Topic: NOOB in Search of Answers

[Sigdigit]

I recently bought the Panasonic BL-C131a, and am quite pleased with what you get for the money.  The microphone is so sensitive, I can log on from work and hear what my wife is watching on TV from the other end of the house!  I bought a Linksys wireless router at the same time, because like you, I wanted to have 24 hour uploads without keeping the computer running all the time.  I also bought a nice APC UPS to keep the router/modem running in event of a power failure.  Once you get the Panasonic running, it runs great.  You can access live video feeds from their website for free, including remote PTZ.  Only problem was initial setup. I wasn't working wirelessly with the linksys.  However, Pansonic's customer service was very good by phone thankfully, and they walked me through my router setup.  It seems that the type of encryption was to blame. The panasonic was not compatible with the maximum encryption level the router was set to.  Finally, realizing the capabilities of this camera were wasted on being a purely dedicated weathercam, I bought the Panasonic BL-C1a, which is was less than a hundred bucks.  It is connected to the router with an ethernet cable in my home office and I have it pointing out my office window.  You can see the images from it at weatherunderground.com in the Califon, NJ webcam section.  Now the C131a is being used for security purposes and to bug my wife!

[ncpilot]

If browser choice is important to you, then you must pay attention as to whether the camera requires ActiveX and IE... most do...

[prvrt]

Thanks for the information Sigdigit. I ordered the Panasonic BL-C131a since all the local stores are out of stock. Seems to be a very popular camera.  I should have it Friday, so we will see how computer savy I am. Good info on the encryption problem. Sounds like it will work great until I can figure out what camera I want between Sony and Cannon and can afford one or the other. I tried looking at your webcam. I found the town, but was not sure which station was yours.

Now if the 4' of snow would melt, I could order my weather staion and get it mounted. I know if I ordered it now, I would be out there digging through the snow trying to set it up.

[Sigdigit]

Funny about the snow!  I got my Davis for Christmas, but ignored my wife's pleas to wait until Christmas Day to open it (ripped that sucker one minute after UPS left) and had it installed the same day. Glad I did, the temp was in the fifties.  It got down to 8 deg. F. this morning.  I'd probababy still be out there with numb fingers trying to mount it! You can see it mounted to the corner garden fencepost on my weather cam. http://www.wunderground.com/webcams/index.html?state=NJ Click on the photo for "Califon".  I don't have my weather data online yet, as I'm waiting for the bugs to be worked out of Weatherlink IP as well as the price to go below 200.

[prvrt]

Its here, so hopefully in a few hours it should be up and running. 

EDIT: It is up and running. Address is  idaho.viewnetcam.com . Piece of cake setting it up on wired. Took me a bit to get the wireless up and running. It was dark by the time I got it running, but night view you can actually see things and tell what they are. Not sure I have it setup at the best window. May have to play with it Sat and see what works best. Can't wait to see how the picture looks in the day time. Only problem is it is suppose to snow and be cloudy Sat. Now I really have the itch to order the Davis. 

EDIT: Camera works great! Day time picture is very nice. Camera has nice speed to it also on the PTZ. Time lapse works fine, just need to figure out the settings that work best for it. Had a cold front come through today. Rain turned to snow. The time lapse showed the cold front coming through and sliding under the warmer air that was here previously. Very interesting to watch. 50+ MPH winds came with it also which worked well to see the FPS of this camera watching the tree branches move. Overall, very impressed and glad I spent the extra money on this instead of the 9000. 

[Sigdigit]

Couldn't resist remotely controlling your camera from NJ   Wow, you have lots of open area to install your sensor suite.  As long as it's at least 100' from paved areas (which doesn't look hard to do in your case) you should be getting some good readings.  Maybe get the remote anemometer add-on to put the anemometer above the peak of your roof?  As long as it's 7+ feet above the peak, you're good to go and it's easier than setting up a tower.  Just get the mast and bracket from Radio Shack for a couple of bucks!  Good luck!
PS, Damn, I'm glad we don't have all that snow in NJ!  Supposed to hit midfifties here tomorrow in advance of that storm coming out of the Gulf.

