Subscriber Discussion

Advice On Mounting 3 PTZs On 10' Pole Atop A Roof

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Nathan Wheeler
Jan 28, 2014

I need advice for mounting 2 or even 3 full size/weight high end PTZ's on the same pole atop a roof. The pole will stand 10'ft above the roof lip surface so will likely need to be at least 12'ft tall. It will be heavily bolted/bracketed to the inside of the roof lip which is 4"in thick brick.

It can't have much sway in high winds though so I'm thinking a 4x4"in square metal tube that would likely need to be 1/4"in aluminum or 1/8"in steel to minimize wind sway with that much top weight and PTZ' at 6'ft, 8'ft and 10'ft (top of pole) mounted around three sides of the pole in a 270 degree, 3' sided spiral up.

Anyone have any advice on manufacturers who pre-make pole mount kits like this is this something I'll have to find someone to custom cut/build?

And any thoughts/concerns about do's/dont's in this scenario, please let me know. The closest example I could find in concept is this picture of a rooftop pole mount however it looks like a 2"x2"in pole and mine will get 10'ft above the lip with 3 heavyweight PTZ's.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to feedback.

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Brian Rhodes
Jan 28, 2014
IPVMU Certified

I think the 'official' style of bracket you are describing is a parapet mount. With that much weight and height, it is likely going to be a custom job.

I know that Videolarm Moog offers a standard pole with dual gooseneck dome mounts (PV8 option), and at 16' tall they use a mill 4.75"x4.75 tube for the pole.

I think the hardest bit is going to find a way to mount it off the roof parapet. It might take an engineer to layout the proper bracket so you don't damage the parapet with wind/ice loading.

Could you do a tripod that sets atop the roof deck, even if it doesn't penetrate the roof membrane?

KL
Keefe Lovgren
Jan 28, 2014
IPVMU Certified

even with smaller parapet mounts that use 2" tubing and only sit a couple feet above the parapet are prone to sway from the wind... at 10' high i don't believe a parapet will allow enough surface area to stabilize the pole... even if you were to diagonally brace the pole there may still be some sway... have you considered using a triangular shaped tower versus a pole? It would allow for the wind to blow through it rather than against it.

U
Undisclosed #1
Jan 28, 2014

Large-base non-penetrating roof-mount for the base. You might have to build this, which is straight-forward.

Stand-offs/anchors holding the upright pole to the building wall for rigidity. Depending on the winds in the area you might need to guy/wire the pole to the base as well to reduce sway.

I'd probably go with a 4" diameter thick-wall aluminum pipe, just becasue it might be easier to find than square-wall tubing. This is what most of the solar panel kit cctv suppliers use, where they are dealing with similar issues.

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Brian Rhodes
Jan 28, 2014
IPVMU Certified
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Shaun Castillo
Jan 29, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Contact PedestalCEO. We regularly use them for card reader pedestals. We just asked them to help us with a custom camera mount. They drafted a CAD drawing of the mount and turned around a quote in 2 days. The pricing was very fair. They are even going to integrate a custom enclosure into the pole.

Tessco also carries a wide variety of mounts for radios and cameras.

RM
Roger Marsh
Feb 02, 2014

The leverage exerted by a 10' lever-arm on 2' of a brick parapet wall worries me more than a little. If the mast could be located in a corner, the solution might be ridged (2" X 2" tube?) bracing at 90°. But one way or the other, I would get an engineered solution for this one, unless you can use a rooftop design as mentioned above.

MB
Mike Box
Feb 03, 2014

Nathan, You might look to the telecommunications industry for your mounting needs. We've used a 4" dia galvanized pole 15' long to mount a laser to send a T1 connection between buildings. There can be NO movement in the mount what so ever. We live in SoCal and are prown to winds, sometimes in the 60 MPH area and we never missed a beat. There is also a vast options for mounting hardware. One of the vendors we use is Valmount. I had to contact our local sales office to request a catalog.

Hope this helps... Good luck

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Jeffrey Hinckley
Feb 03, 2014

You can find any such hardware at tessco.

DW
Donna Whiteside
Feb 04, 2014

Nate;

email me and I'll send you a design used by the transportion agency. We have these custom built but they are sturdy.

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