I have a 4 camera security camera setup, two cameras point to the street outside where a camera on the shed sees the traffic coming and another on the back of the shed sees traffic going. Since we live at the end of a dead-end street, the neighborhood gets interested whenever someone goes up to the end of the street.

Most of the time, when a car goes by, it comes right back as soon as it discovers there is no outlet. These cars aren`t of much interest. It is the occasional car or truck that goes up the street and doesn`t just come right back.

To solve this issue, I volunteered my two street cameras to my neighbors, thus creating the first coming and going traffic cam in "the hood." Cars that stay too long can be visited, or you can simply note the license plates.

One of my neighbors intends to hookup the feed to an old VHS tape recorder. He can change tapes every couple of days, and if someone is up to "no-good," he has a recording to turn over to the sheriff.

All in all, this Neighborhood watch setup works great. It is possible that we could use the same type setup on another part of the street, then next thing you know our whole mile long neighborhood road is on line and discouraging parking couples, drinking parties, and wood pirates stealing our firewood.

When I saw the article "Homemade Home Security", in Make Magazine (Make:30 page 44) and I saw how simple it was to switch NTSC (1v peak to peak) video signals using CD4066`s, I got inspired to build a two-camera (of the four total) switch of my own. I made some mods appropriate to my junkbox parts using up an old 8-pin picAxe 08 part. I blew a few dollars on a perf-board, two 6-pin DIN jacks, and the old CD4066, some LEDs and a switch to "freeze the picture" on just one camera.

So I can allow the circuit to operate on it`s own, or (so far only for debugging) I can manually turn one camera or the other on continuously. The output terminals on the two 1/4`s of the quad CD4066 go straight into the rf terminal on a SIIG USB 2.0 VIdeo Capture Device in a laptop running the free software: YawCam from YawCam.com.

YawCam let`s me feed my constantly switching street cameras "coming" and "going" to the internet. That`s the secret to creating a Modern, High Tech, Neighborhood Watch System.

The cameras plug into Whatever the connector types you have on your cameras. First you make essentially an extension cord with plug on one end and the socket on the other.

You can test your wiring before you hook up the power supply.

Note how we grab the 15VDC to the camera putting it through a 5V regulator to supply the power for the CD4066 and the picAxe 08m. Note the variable resistor that controls timing transitions between the camera views. How fast this churns depends on the speed of your internet connection as well as how slow the web server operates on whatever you use. I use an old laptop.

Here is the sofware listing in picAxe basic. It is very simple and straightforward. The hardest part was wiring the plugs and connectors together. Although I cannibalized a monitor and keyboard plug, I`d recommend you use two of the same, simply because it gets confusing to keep up with 12 pins of wiring for the input and outputs it will be easier if you are using the same colors for both connections.

`-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
; ***** Switch Analog Sources *****
`-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Filename: switch8_1.bas
; Date: 06/05/12
; File Version: 1.0
; Written by: Jim H
; Function: switching two camera sources
//Thanks for the idea Make:30 p-44, David Bodnar
`-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
` ------------------------------------------------------------
` Compiler Directives
#picaxe 08M
` ------------------------------------------------------------
` System resources
;pin 1 V+
;pin 2 Serin
;pin 3 ADC4,Input4
;pin 4 Input3

;pin 5 Input2
;pin 6 Output1
;pin 7 Output0/SerialOut
;pin 8 0v

`-------------------------------------------------------------

symbol camB = 1 ;pin6
symbol camA = 0 ;pin7
symbol control = 4 ;pin3
symbol holdA = pin2 ;pin5
symbol holdB = pin3 ;pin4

symbol delay = w6


main:

readadc10 control, Delay ;pin3
delay = delay * 5
delay = delay + 500

hold2:
low camB
high camA
pause Delay
if holdA = 0 then
pause 20
goto hold2
endif

hold1:
low camA
high camB
pause Delay
if holdB = 0 then
goto hold1
endif
goto main:

//Thanks for the idea Make:30 p-44, David Bodnar