After a particularly frustrating truss job yesterday, it occurred to me, and not for the first time, that I need to check into a camera. I fully expect it to be expensive. I just googled the subject and sent a few queries out, as expected no mention was made of the price. But all the cranes were quite large, and it makes me wonder if they are even addressing the boom truck market? For starters, I don't have a flat spot on my round down haul weight, as I see on the demo videos, that have flat sided load blocks. It'd be easy enough to fab a bracket for a camera, and weld it on the ball, and not compromise the load line. Don't know if that would be "legal", but I can't see a problem with it. They are magnetically attached it seems, and transmit wirelessly I also assume. The pic shows me reaching out to set some deck trusses, (I'm looking at a sheeted wall) while sitting down in a hole and looking at nothing but OSB. If it wasn't for the LMI I wouldn't have a clue. The better a operator gets at using all the tricks while working blind, without any signaling, the more they take you for granted and just assume you have X ray vision. These kinds of jobs are why I bought a wireless remote for my 17 ton Terex many years ago. But since getting a rider, I am too spoiled to even consider getting a remote for the National, I like my cab's amenities too much, I don't want to leave it just for a better view. I would be the only truss setter in my area with a camera, getting the God's Eye view, that would impress the contractors (some, the best ones) I work with that give a hoot and appreciate the expense involved and that I am willing to go the extra mile to do a better job. Plus it'd save me getting a sore throat from yelling, and all the jumping up and down from the op cab after the yelling doens't work and I have to go directly to under the hook and tell the crew that "by the way, you know I can't see a frigging thing, right?" And I'm not talking once per job, multiple times this happens. Any camera experience anyone has for something best suited for my needs, let me know. I expect it to cost 5 K at least, probably more, hopefully not more than 10. It should be $1500.00 at most but i know better.
Steve Waldner put one on his tms700. He bought a remote camera like for on a car, and used a adapter from ebay for a dewalt cordless battery to run it. He said it gave a great picture. I'd be interested, but I don't really want to put one on all my cranes, or switch it from crane to crane. I'll look for the thread. His isn't mounted to the ball, but to the boom by the A2b chain with a pivot mount, so its always looking down. A block mount is okay, with rotation resistant cable they hang pretty straight. Mounted on a ball is going to be disorientating on the screen because its going to spin. I think I'd want a boom mount like steve's.
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that's what I thought too, one on the boom looking down the line.
While I haven't installed it yet, I picked up a wireless unit from Amazon with two cameras. I added a 22400 mAh battery pack that will do 12 or 24v, and a small Pelican case to seal the battery in. I'm going to mount it all on a plate, and it will hang from the jib mounting pin, so it can rotate to stay vertical. The second camera will stick on the lower section of the boom looking out since my proposed use is below the damn crest just a bit, which would give me two views to hand the clam/hook. I've only got 35' of boom, so distance isn't much of an issue for me. Doing a homebrew like this might be an issue for you guys with long booms since the cheap cameras all seem to have wide angle lenses. I believe I've got about $300 in it. I tested the camera on the battery pack, and just shut it down after running for 48 hours, including the IR night illuminators. That's plenty of reserve to cover the battery as it ages. This is all on an antique, that isn't going to get used around other people, and sure as heck isn't going to be a life safety devise. It's just there to help with a project, on a tight budget...
the camera is an additive device on the production cranes. the biggest single issue safety-wise is hanging it on there so none of it can come apart and fall from the boom tip.
I keep some hand held radios around , give one to a man on the ground and things go pretty well when you cant see.A drum rotation indicator that works helps lots to. If you go the extra mile and get a nice headset then your set.
Yes, on more professional sites, working with experienced people, that'd be the way to go. On the residential house jobs I do, I'd still be relying on unskilled and unknown to me people, telling me what to do, I'd rather eyeball it myself. I do have a DRI, helps for sure, as does the LMI telling me the truss has touched down. I installed a backup camera on the National some years ago, works great, and I seem to recall they offer them wireless also, Sounds like homebrewing one may be the way to go, I can build airplanes so maybe I can cobble something together for the crane?! I'll first see who gets back to me this week on the info requests I put in. Some of the pro models have a zoom feature, that may be handy, using a backup camera with the wide point of view, not so much. Tip of the boom would be OK, much less problematic, getting it rigged to gravity point down should be too hard.
The same outfit I got my backup camera from. https://www.rearviewsafety.com/safe...up-camera-system-5-single-screen-monitor.html Seems simple enough, and less than 5K......it's not clear to me what powers the camera. I see the specs list it draws 3.5 watts, so about 1/4 amp @ 12 volts. I see upon further inspection, (and re-reading the other camera posts) that the camera transits the picture wirelessly, but needs power ran to it, got it now. I guess I thought "wireless" meant NO wires to the camera at all, that had me confused a bit. I'm going to go one further, and design a system that will be totally self contained, and solar powered. The right lithium battery, and a 10 watt or even 5 watt PV panel would be plenty big enough. A charge controller would also be required, no problem there, I did solar work for decades, just lots bigger systems. I will eyeball my boom tip tomorrow first thing and see what comes to mind.
take some good pictures of how you set that up. it is something I always wanted and I was lucky enough to have those more professional crews to work with, mostly. The home builders sound like a daily hassle.
