Designing a CCTV system involves defining the purpose, covering areas, choosing the right camera types, resolution, low-light and night vision, storage and recording, remote access, and integration. HiTools Designer is an affordable, easy-to-use web-based tool that assists in every step of designing and launching a security system. It can help you quickly select the right camera for your needs, including field of view, lens focal length, camera resolution, PPM/PPM, and more.
Creating a DIY security camera system requires determining objectives, selecting the right number and type of cameras, proper placement, and considering potential blind spots and entry points. Five best practices that our community uses when designing security camera systems include:
- Designing your home or business security system like a pro by locating cameras and their viewing areas to provide a visual of effective coverage.
- Using a program-calculator and CAD program to locate video cameras on the plan while recalculating and redrawing viewing areas.
- Keep an eye out for key features, such as high-definition video resolution and motion detectors.
- Considering features such as mounting and camera housings to ensure a suitable unit for the environment you are installing it in.
In summary, designing a CCTV system involves defining the purpose, covering areas, choosing the right camera types, resolution, low-light and night vision, storage and recording, remote access, and integration. Utilizing tools like HiTools Designer and IP Video System Design Tool can help you design a secure and efficient system.
📹 How To Plan, Run Wires, & Setup a WIRED PoE Camera System! || Reolink 8CH 5MP System Review
I do this all with the Reolink 8CH 5MP PoE Home Security Camera System. Enjoy! BUY THE AWESOME STUFF SEEN IN …
What do I need to set up a home CCTV system?
When choosing a security system, consider the five essential components: camera, monitoring station, cables and routers, video recorders, and data storage. Cameras can be IP or analog, with IP being the preferred choice due to compatibility with most devices. Different types of cameras can be installed, such as dome, bullet, and covert cameras. The number of cameras needed depends on the desired angles, area, and resolution.
A monitoring station is crucial for viewing recorded images and footage. The number of monitors depends on the area being monitored and the size of the facility. For small facilities, three to five screens may be sufficient. However, monitors can be added or removed at any time to match camera compatibility.
How to design a camera security system?
Designing a security camera system for a small business involves a thorough security assessment, determining the type of security system needed, selecting the recording equipment and storage capacity, determining the placement of cameras, using a mix of cameras, and creating a plan for monitoring the system. Small businesses are at risk from various criminal activities, including theft from customers and employees. To enhance security and deter crime, consider the type of business, the size of the business and operations, and the number of cameras needed.
For example, a retail store may require cameras that capture face images, while an office may require cameras that can pan, tilt, and zoom (PTZ) for better viewing. The size of the business and operations also play a role in the number of cameras needed. By considering these factors, small businesses can enhance their security and deter crime.
How many CCTV cameras does a house need?
A house should have between two and six security cameras, with most people requiring two to four outdoor cameras and at least one indoor camera. The exact number of cameras needed will vary by property size, entry points, and outdoor space. When evaluating the cameras, consider cost, as small houses may require three exterior cameras, while large-scale properties or businesses may require up to ten cameras for maximum coverage at a higher cost. Whether you want to monitor interior, exterior, or both, finding the ideal number of cameras is essential for maintaining security in your home.
How to design a CCTV layout?
The design of CCTV systems involves estimating lens focal length and the right location of video cameras to provide the necessary parameters for view areas, detection, identification, reading license plates, and obtaining an object image. This task becomes more complicated when multiple cameras are needed or when one camera solves multiple tasks. Additionally, calculating how an object will be displayed, where the motion detector will detect a person with enough light and contrast ratio, and where it will not, can further complicate the task. Obstacles that distort viewing areas and dead space under the camera can further complicate the problem.
There are various ways to solve these tasks, such as accurately calculating viewing areas for various heights and lens focal lengths using self-deducted formulas or formulas taken from guide books, using a Lens calculator for easier calculations, or drawing on plans only from lens specifications. Many people ignore these calculations due to their complexity and labor-intensiveness, opting for wide-angle lenses or the most expensive ones from the producer’s price list.
What is the best format for CCTV?
H. 264 is more efficient than MPEG-4, making it ideal for CCTV systems with limited bandwidth. JPEG2000, similar to JPEG but using wavelet transform, offers better image quality and decompression of lower resolution representations, useful for motion detection algorithms. However, it requires higher CPU performance. Online and Windows versions of CCTV bandwidth and storage space calculators are available.
Is 4K better than 1080p for CCTV?
