WHEN WE GOT CHICKENS I WANTED TO BROADCAST THE CHICKENS SO MY WIFE CAN WATCH THEM AT WORK. THE PROBLEM WAS WE HAVE A LARGE GARDEN AND OUR CHICKENS FREE RANGE IT WAS IMPOSSABLE TO COVER THE WHOLE GARDEN. SO WHAT STARTED OUT AS USING A UNUSED USB WEBCAM TURNED INTO THE ABOVE LAYOUT. THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS IN A TEST STAGE BUT SEEMS TO BE WORKING FINE HERE IS WHAT I HAVE DONE.

3xCCD CAMERAS 1xCMOS WIRELESS CAMERA FOR THE COOP THIS ONE I AM PROUD OF THE COOP HAS NO ACCESS TO POWER HOWEVER HAS GOOD LIGHT ALL DAY. I COME UP WITH THE IDEA OF SOLAR POWER AS THE CAMERA IS 12v I GOT HOLD OF A 17Aph 12v BATTERY FROM A FIRE ALARM BACKUP A 20W SOLAR PANEL AND A 5A CHARGE CONTROLLER FROM EBAY. THIS BATTERY WILL RUN THE CAMERA FOR 24 HOURS WITH NO CHARGE THE SOLAR PANEL WORKS WITH VERY LITTLE LIGHT HOOKED ALL THIS UP AND IT WORKS PERFECT!
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THE CAMERAS ALL CONNECT TO A 4 CHANNEL CCTV MULTIPLEXER (THE BRAINS OF THE SYSTEM) WITH MOTION DETECTION. THE IDEA IS AS THE FLOCK MOVE AROUND THE GARDEN IT SHOULD DISPLAY THE RIGHT CAMERA THAT WAY CHICKENS ARE ALWAYS IN SHOT. THE VIDEO FEED FROM THIS IS SENT TO A USB2 DVR (DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDER).

THE OTHER THING I BOUGHT FOR THE SYSTEM WAS A DEDCATED SERVER TO RUN THE SOFTWARE. I SETTLED ON A DELL OPTIPLEX GX280 SDT PENTIUM 4 HT 2.8Ghz 1024MB 400MHZ DDR II MEMORY 40GB HARDDRIVE RUNNING XP PRO. I GOT THIS DIRT CHEAP ON EBAY BRAND NEW IN THE BOX! AND IS PERFECT FOR RUNNING THE ENCODING SOFTWARE WINDOWS MEDIA ENCODER. THE FEED IS ON DEMAND AND FEEDS THE STREAM TO THE CAMSTREAMS.COM SERVER.

THE ONLY LIMITATION IS MY UPLOAD SPEED IN THE UK THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A HUGE PROBLEM BEING ON A CABLE MODEM I AM VERY LIMITED BY WHAT VIRGIN MEDIA ALLOWS ALSO WITH 5 INTERNET ADDICTS IN THE HOUSE I TRY TO RESTRICT THE BANDWIDTH TO ALLOW OUR SURFING TO BE UNEFFECTED

ANY QUESTIONS JUST HIT CONTACT!

ANDY