It usually the kid on the job, sometimes the wife or girlfriend, someone who can't run a nail gun or climb a ladder. The most experienced guy will be up on the plateline, and many just don't seem to realize the POV I have is not as good as theirs. Glasses that can see thru OSB would work also. Just heard back from one crane camera outfit, HookCam, about $7500.00. My guess of between 5 and 10K was spot on! I think I may be able to cobble something up that will undercut that price. $500.00 sounds about right.
We put a wireless camera on the stick of our excavator broad casing to an I pad strapped to the operators knee. This allowed us to do an even fill of crawl spaces from below and eliminate a bunch of hand work.
Got a package deal on a 10 watt PV module, a controller, and a quality lithium battery, for $101.00 inc shipping. Just ordered the camera and receiver from RVS, for $359.00, shipping included. The other expenses will be 0, the mount will be fabbed from stuff I already have. Setting trusses on two jobs today, I couldn't help but think that several times, if the camera works even half as good as I think it will (and I know the picture quality, real good, already from my backup camera use) it may just be a game changer.
About done, two separate modules, both on left side of boom, both bolt to the ears that are there for the jib. Not wanting to scare up any 1 3/8" dia by 2" bolts, I used a combination of steel pipe, aluminum tube, and sch. 80 PVC well drop pipe to shim down the big holes to 1/2". THIS is why we have a shop junk pile! So, two 1/2" bolts, and the thing will come off or on in a minute or so, without (goes without saying) any modification to the boom tip itself. Top piece holds the 10 watt solar panel, the weather tite junction box, and the lithium iron battery plus the charge controller, bottom part holds the 16" swing arm, with the camera at it's end. The only only connection between the two is the 12 VDC power cord, and that will have a quick disconnect. Splitting the thing up into two parts was the best idea I have had yet, no real need for a single component. I got the idea while driving down the road, and with nothing better to do eyeballing the boom tip, and it all fell into place. Still a bit less than $500.00, but more work than I thought, but I always think that. The big unknown is how it will "look", or view, I am sure it will work. I have been looking at my rear view camera a lot when driving, as opposed to backing into a job site, and the picture is excellent: good definition, full color, etc., as far as I know the wireless camera shows the same picture quality. 90% of my residential truss sets I can do with 85' of stick, so by the time I am boomed down and working maybe on a 2 story house, my viewpoint will only be 40/60" away, more or less. Pictures when it's all done and I get a handle on how it works.
Can't wait to see the pics of the pics of the Picks.
First off, this thread should be BOOM TIP CAMERA, no way a load line camera would be worth anything for except the slowest and smoothest operator! But here's what I have come up with so far. The two separate components are each held to the two boom tip ears (where the jib pins go) by bushed down 1/2" bolts, the clamping force keeping them from swiveling or moving, simpler is best here. NO change at all in set up or driving down the road, not in the way at all and so far any customer has failed to even notice this addition. A quick electrical disconnect, pulled, and the two modules can come off separate in about 2 minutes or less. The receiver is mounted in line of sight to my existing LMI, but much closer to my eyeballs, about 10", but no turning of my head required to easily see both. the wireless camera DOES draw power all the time, about .1 of an amp, so I rigged a lighted toggle switch that so far I have remembered to turn off at the end of the day. The 7" screen on the receiver is powered by the op cab system, along with my LMI and radio, and is automatically disable when I shut down the crane function before driving down the road. The charge controller for the 5 watt solar panel has a built in load terminal, but i am not sure if it also features a LVD like the bigger and high quality controllers do, that stands for low voltage disconnect. That makes it idiot proof, if you fail to turn off any load, it can self disconnect before totally draining the battery. If the lighted toggle switch (a built in LED on the switch handle) fails to get my attention, I may also wire in a larger LED on the back of the camera, more in my field of view while driving down the road. I have a stick onboard to reach the toggle switch at the end of the day. The good part: the camera, so far with up to 101' of boom out, transmits that far to the receiver no problem. The two modules are outa the way, as is the receiver, and their install went as planned, . BUT...the picture quality is not quite as good as my hard wired backup camera. This is probably a function of bandwidth/it being wireless, and why the "real" crane camera systems seem to start at $7500.00. At the same time, it was totally worth the bit less then $500.00 and a few hours of my spare time it took. It is about like I figured: worthless and not needed for 90% of my work, but super handy now and then. Looking down from 80' at trusses, the shadows on the floor and the trusses themselves get a little mixed up, but when setting a big hip roof girder assembly today, all by itself, it was very helpful. In fact, the carpenter motioned for me to cable down, while my camera told me I needed to first boom back a couple feet (couldn't see squat visually) and sure enough, after I came down I needed to boom back, the camera was right. There will be a learning curve to using it, and I have decided to not tell most of my customers I have it, at least for now, as it really won't change things much from their perspective, more of an aid for me. Loading a 40' fiberglass swimming pool today on a trailer, I was easily able to discern that I was centered up over it before winching up. Truss work may be it's least useful function, get it out in the open with less visual clutter and it's picture quality is plenty good enough, and 100% better than nothing! The 1 1/2" sq tube swing arm, pivots in nylon blocks, all hardware is aircraft/grade 8, and uses nyloc nuts, the blue strap on the 8" junction box, a 6" J box wasn't quite big enough, (for the battery and controller) is NOT the primary means of holding it there, and will be replaced, it is a backup and not really needed but redundant. It will be replaced by stainless aircraft cable. The friction of the camera swing arm can be fine tuned, and I seem to have got it right first time, as there is no wildly swinging driving down the road, or during jack rabbit starts (that's a joke) but it stays dead plumb while I boom up or down. I put a cup of lead shot in the swing arm, just because I had it handy and I figured the mass would make it more stable. As of now, I wouldn't change a thing, other than opt for a better camera image, but not for another $6500.00 .
