Description
Recently, one of our clients started looking at installing a hidden camera because she suspected nanny abuse after unexplained bruises on her child. When consulting with her, we went over what the benefits wireless provided over wired products and vice versa. When setting up your home security system, it’s important to consider both. For starters, wireless is ideal when you have only one or two cameras. Wireless cameras transmit their images and audio via 1.2 GHz or 2.4 GHz transmissions. Only one camera can transmit at a time in these frequencies to be picked up clearly by a receiver. For large scale security systems, wireless cameras are not ideal. Since our client needed just one room monitored - the nursery - we suggested she use two separate cameras. Given the necessary hidden nature she needed, we thought a pinhole camera set up near the crib area overlooking the entire room and a wall clock camera on the opposing wall would give the absolute best coverage. Since the nanny was there only a few hours a day we also set her up with a rechargeable lithium battery and an adapter for each separate camera. In order to keep each camera from interfering with each other, we set her up with a pinhole camera at 1.2 GHz and her wall clock at 2.4 GHz. Wireless gave our client something she needed: lack of obvious wiring leading to a receiver. Since the nanny was involved in the home with moving objects and light cleaning, this was a necessity. Hidden cameras don’t work when the suspect is suspicious! A few weeks after her system was up and running, we received her input on how well the system worked: “My new hidden ‘nanny-cam’ has dispelled our fears about our newly hired help. At first we thought some of the bruises were suspicious on our infant. Instead of physical abuse, we found that our son was simply starting to move around a lot more and had in fact injured himself several times over the past few weeks! The nanny consistently took care of our son and my husband and I slept much better at night knowing we had hired the right person.” Of course, our client could have also chosen wired cameras. Wired cameras offer a setup where batteries are unnecessary, since you can use a power adapter. You save batteries and money over the long run with this setup. The downside to this setup is the fact that without proper planning and hiding, your camera can be found. Plus, criminals may steal your computer and your RCA receiver if they discover where the wires lead from the camera. Another benefit of wired systems is that you can run many cameras without worrisome interference from other wireless signals. Wired systems are very basic and do not suffer interference. Plus with wired systems you can split input RCA so you can watch multiple screens on the same monitor, or even record multiple screens on one medium. As you can see, it’s important to consider how you’ll be using your security system before you buy. Read next article