Truck Camera System

[ATeam]

This is to put in a good word for TS2 (Transportation Safety & Surveillance, Inc.) of Topeka, Kansas. The guys here completed the installation of a mobile digital video recorder and cameras in our truck in fine style. Their craftsmanship and attention to detail were especially appreciated. Their products and technical knowledge are second to none.

This was a custom installation done with Diane and I at their side, making decisions like where exactly to place that switch, how exactly to mount the monitor into the dash board, etc. They listened carefully to our wishes and made them happen. The result is an onboard surveillance system that looks almost factory-made. The controls are placed exactly where we want them and they look good.

In addition to doing a perfect install, we received about four hours of training on the use of the system from the company's president. It is a versatile and robust system that will take some time to learn. They didn't just install the product and send us out the door. They explained the system's features and software to us in detail.

TS2's product line is in the upper range of the mobile camera system market. This is not a simple backup camera system. In addition to providing live side and rear views, the TS2 8000 simultaneously records input from the eight cameras we had installed. Playback is easy. Simply plug a cable between your laptop and the DVR (digital video recorder) and download the footage you want. It can be e-mailed, burned onto a CD or DVD, or stored on a drive.

The system was not cheap but considering the investment in our truck and driving careers that the surveillance system protects, we consider the money well spent.

If you are in the market for a camera system for your truck, it will be well worth your time to talk to this company. Every system they do is custom built for the truck it goes on. You can include or pass on as many features as you wish.

At TS2, we found the technology to be great and the people greater still.

Check them out at http://www.ts2net.com

 

[cornerstone]

Any updates on this system? Did you have any of the motion sensors installed and if so, how is that working?

Cornerstone

 

[ATeam]

Yes, we had the G-force sensor installed. The system includes a button mounted on the dash. If we push it, the digital video recorder protects that part of the recording so it will not be recorded over when the recorder loops around. If the G-force sensor detects a severe jolt to the truck, it will be the same as pushing the button. If the truck is in an accident and the drivers are unable to push the button or forget to do so to protect the footage, the G-force sensor will protect the footage. Untill it is manually removed, protected footage wil remain no matter how many times the system loops around.

If the system is set on its highest resolution, about 20 hours of recording from eight cameras will be saved before the system loops around. On low resolution it will go five days before looping.

As far as updates go, there is not much to say. The system works as advertised. Having used it for a little while there is one change we will make next time we are near Topeka and can get in to TS2.

We originally put two cameras inside the reefer body to view freight and freight loading from two angles (front to back and back to front). Finding the front to back view to be sufficient, we are going to move the second camera to the outside of the truck to provide a more complete rear view.

The current backup camera points almost straight down to provide a view of the space immediately behind the truck. I LOVE that camera, especially in shopping center parking lots. It used to bother me that even with a truck walk around before backing up in a parking lot, a car or kid or shopping cart might find its way immediately behind the truck after I got into the driver's seat but before I backed up the truck. Now, with a clear view on the dash-mounted moniter of the space immediately behind the truck, that worry has gone away.

The trade-off of having a backup camera pointed almost straight down is a limited view further back. A second camera aimed higher will resolve that problem. Setting the monitor to that camera when we are driving down the road will give us a rear view mirror and back window of sorts.

With seven OEM rear view mirrors already on the cab, the camera system adds little to our rear vision when driving down the road. For that reason, we have been driving mostly with the monitor turned off. Whether the monitor is on or off, 8-camera recording goes on. Adding a second rear-view camera to provide an automobile-style rear view on the monitor will give us a reason to drive with the monitor on all the time. I think it will be great to see the cars behind the truck that you cannot easily see, and sometimes cannot see at all, with your rear view mirrors.

Power consumption is there but managable. At night with the truck and all other components except the refrigerator and inverter turned off, the system will run about 7 hours before the battery voltage drops to the point where the generator automatically kicks in.

We could reduce the systems power consumption without reducing our parked-truck coverage by turning off the two reefer body cameras and the license plate camera (a forward pointing camera with higher magnification that points down and ahead of the truck to capture tag numbers). The other two forward-pointing cameras are not magnified and provide full coverage across the front of the truck. If the truck is parked in a safe place, like at home, we simply turn the entire system off.

