from there. They may be cheap to win, but you will make it up on the shipping. And I have no idea if there is any customs hassle, and didn't want to find out.

The second thing to look for is the operating frequency. I saw units that worked on 1.2 GHz and others that worked on 2.4GHz. My problem is I'm not sure what effect that has on the picture quality, if any.

The one I bought, is a 1.2, and I am planning to mount it on a car on the railroad, but I'm in 3 rail O. The camera and transmiter are small and might fit on an HO car too. For stationary use you should have no problem at all.

[Anonymous]

The 1.2Ghz and 2.4Ghz refers to the radio frequency for the wireless camera's. 2.4Ghz is typically a "cleaner" local frequency with great power, but can often pick up interference from new cell phones and handheld talkabout radio units. More and more cordless devices including computer networks, etc... are going to 2.4, but at this time you normally do not get a lot of "cross talk" unless you are in an apartment building or similar environment where other people may have "sites" that are on the same link channell (it splits into various secure segments, with the best 2.4 being called "spread spectrum" which is nearly impossible to disrupt or eavsdrop on.)

Good luck.

[ClinchValleySD40]

I saw a system on sale in a local Home Depot from ADT. Included four cameras and a monitor. Seemed like it had plenty of features and cost was $200 for the set up.

[GGOOLER]

do a search on "xcam2"
saw a pic of one of these cameras mounted on a ho scale container car.
hope it helps
glenn