Wireless Bridge Vs Coax extender from IP camera

[Budmn8]

  I would love to put my new ptz camera on my tallest building on the farm but its 1200 feet from the house

most of the so called experts I have talked to suggest a Coax converter like this

http://www.webcamproshop.com/Veracity-HighWire-High-Speed-Ethernet-Over-Coax-p/acc-1901.htm

But a couple have suggested building a long range wireless bridge. (of coarse that is VERY Greek to me)

Now I am going way of subject  but All of My out building's (hog house's) use a a hardwired environmental control that can be managed from a centered computer (again they say Hardwired)

But I am thinking to hard here and wondering if I set up a external wireless radio in each buildings I have  (5 total)  That I couldn't kill 2 birds with 1 stone?

Plus then its tax deductible  LOL

as of now it would cost me the same to do  either or  after I purchase the coax and pay to bury.  

 The Coax might be  a bit cheaper but I feel it would pry be more reliable

Thanks for any feedback as usual

 Brad

[niko]

Hmmm, on the coax converter you linked:

The webpage has "Full-speed over 300m cable (900ft)"

But the datasheet has:

Cable length max : Up to 300m (200m for full data rate)

None of which is 1,200 feet 

Take a look at versatek they have a couple of options, the VLR104 looks pretty good.

[looney2ns]

Unless I"m missing something, the problem with long cables is that you greatly increase the risk of having lightning induced surges doing damage to equipment. Long cable equals great antenna.

I would think it would be fairly simple to create a long range wifi net that alliviates the surge problem...and should be much cheaper.

I know systems that with a couple of $50 linksys routers and two directional antennas are going much farther than 1200ft.

[Stronghurst]

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless_Bridge

I took a Linksys WRT54GL and loaded an after market firmware (dd-wrt) on to it.  What you end up with is a wireless connection that you can plug four devices into.  I had two cameras running on this along with a computer.  Cost me about 60$.  With this setup you can put an external antenna on it and greatly increase the range.

If you want to try this let me know and I'll send it up to you.  Try it out and if you like it you can "get your own" 


Mark

[niko]

Unless I"m missing something, the problem with long cables is that you greatly increase the risk of having lightning induced surges doing damage to equipment. Long cable equals great antenna.

I question that. Given the choice, during a thunderstorm, would I rather stand close to a) a buried cat 5 cable, or b) a prominently mounted, high gain, wifi antenna? I think I would take option "a".

If it was only the webcams, and if it was me (i.e.someone very comfortable tinkering with a wifi link) then I would probably go wifi because it would be fun to play with, and wouldn't matter if it was down for a while. But it's not only the webcams, there's also a heck of a lot of $$$ worth of bacon involved, so IMHO this needs a very reliable, non tinkering solution.

[Stronghurst]

Hmmmm

I choose cable


Mark

But you can borrow the bridge if you want.

[Budmn8]

  Thanks for the feedback !

I need to measure for  But I think 1200 feet would be max.  I prefer to over estimate then under  for a application like this

Mark what you posted is what I had in Mind  But I am concerned about transmition range

My PTZ camera  does 30 fps alone

then we do live in a pretty high lightning area also.  But That season should be over for now.  In fact they are forecasting 24 here for a low sunday night.  Been a weird summer/fall

I will Pry just hardwire  and put on my house for now until I have the funds to extend

Brad

[looney2ns]

To clarify, I was just suggesting putting the Cam on the WiFi, not everything else.

I do know a couple of drive-in movie theatres that use a wifi setup from their box office shack back to the concession stand to tie the POS systems together. The server PC is in the concession stand. Four computers in the boxoffice selling tickets simultaneously and it's worked flawlessly for a couple of seasons now. Everything is properly grounded and surge protected as the movie screens get struck by lightning couple of times per year.

YMMV

[Stronghurst]

A wifi setup is a good way to protect your computer if you must have the camera exposed to lightning.

Mark

[niko]

I agree it's very suitable for a webcam. Just for the record an ethernet cable is isolated from the PC/network card/hub etc. electronics by a transformer, IIRC it's rated for minimum 1,500 volts.

[Budmn8]

To clarify, I was just suggesting putting the Cam on the WiFi, not everything else.

I do know a couple of drive-in movie theatres that use a wifi setup from their box office shack back to the concession stand to tie the POS systems together. The server PC is in the concession stand. Four computers in the boxoffice selling tickets simultaneously and it's worked flawlessly for a couple of seasons now. Everything is properly grounded and surge protected as the movie screens get struck by lightning couple of times per year.

YMMV

 I understood that !  I am sure it would be a stretch and EXPENSIVE to hook all  my environmental controls  to a system like that. But sometimes I like to think BIG  LOL

But I have learned the more I ask on this Four um The More I learn. 

Thanks for  all the feedback!

Brad

[Stronghurst]

It's the same as having a 4 port switch except no wire   So you can put more switches on it to increase the connections.

Mark