4K video is a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, providing quadruple the number of pixels in detail compared to 1080p HD video. It is ideal for video surveillance, as it allows for better visibility of details like faces at a farther distance. In a comparison between Warrior IP Camera models, all three models perform admirably at 20 feet and 25 feet, with license plates legible on all models. However, the 4K IP Camera has minor text around numbers, despite being five feet farther away.
What are top 7 types of CCTV cameras to suit your requirements?
Al Mazrooei Security Systems (L. L. C.) offers various CCTV cameras, including bullet cameras, C-mount cameras, day/night CCTV cameras, infrared/night vision CCTV cameras, varifocal cameras, and wireless CCTV cameras. These cameras are essential for home and office security, protecting assets from threats like theft, fire, and water damage, and employees from violence or accidents. While not a replacement for human security guards, CCTV cameras provide a form of surveillance to monitor people around us. They help protect businesses and homes from unwanted visitors or intruders, ensuring the safety of both the business and its employees.
How to choose home CCTV system?
Wireless cameras offer higher picture quality and reliable streaming, but are less weather-resistant, hackable, and limited by electrical outlets. They are easier to conceal and versatile, but require batteries, which can be expensive. Weather-resistant equipment depends on climate, threats like insects, sun damage, and vandalism. Camera shapes can be obvious or discreet, with obvious cameras like domes designed to deter criminals.
How to design a DIY home security system?
In order to guarantee the security of one’s residence, it is essential to ascertain the requisite level of security, meticulously deliberate the selection of control panels, opt for wireless systems, assess the functionality of exterior lighting, attach sensors to windows and doors, and install smoke, radon, and carbon monoxide alarms.
How to design a surveillance system?
Public health surveillance involves the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of outcome-specific data for use in planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice. A surveillance system includes the functional capacity for data collection and analysis, as well as the timely dissemination of these data to those who can undertake effective prevention and control activities.
The core of any surveillance system is the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data, but the process can only be understood in the context of its usefulness for addressing specific health outcomes.
In 1965, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) established the epidemiological surveillance unit in WHO’s Division of Communicable Diseases, which included “the epidemiological study of disease as a dynamic process”. In 1968, the 21st World Health Assembly focused on national and global surveillance of communicable diseases, affirmed the three main features of surveillance: a) systematic collection of pertinent data, b) orderly consolidation and evaluation of these data, and c) prompt dissemination of results to those who need to know, particularly those in position to take action.
Since then, a wide variety of health events, such as childhood lead poisoning, leukemia, congenital malformations, abortions, injuries, and behavioral risk factors, have been placed under surveillance.
Can home CCTV work without Wi-Fi?
CCTV cameras can operate without the internet, even without electricity. An internet connection is only needed for remote access to footage. Some people prefer not connecting their systems over the internet as it increases vulnerability to cyber-attacks and hacking. However, there are simple ways to prevent unauthorised access and misuse, such as being cautious and adopting best practices. The internet connection is only necessary when footage needs to be accessed remotely.
📹 7 Common Security Camera Installation FAILS and How To Avoid Them
0:00 Intro 0:36 DORI 3:02 1. Camera Height 3:25 2. Choosing Field of View 4:54 3. Aim Your Cameras 6:25 4. Cover Your …
Attaching the doorbell to the mount is a little difficult but once it locks into place it seems extremely sturdy. youtube.com/post/UgkxxHZwMa8CsRjYhf9s4W8w0Dwm47uytWOp I replaced my regular doorbell with this and hard wired it in, using my existing wires and mechanical chime. It works perfect so far and integrates perfectly with my blink camera system. It also works seamlessly with Alexa
To help get the most our of narrow side yard area coverage, as mentioned @ 5:52 in the article is to rotate your camera 90 degrees. Normally your camera has a wider horizontal view vs. vertical. By rotating your camera, you now have more vertical view area which works great for narrow areas. The camera or security controller software such as IRIS have a rotate setting so that you do not view the area sideways like your camera is mounted but in a normal way.
fantastic article. Three things i want to add, being able to put a camera out of reach is not always an option, in this case you want to take the housing of the camera into consideration. Cameras with dome coverings can make it harder to mess with the camera itself and if tinted can hide where the camera is looking. For blind zone you can also make use of mirrors to help look where cameras can’t see easily if you have limited amount of cameras. And finally don’t underestimate dummy cameras if you can’t afford the number of real cameras you want. Some times the just putting a thought into someone’s mind can make them think twice.