Kris

[Anthony]

Bought be an El Cheap O web cam yesterday. Have it aimed out the window right now and will probably have to leave it that way. Hopefully will have it up and running today. The software that I came with it was maxing out the CPU. So I went a found a piece of free software on the web. Will try it today. Will post a lick when it up and working.

[prvrt]

The remote anemometer is something I think I will be getting. I plan on mounting it at the 30-35' mark on a tower along with my new camera if I every figure out which one and round up the $. I need a tower, there cheap for me to build, and then I will have no holes in my roof. I have a camera, anemometer, and 2 HAM antennas to put on the tower. As far as cameras, I am starting to lean towards the Toshiba IK-WB21A. I played with Racenet's cam a bit (until he changed the user settings  ) and that really changed my mind, especially for the night viewing. Thanks Racenet  Still, it seems a bit slow on the focus and PTZ controls compared to the Sony and Cannon or even the Panasonic. Could just be the internet connection also. I like the Panasonic I got. As anthony found out, cpu usage can be a problem with PC web cams. IP cams like the Panasonic BL-C131a or Toshiba IK-WB21a do not need a PC, so there is 0% cpu usage. Those connect directly to your router and send the picture directly to the web even if your pc is off.

EDIT: I had to move mine to another window. Sun was just to much during sunrise since the cam faces east.

[Anthony]

Cam is now in operation. I have it temporarily sitting on the computer desk pointing out the front window. Will be moving it to another window as soon as I get a USB extension cable.

[prvrt]

Here is another question I have. I am working on getting the materials together for my mast for the Davis aneometer and camera. I can not seem to find a picture of how the Davis aneometer is mounted when placed on a mast with the Davis wireless sender. I plan on using 1-20'x2" sch 40 pipe for the bottom of the mast with 1-20'x1.5" sch 40 pipe inserted into the 2" for a total mast height of 39'. I may add another 10' of 1.5" pipe just to get the camera a little higher to be able to see over a few hills I have here. I know most mounts for the Davis station's are 1.25", but is the aneometer mounting also 1.25", or is there another mounting option that I must purchase when installing the aneometer on a mast?

EDIT: Just ordered the Davis Instruments 6163-WIFI Plus VantagePro2.  The wait is gonna kill me. Now I have to get my tower built and installed and hope the ground is unthawed enough to dig a hole for the concrete.

EDIT: Got the email today from Ambient Weather, should be here WED. 

[prvrt]

I got my station up and running, to a point. I have not had much time to play with it, but the station its self was very easy to setup. Not real impressed with the Hautespot. Works fine cabled, but not wireless. Also came to the conclusion that sending info directly to the internet is maybe not the best choice. I think I would prefer to run the data to the pc and create my own website, then send the data out to update sites like Weather Underground. I did hook up the data logger directly to one of my pc's and tried out Weather Exchange, Weather Link and Virtual Weather. Not impressed with Weather exchange, Weather Link would not send info online, it would just lock up, but I do like Virtual Weather. I like the idea of being able to see the data, upload to Weather Underground or other places, and also create a website. Is there any other programs out there someone would recommend that would do the same or more like a ftp server built in also? Still need to get the anemometer up. It is currently at about 6' at a temporary spot. So much to play with, so little time.

EDIT: So far I have WU updating and working and also have my Panasonic webcam running on there also.

[George Richardson]

After seeing your 4' x 4' pond, I think it is possible to make the following comments:

1) Must Have; Steve's suite - See http://www.softwx.com/index.html

2) Consider and you probably will obtain due to depth and support:
     Weather Display - see support site http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index.php

Have Fun!

George

[prvrt]

Thanks for the info George. I was leaning towards Vitual Weather, but after your comment, I went back and played with Weather Display some more and learned alot. I now have my website up and running. I still have a few things to work out, but I do like all the features of WD. It is still somewhat confusing, but day by day I learn more. Wish I could get my camera to work with WD.

EDIT: I now have everything up and running including the camera.