Camera security systems

[Caleb]

Cable? Underground or above ground... maybe I'm misunderstanding the question. Were you just looking for more tips/pointers as far as best practices?

FWIW, if you find it difficult to run cable you can always go with a Point-to-point wireless bridge. It will cost a little bit but it will save the effort/hassle of running the wire (if you have POE cams you will have to have a separate POE injector in the garage for that cam).


Reducing frame rate is great until the "perp" is moving quickly etc (such as a porch-grab for a package etc) and the point at which he stops to get a clear facial picture just happens to land right between frames...

There are certainly downsides to reducing frame-rate and with the extremely cheap cost of storage, why would anybody choose to do it?

Lets consider that a well put-together 8 cam system is going to cost $1500, 4 TB of storage vs 2 TB of storage is going to cost an extra $100 to allow you to fully utilize the cameras you have (assuming you have 25-30 fps) and still maintain the same storage time-frame. At $100 extra, less than 10% of the system cost, why handicap yourself?

Considered conduit underground from basement of house to garage. Might make for easy cable upgrades later.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Considered conduit underground from basement of house to garage. Might make for easy cable upgrades later.

Bury a pair of them. Or three. You cant run low voltage data and high voltage in the same conduit. I'm sure somebody will chime in with "you can if.." but I'm a purist. The last thing I want is high voltage electrons easily migrating over to my low voltage network stuff at high speed, destroying it. (futureproof)

In my case I just buried two of everything I would ever need and skipped the conduit. One direct burial 12/2 for power, two ethernet, two RG6 quad shield, and two 22/4 (alarm). I almost added fiber, but though that was a bit overkill. (and I didnt have any scrap sections long enough LOL)

This is the wireless setup I suggested. two of these will handle plenty of data for the cameras.
Ubiquiti NanoStation LOCO M5, 5 GHz (LOCOM5) - US Version
Ubiquiti Airmax Universal Mounting Bracket (UB-AM) - US Version

 

[Caleb]

Bury a pair of them. Or three. You cant run low voltage data and high voltage in the same conduit. I'm sure somebody will chime in with "you can if.." but I'm a purist. The last thing I want is high voltage electrons easily migrating over to my low voltage network stuff at high speed, destroying it. (futureproof)

In my case I just buried two of everything I would ever need and skipped the conduit. One direct burial 12/2 for power, two ethernet, two RG6 quad shield, and two 22/4 (alarm). I almost added fiber, but though that was a bit overkill. (and I didnt have any scrap sections long enough LOL)

This is the wireless setup I suggested. two of these will handle plenty of data for the cameras.
Ubiquiti NanoStation LOCO M5, 5 GHz (LOCOM5) - US Version
Ubiquiti Airmax Universal Mounting Bracket (UB-AM) - US Version

High voltage lines? What for?

 

[Cameramonkey]

I'm just a future proof kinda guy. YMMV

dig once, cry once.

 

[Caleb]

But why?

 

[CountryBoy19]

High voltage lines? What for?

I think he means high voltage in relation to the low voltage of signal/comms lines. IE, 120/240. It's not a bad idea to have extra wires just in case.

That being said, the cost of burying extra wires could have paid for conduit which gives a greater deal of flexibility for future connections from house to garage. 6 is one, half-dozen in the other...

IMHO, if I ever have a detached building it will have 2 separate corrugated tiles run to it from the house utility room/area. This will permit a great deal of versatility. Signal lines & non-electrical utilities in 1, electrical lines in the other.

ETA, prior to install, I will run several pull ropes through each so that after wires are pulled I still have a couple pull ropes in each.

 

[actaeon277]

Yup. At work it is standard to run signal cables separate from power cables.
Signals (at work) are usually 40-mA DC, or 0-10 vDC.
Power line run next to them can play holy hell on them through "induction".

 

[Caleb]

I think he means high voltage in relation to the low voltage of signal/comms lines. IE, 120/240. It's not a bad idea to have extra wires just in case.

That being said, the cost of burying extra wires could have paid for conduit which gives a greater deal of flexibility for future connections from house to garage. 6 is one, half-dozen in the other...

IMHO, if I ever have a detached building it will have 2 separate corrugated tiles run to it from the house utility room/area. This will permit a great deal of versatility. Signal lines & non-electrical utilities in 1, electrical lines in the other.

ETA, prior to install, I will run several pull ropes through each so that after wires are pulled I still have a couple pull ropes in each.

Ok...just curious why I would need to run 120v/240v from house to garage since the garage already has its own 120v/240v service separate from the house

 

[Cameramonkey]

Ok...just curious why I would need to run 120v/240v from house to garage since the garage already has its own 120v/240v service separate from the house

And that is why I said YMMV (your mileage may vary). You may not ever need or want to branch it off the house. But if you ever did, you would have conduit ready and didnt have to dig again. (possibly damaging what is already there)


So for your specific case, one conduit with everything in it should be fine. When running cable, trenching, etc the big cost is labor. For me to run an extra wire on a cat5 pull costs me an average of $20 more . It can be $200 in man hours to do it again later. (plus the original $20 for materials) That is why I am a big proponent of "install everything you think you will need then add a couple more for the situations you cant anticipate now".

 

[femurphy77]

Florida Man ... that explains it all.

Should have recognized the color scheme on the coprod!

 

[CountryBoy19]

Ok...just curious why I would need to run 120v/240v from house to garage since the garage already has its own 120v/240v service separate from the house

As cameramonkey said, materials are cheap, labor is expensive. If you're digging the trench (the labor) it can't hurt to put a few "insurances" in for unforeseen future needs.