Not strictly camera info but concerning security vulnerabilities: Where I live, the electrical panels are on the house exterior. In addition to putting a small combination lock on the panel, I also have my NVR, network equipment, POE cameras, and Home Assistant Raspberry Pi all on UPS. My window and door sensors are all battery powered. Food for thought in case of power outage either by utility or break in.
When prepping my security camera installation I got some advice from a local security company. The advice was to place cameras at opposite corners of my home and point them toward each other. The logic was to catch the back and front of a person or car in the area. Sounds good, right? It’s not all that great when you have an infrared light on the cameras and those lights point directly into the other camera. In my night images, the light flares from the camera lights almost overwhelms the opposing camera. I hope this helps someone.
Pro tip: many cameras have the ability to rotate the image 90 degrees. This am excellent thing to do down long skinny areas. Sometimes called corridor mode. This can be very effective for putting more pixels on target because image sensors are typically around 16×9, meaning more pixels in the horizontal direction.
Thanks so much for this article. We’ve been broken into multiple times. Thieves got into home and unlocked the window. We were unaware of this and they came back. We have multiple wireless camera systems setup. There is an Xfinity security setup with a camera pointed above this window area. Both wireless systems failed because we finally figured out that the signals were jammed. These thieves are very sophisticated as it’s a theft ring. Other residents who have wireless cameras cannot capture them. We also had 2 hardwired cameras setup but no footage, just a black screen when we looked at the footage. This article solved our frustrations as to why the hardwired cameras didn’t pick up the thieves. Our electrical box is located in the basement. Many items were stolen from that area and the electrical box is right there on the wall. These thieves has to have shut off the main. We did notice our digital appliance clocks, etc blinking at times and we wondered as to why this was happening esp since there were no storms. Mystery solved!
At last, legitimate advice! I was a Crime Prevention Tactical Advisor (in the UK) for twenty years and was always amazed how many so-called professional installers didn’t know this basic advice. Many householders will use electricians to install cameras and alarm systems and generally they make dreadful installers. The mistakes are understandable when they’ve had no training, but pro companies should know better. Well done.
I have a camera monitoring my driveway and darkness was always a concern. So to get around this, I installed a solar-powered motion sensor flood light. The sensor for the light is set in the Detection range. This way, by the time someone gets closer, the camera has adjusted to the burst of light and the subject is not illuminated for a better view. Though I’ll admit, it took quite a bit of trial and error to get the range and timing right on both of these. But once I got it, it’s been completely worth it. Though, for the most part, the light alongside the obvious camera placement has been a great deterrent for would-be questionable characters.
One other aspect to keep in mind is the privacy laws of the legal jurisdiction in which you are installing the cameras. They vary greatly between locations, so check the local laws out. In some legal jurisdictions you need a special permit to record what’s going on in a public street with a fixed camera, while others have no restrictions at all. In some legal jurisdictions it is a serious violation of the privacy laws if your cameras show any part of a neighbouring private premises that can NOT be seen from public property, while others aren’t so restrictive. Where I live any security camera that shows a person standing on the ground in the neighbour’s yard is in violation of the law, but once part of their body is over the fence then that part of them is in a legal view area; thus I can’t legally set the camera to show who is looking over the fence, but it can be set to show them after they climb over the fence. – Thus you need to check your local laws to help you establish your legal view zones.
Great overall article. A few things I found worked. 1. You can never have too many cameras. I have 3 cameras in front of my house, each for a different purpose. 2. Ring type cameras can be great to cover dead areas. These are also useful if your main system doesn’t have motion. 3. Add battery backup to wired systems. If possible, include your internet server to the same BBS.
Thanks for the list. I am planning to put security cameras up at my place soon. Two things you could have touched on: making sure to buy IP-based cameras (unless the other type is desired), considering that most cameras automatically upload articles to the cloud and are viewable by the manufacturer, and how to prevent that.
Just installed my Blink system last month as an amateur and had an attempted break in (first ever) on my home last week. Thank goodness it did it’s job! Police responded and criminal ran off . Police were able to use my article to log the incident and the criminals ID. It was worth every penny. After perusal your article I see some things I need to correct. 👍🏻
1 thing I would add is a nice feature of my RING system. I have RING pathway lights that also have motion sensors on them. I have them towards the end of my driveway (60ft). If anyone trips the motion sensor all my perimeter cameras start recording. Since RING only records once motion is detected this ensures I dont miss any events.
