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Our Weather Cam Technical Specifications
The
Victory Seed Company Field & Weather WebCam
After looking at some of the higher end (and admittedly better resolution) solutions, the XCam2 was hands down the best deal we could put together in early 2002. And when you are a small seed company, deals are what you look for! Our system consists of the XX16A-C XCam2 2.4GHz wireless camera, a VK74A "Ninja" Pan and Tilt base with CR14A remote, a VR36A-C Video Receiver, and a VA11A-C Video to USB Adapter. For capturing and uploading the images, we use to use the Xray Vision software purchased with the hardware. However, it was constantly locking up and requiring daily system reboots. We are now using a piece of open source software called Dorgem. Although the user manuals are a bit on the light side, if you or a friend have a little technical experience, it is pretty easy to install and configure the hardware and software. Regarding quality, the biggest complaint that people have is that the resolution is a bit on the course side. This is true. In operation under the best conditions, the design of the camera only allows for course images. 3 LUX is the threshold, below which the image becomes washed out and barely useable. It operates acceptable between 3 to 5 LUX. Additionally, the plastic optics of the camera can cause the image to be smeared. That is, the colors can become separated under certain conditions when the light hits the plastic in such a way that it acts as a prism. As you can see from the images on the site, they look more like surveillance camera images from a 7-11 in the 70s, but hey, it serves our requirements perfectly . . . you can tell if it is sunny, raining, day or night. Plus it is cheap (in 2002 prices). The whole setup, including shipping, was well under $150.
The picture above shows a close up of the camera system. You will notice that the clear plastic "shroud" is not an item that you see on the X10 site. Although they cameras are nearly weather proof and we have this unit mounted under the eaves, it still can get some exposure to moisture. It is Oregon! The solution was found by using a plastic cover from a 50 stack of CDRs. We simply mounted between the camera and the top of the robotics. This protects the pan and tilt unit but does not restrict the movement nor is it encased so that condensation becomes an issue. How is that for cheap?!?
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