IE, right now your garage may be on a single 120V circuit for lights, outlets, and garage door (most residential garages are), but in the future you may want to get an air-compressor that requires it's own circuit, or a 220 circuit. Having an extra wire already there gives you versatility for such things.

FWIW, my garage had a single circuit running everything. Throw in a mill, lathe, welder, & large air-compressor and that circuit wasn't up to the task (I needed 220 for them all). I had to run a sub-panel. Thankfully the wire to my elect. range drops in the garage wall and was large enough to support a 60A sub-panel so I didn't have to pull 130 feet of new heavy-gauge wire. I used that run to get power to my sub-panel, installed a 50 amp breaker and a short run from sub-panel to range, then installed all the drops for the above listed equipment. Next "Judy homemaker" that moves in is going to wonder just what the heck I needed 4 220V drops for...

 

[Cameramonkey]

As cameramonkey said, materials are cheap, labor is expensive. If you're digging the trench (the labor) it can't hurt to put a few "insurances" in for unforeseen future needs.

IE, right now your garage may be on a single 120V circuit for lights, outlets, and garage door (most residential garages are), but in the future you may want to get an air-compressor that requires it's own circuit, or a 220 circuit. Having an extra wire already there gives you versatility for such things.

FWIW, my garage had a single circuit running everything. Throw in a mill, lathe, welder, & large air-compressor and that circuit wasn't up to the task (I needed 220 for them all). I had to run a sub-panel. Thankfully the wire to my elect. range drops in the garage wall and was large enough to support a 60A sub-panel so I didn't have to pull 130 feet of new heavy-gauge wire. I used that run to get power to my sub-panel, installed a 50 amp breaker and a short run from sub-panel to range, then installed all the drops for the above listed equipment. Next "Judy homemaker" that moves in is going to wonder just what the heck I needed 4 220V drops for...

I think he means his garage has its own separate, metered service from the pole. Its not likely he will need to run power from the house.

 

[Caleb]

I think he means his garage has its own separate, metered service from the pole. Its not likely he will need to run power from the house.

Correct...separate meters....nice thing about it, won't affect power in the house(tripping fuse, dimming lights, etc. Etc.)

 

[cosermann]

Just a bit of an update. The 500 GB drive in my 4 x 3 MP camera system had been holding about 3 days of 24x7 recording on the NVR. It's now a day over 3 weeks (and counting) using motion detection.

On the question of drive size. There is a balance between security and privacy that I apply in my professional as well as personal life. I want enough video recording capability to support my ability to react to an incident (example - enough to cover vacations), but not so much that it could turn into a fishing expedition (for a lawyer or the .gov) during some as yet unforeseen situation.

Recorded video can be used for evidential purposes both for your benefit, and by others against you. I'd suggest balancing the advantages/disadvantages/risks of both through careful camera placement and an appropriate retention length of recorded video.

So, my goal was to have enough recorded video to be able to cover a couple of weeks - which has been met - but not too much! I do NOT want 12 months of recorded video for example.

Frankly, if the storage capacity gets much longer, I'll probably add cameras until it's where I want it. YMMV.

 

[femurphy77]

Dragging this back up again; what are the limitations on location of the DVR? How do I watch them in the house? I'm assuming they are cord connected to your tv then you just select the input device on your on screen menu to see what the cameras see? Can the DVR be placed in a remotely located position in the house or does it need to be by the tv? Probably the only thing requiring accessibility will be the ability to use a remote control device that utilizes line of sight technology?

We recently purchased a unit and haven't even had time to open the boxes but curious about the install.


Yeah I know open the damn boxes!!!!

 

[Caleb]

Dragging this back up again; what are the limitations on location of the DVR? How do I watch them in the house? I'm assuming they are cord connected to your tv then you just select the input device on your on screen menu to see what the cameras see? Can the DVR be placed in a remotely located position in the house or does it need to be by the tv? Probably the only thing requiring accessibility will be the ability to use a remote control device that utilizes line of sight technology?

We recently purchased a unit and haven't even had time to open the boxes but curious about the install.


Yeah I know open the damn boxes!!!!

Myself, I like the idea of cameras that hook up to dvr via LAN...so you can watch from any computer on the network

 

[Cameramonkey]

Dragging this back up again; what are the limitations on location of the DVR? How do I watch them in the house? I'm assuming they are cord connected to your tv then you just select the input device on your on screen menu to see what the cameras see? Can the DVR be placed in a remotely located position in the house or does it need to be by the tv? Probably the only thing requiring accessibility will be the ability to use a remote control device that utilizes line of sight technology?

We recently purchased a unit and haven't even had time to open the boxes but curious about the install.


Yeah I know open the damn boxes!!!!

Most of them these days use a computer monitor to view them.

 

[cosermann]

Cameras wire back to the NVR, which can be anywhere you can run the wires. NVR has to connect to your network.
Video can be checked from the console (i.e. the NVR via connected display), via a web client on any computer on the network, or via an app on a mobile device.
At least, that's how the current crop of systems work.

 

[femurphy77]

Thanks for the input guys! I'll have to get on this project soon, I'd hate to experience an "incident" and be standing there like a dumbass saying "I sure wish I had that camera system operational"!

 

[firecadet613]

CM, have you installed a system yet?

I have a couple of Foscam IP camera's we installed a few years ago but not set up to record - they bog down our wireless network too much, makes it useless aside from the cameras.

Looking at adding a system - this one or something similar to it. https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-720P...1972318&sr=8-8&keywords=amcrest+camera+system

Just going to be a major PITA to run wire's through a two story house with no good access points. May try and hide the cables with these where I can...
https://www.amazon.com/Wiremold-C11...8&qid=1471972403&sr=8-1&keywords=cable+hiders