Point To Point Wireless Video Surveillance System

We use L-Com boxes for our installs. Their fiber reinforced AC powered NEMA enclosures have worked well for us for the past 6 years. We have also used Bud Industries for metallic boxes when needed.

Second nod to Lcom. Great boxes with built in power options. Vented can help, however I've got a few out with no vents that have not had any notable failures.

Thank You Guys

I am looking at them now and they seem great. I really appreciate your help.

i am using a PoE injector with an IP67 rated housing that is killing L-com. It's a game changer. Up to 120W UL rated injector, and working on installing on poles for over 10,000 LED street lights (some with integrated cameras) in a smart city application. Pricing is way less than L-com and it's not even a question a better product. How nobody knows these guys is beyond me. They have the standard UL rated 30/60/90W integrated IP67 housings too. 

I'm not sure if I'm ready to disclose who is making these, but I switched from L-com a few months ago and won't be going back...

Ed, what POE switch are you using?   If you're using something industrial rated, then temp shouldn't be an issue. I've used www.interlogix.com in the past for many industrial applications. They are DIN rail mounted, and we commonly put them in L-com boxes, though sealed.  We were more concerned with humidity and moisture than cooling with those things. 

Also, Altronix Netway4 box is a pretty neat item. It's got a 4 port POE switch with SFP port already premade in an enclosure.   They also sell pole mount brackets for them. (L-com.com also has pole mount kits for their enclosures, which I highly recommend)

What are you using for the wireless? One of my big gripes and challenges is the lack of wireless access points that use TRUE POE. As you will discover, wiring up all the power supplies without that, inside an enclosure, is a pain in the rear.  The Altronix box has room for a battery back up, so that's where we put the power supply bricks from the UBNT radios we were using.   Yes,  UBNT does make a handful of wireless access points with true POE input, but they were very expensive comparatively.  I found an Engenious model on Amazon that used true POE input. 

I'm also curious about your power input situation. I've been told that light poles are 277v to 480v.  You have a step down tap to get it to 120v?   Also, are you sure your poles have their own power directly to them, and aren't on a system loop with a timer back at the building?

Hi Scott 

My project is a big community about 3 square miles. There are 7 entrances in and out of the building. I am installing 4 Cameras at each entrance on the street light poles. Two 8 MP IP Cameras for Overview and Two 2 MP License Plate Capture Cameras.  I have used UBNT on smaller jobs in the past, but I am looking into using Proxim Wireless Tsunami Licensed Frequencies on this job. We still need to test our line of sites and make sure everything is going to work from our desired locations. The terrain has lots of hills and trees, so we will need to add some extra hops possibly. I want something that will be very reliable for my clients. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks 

About the boxes, It gets very hot where I'm located. Its not uncommon to have 105 to 110 degrees for a few months in the summer.  Should I be more concerned with the heat or the moisture and humidity?

I haven't picked out what poe switches to use yet. The street poles have sensors but we will be using a step down transformer and be confirming that the poles electrical is always hot. 

IFS Industrial Gigabit Managed Switches

NS3550-8T-2S JPEG  is the model we used.  It's rated up to 75C which is 167F.  That's pretty good.

The power supply that they sell for them should be rated similarly, it should also be able to take at least 200v input 

I'd say generally be more worried about heat (which is why I'd suggest an industrial switch) than moisture. You could do a sealed box and not worry about the water or the heat. If you use an Lcom fiberglass box, it won't absorb as much heat as a metal one will. 

If you ever get into an extreme situation, there is a company called APX that makes stainless steel enclosures. They also have a version that is ceramic coating for heat resistance but are still sealed.  (we used them at waste water treatment plants). They are NOT cheap, but they make them very large (like 48" x 48")

What brand of point to point do you usually use in these type of applications? Is proxim wireless a good product?

Ligowave Wireless. They claim they are optimized for video streaming and in the same general price range of Ubiquiti. They have support and designer guys in the USA which is nice too.

They have a bridge kit that is preconfigured for $200 (Street price). Gigabit (900Mbps I think) and their more industrial units have a switch built in to them. Basically no config needed aside from applying your security/SSID. Product comes pre-set and labeled and has a cloud backbone. 

Keep an eye on this company as they will likely find their way in most major distributors within months. They also have a nice try and buy program where they give you a one time chance to buy at their cost. 

They just hired a bunch of manufacturer reps across the US, so a company to watch. I'll report back on the stability when I get my try-and-buy unit next week if anyone is interested.

First you need to determine the pole's wind loading specifications before considering the hardware to be installed. Once you know the spec then you'll need to compute if there is adequate excess loading available on the pole for the new hardware. Generally it's not a good idea to mount enclosures at the tower or pole top due to having a negative impact on the horizontal thrust during a micro-burst and sudden high wind gusts. You could be held libel for replacing the pole, lighting system, and cameras if this due diligence is not performed. Suggest contacting the lighting pole manufacturer because they may have an engineer that could assist with the making this determination.

Outdoor deployments, which are standalone in nature like this can be challenging and complex due to the amount of moving parts and factors involved.  Based on your initial questions here are my thoughts:

In terms of co-locating equipment you should be good to put everything into a single box, just make sure your solution is adequate (as you have inquired about) to deal with the environmental conditions.

A consideration is not just the MFR of the enclosure but the IP/NEMA rating being adequate.  Also you should make sure a robust material is used for long term reliability of the box itself, I would only recommend Fiberglass or Metal

Heat will be your biggest challenge and no matter the solution.  It will affect you in a couple of different ways that you'll want to factor into your design:

- Solar loading I have experienced, and would recommend you expect anywhere between a +15F to +40F delta increase in the internal box temperature no matter what you do.  This range will vary based on the cooling design, temperature, spurious internal heat emission, material and color of enclosure.

- Lowering overall lifespan of internal components. This means you should watch out for long term warranty obligations and etc - considering there isn't a whole lot you can do to avoid this.  (Unless you overkill it with a very expensive/heavy/power hungry actively cooled solution)

- Derating your power system.  Any time you get high PoE budgets you'll need a sizable power budget.  This gets especially compounded in hot conditions where power supplies can derate up to 50% of the stated load capacity in temperatures that get to the levels you talk about.  So most importantly I'd plan on doubling the power transformer unit based on what you calculate requirements to be.

Also - I've always designed some type of self healing feature or remote reset/monitoring capability into systems like this.  Whether that be a ping watchdog function on the switching/wireless equipment, configuration of the camera or a standalone relay device - it's much, much cheaper than a truck roll for maintenance.

Good Luck

Chris

Thank You for your input and helpful information.

Yes Sir

If you need something custom,  Broadsite may have something they have built for other solutions like this or can design something custom for you.