One of the biggest things I’ve experienced is not having IR emiiters separate from the cameras. Bugs/dust/snow/rain are all big problems even on a super calm night. They can be pretty much completely eliminated when you have IR lights offset from your cameras. I know AI can help somewhat, but having less events from those things can greatly reduce the need for AI in certain positions.
I’m doing a total home remodel. So my home is down to the studs. I’d like to in stall some 2x4s as backing for the camera mount. My question is how big of a hole should I drill in order to get the camera cables through my out side wall. I plan on purchasing Relink* cameras and I’m not sure if just drill a small enough hole for just the cat6 cable to poke through will do the job.
My mistake – bought a spool of shielded outdoor rated cat 6a cable for connecting my cameras. I thought it would be good to future proof with high bandwidth cable but cat 6a is much thicker and less flexible than cat 6 or cat 5e. Getting the cat 6a through grommets and around the tight turns inside the camera housing was a real pain!
Do they make a infrared cameras that light up the night without a glowing red color letting thieves and vandals keep a distance from the cameras ?? I am being vandalized and had security cameras installed professionally and am still getting vandalized. Seems only game cameras ca be bought with this non glow feature. What do you recommend Sir ?? Thanks
A easy trick for narrow corridors or passage ways is to rotate the camera 45-90 degrees with the lens hood facing outward. It can make for an awkward view on cameras/NVRs that do not support image rotation but it allows you to maximize the capture area with one camera. I do this frequently with budget installs and I have one that covers a large side window entry area where the camera is mounted on the second floor, it gets all of the windows, doors and deck in view. The rotation is very easy to get used to, its a trade off but an easy one.
Very good. Well said. I would have added one important point though: Infrared illuminated cameras are almost useless for police forensic purposes because of the ‘polyester effect’:- clothes that contain even small amounts of polyester are flourescent under IR light such that they appear much lighter than they should. In fact high-polyester-content black clothing can appear white under IR illumination. Also, IR illumination of faces render them almost unrecognisable. …and I might also add that if you really must have IR illumination, I strongly recomment avoiding dome cameras. Fine dust/dirt and even the tiniest of scratches reflect the light from internal IR LEDs directly back into the camera lens such that the camera view gets very bad within weeks. That does not happen when the IR illuminating LEDs are not within a dome.
Very informative thank you 👍🏼 . Just to add regarding night vision bit. If your house layout allows it, add motion sensor flood light for example in front of your garage, this will brighten up the scene and the camera will record in non night mode. This works too at the back garden or on the side where the rubbish bin placed.
I have long been a source of information from friends and neighbors regarding cameras. Ironically one of the most frequent recommendations I give in fact has nothing to do with cameras…though it can often be very helpful in the the detection arena to build on the cameras or even as a cheap alternative to cameras. What is that? The driveway alarm…or realistically driveway alarms (plural). They are cheap, require no wiring, and can det up zones of their own to alert you to intruders. I have one on my porch, I have one in my driveway at the front of the house and one at the back (which even allows me to know if they are coming or going based on the zones going off 2 then 3 or 3 then 2, and I have one in my backyard. Now without cameras you have to use the Mk1 eyeball to go and see whats going on (dangerous), so I usually recommend cameras in addition to the alarms, but they sure make it easier to know when something legit is outside versus the myriad of false alarms in every camera system I have ever used or demoed…especially when its windy, rainy, cloudy (casts shadows that create false alarms), etc. Dogs and cats don’t set them off..but squirrels crawling at the right height will occasionally trigger them.
Thanks for another very helpful article, really informative, especially for newbies. Also, some beginners think/hope a basic home security camera will be able to read license plates, they want that ability. But it’s more difficult to achieve. Could you do a article on LPC license plate capture or LPR license plate reader cams? Some have specific software for this. The best ones have optical zoom, 30 fps, shutterspeed, WDR, etc. setttings. It’s especially hard to read plates at night due to IR reflection so it’s best to have a dedicated cam pointed at street.
In my case, I just a bunch if I Smart Cameras, the TP-LInk C320WS. It has a 2k reso, wireless transmission and full color night recording with its built in low power LED lights that powers on when there is movement, and switches back to infrared mode when there is no movement. I then bought an NVR, and had just this cameras transmit article feed to the NVR. This way, I avoided running cables all over the house. I just made sure that my routers are capable enough to handle this multple 2k cameras article feed transmission, and then its all easy for really. Wiring for power is easy as I just had to find the closest power outlet to power the camera anyway.
