Outdoor Motion Activated Security Surveillance System
By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-11-08 10:04:55 | Word Count: 664
An outdoor motion activated security surveillance system is an excellent tool to provide security and surveillance for almost any residential or commercial application. Modern technological advancements have made this surveillance system incredibly versatile and reasonable priced as well.
An outdoor motion activated security surveillance system’s cameras are specifically designed for outdoor use. These cameras (as opposed to indoor cameras for example) are designed to be housed by a protective enclosure. The enclosure protects the camera from weather, dust, and other objects.
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An outdoor security camera may be rated according to the protection that is afforded to it by the enclosure or its casing. This rating, an Electrotechnical International Commission (EIC) standard, is call an Ingress Protection rating, IP rating, or IP code.
The rating consists of the letters “IP” followed by two digits, for example IP65. The first digit of the rating describes the extent the camera is protected from solid objects and the second digit indicates the extent the camera is protected from liquids. The example IP65 rating means the camera is dust free and protected from water sprayed from nozzles in any direction.
The first digit of an IP rating for an outdoor motion activated security camera system ranges from 0 – 6 with 0 indicating that there is no protection against contact or ingress of objects. As the number increases from 0 to 6, the rating indicates that the camera is protected from objects continually smaller in size. A first digit IP rating of 6 indicates no dust and complete protection against contact.
The second digit of an IP rating for the camera ranges from 0 to 8 with 0 indicating that there is no protection from water. As this digit increases in value the rating indicates progressive protection from water with 1 meaning protection from dripping water and 8 meaning continuous immersion in water.
An outdoor motion activated security camera system also has a unique characteristic as indicated by its descriptive name. The cameras only record video when motion is detected.
This is accomplished by an on-board Passive InfraRed (PIR) sensor. The PIR sensor can detect the infrared radiation from objects in the camera’s field of view. If the sensor detects a significant change in the infrared radiation in this view, it assumes it is created by a moving object; hence it detects “motion.” The sensor is connected to a relay that turns the camera on in recording mode to capture the video images. The camera shuts off or stops recording when the sensor detects that the motion has stopped or after a pre-programmed period of time.
This feature, though small and simple in design and appearance, can offer tremendous benefits in the functioning of a security camera system. Since the camera will only record video when motion is detected, this can save a tremendous amount of file space use on the system’s Digital Video Recorder or DVR.
Since the DVR records video images in sequence, it will continue recording until the DVR’s storage capacity is full. Once the DVR is full however, the video image files are rewritten over the files that are the oldest, continuing this process until the DVR is full and then repeating the process over and over again. A motion detector activated camera can extend DVR recording times before repeating and rewriting, significantly.
In addition, a motion activated security camera system camera must have a power supply. This may be in the form of a small, low-voltage Direct Current (DC) power line run from a power distribution center to each camera or from a nearby plug-in transformer. Many cameras have the ability to operate on the power supplied by batteries, either one time use types or rechargeable types.
The PIR sensor on a motion activated security camera uses a very small amount of power to stay on. In fact, compared to the power required to capture video, the PIR sensor’s power usage is significantly lower. Motion activated cameras that operate on battery power last significantly longer between charges or battery changing because the motion sensor, in effect, conserves battery power.
There are many additional/optional features that contribute to the versatility of an outdoor motion activated security camera system. Some of these features include:
• Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) functions
• Day/Night vision
• Night vision infrared recording
• Wireless cameras
• IP ready cameras and/or DVRs
These features coupled with the motion activated feature make the outdoor motion activated security camera system appropriate for almost any commercial or residential application.
