Subscriber Discussion

Elevator Camera Infrastructure

mh
mark holm
•Oct 09, 2018

I'm designing a surveillance system which includes several banks of 8 elevators, each with a camera.  I'm using Ethernet-over-coax transceivers for signal/power transmission over the RG-59 cable in the travel cable.  I was talking to the elevator designer about how the security contractor would pick up the RG-59 cables in the elevator control room.  His comment was 'this detail is usually field-coordinated'. 

My question is: How does the security contractor tie in to the control room end of multiple elevator camera travel coax cables?  In the elevator equipment rack?  Does the security contractor provide a junction box (if so; where)?

I'd be interested in related experiences and solutions.  Thanks in advance.

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Clint Hays
•Oct 09, 2018

"Field coordinated" means you'll get whatever we provide and you figure it out.

 

The travel cable will be broken apart and taken to different panels for each cable. The coax will run to one of them and you will bring your adapter there if they have space for it in the box, or you'll have to out in a separate enclosure and pipe to it. 

 

Make sure you know where the controllers will be as a lot of elevators are going to in-door controllers vs the older penthouse rooms filled with controllers.

SD
Shannon Davis
•Oct 09, 2018
IPVMU Certified

Anymore the elevator companies don’t want you in their equipment boxes, for obvious reasons. When we do elevator control they provide a junction box away from the control boxes and run pipe to their equipment and ours. They will install a set of relays we make a connection to. For the coax I would assume the same would be similar. They set a box and have a BNC connection ready. Of course every company will be different. 

DR
Dan Rice
•Oct 10, 2018

Just a heads up on an issue we just found with an elevator cab install.  We installed a total of about 50 elevator cab cameras in 6 buildings within the complex.  About half of the cabs have been updated and have 2 flat screen monitors built in to show videos.  The cabs are programmed that after a certain period of not being used that the lights in the cabs will turn off to save energy.  The problem is that the monitors do not turn off as well.  The flashing of the monitor screens in the dark cab cause enough light refraction to activate the motion in the camera so that cameras end up recording almost 24/7.  It does no good trying to mask the monitors out because of the refraction throughout the entire cab activates the motion.

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SD
Shannon Davis
•Oct 10, 2018
IPVMU Certified
In reply to Dan Rice

Sometimes you can’t win for losing. I would guess you could turn the sensitivity down fairly low and still catch someone going into the cab but perhaps not the glare from the monitor. Maybe another solution if the cameras or system would do a line crossing?  

DR
Dan Rice
•Oct 10, 2018

I will have to double check but I do not believe that the cameras have the line crossing but that is a good idea.  The problem is that the cab is a shiny metal material so there are refractions throughout the entire cab and to make it worst the monitors give off enough light to cause the flashing but not enough to provide a usuable image even in black & white so the entire image is filled with noise as well.

SD
Shannon Davis
•Oct 10, 2018
IPVMU Certified
In reply to Dan Rice

It is simple things like this you realistically can’t anticipate unless you have experienced this before that can quickly take the profits out of a job. Perhaps the monitors have a light sensor of sorts, like new televisions do, to adjust the brightness automatically. Wouldn’t hurt to ask the elevator company. I feel for you in this situation. I remember a similar situation where we had analog cameras in elevators and the power supply was on top of the cab and the same thing the lights would go out after a period of time and of course we were on the same circuit as the lights were. That was an easy fix compared to this. I would guess even a really low light color like a starlight camera would even have similar issues. 

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