Covering all sides of the house including each window and door plus guarding each camera with another camera is smart. Identifying both people and cars passing by is also smart just in case someone is up to no good within the neighborhood, I use optical zoom POE 4K cameras for this. Nice article, thank you.
You can pair those nigh colour cameras with motion sensitive floodlights as well, just putting the floodlight a way away from the camera, so that you get the sharp burst of light, which drops the scene into good view, plus invariably makes the intruder look up at the light for a moment, getting a good image. Close enough so they get detected by the sensor and the camera, but far away that they do not see the camera in the shadow. The 10W units do a good job at this, and are very cheap. Tip for the camera and floodlights is always put a junction box by the camera for the cables, as this makes it easy to change them when you upgrade or replace them. For the mains wiring leave some slack in the feed cable, coiled up in the attic space for you to move the light, and the same for the camera, just in case you need to move it a foot or two in position. Also, if you are wiring up the attic space, run the wiring neatly, and structure it, so that, while you use a bit more cable, you also do not leave a spider web behind, and use cable ties and clips to make the wiring run neatly along beams and such. Run one extra cable to the corners of the house as well, so that expansion is easier, as you already have the cable there, with a nice bit of spare slack in it, ready to use. After all the cable is the cheapest part of the install, the labour is the expensive part, and running 2 wires to the same location is the same cost as running one. For mains power bring them all back to a single location, and mark each cable to identify it, and have a small breaker panel so you can at least separate all the lighting into zones for fault finding.
Ive slowly been building a system round the house here and there are two key points. 1. Don’t mix components from different manufacturers, and in some cases product ranges. Despite things like ONVIf your codecs and setups are unlikely to be compatible. You will break system integration so the controller will be unable to configure cameras or use the detection flags from them. Some commercial companies restrict firmware to agents only, so you will never get updates. Honeywell are a good example of this. 2. Don’t get dome cameras with integrated IR lighting. Just don’t. The dome gets a tiny bit dirty and then you just get IR fog and see nothing. Thats if you are lucky. Otherwise internal ir reflection within the dome causes the same problem. Lots of different setups. Locations. New or old cams. All with the same problem. Turret cameras, box cameras etc are fine. You could even use extrnal ir ligting if you can find it. Domes (I’m using) at least are IK10 Vandal resistant and ip 66. Good luck.
I’m a LEO and try to review security footage often. Most of the time the cheap battery powered cameras are either dead or they only have a doorbell camera which doesn’t help with what’s going on in the driveway or street. I also run into the problem where they don’t know how to review the footage or they don’t pay for their subscription (or have a NVR) so they can’t review any article.
@TheHookUp : I noticed that you used a map of the Pinellas County area. Are you by chance in this area and would you like to do a real life set up on a property type that has not been covered?? Our home and property has a few situations that many probably also have, but I have yet to see anyone cover…
I use Amcrest POE cameras with their NVR and love them. They didn’t come with AI detection but I use a software called Sighthound which essentially turns them all into AI detection with very configurable settings and alerts. I integrated Sighthound into my Hubitat smart house and it is awesome. I get announcements (on my phone and through my Echo device) when a car is driving up my driveway or when it detects a person in my yard.
I have two hardwired systems with 2 separate DVRs plus a wireless blink system. I have 20 hardwired cameras and 15 blink cameras. My hardwire cameras vary from 3.6 – 24mm. I have cameras zoomed in on the street while wide angles get the entire yard. When you run wire for your cameras, you can run 2-3 wires together so that you can mount 2-3 cameras next to each other and aimed on 2-3 different areas with 2-3 zooms. All my cameras overlap and the blink and hard wire system are independent yet in the same zones. The blink does a great job of notifying me of motion and the DVR system does a better job of recording everything 24/7. Blink will NOT record everything you need. It is better than nothing, but has MAJOR gaps in coverage due to “rest” periods between recordings. If I lose wifi, the wifi backup battery kicks in. Worst case, I lose the Blink but not the DVR system. If I lose power, I have backup battery on DVR and the Blink still works regardless. Camera installation is both science and art. It takes a LOT of tweaking.
Yes, I can give you one you missed: don’t mount the camera too close to the overhang. Even the slightest “reflection” from the overhang can kill your image. It does this by two means: first is the reflection of the UV night lights into the camera. This creates a halo effect and just kills your exposure. The 2nd is similar but can’t be seen. You still get a reflection in the camera but you can’t see it. And it causes the autofocus to not be able to focus on the distance items. Be sure there is at least a foot between the camera and any over hang. 2′ is better. Otherwise good article.
