An Inexpensive Way to Have Home Security Camera

Monitoring System

Nesa Karad, M. Eng.

Electrical Engineer

With only a laptop and web cam you can have an effective surveillance system, that
will make your home more secure while you are away to work, school, or vacation.

What you need is

• Laptop, does not have to be the newest model. An old laptop will serve
perfectly for the purpose.
• Web cam that you usually use to chat with friends over the web.
• Free downloadable program called SupervisionCam. It can be downloaded
here, www.SupervisionCam.com.
• Access to internet

Figure 1. Home Security Camera Monitoring System

To start the security camera system setup, connect your web cam to your laptop and
make sure it is working.

Step 1. Download and install SupervisionCam program from the web site
www.SupervisionCam.com. It is enough to download shareware version because the
only limitation is the logo that will appear in the small portion at the bottom of the
screen. You can also download the free SupervisonCam installation program from the
web site http://www.SuperDeterrent.com/SupervisionCamSETUP.zip

Step 2. After the installation is complete make sure that SupervisionCam can
recognize your camera. Please check the camera at this window: select menu item
Configuration\Configuration1.svc.

At this point you are, essentially, set for surveillance of your home. Mount web cam
on the shelf so it has the view of the whole room.

Step 3. Make additional settings in the SupervisionCam program. Navigate quickly to

menu item Configuration\Settings and chose tab Send Message/Mail. Here is the
screen snapshot:

Figure 2. Send Message/Mail settings tab in SupervisonCam program.

I would recommend setting “Do not send more than one mail in 2 min” and “Attach
max 5 images”.
The program will send you images whenever a motion is detected in the room! It’s
amazing, quick to setup, and reliable system.

Navigate other tabs and tune, if you want, other settings. Most default settings are
already nicely chosen.

Turning on the monitoring system when you are leaving your home

Just turn on the laptop, make sure web cam is connected and mounted in the place
you want, and start SupervisionCam program. Select the most recent configuration
you have saved and click the “eye” button to start supervision. You can set the
delay in the tab “Motion Detection”.

In order to prevent and deter burglars to enter your apartment or house you can
play burglar deterrent sounds. These are household sounds recorded on CD, and
with appropriate volume on your player, you can make impression, to whoever
listens outside your front door, that your apartment is occupied, while you are away.
An excellent product is one hour MP3 file (you can burn up to five CDs from it, as per
web site) that can be downloaded from here, from the site
www.SuperDeterrent.com. Clear, crisp household sounds that can be heard, will
make an excellent deterrent for any burglar who may be checking your apartment
while you are away.

If you are going on vacation, I would recommend the following combination, which I
use as well. SupervisionCam program with web cam constantly monitoring the room,
www.SuperDeterrent.com MP3 file that plays in the background making your home
looks and sound occupied, and automatic light timer that will turn on and off lights
during the day and night, in your home.

The elegance and beauty of this monitoring system is that it is really inexpensive,
yet very effective. Assuming that you already have laptop and web cam, you will pay
$3.99 for one hour MP3 file burglar deterrent sounds from www.SuperDeterrent.com
and around $15 or less for the automatic light timer. You don’t have to invest in UPS,
uninterruptible power supply, in the case that power goes off. If there is a power
outage, your laptop will use its own batteries. And light timer has already built in
backup batteries as well.

I hope this article helps your efforts to increase your home security and that will
make your vacation even more relaxing.

Cheers :)