Foaling Camera Delimmas

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Little Wolf Ranch

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I am in a delimma. My foaling camera that I used this past April worked fine for one mare and watching one small stall. Unless I plan on buying three more of these cameras - which I don't - I need to find a new camera.

I need it to be able to cover one big square barn - approximately 20ft x 18 ft so needs a huge range of view. I plan on putting it in the corner and being able to view all four at the same time. Can't mount it on the ceiling as the ceiling is only 7 ft. at maximum.

Would like it to be wired, under $150, don't care if it has night vision or not and don't care about color.

Talked to people at MareStare and didn't help all that much with what I needed. I'm no good at electronic stuff so please help!

Thanks,

Katie
 
I think you're asking too much from one camera for that amount of space. Check out www.x10.com they have some really good deals and its where I got my cameras. You can also get a quad(?) to run several cameras off of one feed where it switches back and forth. I used Marestare for one mare last year and LOVED it. Have 3 mares due this year and will be setting up at least 2 cameras with a quad to switch cameras.

Also, get a wide angle view camera. I made a mistake and didn't check when I bought mine and have limited viewing. I hope to upgrade soon.
 
I think you're asking too much from one camera for that amount of space. Check out www.x10.com they have some really good deals and its where I got my cameras. You can also get a quad(?) to run several cameras off of one feed where it switches back and forth. I used Marestare for one mare last year and LOVED it. Have 3 mares due this year and will be setting up at least 2 cameras with a quad to switch cameras.

Also, get a wide angle view camera. I made a mistake and didn't check when I bought mine and have limited viewing. I hope to upgrade soon.
I would also suggest multiple cameras since it is very difficult to get much coverage of a stall with a low mounting.I have a brand new system-never been out of the box(I stopped breeding)I will check to see how many cameras it has and get back to you.If you are interested we can talk about price.It comes with lots of extra wire to hook things up-it can be shipped to you
 
I also think you'll need more than one camera. If the camera is too far away you may have trouble telling the difference between a pile of shavings and a newborn foal. I know I bolted down to the barn on more than one occasion because I couldn't tell what the lump was. Once it was an aborted fetus. I would also never get a camera that didn't have night vision. Did that once and the mares really didn't like being under lights 24/7.
 
I think you're asking too much from one camera for that amount of space. Check out www.x10.com they have some really good deals and its where I got my cameras. You can also get a quad(?) to run several cameras off of one feed where it switches back and forth. I used Marestare for one mare last year and LOVED it. Have 3 mares due this year and will be setting up at least 2 cameras with a quad to switch cameras.

Also, get a wide angle view camera. I made a mistake and didn't check when I bought mine and have limited viewing. I hope to upgrade soon.

Fantastic website - had never seen that before. sure can't beat those prices! One thing I quickly noticed though is it's for your house and assumes all the cameras are under the same roof as your tv or pc. I cannot find a "distance" of read/transmit to indicate that it would work for your barn away from your house.

We too need a system and the foaling barn is nearly 500 feet from the house. Most systems will say up to 300 feet as a standard, but this website does not offer a distance reading at all. How far is your barn from your house that your www.x10.com system is presently working on?

I offer this point only because newbies looking for their first system may not pick up on this point - that the transmit from the barn (where cameras are) to the house (where tv or pc is) has to be an important factor when shopping.
 
The system I use transmits 300 feet. I think. The barn to the house is 150 feet. So yes, all that needs to be considered. Wireless has its advantages and disadvantages as does a wired system. Mine currently pixalates(?) a lot and that is due to our DSL speed. We are very rural so are limited that way.

do read on marestare under Owner how to's on the message board. Lots of information about cameras, computers, and other information that I am not tech savy enough to advise on.

We also have a video baby monitor that we use as well. Transmits the same distance and I use it along with the marestare. The computer is in the bedroom but I can move the baby monitor any where in the house.

I know that I will never foal out a mare without marestare! It is a wonderful service and I no longer have to speed home every day from work because I know someone some where is watching.
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You are not going to find a decent camera with that coverage for that price. I have been looking for a wider angled one for outside the barn and one with 170 deg coverage is a bit over $200.

Even running four camera's this past season I still had blind spots so like everyone else has said go with a quad system.

I bought the quad system from harbor freight. I think right now it is $279. It is not the highest quality cameras in the world but they do the job.
 
I'm very happy with my two cameras from Saddlebrook Barn Cams. I have a metal barn and stone sided house that are 500 ft away. I'm also a firm believer in the Foalert system for foolproof monitoring.
 
That was the camera I was going to buy in the beginning. But to run more than one you have to have some sort of Multiplexer. (Unless you want multiple marestare accounts) So we opted for the four camera system. While the video quality is not as good as the high end cameras it worked quite well for what we needed it to do.

We also used the Breeder Alert System on the mares so we did not have to be glued to the screen 24/7. The great thing about Marestare is I can now watch it on my Droid!

I bought this camera from Harbor Freight last spring. It works great, and the best part is that it uses regular phone wire (inside wiring) to connect with. If you need more wire, you just simply add more inside wiring to it. I'm planning to buy a couple more at this price! Here's the link:

http://www.harborfreight.com/weatherproof-color-security-camera-with-night-vision-95914.html

Pam
 

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