Hi! Thanks for your very helpful articles! I’m thinking to setup a 4-cameras PoE NVR system and the tips you show are very good! I’ve watched previous article reviews of yours but I still can’t find a solution that fits my needs. This is, I need the cameras to be PoE and to provide a two-way audio. The newest ones from reolink would be fine but they have those leds that are always switched on while in night view. Which solution do you recommend for a budget max 700-750$? Or maybe can you make a article showing if there’s a solution of just having audio recording and (in some way) plug an audio out? Thanks a lot. Keep up the good work!!!
I absolutely love BI with DeepStack. I have it running in a VM with a GT1030 pulling the heavy lifting for DS, average detection time is ~400ms, I use the main stream for most cameras but for the few I that send DS the substream its as low as 50-100ms. I really appreciate the in-depth smart home tutorials!
I install security systems and I like this article, nice work. I just have a few comments I dont understand why you prefer the cameras that have IR leds above the night color ones. I would only prefer IR leds on locations where it gets pitch black at night. Those night color cameras only need very little ambient light to provide superiour quality. Secondly I would like to mention that cameras that use a wireless protocol to communicate are very vulnerable to outside interference, I strongly advise my customers not to rely on wireless cameras of anykind. Lastly I would have liked to see mention of the different ways to interface with the system remotely and the network security, and related functionality of cameras systems like intercom, access & entry and domotica
Excellent article, like always! Regarding AI detection… Are the cameras with detection any good? Isn’t it better to offload that task to the software that controls the cameras? Doesn’t using the on-camera AI ties you to that vendor’s software, or are those detection events fired using some standard protocol (ONVIF?)?
Great info to get folks thinking beyond “got camera”. I’ll add that for a situation where security isn’t just a casual concern, wireless is an absolute no. It’s too easy for someone to disable remotely even if all they do is jam the signal long enough to walk up and spray paint the camera. It also tends to create additional issues if you start talking about more than a few cameras. Quality wireless networks to cover a decent piece of property don’t happen by default and by the time you are done it might have been cheaper to run the wires. That said, for a homeowner just wanting a camera covering their lanai and front door it can be a great solution. Most issues cameras help solve in those situations are liability related, not skilled criminals.
I find it odd that you skipped right from Ethernet cable connected right to battery systems. I have a 16 website NVR CCTV system (connected to a gigabit switch) with a mix of wired and WiFi cameras. All are wire powered. There are times and homes where outside power receptacles exist but running network cable is a non-starter, such as my home which is a concrete (with rebar) structure. Initially years ago I had a coax system and ran conduit through the walls for the coax when we build the house. But that system was replaced as it needed to be. We couldn’t pull the coax out of the conduits and abandoned the runs in some cases. I was able to run outside power and so, power + wifi, which is something we see commonly here as many places have outside power and were built long before anyone considered putting in CCTV. It is also the only way where some of the cameras are noncontiguous with the main building in a compound. I also note that you didn’t mention that many PTZ + zoom cameras return to a ‘starting’ position when there is a power interruption, requiring resetting/aligning the camera after each power event. That is a strong argument for bullet, fixed position, cameras with the right focal length instead. For what it is worth, what I really want is a ‘solar with decent battery’ outdoor WiFi camera (bullet or PTZ capable) as there is one place I have no power. (I am writing from my home in the Philippines I have lots of sunlight year round.)
Be careful with using IR light as night vision. First off most IR sensors i’ve seen use the low level red LED’s witch will be a give away if a camera is on and not simply a decoy. I’ve seen this light used on the kinect v2, trail cams and security systems. This is a very minor detail but if you use your cellphone’s camera on someones house, all those cameras will be clearly marked by a shimmer of light. Cameras with the array of IR LED’s have the same issue. They use the same LED’s that you might find on a TV remote. Put your cellphone camera to that light to see if the units working… the same method can determine where security cameras are setup and remain well outside of viewing range
Biggest mistake is most motion tracking is in effective. Most cameras will only detect motion left right, not up down. Which is so incredibly stupid, security cameras should always follow all motion of a human. So you know what they are doing at all times. Cameras you buy on Amazon only follow a human left right only, not up down motion to follow. Why?!?
