Moral-Flexibility.Net

We are (with some debate) on the third incarnation of our home surveillance system. The first was an entirely amateur affair, utilizing extremely inexpensive (actually “cheap”) cameras, vulnerable wiring and a recorder capable of only eight hours recording each night (basically turned on as we went to bed). The cost was about $240 for the entire system and we certainly got what we paid for (don’t get me wrong, you can spend $999 and still get a system no better than the one we had, but you’d be hard pressed to get a less effective system).

The Cameras:

We started with low res CMOS (complementary metal oxide substrate) cameras, which generally have poor image resolution and Lux ratings (meaning that the pictures appear more grainy and the camera is unable to see in low-light or nightime conditions without external light sources).

While an improvement over NO cameras this system was extremely limited, and without the assistance of the front porch light and perimeter (motion detection) lighting the cameras were effectively blind once the sun went down.

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Yesterday saw my daughter leave for her first day of school.

It’s just JK, but it feels like she’s grown up so much already.

When it comes to our household surveillance system I’ve always felt conflicted when discussing any of the “specifics”. This is probably just a side effect of having spent 16 years dealing with security stuff, but I try to listen to my little voice and I’ve tried to strike a balance between sharing information and compromising my own security measures.

Shortly I’ll be posting my “declassified” online journal of my Home Surveillance System (Mark.I) with appropriate screen caps and technical specifications. I feel I can do this as the system now in place (Mark.II - creative names, no?) bears only a passing resemblance to the original.

Some editing is required to make the material coherent, and while it will be remedial to anyone with experience in CCTV it may help others with their own projects and hopefully save them some misteps I made early on.

Stay tuned, I’m working on the editing as we speak.

Yesterday I spent a fair amount of my time up a 20′ ladder, then some more time up that ladder in the rain, and then a little more time up that ladder in the drizzle.

Yes, the ongoing household CCTV project continues, yesterday saw:

1. The removal of old RG6 (for CATV and satellite) from the outside walls of the house (and the holes that had been drilled into the walls sealed).
2. The reconnection of the perimeter cameras on the new permanent wiring and removal of the temporary wiring.
3. Relocation and reconnection of the surveillance system hardware and DVR to it’s new permanent home.

One camera location is giving me trouble, naturally it’s the most difficult to access camera and I was getting frustrated trying to trouble shoot the problem in the rain. I suspect that theres a problem with the wiring as a replacement camera I tried also failed when connected at that location.

I’ll take another shot at it today as I’d like to put this project to bed for a while (although the imminent arrival of a new multiplexer - replacing my multiplexer/switcher cludge - will require me to rewire a bit more in the new future).

Running errands after work, picked up Doomsday for the friday night post-apocalyptic movie screening, and grabbed a bag of Herrs Horseradish and Chedder chips (made specifically for me I swear!).

Ignored was Wargames: The Deadcode (Wargames II? Are you serious?) and Starship Troopers 3: Marauders (Casper Van Diem is back…good career move.).

Time to vegetate… no new developments to report.

While citing US law the advice applies North of the border as well.

[Hat Tip: My 2 second shelf life]

One of the features I loved most about our house when we first looked at it was the backyard. Not the size, for it’s easily one of the smallest back yards I’ve ever seen, but rather the sense of an urban escape, a small private space in the middle or urban sprawl.

(This picture was taken early spring 2006 so it’s not a exactly a fair comparison)

Neither Lisa or I have a green thumb, we’ve had to figure most of this out as we go (and for those relatives with some real horticultural knowledge we thank you for your patience and advice!), and it’s not without a bit of pride that we can say our efforts appear to have been, at least, mildly successful.

We’ve concentrated on the small details, edging the garden space, mulching (thanks to Mom and Chris) the garden areas, weeding the lawn and garden areas and seeding the lawn like mad.

(Picture taken July 2008)

We’re going to keep working on it (flowers or something in the garden space would be a good next step), but it’s been an education already and now we’re having to learn about lawn fertilizer and herbicides and all sorts of strange and wonderful things that never mattered to us before.

(Picture taken July 2008)

The new modulator arrived the other day and was immediately pressed into service by yours truly. Going my preferred route with this sort of thing we’re using a surplused commercial RF Modulator instead of a consumer packaged one.

The results are excellent, well beyond my expectations and the cost was about 50% of the modulator I had previously used (and which had died almost immediately). The downside is that a portion of the manual included with this device is well beyond my level of understanding, so there is the remote possibility that I have configured it incorrectly.

I have ordered a second identical modulator tentatively for use as a “spare” although it may be pressed into service to distribute satellite across the CATV system in the house (more on that cludge later).

The lengths of Coax running up the side of the house have been pulled down, and it looks worlds better, hopefully I can repeat this process on the other side of the house shortly.

Ok, that’s it for now.

The second “drill through an exterior wall and then fish wire down uttering as many curse-words as possible in the process” undertaking was almost painless compared to the first effort. Granted this one was 1/3 the number of wires, but all the same it went fairly smoothly.

One run of cable left and we can get on with the rest of the project.

In anticipation of the new (old) system I’ve taken dozens of photos illustrating the shortcomings of the old system, and a few of the new system now that the more obvious weaknesses have been eliminated.

I’m also getting pretty good at plastering over the holes I cut into the interior walls to facilitate the wiring. I’ll be pretty good at this just in time to finish. Murhpys law, ain’t it?