The 4500 lb. pool job, just loading the trailer, setting it for real Wednesday. Taking a picture of a screen with a phone doesn't really show the picture quality, and the wide angle view takes a bit of getting used to.
That looks handy. I need to get enough other projects done to get back to my hobby crane, and camera... I note that the camera is on the left side of your boom, and the image seems to indicate it's on the right side. Is the image upside down, or mirrored, or am I just thinking wrong? That's assuming the wide dimension of the image is perpendicular to the boom.
I just noticed today while setting some iron at a new dairy, that I need to flip the camera around, easy enough to do, one nut. Didn't notice before as I was looking at it head on, if that makes sense. Like I said, there will be a learning curve! I have a variety of jobs the next few days, not just my usual trusses, that should get me up to speed on how to interpret what it's showing me.
Today, while first off loading some small bundles of roof jack trusses from a semi, while the 60' trusses still on the trailer were blocking my view, as was setting the jacks on the far side of the truck, the camera allowed me to me to scatter them out just right. Plus I was able to see the truck driver unrigging me. No signal person of course, so the camera made the job go quicker, wait a minute... I work by the hour! Oh well, still fun doing the best work you can, and I will be called back to set them after they frame the houses, a new customer, he appreciated the way I offloaded and how I was setup. Got him fooled....
If nobody gets hurt it's a good thing.
Setting a glue lam beam on a restaurant job. I had good viz, so didn't really need the camera, just glanced at the screen once it was in place and took this pic. Also didn't need a signal person, good thing as there wasn't one, as usual on these small jobs. I have a letter into the backup camera people, telling them of my use and how well it's working, BUT a bit more definition/picture clarity would make it over the top successful. I asked if there is any way I could get the wireless capability, with the clarity of the hard wired version. This pic was from about 65' above I a lso recently worked on a dairy job, setting some 4000 pound steel columns behind some 14' high walls. A signal person this time, but he didn't speak English or know crane signals, so I had to interpret what he was yelling and waving about. NOT making this up or trying to be funny, dealing with this while still maintaining a safe environment is all part of the job, and we did keep it safe, it just slowed the job down, I did anyway, once after getting a guy with a little English to talk with the signaler, telling him when he pointed his finger directly at me from 60' away while standing in the shade and wearing a dark jacket, it was hard to tell if he was telling me "I was the man", or he wanted me to move the load the direction he was pointing. Numerous times I got cabled down like they wanted, and then was told to now move the load another 20', they didn't get the whole winch up/while booming down thing. Or the fact that I don't have a control that moves the load away without raising it up, many don't get it's hard to know how much line to let out while extending the boom when you can't see the load, and how it all depends on how much wrap is on the winch drum. They also wanted me to plumb the beams by sideloading my boom, with 95' of stick out, and that wasn't going to happen. This all took place in 25 mph winds, a hundred yards downwind from a feed lot with a big herd in it. And after a 2 hr drive, with the last 2 miles on a washboard road so rough even going at a walking speed I had things moving that never moved before in the op cab and on the bed. Faster didn't help, tried it. The camera came in handy here, at least by helping me getting over the general area, before the finger pointing started again. They thought the job went great and will be calling me back to set the roof beams, but I'm going to be real busy that day, or broke down, or both.
A good bellman can help you squirt and hold just fine. Without it THEY are screwed.
Bellman?? That code or something for signal person? Or a thumb thumper? But do you agree, the rate of rope let down while squirting varies with the amount of rope still on the winch? Doesn't matter that much if they give me some leeway, I can come pretty close to holding it while squirting the boom out or down, but they were cutting it too close, less than 1' above the floor, no viz, lots of wind and noise, and 4 K on the hook. NOT boring, like a lot of truss jobs anyway! If I so, I agree, but these guys were having me winch down until the load was a few inches off the floor, and than wanting me to move it in the direction I think they were pointing....., many feet, toward the J bolts, after a few broken English discussions I was able to get the concept across that it would be better to keep the load a few feet higher while I boomed down and cabled up, than stop me when I was "in the ballpark." I still had sight of my headache ball at this point, to help me, once down the last few feet I could only see the line.