In some cases, multiple lower-cost cameras are better than a single expensive cameras. For instance, around tight corners or an area with multiple entrances/exits. Also, infrared cameras WILL attract bugs and if your AI detection isn’t very advanced, you’ll get tons of alerts throughout the night. A better sensor might be able to see at night without infrared.
A lot of battery powered cameras have a solar panel option. Tip Use an obvious dummy camera backed up by a hidden real camera and put a hidden camera in a position that will capture people leaving your property. Thieves have trouble hiding their faces when carrying your stuff. Use a security system with battery backup. If it has dial up alerts and wifi beware of jamming either intentional or accidental. Also use Fake security company warning labels so that any sophisticated crooks don’t obtain any useful information. For example the phone number or IP address that your alarm might dial to report an event. If that number is made busy by the crooks using a spambot the security company won’t know you need help. When choosing a security company make sure that they can handle emergency events properly. People have died because the security company sent emergency services to the wrong address. Make sure they know exactly which of a dozen Long street road avenue lanes in east west north central or south hootersvile you live in etc etc.
Eufy cameras and their homebase allow you to fit cheap PIR movement sensors and hook them up to trigger any specific camera or even all the cameras ( up to 16 cameras per homebase ) when they detect movement. I have these cameras which I fitted myself and i dotted some of the sensors ( powered by a 2 year replaceable battery ) around the property, they do a good job of making sure people cannot sneak up on the cameras without triggering article recording, the cameras also work very well in low light, and even if they are set to IR night vision, if a security light gets triggered they change to colour recording with even a small amount of light. The recordings are stored locally in your homebase memory via Eufy own wireless network, and the recordings can be accessed via wi-fi to your phone. Due to the fact PIR detection will not work through a window, I put a Eufy camera behind a window next to front door and fitted a stand-alone PIR sensor outside, which triggers the camera, the PIR operated floodlight out side the door means plenty of light available for good article.
I would like to add my 2 cents. 1 cent. GREAT article!!!! 2 cents the other thing I see quite a bit, with people bragging in forums, is hiding your camera. if you are using it for theft deterrent, hiding them is the worst thing you can do. I can tell you personally (because of my poor choices past) that in most cases as soon as a surveillance system is detected most criminals leave. It isnt worth the risk. That being said of someone wants to do something bad enough they will find a way regardless. Great point about covering each others back. With visible cameras deterring most, others will look to see if there is a way to get around them. Dummy cameras also help in a pinch but will only fool the “entry level” thieves. So basically obvious cameras are proactive, hidden cameras are reactive. (FYI, this does not apply if you cant “cover your back” and the camera can be accessed to steal or be disabled)
I have been looking for a sensor I can put in or under my car that detects the noise from getting the catalytic converter cut off. Any ideas? $21,000 in exhaust system damages in just the past year! Anything we can custom program? Record a saw-jaw cutting into a piece of metal and matching the sound somehow?
Do you have any opinions on using a powerline network for connecting cameras? There are PoE + powerline adapters available which will deliver an Ethernet connection and power over that same Ethernet cable. In that case, all you would need to hook up a camera is an outdoor power outlet and maybe some weatherproofing stuff, no need to drill holes in walls. There would be a cable running to the camera but depending on what obstacles are around, that might not be a problem. Main issue seems like it would be the connection stability and bandwidth over that powerline network. What do you think?
We installed RING and it never worked and their service ended with the person on the other end sleeping as we listened to her snoring. The next contact resulted in the representative walking us through the hook up, and when it didn’t work, he informed us he would be sending us an instruction booklet which we already had. I would never recommend RING. We are contemplating going with Cox Cable.
Many good points. May be largely be due to older cameras, but always frustrating to see crime-associated security camera footage (just in true crime shows) which is so grainy, obstructed or distant that all anyone can say is “well, there was a person walking there” or “yup, that is a car driving by that might be 1 of 4 models and not white, but can’t see a driver, if more than one person in the car, license plate, etc”
Just moved into a split foyer house and want to run network cable for POE, but the roof line is basically 20ft off the ground. I bought some direct ground burial rated cat 5 and was thinking of running it on the outside of the house unless there is a better idea. House exterior is brick so no option of tucking it behind some vinyl siding. Just don’t have any clever ideas on running these wires and was curious if you had some.
Don’t forget to have battery backup with your camera system. When the power goes off the looting begins and having the camera still available is important. Another mistake is not having notifications on. The article is worthless after a crime happened. The police will not use the recorded the article for anything. You have to be your first line of defense.
