Introduction: DIY PTZ Dome Camera

In this instructable I'll show you how to mod a security camera into a panning camera by using accessories found on the web; you can use this same instructions to make pan/tilt camera by just upgrading the electric bracket; here is the list of things you'll need and links from where I bough mine (for about $50 depending on what deals you can get, the links provided are just for convenience and might not the cheapest price to be found on eBay so do your own research)

Tools:

Soldering iron, 0.5 mm solder and soldering paste (electrical)
Drill (cordless is easier to work with)
Drill bits 3/16 & 1/4
Dremel with cut off wheel and sanding drum attachments
Silicone (outdoor use/weather resistant)
Quick setting epoxy (Harbor Freight)
Small and medium Philips screw drivers
Heat gun and 3.5 mm heat shrink tubing (got mine from Harbor Freight for $9 and works great)
Hot glue gun

Parts:

800 TVL dome cctv camera ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/800TVL-1-4-CMOS-Color-12-IR-LED-Dome-Video-Camera-NTSC-3-6mm-Len-CCTV-Security-/191453935278?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c938b36ae )
Right angle wall bracket ( http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=191453935278 )
Panning bracket ( http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=131341406952 )
OR Pan/Tilt bracket ( http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=261723962022 )
Blue pulsating LED ( http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=390751847234 ) OPTIONAL!
Siamese cctv cable with RS-485 connection (for controlling your camera movements via DVR)


I highly recommend you read this instructable at least twice before attempting to make it, when modifying the cables I tried to make it as clear a possible but you really need to see the way the camera will move to understand how your wires/cables should look.

Step 1: Attaching the Camera to the Wall Bracket

Picture #1.First take the camera cover and assembly apart so you'll end up with the black round plastic part that is supposed to be screwed to the ceiling.

Screw 3 of the provided screws as shown (picture shows 4 screws but you only need 3) in the picture and place the black round plastic upside down. Flip both of pieces together and drill thru the hole that's missing the screw using the 3/16 drill bit and then remove the screw from the opposite side and use that screw to hold the black round plastic to the bracket in the same way (upside down) and now drill the hole where you remove the screw; this screws will help keep the black plastic centered on the bracket, repeat the same process on the other two screws so that you end up with four screws aligned to the right holes on the bracket just like the last picture.

Step 2: Cut the Electric Brake Arm

First make sure the electric bracket is pointing straight to the front and mark a straight line rom top to bottom so that after dissembling and reassembling this part you'll be able to align the base (I didn't think about this so there are no pics) this way when it's time to glue the part to the wall bracket you'll know it's pointing straight where is supposed to.
Now dissemble the electric arm and take all the parts out of it.
Next attach the bracket cover and only back the screw on the metro housing to hold both pieces together so that you cut both pieces at the same time, now grab your Dremel with the cutoff wheel attachment and chop the arm away from the stepper motor housing, discard the arm piece.
Next use the Dremel with the drum sander attachment and sand the excess plastic of so that you end up with a fairly round piece and also sand the rest of the side of the housing to leave a rough surface that will aid when it's time to glue the pieces together.
Now put the parts back inside the housing, the control board (the green board with all small parts solder to it) don't need to be connected at this point.
Place the assemble motor housing on the white side of the wall bracket/black plastic that you assemble before and center it on the hole (the hole will be about 1mm too small all around) and use a marker to outline the area to be sand away using the sanding drum attachment on the Dremel tool, make sure to check constantly so that you don't take too much plastic off and end up with a larger hole that will be hard to fill, I used a hole drilling bit to remove the excess plastic faster and the used the sanding drum to make the hole the right size.

Step 3: Attach the Motor Housing

Using a 50-50 mix of epoxy and hardener glue the motor housing to the wall bracket making sure the motor housing it's pointing to the front of the bracket.

Step 4: Modifying the Wires

Now comes the tricky part, the cable from the electric bracket has two power connectors (one for power going in and one out to plug the camera) and the rs485 for communication (controlling the panning), we'll need to cut off all the wires at the junction where the connectors are joined into one cable(pic #1).

Pic#2 use a piece of heat shrink tubing to secure and protect the wires and plug that connects to the logic board.

unplug the cable from the camera and we'll need to cut the power wires (black and red) that plug on the IR logic board as far away from the plug as you can, this should leave enough slack to allow the camera to rotate from side to side without damaging the wires. You shouldn't cut the wires going to the camera logic board.

Pic#3 splice the black and red wires from IR plug and electric bracket together (black to black and red to red), splice only the red LED wire but leave the black LED wire alone (on the pics #3 & #4 you can see I spliced the black LED wire but that's wrong, on pic #5 you notice that the red LED is actually spliced with the red wires)

Pic#4 use heat shrink tube to protect the connections.

NOTE: the yellow and white wires won't be connected to anything at this point, however those two wires are attached to the electric bracket plug.

Step 5: Set Up Logic Board and Camera Assembly

Pic#1 set the electric bracket logic board on the wall bracket (inside upper compartment) and use a screw to attach it to one of the holes on the wall bracket, just make sure the head of the screw doesn't bridge any of the electrical parts/surfaces and add a drop of hot glue to hold it in place; also put a drop of hot glue in every one of the wall bracket holes.

Pic#2 drill a hole for the LED running from the wall bracket compartment to the bottom and run the LED through the holes, the LED should fit tightly on the bottom hole so the it won't move out of place.

pic#3,4 & 5 take the camera assembly and remove the metal bracket, on the camera side of this bracket cut off both sides between both screw holes so that there will be only one hole on each side to screw the metal bracket back to the camera assembly.

pic#6 align the metal bracket on top of the electric rotating platform making sure its pointing straight and its centered before using the epoxy to permanently glue the parts together ( note the way the metal bracket is layed and dry fit it with the camera to make sure the camera will be free to rotate inside the dome enclosure.

Step 6: Plug Everything and Test

At this point all the wires should be plugged back and you only need to use the male power connector that we previously cut from the electric bracket (using the male plug will prevent plugging the power supply in the rs485 connection) and wire it to the rs485 from the camera unit, wrap the connections with electrical tape and use heat shrink tubing to protect them.

Now connect and test the unit and make sure everything works (pan, video feed and LED), use black electrical tape to cover the openings on the wall bracket cover (pic#4 &#5)

Use the flexible adhesive to seal all the gaps and openings as noted on pic #6 & #7(around the dome assembly).

Step 7: Mount and Brag

Now that your unit is assembled and working, mount it and brag about it to your neighbors and friends... And everyone passing by while you mount your new camera.

see it in action:
https://youtu.be/3fFNDbWIgJI

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