Can Wireless cameras be converted to wired ?

[chinaboy]

How do you get from RJ11 to RCA cables?

I used phone jacks that have the modular socket at front and wired connections at the back. I wired the jacks to RCA female connectors.

Will I still need to use the power supplies that came with my wireless cams?

Yes you will; especially if you want to turn them on & off remotely.

Puck,

Thanks for your quick response. I am not the smartest, and I seem to get lost everytime I think I am making progress. I have 4 wireless cams that I am converting. I will be using the supplied power supplies. Having said that, I assume that I only need the Yellow: Video and White: Audio wires? I am still not understanding how the wires are connected to the RCA Female connector or perhaps I might be visualizing the wrong connector. Are you using a separate RCA Female connector for each Cam or  just one. I will not be using the cable modulator like you since I only need the cameras to go to one TV and PC or Laptop. How can I make the connection to go directly to my TV via COAX connection and to the PC or Laptop? I assume for the laptop, I will need a RCA cable type connection for the video capture device. 

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

I attached the connector that I think you are refering too. Please correct me if I am wrong. Perhaps, thats why I am confused.

[chinaboy]

Please can someone give me some suggestions.

Ok, this is what I have done so far. I wired one camera using telephone wire. At the other end, I connected the yellow(video) wire to a Male RCA connector and the white(audio) wire to male RCA connector. I tested and both video and audio works great.

Question 1

I need to wire 3 more cameras. When I do so, can I connect all yellow(video)wires to one male RCA connector and all white (audio)wires to one male RCA connector?

Question 2

Since I would have all the camera wires going to one central location (Laundry room in my case) what is the easiest way for me to go from the newly created RCA connectors to a TV (viewing only) and Laptop (for recording). Both TV and Laptop are located in separate rooms. I was hoping that I can connect to the TV coax connection and in my case connect to the Laptop or PC with the video capture device.

If this is at all possible, can someone please guide me in the right path or better way to get this working.

Thanks

[HA Dave]

Question 1

I need to wire 3 more cameras. When I do so, can I connect all yellow(video)wires to one male RCA connector and all white (audio)wires to one male RCA connector?

Sure as long as the cameras are setup in a "group of four" only one camera will be on at a time anyway... should work perfectly.

Question 2

Since I would have all the camera wires going to one central location (Laundry room in my case) what is the easiest way for me to go from the newly created RCA connectors to a TV (viewing only) and Laptop (for recording). Both TV and Laptop are located in separate rooms. I was hoping that I can connect to the TV coax connection and in my case connect to the Laptop or PC with the video capture device.

I do that myself. I return all camera singals wired and wireless to one location. There I feed into my cable line as channel 3 using a modulator (for my office TV). I also resend the signal using the video sender/receiver units. Both work great.

[chinaboy]

Question 1

I need to wire 3 more cameras. When I do so, can I connect all yellow(video)wires to one male RCA connector and all white (audio)wires to one male RCA connector?

Sure as long as the cameras are setup in a "group of four" only one camera will be on at a time anyway... should work perfectly.

Question 2

Since I would have all the camera wires going to one central location (Laundry room in my case) what is the easiest way for me to go from the newly created RCA connectors to a TV (viewing only) and Laptop (for recording). Both TV and Laptop are located in separate rooms. I was hoping that I can connect to the TV coax connection and in my case connect to the Laptop or PC with the video capture device.

I do that myself. I return all camera singals wired and wireless to one location. There I feed into my cable line as channel 3 using a modulator (for my office TV). I also resend the signal using the video sender/receiver units. Both work great.

Thanks for the information Dave. Can you tell which modulator you are using and where I can get it. ? Does your modulator have a coax output connection to the TV? You also mentioned that you use a video sender/receiver unit. Is this for sending the video to a PC. Can I get a wired to connection to both TV and PC. I am trying to reduce and type of interferance. 

Again thanks for your input.

[HA Dave]

Thanks for the information Dave. Can you tell which modulator you are using and where I can get it. ? Does your modulator have a coax output connection to the TV? You also mentioned that you use a video sender/receiver unit. Is this for sending the video to a PC. Can I get a wired to connection to both TV and PC. I am trying to reduce and type of interferance. 

