Posted: April 28 2004 at 14:19 | IP Logged

I was just informed by the Brown Deer Police that some enterprising thug has been going around our block and stealing people's outgoing mail in the morning!

Now I want to put a camera by the mailbox, but here's the problem....the mailbox is a street mailbox about about 50 feet away.  There is a tree about 5 feet away from it and tall enough that I could put a camera out of reach, but still too far out of range for wireless, I would think, especially since I have a 2.4 wireless hub right inside the house back up the yard that would probably interfere with the signal.

Either of you guys have any ideas?  Boy I'd love to catch this moron on tape.

Posted: April 28 2004 at 21:15 | IP Logged

Depending on how badly you want to do this, you could get one of those 802.11 cams...

Where would power come from? Maybe if power can get there, a video cable could, too?

Posted: April 29 2004 at 15:25 | IP Logged

Tony brings up a good point about the power .

I use both hardwired and X-10 2.4ghz cameras.  I also have an 802.11b wireless network (2.4ghz).  You will get interference, but you can minimize it based upon the channels you select.  I don't seem to notice interference on the network (it's packets), but I can "see" the interference the network causes the cameras.  Ive been able to minimize the interference by setting the video receiver to channel "A" (out of ABCD) and setting my wireless network on channel 11 (out of 1 thru 11).  If you were to look up the frequencies of each respective unit, you would find that these settings give the widest separation.

Another suggestion would be to use a black and white camera.  The color cameras from X-10 don't work very well in low light situations which might be the case in the early morning hours.  A B&W will typically have a much lower lux rating (the lower the better).

Since power might be an issue, you may want to look at one of those X-10 wired Nightwatch cameras.  The power and video are all carried within a single (60 foot I believe) cable.

Dave.

Posted: April 29 2004 at 16:05 | IP Logged

Great ideas, and I'd pretty much thought I'd have to go with a Nightwatch...problem is this.........between the front lawn and the mailbox at the streen is a four foot wide sidewalk!

Yea I know....I forgot to mention that.......my little village would be all over me for breaking up concrete.  And who wants to do that.

Last night I took a Eagle Eye out to the Mailbox to test the range of the W800RF32.  I remember with the keychain at Christmas being able to get to almost the sidewalk to turn on the display.  That was about 10 feet short of the mailbox.

I thought if I moved in some transcievers at the very front of the house maybe they would pick it up but no go.

My wife was simply amazed at my determination yesterday afternoon...I think I made about 30 trips between the ph computer and the mailbox!

Posted: April 30 2004 at 14:02 | IP Logged

Tony's right.  I would go under the sidewalk.  4 foot would be pretty easy.  The way they do it is to take a piece of PVC pipe (1/2" or so) and hook it up to a water hose.  Then you just turn on the water and push it through under the sidewalk until you get to the other side.  Disconnect the water and leave the pipe there and just pull your wire thru the pipe.

Keep us informed of your progress.

Dave.