One of my lessons: “Don’t buy more resolution than you need.” I was originally looking at 8MP cameras. I thought, “The more the better! I can clearly see my neighbor across the street!” But then I realized that 8MP is overkill. I don’t need to be able to see what’s going on across the street. I actually only care about what’s going on within about 20′ from my garage door. 8MP is a lot of wasted pixels. Additionally, since I want 24/7 recording, 8MP feeds is a LOT of bandwidth across my network and in storage requirements. So I saved quite a bit in my TCO by dropping down to 4mm, 5MP cameras. I do find it interesting that you still aren’t a huge fan of color nightvision. My Reolink RLC-510A’s provide me with really nice color AND clarity at night, even with movement. Though for context, I also have them mounted above my outdoor lights on both sides of the garage door, so the area the cameras are capturing is already well lit. I was very much turned off by IR’s complete fail when dealing with someone wearing all black of different fabrics. Meaning baseball cap, hoodie, pants, shoes are all “black” color. Depending on the fabric, black can appear anywhere from completely black to completely white, which in my opinion renders IR nearly useless.
I have a back porch, under roof, with a pool and full screen enclosure. I’m thinking of mounting one or two battery cameras on the far side of the enclosure, look back at the house…where the enclosure screen doors are and where my home entry points are inside the porch. Is this a good idea…or should my cameras be mounted in the porch looking outward? Either way I can’t easily run power.
I want to view my camera anywhere i can without using WIFI or WIFI hotspot. I just want to have my IP cameras visible using my mobile phone data. every where i have looked i am told to edit my router and use port forwarding. Well what if i live in the UK and want to view my IP camera when i’m in America on my phone. Surely that has nothing to do with my router. Any ideas how i can do this please?
Narrow view – some cameras have the option to switch the sensor aspect ratio to 9:16 for hallways or narrow pathways. I have a 4K Hikvision I use for the side of the house that does this. Works great. Works great in most software as well including HomeKit secure article. Only app that doesn’t understand its aspect ratio is the Hikvision app iVMS in iOS.
Pretty cool, man. I’ve sworn by Amcrest for years now but saw some good reviews of the Reolink ones so I decided to give them a try. Got 2 and, while one works fine, the other is an unreliable garbled mess much of the time. That dual-lens one looks pretty awesome but I’m highly sus when it comes to the Reolink stuff…haven’t had the greatest experiences in the past.
The biggest mistake when I first started with cameras is the motion detection. A must have is person and vehicle detection. You nailed all the recommendations in one article! Also thanks for the article because I have been installing article camera setups for people I know and this article will give them a nice overview of what is needed when I start talking about what I believe they need as well. I don’t care for battery cameras or solar cameras at all. I highly recommend that a person get a wired setup. Battery cams have to work off wireless and after 2 or more wireless, it can start to degrade wireless signal and slow it down. I noticed this after I installed 4 at my house. I had 4 wireless but they could also be hooked up with ethernet. The best decision I did was wire them. Now I have 9 5mp cameras and I have no lag or worries about missing events. Thanks again for the article! Keep up the great work!
I need your help I got a neighbor who lives in a apartment behind my backyard and ever since he saw I have a brand new puppy he’s been throwing trash and food to get my puppy sick so I need a good camera to catch him in the act or I’m afraid my temper will get the best of me The camera just has to be able to sense whenever something the size of a football is thrown into my backyard any options you can think of let me know I’d be grateful you’d be saving me from a jail sentence
Keep in mind that the notification alerts are almost always false, even with $1K commercial grade cameras. Unless you are perusal the cameras live, you will only be looking at article from the night before and getting more angry. Make sure that you can read a license plate, and if you live somewhere that doesn’t require front plates then you need more cameras. A article that clearly shows somebody for identification purposes does not help. Thieves need to be caught in the act of thieving, a article of what happened will not help, and yes, the cops already know who they are, and where they live.
One thing I’ve done is switch off the infrared lights on my camera. My experience was that the IR light was attracting flying insects, especially moths and they were triggering false person notifications. Prior experience is that it’s never a good idea to have a light permanently on outside at night. They end up becoming a mess of spiders webs and hundreds of flying insects. I’ve suggested to Reolink that they have periodic IR light activations rather than constant illumination. I have a host of other PIR lights that will switch on if there is an actual person walking about. So detection isn’t a problem.