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[Mona]

Hi there, new to the forum & enjoy reading the posts.  I have a quick question. I realize that only one of my cams can be on at a time, so I'd make that my front door cam.  Now if I have a motion sensor with the back door cam, every time the motion sensor is tripped it will turn on back door cam & turn front door cam off so I can catch the action at the back door?  My plan is to have a small DVR(with motion detection recording) hooked up to the receiver. If I can catch the action at both doors, I will be in busness I think.  Thanks in advance,  Mona

[troll334]

Hi Mona,
The motion sensor sends out a radio (RF) signal. This will not toggle your cameras. You need to have a transceiver
plugged in nearby (RR501, TM751, CM15, etc.) to 'hear' the radio signal and convert that to a powerline signal.
Once that's done, the Camera's powercubes (addressed properly) will 'see' the signal. One camera will turn on and
the other off. So, motion in the back will turn on the rear-cam. Now, you've got to get a signal to the front cam to
turn it back on. You'll need a motion sensor (address properly) to re-enable the front cam (and turn off the rear-cam).
Then you've got the problem of 'hitting the record' button on the DVR. You need something like X10's VCR Commander II
to 'hear' those motion sensor signals and, in turn, send the IR command to your DVR to start recording.
This is the 50,000' view.

[Mona]

Thanks troll, I do have the tranceiver thingy that plugs into the wall & my DVR unit(small unit I got off ebay) has a built in motion detector, so once it sees motion it captures it. So, I'm guessing I just need the motion sensors to turn the cameras on/off.  My DVR has been used with another wireless 1 cam system & worked great for catching the action at the cabin, only problem was it was an outside camera with night vision, but the red night vision lights attracted all the bugs, so my SD card was filled with hours of night time bug activity     so, I am hoping this system gets rid of that problem, haha.  Thanks for your help,  Mona

[troll334]

Cool. You'll need a couple of X10's eagle eye type sensors. Each will be set to a camera's unique address and both
within 'hearing' range of the transceiver thingy
If motion out front, then send the signal to turn on front-cam.
If motion out back, then send...yada yada
I think your challenge is going to be getting your VCR/DVD system's motion detection in sync with the X10 motion
detector. And, so how does the VCR/DVD motion setup 'see' motion out front AND out back?
By the way, X10's cameras (sans the Vanguard from what I understand) aren't the best at picking up good video
at night. I've got several BW low-light cams and they're okay but still need a fair amount of light to get court-usable
video.

[Mona]

I plan to plug my DVR into the receiver(via RCA plug), just like you would attach the receiver to the TV to see the images.  As I cruise the X10 website more & more I might be investing in some rocket sockets for the lights at front/back doors also, so should improve lighting situations for the cams.  I don't know how to add a link, but if your interested in my DVR set up, you could look up " Portable Mini DVR Secumate SD Slot AV Recorder" on ebay & thats what I have.  It works great for what i've used it on in the past!

[troll334]

Nice.
Okay, about the socket rockets...
I've got one in the front porch fixture. Works great when the outside eagleeyes are tripped. I put a 60W bulb in the
socket (avoid using CFLs in S.R.s). However,
1) The light still doesn't put out enough to illuminate the area for good video.
2) The light is positioned right in the foreground of the cameras view.
So, the light, what little there is (good enuf for human eyes), washes out the humanoid walking up to the porch.
What I really wanna do is to position a flood light such that the camera can't see it directly but still will provide
tons of light on the subject area.
The other thing I want to try, is getting one of those eBay $15 IR lights for experimentation. The X10 low-light BW
cam sees my TV's remote control IR bulb very well. I figure if I get an IR security light that's got about 40-50 LEDs,
it might just illuminate the subject good enough; and they're low draw devices too. My neighbor has one integrated
with his night-vis camera system (a grand!) and it actually washed out the person walking up to the cam at night.
So, you're just gonna have to play around with the cams in different lighting to see what they can do for your environ.
During the day, my three outside cams (two color and one BW) 'see' beautifully. I love 'em.