I got a quick response from this crane camera outfit, located in Taiwan. NOT to be confused with China, I've seen a lot of good stuff come out of there, bike frames and other stuff, so the point of origin is of not much concern to me. They didn't come up on my earlier search, my mistake no doubt, as they are a pretty big time outfit. MUCH better pricing than the other big time crane cameras, $1900.00 or so for a complete system. Part of that is their included solar panel, battery, and mounting system for it all, none of which I would need if I went this route. I need to see if they would cut me a price for just the wireless camera and it's receiver. If so, and IF the picture is more HD than what I have now, I may upgrade, as even my current none HD system has shown me how handy a camera can be for my type of work. I will wait and see if my current supplier responds on my query about a camera upgrade. Hello Tom, Greetings! My name is Aria, sales specialist at Scarlet Tech. Thank you so much for your interest in APOLLO M1 Wireless Crane Cameras System . Please see the enclosed datasheet for your reference. About APOLLO M1 Wireless Crane Camera System Apollo M1 is a comprehensive visual assistance designed to improve crane safety and lifting efficiency. It has been adapted by flagship crane companies (such as Beaufort Beatty, Uperio, Raimondi, and Liebherr) on their crawler, mobile, and tower cranes. For small cranes, I highly recommend the single camera setup as listed below: Wireless Hook-View Camera (Wide-angle downward view from the hook block, support IR night vision) Touchscreen Monitor (Full HD LiveView & video recording) Solar-charged Battery (up to 1 week of continuous work hour Price: $1890 USD/set Delivery Time: 2-3 days via DHL express Payment Method: Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Paypal (subjects to 2% processing fee) Warranty: One-year global warranty. All electrical parts (excluding accessories such as mounting brackets, safety lanyards, cables) can be replaced for free against manufacturer defects. Optional Accessories: Wireless Winch-View Camera (up to 4 cameras connection in split screen) 4G Remote Liveview Kit (4G Router & Unlimited iOS/Android app included ➤ LIVEVIEW demo ) If you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me. Kind Regards, Aria ➤ WR-3 PLUS Wireless Crane Anemometer
Just came across this (no work today, cold and very windy), very interesting. I keep thinking of the picture quality of the Go Pro cameras and the drone footage videos, something like that picture quality is what I'm really after. I'll see if I can get a line of communication going with this outfit, but I am unsure what/where their camera transmits, if it could be sent to a screen or it's all just stored digitally. https://www.amimon.com/connex-uav-market/
Bellman = signal person hopefully with great skill Yes I do agree holding a load you can't see is pretty much off the hook LOL.
That Apollo looks like a nice package, but it's a hook mount, so the camera is a fish eye view of 114 deg. Their winch view camera is 104 deg, so that's a little better, but it's still pretty wide to use out on the tip of the boom I imagine.
"Bellman" is from the days before radios. Communication when in the blind was actually by a bell. Had to be great with a engine sitting about 4' behind you in a old friction rig.
BEFORE radios?? Man that's going back a ways! I have shifted gears, and have a new camera and receiver, plus a 10" monitor, all on the way. All HD! The backup camera will be put to other uses so nothing wasted by going down that route at first. The "proof of concept" worked well enough to make me imagine how useful it could be with a better picture quality, and the equipment I have coming in is the best possible in that regard. Still fairly cheap, and my solar power source will still be used so the change over should be quick and easy. Total price now, including the solar, battery and misc. is looking like a shade below 2K, so fairly cheap is relative, but this equipment is on a whole different level than the back up camera stuff. https://www.amimon.com/connex-uav-market/connex-mini/
I worked around a lot of old farts and we still use the term. Bell is faster than the smoke signals.
I am writing this with my home monitor HDMI lead plugged into my newly arrived 10" HD super wazoo 12 VDC monitor, as a test. It is super clear and sharp, as good a pic as my regular 20" monitor, that bodes well for the updated camera system reboot. i had a brief issue with getting some tech support, the antennas they sent for the new transmitter (that the camera plugs into) were meant for drone use, and as such are super light plastic, and I finally got confirmation that I can replace them with more or less standard rubber duckies, that are hard to break as they are flexible. I pulled the "old" back up camera system out today, and by this weekend will have the new system in place. Just an hour or two work. Now that I am a lot more educated on the entire subject of HD cameras and wireless transmitters, way more educated on the topic than when i started this project, I have high hopes it will be very useful, at times. Like today....coming back from a truss job, I stopped at a grain mill to pick a couple seed bins off a roof. No one knew signals of course, and I needed to step out of the cab several times and off the rig to eyeball the pick before winching up. Even after i was crudely guided in, hooked up, and told to cable up, when I looked at it I could see that I was 2 or 3' off center, and with tight quarters I sure didn't want it to swing when I lifted it, and even the crude backup camera system was good enough to show when centered up. This new setup would have been great to have online, whereas the previous several truss jobs it wouldn't be needed. If the camera and transmitter lives up to the HD hype, is half as good as this little monitor, it will be a game changer for some jobs, if nothing else a bit of a time saver and stress reliever, an eye in the sky.