Well I use the Philips 4-way Auto-Switcher available at Best Buy or Walmart. It will send the signal in both coax and audio-video.

[Puck]

I attached the connector that I think you are refering too. Please correct me if I am wrong. Perhaps, thats why I am confused.

chinaboy: Sorry for the late reply; I was away this past week. In addition to the info that Dave_x10_L provided, I just wanted to note that your attached picture above is a BNC connector, not an RCA connector.

[chinaboy]

Thanks Puck, I did use the a RCA Connector, so I think I am good to go. I converted 3 so far and all seem to be working Ok. I just have my FloodCam left to do. Can I use the same wiring setup to convert the FloodCam? I know the floodcams have a problem not turning off during the day, so I will disconnect the lights from the motion detector and attach the wire from a stand alone motion detector that I purchase from Home Depot to control just the lights and let built-in dector control the Cam.

By the way, in your instructions you used an RJ11 for each Cam, but I went directly to the RCA connector. Is there any special reason why you used the RJ11? Just curious as to whether I will get better results with your method.

[Puck]

I just have my FloodCam left to do. Can I use the same wiring setup to convert the FloodCam?

I think you would be the first for this mod. I can't help on this one, but if you do convert it, please post about it. Just be caution of any wiring modifications internally due to the presences of AC. Insulation & placement will be safety factors here.

By the way, in your instructions you used an RJ11 for each Cam, but I went directly to the RCA connector. Is there any special reason why you used the RJ11? Just curious as to whether I will get better results with your method.

The method doesn't make a difference. I placed my power modules remotely as well so the RJ11 worked for me. Wiring the RCA connectors directly is fine.

[jsnone1]

How do you get from RJ11 to RCA cables?

I used phone jacks that have the modular socket at front and wired connections at the back. I wired the jacks to RCA female connectors.

Will I still need to use the power supplies that came with my wireless cams?

Yes you will; especially if you want to turn them on & off remotely.

can you post a link for those phone jacks.....I dont understand

[Puck]

can you post a link for those phone jacks.....I dont understand

Here is a good picture example of the phone jacks modules I am referring to with the jack on one side and wire connections on the other: wall plate

These can be found at Radio Shack or most home building supply stores.

[jsnone1]

can you post a link for those phone jacks.....I dont understand

Here is a good picture example of the phone jacks modules I am referring to with the jack on one side and wire connections on the other: wall plate

These can be found at Radio Shack or most home building supply stores.

what kind of wire are you using?

ok, so you would take the connector off at the end you want to wire into the camera, then plug the other end into that and use the bare wires at the back to connect to this:



or you could just cut the connector off that end too.....correct?

Then I would plug that plug into my USB video capture that I have plugged into my Desktop PC....I have four cameras total I would do this with, so I would have to use a y-splitter on top of another y-spliter, so that I have 4 video ins. That will leave me one extra as I am going to run two wired cameras to it, then I will have the video receiver receiving a signal from two wireless cams. Sound right?

[Puck]

That will leave me one extra as I am going to run two wired cameras to it, then I will have the video receiver receiving a signal from two wireless cams. Sound right?

Just make sure you have a way of shutting down the wireless video receiver when you want to view the wired cameras. If left on, it will interfere.

[jsnone1]

That will leave me one extra as I am going to run two wired cameras to it, then I will have the video receiver receiving a signal from two wireless cams. Sound right?

Just make sure you have a way of shutting down the wireless video receiver when you want to view the wired cameras. If left on, it will interfere.

all of the cameras are running off they original x10 supply, is that good enough, or do I need to plug the video receiver into a lamp module so it will turn off when the wired camera turns on? (is that possible?)

[Puck]

...or do I need to plug the video receiver into a lamp module so it will turn off when the wired camera turns on? (is that possible?)

Yes you do; and use an appliance module (not a lamp module). It's best to have some software control like AHP to do the caretaking when mixing wired & wireless cameras.

[jsnone1]

I have Vanguard, I assume that that will do it