Camaras, what kind and how many

[swampu]

Hello all, I am bringing the Rose around to Bayou Le batre around the end of February for her first trip to the yard in about 7 years. I would like to install a camera system in the engine room to monitor the status of the engines.
My question is, what is a good system and how many cameras do I need? Here is what I am thinking:
1. Oil sump, (pan under each motor to look for oil that shouldn't be there)
2. Front of engine, watch belts and oil coolers for transmission
3. Side of engine center where all the blower, more hoses and fuel lines are
4. Prop shaft, look for excessive water and also give you something to see
5. Exhaust elbow before going up into chase.

That's 10, also I would like them all on a split screen. What is a good cheep system that can handle about 16 cameras?

 

[Bruce B]

Wow! That's a lot of cameras...!
I have no idea what the circumstances are but I might suggest that proper maintenance, a good inspection before a trip, good gauges and a camera or even two should suffice.
Aren't 6-71's some of the more reliable engines made?
Is there a background story?
Bruce

 

[cafesport]

If you find one that can smell I might try one.

 

[rwidman]

Wow! That's a lot of cameras...!
I have no idea what the circumstances are but I might suggest that proper maintenance, a good inspection before a trip, good gauges and a camera or even two should suffice................

I agree but I don't think even one or two cameras should be needed. Unless you are running solo, you can always hand the wheel over to someone else and go check on the engine every hour or two if it makes you feel better.

I just check the fluids every morning, take care of maintenance, watch the gauges and listen and feel how the boat is running.

Watching multiple camera feeds on a screen will take a lot of time away from watching where you are going.

 

[Jeffrey S]

I'm liking products by this company:
https://zositech.com/

They have an 8-camera product. Having 16 cameras is not strange or unusual - at least not for 2017.

I know of other boats with these Zosi cameras. There are some nice features - the cameras are wireless (but can be wired) so all you need is power and a way to reach your WiFi router. The central unit can automatically record all cameras and will automatically cycle memory use giving you the latest recordings to go back to if needed. I think you can easily keep a week of recordings. Both iOS and Android are supported.

 

[Capt.Bill11]

Frankly, that's overkill. To say the least.

Most boats, even larger ones, seem to get along just fine with one or two cameras in the ER.

 

[psneeld]

I could only see it if there were that many worry spots on my engines.


I am considering one looking at the forward part of my engine.


It shows belt, fuel pump, and engine pan where the fluids would collect.


I see it this way...it will show smoke, most likely high pressure fuel spray if resolution is good enough, oil leaks, fuel leaks and coolant leaks as they all migrate to the front of the drip pan pretty quickly.


Any significant accumulation and I would just open the hatch.


Now if the pan drained the other way, I might have a second camera, especially if I could see the shaft and stuffing box. Then again, that might be where I put a second camera if I was going through the whole process and had extra cameras or they were cheap enough. Even spares that could be moved forward and not just sitting on a shelf.

 

[Tuttouomo]

I have one ER camera, installed with my electronic upgrade this past year, and I love it. Bought a second one to give a different angle, but haven't installed it yet.
Being a bilge rat from my time in the USN where we monitored machinery 24/7 and logged vitals hourly, the camera keeps me from wanting to go to ER repeatedly to inspect. I still go while underway, but not as often.

Bill

 

[Nomad Willy]

Cameras are for taking pictures to post on TF.
Lots of people just have too much stuff.

Aboard Cajun Rose having a camera aft may be valuable as I doubt much can be seen in that direction from the wheelhouse.

 

[twistedtree]

I find cameras useful, but only to a limit. A view of your ER will only show gross problem, but that's still good. If something has gone very wrong and a camera alerts you sooner, thats all good. But even with HD cameras you can't see enough detail to detect more subtle problems. That's where periodic ER inspections come into play.

All that said, given the low cost of some camera system, I think there is a good argument for aiming one at every critical area, much like the OP is suggesting. If you have a camera zoomed in close, i think you will see the required detail. So Just load 'em up everywhere. Why not? I can especially see this if your ER is less accessible.

 

[SoWhat]

Dash has oil pressure and water temp gauges. I'm thinking of installing parallel alarms and adding transmission oil temp alarm. Vetus has an EGT sender that I can insert into exhaust hose.

I think cameras are similar to gauges. Only useful if I happen to notice anomalies. Buzzers and red lights are more apt to get my attention

 

[Capt.Bill11]

With ten cameras you'd need a full time crew member just to monitor them.

Very rarely does anything catastrophic happen without warning.

Your daily engine checks should catch the warning signs before all hell breaks loose.

 

[Nomad Willy]

The EGT mentioned by So What out of Boston is an excellent idea IMO.