I finally figured out what I need camera wise, I think, once I realized that I needed to search for something with an HDMI output, (in order to be able to plug it into my wireless transmitter) unlike all the drone cameras I was looking at, which have a USB output, and no you can't get a convertor. I have this arriving Friday, https://www.amazon.com/MOKOSE-Industry-CS-Mount-Teaching-Telephoto/dp/B08QJQ4V45 HD, and 4 K, whatever that means, good I think! Maybe better than I need but the transmitter and receiver are, I believe, specced to take advantage of a higher quality camera. I don't understand all the optics mumbo jumbo they call out, but I am so far down the rabbit hole that another few bucks for something that sounds a bit better is no big deal. A bit less than 2K, (for everything) I'll add it all up when finished, but around there. The zoom feature.....may be worthless, or may make all the difference. I'll have no way to control it, I will just have to play with it first and once I find the best setting, see if it stays there or if duct tape is needed. This is one of those projects, that by the time it's finished, I'll have it all figured out, but not before.
A couple of things: that zoom lens is going to be a bit of a pain in the ass. Any changes you make to it you'll also have to manually focus it which means a bunch of dinking around. The other and much more concerning thing is weather, that lens camera combo is not at all weather rated. I have a similar little telephoto POE camera here that I play with and it does pull in a nice image from a distance.
I'm hoping I can get a mild zoom effect, and anything I'd be looking at would be in focus, call it the infinity setting. I anticipate some fooling with it to achieve anything, and then one I hit a happy medium, if the settings don't stay fixed, duct tape will help. Yup, not weather proof, I think I can cobble something up, a mini umbrella of sorts, above it to help out, driving in rain may require pulling the camera, (2 electrical quick disconnects, and a splice in the square tube the camera is mounted to, with a pip pin, it'd take 20 seconds to remove) or a zip lock bag. Possibly wrap it in plastic all the time, with the lens free of course, would suffice. It's parked inside at least. Once I see what the picture looks like, if good enough to be real handy, it may be worth just buying a camera now and then, a lesser version can be had for quite a bit less then $100.00, if the zoom feature proves worthless. A backup plan is to get a outdoor camera from the same outfit that makes the transmitter and receiver, they do offer one, but I didn't know that until I ordered what I have and it arrived. And my setup may deliver better picture quality, costs less by several hundred dollars, so replacing a camera now and then may not be a deal breaker.
cha-ching , cha=Ching , cha-Ching..
Fly on over and get me and I will help you with it one weekend The focus on those little telephotos are touchy. I suggest setting it up while pointing the camera horizontally at a measured target at ~100' range. That should work fine when you get it on the boom.
I'm using antennas not designed for this, proper ones are on the way, but it's working! On this credit union job last week, lifting trusses with a Connex in the way, it proved handy. NOT at all critically needed, just handy. After the first pick, my LMI told me where to drop the hook of course, where the camera cam in handy was when I could see them rig me and start to walk back into my POV, or not. Not sitting there blind and waiting was nice, waiting and being able to see they were talking with a third person (also out of my view, without the camera) thus the delay was, handy. When setting the trusses behind a parapet wall, my LMI again got me dialed into setting them more or less 24" further and further away, but they didn't tell me one batch of trusses were on 12" centers, and doubled up (kept it a secret, like the crew last week who didn't mention the trusses cantilevered 8' out from the top plate) and the camera made sense out of what was confusing me, as my LMI was telling me I had just set the last truss at the same radius. Poor to no signaling, as often happens, it helps a lot. Not quite ready for prime time yet though, besides the antenna I am still fooling with the camera POV, and learning how to set up the 10" monitor, which is smarter than I am.
forgot the pic
Skyking was correct, my first camera with the manual telephoto was too touchy re; focus. I fooled with it enough (hard to do when the boom is up in the air, I needed to have someone up on a roof right at the boom tip, and on the phone with me to get it dialed in maybe) but before I managed to do that, I found another simpler camera and just used it for the first time today: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BZPDRTS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It's depth of field seems to be much more forgiving, though I was surprised to see it still had a manual focus ring, , was hoping it fixed, but once I hit the best compromise on my average boom tip heights, some electrical tape will hold that position. This is the monitor I havhttps:// www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076GZVCP2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1e , and it is working great right out of the box, and I still haven't fine tuned it. I figured the high quality transmitter and receiver deserved a high quality monitor. The first job after I installed this camera was this morning, and I got there early and the home owner and his crew got there late, but I was still able to easily drop the hook on the other side of the house (working blind) some 63' away, I was even able to winch down to the right height, watching it's shadow helped. I purposely dropped it a bit off center to make it easier to reach. After I got it rigged, one guy showed up, and I told him to wave his arms when he was ready. This is exactly the type of job making this camera worth while, working with no signaler on odd ball jobs. I picked it, swung 20', boomed down/cabled up, until he waved to me to stop, it was a huge help. Not as sharp a picture as it will be, but much better then my wireless backup camera ever was, and this will get better once I fine tune it. Here's the price breakdown, best as I recall it: transmitter and receiver $1450.00 battery, solar panel and controller, electrical J box and misc. switches/wiring $150.00 Camera $110.00 Monitor $130.00 Total of $1840.00, we will not figure the cost of the first camera, $185.00, because I say so (I'll sell it on eBay for $50.00, paid $185.00 for it, all part of the education on how to do it right) IF I had to do it again, I would MAYBE go with this outfit, About APOLLO M1 Wireless Crane Camera System, for $1890 (plus shipping) but I was never able to talk to anyone, or get any idea how their specs compared to the high tech Amimon system. Also, I like the way my transmitter is separate from the camera, not all one unit. I consider the camera itself almost a disposable part of the system, some sub $100.00 ones may be all I really need. Amimon also has an all in one unit, but it's $2600.00 and I think my monitor is better. Typical do it yourself project, I made some mistakes, wasted some money getting the wrong thing, but for less than 2 grand I have want I want and can take credit for doing it myself, for better or for worse.
