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#21
He probably wants the tress pruned to have a better lookout of the parking lot from the camera. I have a suspicion that your apartment complex is not going to allow you to string up cameras within their facility.
Security Cameras
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New #22
You may be right, but if they don't, I will be looking for a new place to live. I do not believe that they can stop me, if I put the camera on my own balcony, but that means tree trimming. I'm going to talk to the manager tomorrow, hoping that I can persuade her to have the complex install cameras itself. If I were the only one effected, that wouldn't happen, but I know of a couple of other people who have had their cars stolen from the lot recently. Like I said, I think that the thieves live in the complex themselves. Either that, or they are regular visitors to someone that does. When I spoke yesterday to the people that I suspect, they said that they were "housekeeping" for the person that actually lives here. They also mentioned that the guy had lent his car to a friend, before leaving town for a couple days. He was supposed to only drive it to the store and return it very shortly, but he has had it a couple of days now. However, I got the gut feeling that the couple I spoke with were truthful.
Whatever the case may be, a solution shall be found, or the complex will lose a tenant.
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New #23
The balcony is going to be iffy. Technically it's part of the structure, which you don't own...the landlord does. I'd say as long as you don't permanently attach it you are likely going to be ok. And you have to be sure that it's only looking at the parking lot and not possibly into a window of a neighboring apartment..this could cause an issue as well.
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New #24
i suppose you could be right about if it was pointed at a neighbor's window, but I would think that would require a complaint from them. That is one reason that I don't want the camera to be lit up. As far as whether it could be attached to the balcony structure, I'm thinking about the FCC's OTARD regulation regarding TV antennas, saying that they can't be prevented, so long as they are attached to an area that is for the exclusive use of the tenant. A camera isn't an antenna, but the principle is the same. Also, they don't complain about the tenants hanging other devices on their balcony or patio areas, like flower pots, wind chimes, christmas lights, etc. In any case, the camera would have to be firmly attached for me to feel comfortable about it's security in weather.
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New #25
It had not occurred to me that you wanted the tree-trimmed so you could see your vehicle from your balcony!
Absolutely if you can see it, given especially all the trouble you've had, I would not hesitate to put a camera out on my balcony if it were me. Not sure what your mounting possibilities are, but there are still weatherproof options for you if you don't have an eave you can mount under. Like this:
Foscam FI8905W Outdoor Wireless IP Camera - Products
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New #26
That camera seems to have all the features needed. I don't want IP, but I guess that I can simply choose not to use it. As far as mounting, I would need to either mount it to the balcony rail, or to the outside wall of the balcony, because the eave is too high for me to reach, and that high of a position would be even more difficult to obtain a clear view through the tree limbs. Even with the camera mounted as low as possible, it will require some pruning. If not, I wouldn't even discuss it with the apt. manager.
EDIT: I just thought of another mounting possibility...I could put the mount into a large plant urn that I have on the balcony. That would eliminate the possibility of the manager complaining about it being mounted to the wall, and it would put it at a lower angle, missing more of the tree limbs. The only thing that I can see wrong with this idea is that it might splash mud on the camera and lens when it rains.Last edited by seekermeister; 11 Sep 2011 at 18:49.
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New #27
After reviewing the specs of that Foscam, there is one thing that if it is as it sounds, I can't use that model, because it says that there is no pan/tilt. If that only means that there is no remote control over those, that isn't a problem, but it sounds more like the parameters is rigidly set by the mount. Yet in the photos of an eBay ad for the camera:
Foscam FI8905W 60 LED Wireless IP Security Camera CCTV | eBay
It appears that there are angle adjustments on the mount. if I mounted it on the wall, the camera and the mount would have to be pretty much inline for it to work.
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New #28
Something more that bothers me about that particular camera is the heat and humidity limits. While it will operate at the high temperatures okay, the lower limit (32 degrees) is often exceeded in the winter. As for the humidity limit (85% operating) is also frequently exceeded. The average R.H. here is 81%, but will sometimes exceed 90%. That seems to suggest that camera would be unreliable at best, and malfunction at worst.
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New #29
Something that I haven't seen addressed in any of the ads for the cameras I have found, is whether it is possible to zoom in on the subject area. It wouldn't do any good to only be able to see people's forms, it would need to capture a person's facial image clearly enough for ID. Perhaps zoom is the wrong word to use, because it wouldn't necessarily need to be adjustable, but the focus would need to bring the subject area close. For my purposes, it would seem that if it would only display a 15-20 foot radius from a distance of ~ 75 feet, that would be sufficient.
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New #30
An outdoor camera with pan/tilt/zoom, and wider temperature specs, is likely to cost a bit more (a lot more?) but of course there are zillions of such cameras available so you have some serious surfing to do.
I don't understand your comment "I don't want IP". If you buy a wireless camera to comm with your wireless router, of course the camera has to have an IP address. You can either set the router to hand-out an IP address to the cam, or most (all?) cams will let you assign a static IP.
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