The heart of the unit is the same thing TS2 uses for some of its other customers. It's an amazing system. School districts use it in their school buses with live Wi-Fi feeds. An administrator can literally sit at his or her desk and monitor live everything that is going on in their buses. When each bus pulls into the barn, the recordings automatically download onto a server and archived. If the G-force sensor activates an alarm goes off at the school. If the system is undamaged, administrators can view the event even before the emergency responders arrive and especially before the reporters.

Wi-Fi connections for school buses are easier than it would be for trucks because the buses have established routes.

Some city police departments, working with businesses, are using the system to "patrol" the inside of locked buildings with monitors on the police dispatchers' desks.

 

[clcip]

Not to get too awfully nosy, but would you mind giving us a "ball park" figure of how much a system like yours would cost? It sounds terrific. One accident and it could easily pay for itself in providing indisputable proof of what happened. Not to mention the CYA you get from recording the load.

 

[Mileater]

I saw this camera setup for a laptop with "Evocam" software that does just about anything you want for only $25.00 plus whatever the camera costs which they are cheap now. It has a motion sensor that starts recording 15 seconds films when it sees movement, and I'm sure that's flexible. Also it will take a picture every few seconds, even simultaneously with the motion sensor if you desire. Only thing it's only for Macs, I'm sure there must be something for other computers, probably even better. I'll run a search when I have time.

 

[davekc]

A set up is relatively inexpensive. We have a relative that has a camera in several rooms. They are essentially called a nanny cam.
If you want close ups, just change the lens. They have waterproof ones as well for outside use. They can be ran on any computer or a vcr type set up.








Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[ATeam]

> Not to get too awfully nosy, but would you mind giving us a
>"ball park" figure of how much a system like yours would
>cost? It sounds terrific. One accident and it could easily
>pay for itself in providing indisputable proof of what
>happened. Not to mention the CYA you get from recording the
>load.

About $6,000, and this ain't no nanny cam.

 

[davekc]

I would be curious as to the difference as I know a driver that runs this on his truck for several years. Monitors the outside and the inside of the freight box. It also has a bumper and dash cam. He had 2500 into the whole system. $6,000 sounds to high unless I am missing something.





Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[Paul56]

We have a video monitoring system on our truck as well.

Very handy tool that provides a certain peace of mind, security and something of an insurance policy too. For example, if we hear noises outside at night we check the cams to see what is going on if anything. Agreed on the rear view cam being almost a must have.

Exterior cams sides, front and back as well as inside the box, living quarters and cab along with some cams providing a view beyond the immediate vicinity of the truck. It operates 24/7. About the only place there isn't a cam is in the engine bay and underneath.

Purchased 4 years ago at roughly $4000 CDN off the top of my head kit n' kaboodle for the outfit. Perhaps more today. <shrug>

 

[greg334]

$6000 is too high, it should be more like $4000 or less with the DVR and all the cameras. But I have no doubt Phil did his homework and made an informed decision.

I helped a company that designed the motion sensing system for school buses that bluebird and other companies use (it does a lot more than sense motion of objects). I know their system for a bus, including the certs is around $5500 with the standard 5 cameras. This is a more intergrated system than what Phil has.

The DVR portion is nothing new, I have a 6 channel video card (of course with 6 cameras and can expand it to 128 cameras if I want) running on a standard PC recording events like this morning event where my dogs discovering that skunks don't like to be attacked (just got finiished cleaning them up and I am soooo sick from the smell). The software I use is free (and windows based and I can not think of the name and too sick too care to look). I can do all kinds of things with it, split/quad screen, motion detection on specific cameras and sending it through the internet. I have the ablility to use external triggers to change camera displays and of course I can record all the cameras, set individual channels to either archive or reuse the space at a set time and a whole bunch of things.

Taking this system and putting into my truck would not only be possible but easy. I recently found out that I could combine the system I have with another unit that ties in ultrasonic distance measuring with a target pattern on the sreen for backing up. I heard of someone working on an intergration with Eaton's VORAD system and a DVR system.

 

[Mileater]

Here's that Evocam software put to use to catch a glimpse of a rodent. I think Webcam XP Pro is the windows based alternative to Evocam.

http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/mouse.html