That looks really good for the price. But for any price I don't se how it could be better. Nice and clear, bit of glare on the monitor. Looks very workable. Well done. Was just joking with the Cha ching comment.
Did a job today for one of my best HVAC guys, and was telling him about the new camera system while I was working blind (but with a good signaler) on a high commercial roof. The signaler was also the rigger, so he'd disappear for a bit, then re-appear after he got the HVAC rigged. I told the boss man on the ground, standing by my cab door, "OK, he's got it hooked up, here he comes" just as the signaler came into view again. It was not needed at all, just a parlor trick, to illustrate it's potential usage. Another time he stopped me swinging, but I could see I was off center a couple feet, and I told the boss man "watch, before I winch up, he's going to have me swing to the left a bit more," just as he signaled exactly that. One minor plus, I was able to see when I was rigged to the last load, so I didn't have to ask, (they never tell me, I have to yell/ask) as I like to suck the boom in on the last load as opposed to winching down, just to save a bit of time in getting wrapped up and outa there. Setting trusses today also, working half blind, I was able to see when the one unseen nail bender had his stabilizer nailed in place on his side, there is just a lot more situational awareness now with this setup. I am working out how much to utilize it....., today I could have told the HVAC signaler there was no need to run back and forth to signal me, he could have done it right by the load, under my camera, same thing! I did tell him afterward, so maybe next time we will let the camera do the work more.
My neighbor has a drone which has some features that could solve some problems. The drone can be told to "follow" and/or "circle" a target. If aimed at the corner of a truss it's possible that the gimbal could give confirmation of proper placement. It wasn't terrible expensive (less than $500) and it's survived all kinds of stupidity. If positive opinion is expressed I'll dig up his YouTube channel with lots of footage.
I have the camera dialed in perfectly, this morning as I set a 40' sheeted gable 60' away, with not being able to see the end wall or the two nail benders on the plate line (normally, I would have had to stop and yell at them "hey guys, I can't see thru OSB, and you're not giving me any signals, and I'm not telepathic"), today I just kept booming down/cabling up until the camera told me to stop. After I had winched down to make contact, they got to bracing it without any calls to tip it one or the other, so right where it should be! This thing is a huge stress reliever and a voice saver, and the picture quality today was finally everything I had imagined, sharp, clear, no lag time, just perfect. Having this setup, AND a remote release like Tradesman uses on his truss jobs, is something I am next considering, though i have yet to hear back from the US distributor of the unit he has, I may go domestic, a competing brand that also looks like it works well. I'll post a few pictures in a day or so, just remember it's a cell phone pic of a TV screen.
Keep in mind the actual picture quality is much better than these cell phone pics of the my cab receiver shows. Some sheeted gable work, can't see squat, no signalers, typical, it's a godsend for them. Working on a log home, picking off the stack working in the blind, piece of cake now. Watching the carpenter (blind again) nail his stabilizer, after he get's his second nail in I can see it's time to cable down, I can watch him unhook me and also see that my chain rigging is free of the truss before I boom outa there.
More pics:
I'm doing a big HVAC job at the local high school, with a contractor I work with often. He stays by the parapet wall long enough to get me in the general area, and in my camera's field of view, and then disappears! But now I am watching him on the camera....and the final let down of the 1200 pounds units is just like normal: real slow line speed the last couple inches, lightly touchdown while giving him time to double check the way it's sitting, then down all the way. Late yesterday we had to stop for a big thunderstorm to roll thru, and as I don't have it waterproofed yet I just took it off (one nut, pull two wires). When we started back up I couldn't get it boot up, so we set two units without it and it was patently clear what an advantage having it was. Sure, in a perfect world, with plenty of help, it wouldn't be needed, but he was shorthanded and it made all the difference. Before we did a third unit without the camera, I discovered why it was not working. I had left the lens cap on!
Learned something while wrapping up the HVAC job at the high school: the boom tip dipped below the parapet wall, which is grout filled cinder block, and that blocked the camera's transmitter and I went blind. While my HVAC guy wondered why I didn't respond to his signals It occurred to me the next time I use the camera in this fashion, arrange beforehand that 2 taps of my horn will signal that I lost the signal for whatever reason and that we have to revert to hand signals face to face. My receiver antennas (3 of them, same with the transmitter, something to do with video quality/lag time) are in my cab, mounted about the same level as the LMI, on the rear of my 10" monitor, just to keep the install as simple as possible. Wood framing doesn't effect the signal at all, doesn't blind me, and in this case I had all 110' of stick out, maybe with less stick it would still signal thru the masonry. If it was a chronic problem, I could mount the antennas out on the boom or even higher up in the cab, but it would mean a less clean install, so as long as it works 99.9% of the time I'll keep it like it is.