 

[Sea Q]

On our 90 foot boat we have a camera cycling from the engine room and the mast looking backwards.
The mast one is to check out fast moving boats and jet ski that might be coming up from behind and passing close.
The engine room only one is needed overlooking both engines.
Just for looking what is the condition.
Once on top deck a guest asked if it was normal all the white smoke trailing behind us.
We had no camera at the time.
once in the engine room we found the wet exhaust had blown off close to the block and was water all over making steam.

 

[clynn]

I have a wireless camera in my engine room. I primarily placed it there to monitor the temperature in the engine room while away from the boat and I can pan down to see if my heater is running. It's serves the dual purpose of showing me the engine room while underway as long as the generator is running and the wireless router is powered up. I also have one on the aft deck to monitor the door. I can also sit at work and feel just a little like I'm sitting on the back deck... They are Tenvis cameras off of Amazon. $65 bucks or so and they work great with my iPhone.

 

[gaston]

Now where is that foil hat of mine

 

[swampu]

Great responses, I guess I am in a habit of checking my work boat engine all the time. It has a flat deck, I can raise the hatches when running and walk around and keep constant vigil on belts, hoses and drips. I have gauges with alarms but being the boat caught on fire twice I've got the hebbe jebbe's.

 

[swampu]

I also thought about this, what about the fuel/water seperator. I could place a camara on each of those to let know whats happening with the water and pressure at the filter.

 

[Gordon J]

I have two cameras in my engine room. I have one pointed at each engine. My new chartplotters, Garmin 8212s, will switch between cameras at a predetermined time. I can set it for 10, 20 or 30 seconds.

I agree with those who say that it is overkill. I only have two cameras because the previous owner installed them. I think about the only thing I will see is smoke, steam or a significant leak. When the Engine room is not occupied, i rely on the infrared lights around the lens to illuminate. This eliminates a lot of detail and makes the pictures somewhat grainy.

I check the engines each day before starting out. As far as the vacuum gauges on the fuel filters -- changes are so subtle, that I have plenty of time to react.

Gordon

 

[Yahoo 1]

https://www.tinydeal.com/xm-1080p-h...8bur72&currency=USD&change_lang=1&language=en

IP camera 355 degrees rotate panoramic view with infrared night vision & built-in microphone & speaker, SD card slot for recording video & sound.
Smart QR code configuration for iOS & android app.

Wifi 802.11 b/g/n AND wireless for direct connection : indeed, very convenient is its own built-in Wifi hotspot which can connect the camera directly to your iPhone / iPad (or android devices) for remote monitoring, from Engine Room to pilot house or to fly bridge even if no wifi onboard.

Standard 5 volts USB power.

$36.30 with free shipping. What else ?

 

[sunchaser]

I'm in the ER every 90 minutes when cruising. With eyes and an ER gun lots of visuals can be obtained in 5 minutes, far more than a camera system. But, our DeFever's ER allows this as do many other vessels.

Without good ER access a FEW strategically placed cameras but more importantly - instruments - should be employed IMHO. Design enters into it as well. Some motors have the drive belt turning the RW pump, losing his belt could prove a nightmare. On our vessel losing a drive belt only shuts down an alternator.

 

[HenryD]

Can your chartplotter split screen and show cameras?
I have 4 camera inputs into my chartplotter - the camera facing the behind the boat is on one part of the right chartplotter all the time. I have two cameras in the engine room that I do not normally display...but I did find them useful when I had a tiny antifreeze leak from a waterpump. I aimed the camera at the leak pad under the engine, and I could watch that the leak never got bigger than 2".

 

[Jeffrey S]

Here's a picture I dug up from aCappella's engine room through a tilt/swivel camera in IR mode with no lights on in the engine room - it's totally dark. Presets allow quick positioning to different areas allowing one camera to handle multiple needs.

This picture shows that the camera is good enough to see the Racor needle position which is what this preset was for. Open the picture for full resolution to see what it looks like on the iPad.

 

[dhays]

That is pretty impressive Jeffrey.

 

[CaptTom]

OK, with prices in the $35 for a single PTZ IR camera, to under $200 for a full system with NVR and 4 higher-end IR cameras, there seem to be lots of options here.

I did once buy a cheap car "backup" camera and small monitor, but the monitor paints an imaginary parking space on the screen, making it sort of useless for other things. If I could get one without that feature, I think it would work well for an ER or just to give a view from another angle (top of mast, or looking aft.)

My MFD doesn't have camera input, so to me a WiFi solution that I can view on a phone or tablet would make sense.

Thanks to all who've offered some good ideas!

 

[Jeffrey S]

Check out this website for backup camera options:
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