Pole mount for RLC-423S?

Steven Kan

I wanted to mount my spiffy new RLC-423S against a fence in my apiary:

[url=http://www.kan.org/download/ApiaryPanorama.jpg][img]http://www.kan.org/download/ApiaryPartial.jpg[/img][/url]
(click to ginormify)

so that the camera faces inward, toward the hive entrances the face to the right (they've been moved backward/eft by about 18" since that photo was taken).

The vertical bars in that fence are square in cross-section, so I need something like a pole mount.

I ended up [url=https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B072JCQDCW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1]buying this box[/url], and modifying it as follows:

[img]http://www.kan.org/pictures/Enclosure.jpg[/img]

Holes drilled to match the camera, to bring the cables into the box, and for the [url=https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EJLZSI4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1]waterproof egress[/url]:
[img]http://www.kan.org/pictures/Drilled.jpg[/img]

[url=https://www.homedepot.com/p/DANCO-6-in-x-6-in-Rubber-Packing-Sheets-59859/303689103]Gasket material[/url], cut and punched to match:
[img]http://www.kan.org/pictures/Gasket.jpg[/img]

Wired up with a [url=https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J6JP8XE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1]passive POE extractor[/url] and a short length of Cat5e. The matching injector is at the other end of the cable, along with the bundled Reolink power supply. This camera also works with 802.3af, but I don't have a POE switch down in the shed where this is all connected. This mass of cabling is why I needed the enclosure. Reolink does supply a waterproof coupling for the Ethernet connection, but they don't supply a way to protect the other cables in the octopus. And I ended up need every cubic inch inside the box. Once it's all coiled up, it's a pretty tight fit:
[img]http://www.kan.org/pictures/Connected.jpg[/img]

All screwed together. I needed some 1/4-20 x 3/4" bolts and nuts to attach the camera to the lid, because Reolink supplies only wood screws and drywall anchors. I put a dab of silicone into the original cable egress hole on the camera housing (not shown). I also have half a sheet of that rubber packing material glued to the back side, where it will snug up against the fence:
[img]http://www.kan.org/pictures/Assembled.jpg[/img]

I couldn't find U-bolts the same width as the mounting holes in the enclosure, so I bought a length of [url=https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-4-in-20-tpi-x-36-in-Zinc-Plated-Threaded-Rod-802217/204274011]1/4-20 threaded rod[/url] and made my own and wrapped them with a bit of duct tape:
[img]http://www.kan.org/pictures/UBolts.jpg[/img]

Originally I thought I was going to put these on in the reverse orientation, and then put a length of metal on the opposite side of the post, but my U-bolts weren't bent perfectly, nor at a sharp enough angle to permit that, so I have the nuts on this side. The original thought was also why I put the cable egress on the side instead of the bottom, since I thought it was going to interfere with the U-bolt. This works better, because I need fewer pieces, but I do have to turn the nuts a lot, and it's a bit difficult to tighten the last few turns, with little clearance, wearing beekeeping gloves:
[img]http://www.kan.org/pictures/UBoltAttached.jpg[/img]

And here it is, in service. The rubber backing and the duct tape actually work very well to keep the camera secure against the fence. I don't have to tighten the nuts very much. In fact I need a lot of slack to move it up and down into position, because it really wants to stick to the fence:
[img]http://www.kan.org/pictures/Mounted.jpg[/img]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/user/IAmTheWaterbug/live]Live stream is here[/url], but it's intermittent while I'm testing:

[img]http://www.kan.org/pictures/BeeCam2018.jpg[/img]

The stream doesn't work all the time. I have a Raspberry Pi acting as an [url=https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=136381&start=125#p1150700]ffmpeg relay[/url] right now. It uses ffmpeg to grab the RTSP packets from the camera and push them to my RTMP YouTube channel. It does no resizing or re-encoding, but it does do some minor repackaging into flv format. It only takes a few CPU%, but it quits every so often for reasons that I'm still trying to figure out.

It would be nice if Reolink could offer a pole mount and a way to protect the other cables when their POE cameras are mounted outside, but not against a wall.

FongJeng Kum

That is just one awesome DIY job there!
I admire your work.
I too use junction boxes to hide those cables inside for my outdoor IPCs.

It's so fun doing that!