For the first time ever, I let my boom inadvertently contact something (OSB with 2x6 framing, no harm to the boom at all). It happened after a 9.5 hour day setting trusses on a monster 2 story house that was perched on a hill, and while the previous 3 hours I had 104' of stick out, in order to get the needed reach over the height of the house and being forced to set up right near it, I had thought we were done. So I swung the boom around to the front and had sucked it in to about 50' when the builder then asked me if I could lift up some small bundles of jacks before putting it away. After he told me they would be going into a room close to me, so no need to run the boom way out again, I went ahead and started to do so. Only after we all heard a CRUNCH, did I realize that while I was staring at the 10" monitor, and only lowering the load in the tight spot (and the entire crew of 4 was watching the load, none watching my boom, including me) as it slowly rotated in such a way to fit, (inside an octangle room no less) that I had neglected to pay attention to my boom clearance. It took me an hour or so to fully realize what had happened and why. Normally, pre boom tip camera, my eyeballs would have prevented it, as I'd be looking out at the boom/load (if I could see it.) Now, I was distracted by the monitor. It reminds me of when I'm backing up and looking at my in the driver cab backup camera's screen, (not my mirrors) and then I see some obstruction narrowly miss ripping a mirror off. Too much information, or at least more then I was used to, and I now make sure to continue to scan the mirrors while also using the backup camera, and I will do the same with my boom and the new camera. The crew were not concerned at all about the slightly buggered up framing, as during the previous truss set I was working totally blind and the camera's capability was blowing their minds, they were experienced enough to see it's advantages out weighed a 10 minute repair job on the framing. I was of course lucky to get this wake up call, without any damage, lesson learned.
First pic was the view out the cab window. The kid on the tag line plus the two carpenters all completely out of my view. Second pic is the view from the 10" high def monitor. Third pic the house we were working on, this camera has spoiled me big time, I can't imagine working without it, and don't know how I got along with out it! It's a huge stress and hassle reliever, FOR ME, plus it makes the job go better for my customers. I had a job Friday, for a builder I've never worked with before, and I first thought that I was at the wrong place, as I couldn't see ANY trusses. Turns out, for reasons unknown, every single one was in the backyard, scattered about. No way for me to get back there or even close to seeing them, a custom built application for the camera though, especially as the kid rigging for me was just that, a kid, about 12 or 14 maybe at most. This is typical of residential construction in this area, the rigger and the tag line person being the low man on the totem pole, and the least overall experienced, keeping my job from getting too boring. I seem to have all the little bugs and glitches out of it, the last 40 hours of operation have been faultless. A second 10 watt solar panel, (one wasn't enough to keep abreast of the unit's amp draw, .6) and a cobbled up retainer for the HDMI plug on the wireless transmitter (it would make, at times, intermittent contact, not having a mechanical means to secure it in place, just friction, now it does) were the last two fixes. Once a week I tighten the big nyloc nut that secures the gravity swing arm a 1/4 turn or less), too loose and unless your super slow and smooth booming up or down and it will swing too much. Too tight and it won't auto position straight down, though that hasn't happened yet as I have erred on the too loose side.
Adding some weight to that camera may make it swing less. Relying on tension is going to be a constant battle.
Yeah I forgot to mention I did fasten a chunk of 1" plate to it to do just that, and I have yet to over tighten the pivot bolt (which swivels in a block of nylon), it has never failed to point down, just another little detail I am still playing around with. It can get a little disorienting at times if it does start swinging, I need to remind myself it's not the boom itself, just the camera! I'm doing a HVAC this morning, and the installer is going to be shorthanded, I will be sure to let him know of the camera's capability before we start.
A HVAC job on a mall, (only 65' away but behind the parapet) with only 1 person on the roof, and it took about 10 minutes after the guy left my set up area to make his way up and around to the unit. While I was waiting I figured I may as well get the hook centered up over the load. The removal of the old and set down of the new unit was done mostly with the camera, and a bit with our cell phones on speaker. I also got an extra $160.00 (after offering the out of town contractor to haul it off "for no extra charge") at the nearby scrapyard for the old unit, scrap prices are high right now.
I seem to have finally gotten the last few bugs out of my "system." I have the needed combo of solar power (two 10 watt panels, one on each side of the boom tip) and 18 AH of battery. I snuck up on this setup, only after real world (my first winter with it) use showed that half the battery and solar power would work, in ideal conditions only. Now it can be a gloomy all day long job and I don't run out of power. Once I, and a crew, got used to the camera's capability, having it go out was a big deal! I still take the camera off if it's rain or snow, it's not designed for outdoor use, and extensive searching has not yet found one (at a reasonable price, this one is just a bit over $100.00) with the needed features that is for outdoor use. As a backup, I have added a couple adapters so that I can quickly (one bolt, a couple plugs, but I have to lower the boom to get at it) go back to my all weather backup camera original system. While it's lesser video signal (a bit of lag time, less definition etc.) is hard to take after the hi-def view, it's way better than nothing.
Look at Lorex
Good tip, BUT, the camera's output is via a CAT 5 cable, and that's a deal breaker right there. My wireless zero lag time, hi def transmitter requires a a HDMI cable output on the camera. I can throw these terms around like I know what I'm talking about, but I have learned a lot since starting this little project. I am very pleased with the picture quality right now, couldn't be better (though a controllable zoom would be nice, but that opens another can of worms). If I toast this first camera, I already have a standby one in the shop, but so far not a huge deal to just avoid best I can, heavy precip.
Natman, could you find a plexiglass box to put your camera in so that it would be water prof? They used to do that with to make a camera submersible. The pictures look so good I can see where you would be spoiled having it and hate not being able to see what is going on.
The power and HDMI cable both come down from the top, and my concern is water following them down, directly into the connectors. The camera has all it's input ports on the sides. I could make a drip loop, using longer cabling, and have already made a sheet aluminum top cover, but have not gotten longer cables yet. In a snowstorm like the other day, and driving 60 MPH for an hour, moisture migration could still be an issue. BUT, you gave me an idea, I bet I could find a Tupperware type plastic container (and may have one in the kitchen) of the right size, throw the top away, and once installed with the camera underneath it'd provide top and side protection, that and drip loops on the cable would make it pretty bulletproof. Until I burn up a camera, I will just remove it when needed for the time being, but that's the backup plan.
Probably over kill but could you use connectors that are water proof to the box and short wires to the water proof connectors from the camera. To me after being able to see what you are doing I would hate to go back to working in the blind.
I've used those type of fittings in doing solar work,, they have a compression nut and a rubber gasket that seals up when the nut is tightened, but the problem with these video cables is the big clunky fitting on the end, much larger dia. then the cable itself. I went "quick and dirty", needing another good equipment write off before the end of the fiscal year anyway! $4.29 for this plastic food storage container, and the holes and cables goobered up with Lexal, an adhesive caulking I have used for airplane work. Ace Hardware sells it, 10 times better than any silicone and best of all it's specifically formulated to adhere to all types of plastic. It occurred to me while drilling the holes, a stainless mixing bowl would look a lot better and be more durable. So I will be on the lookout for the right sized one the next trip to the grocery store , call this one a proof of concept.
Function is much more important than beauty!
Doing an HVAC job for a customer last week, I realized he didn't know about my camera system, so I sent him this picture in the middle of the job, and he put two and two together. It saved him running back and forth from the units to the parapet to signal me. This is about as much fun as when I text someone an aerial pic of their jobsite, while still circling overhead! Keep in mind, this is a cell phone pic of a screen, the actual image as I see it is much better. My last mod to the system was replacing the lead acid batteries with good quality lithium ones, (lighter, more capacity, more everything) two to more efficiently fill the space available, wired in parallel. NOT the cheapest I could find, ones with proper BMS's (battery management systems). Having 3 electric bikes and 1 electric motorcycles, this is something I have never cheaped out on, not the place. I think I have less than $2500.00 in it all, somewhere between that and $2000.00, and worth every penny. I had a good contractor/customer ask me on a job last week "OK if we set this sheeted gable in front of you, it has hangar for the next batch of trusses," knowing I have the camera, taking advantage of it. I'm almost disappointed now when I pull up to a job that can't benefit from use of the camera.
A buddy in AZ also in the biz, got tired of me sending him before and after pictures showing how dramatically my camera improves my situational awareness, and my temperment. So I made up two complete systems for him and his employee. Like me they do mostly truss setting/working with carpenters, and also like me, they don't have X ray vision . I will post the cost, when all the bills come in, but about everything has, surprise, gone up since I did mine. This is NOT a pitch to sell them, just a sharing of info. I have easier ways to make a living, this was a favor for a friend. A little beer money would be OK though.
Man, I just read through this whole thread and my first thought was, "If they had had these in the '80's, I might not have sworn off boom truck work."
It's a game changer for me, not so much for the 11K trash compactor I lifted off a trailer today, or the compressor I put up on a roof, but for many/most of my truss jobs where I'm working blind or nearly so, with no signals. I still use my eyeballs and my radius indicator and primitive geometry to figure where the next truss goes, but being able to SEE how I guessed (I can eyeball down the load line once the truss is on the plate, and see if the hook is short, past or dead nuts over the trus, and then fine tune the next one even better. There is a learning curve involved, having the LMI and the HD 10" monitor close together helps a lot.
I finally got the right battery combo, a single plain old 14 AH lead acid, sealed battery. Cheap, about 40 bucks. After first trying dual lithium-ion batteries of 7 AH ea ($120.00 for both) (I would have got a single larger one, but they didn't have one that fit my space, thus the dual) that I was assured would work fine wired in parallel, as a single 12 VDC cell. These batteries offer a lot of advantages, but in this case, for whatever reason, the built in battery management systems (BMS's) seemed to be feuding with each other, shutting themselves down when one got slightly out of sync with the other. High summer temps may have also triggered their shutdowns, or some combo of both. The good news is, almost all of my developmental problems ended up being those hi tech batteries, not the camera or wireless transmitter and receiver. My frequent HVAC and contractor customers are spoiled now, making the system's reliability even more critical. New customers, that don't know I have the camera, are just stunned by how well I operate...., I usually fess up at the end of the job and give the camera some credit, but not always. This job on a modest little home ( only 10' ceilings, in the basement) yesterday, setting the little scissor trusses, a sheeted gable first so I was blind the rest of the set, no problem, no signal person or hollaring back and forth either.