[Shop-talk] Home surveillance system

[Brian Kemp]

Tim - I second Old Dirtbeard's response below for a quick solution. 
Rings work well and are easy to install if you have strong WiFi at each 
location.  Rings need about 5Mbps upload speeds, so my initial DSL 
didn't cut it.  I have a Ring doorbell that is fantastic now that I have 
a better ISP.  It is only a few dollars a month of the online package 
that saves a month of recordings.  The motion detection alerts are good 
as well.  It can be triggered by moths at night, but otherwise is great.

My property is spread out vertically and horizontally and I don't have 
good WiFi coverage for a full wireless system, so I put in a wired PoE 
NVR (Network video recorder) system.  PoE is Power over Ethernet so each 
camera is wired with a single cat5e cable.  The advantage of this is 
that there are no solar panels to try and get sun, batteries to monitor, 
or 110v power needed.  The cameras can also be more discrete.  I have a 
4K eight camera system from Lorex bought on sale from Costco.  Video 
quality is great.  The price was good, but the false positives for 
motion detection caused me to turn off the alerts.

My system came with a base network box with a hard drive about the size 
of a dictionary and the cameras.  For most of the cameras I used the 
supplied network cables.  For the other cameras I bought a 500' box of 
cat5e cable and made my own longer cables.  It is pretty easy to make 
cables.  I also have a battery backup (UPS) powering the NVR and my 
internet modem.  I can use my phone and the Lorex app to check each 
camera remotely.  There is no monthly fee because everything is stored 
on the hard drive of the NVR in my house.

You can also get a simple camera that records with a SD memory card.  If 
you go this route, pay extra for a surveillance system quality card that 
is capable of continuous recording.  Any current system that records 
will overwrite old recordings so there is no need to delete anything.  
The bigger the memory, the longer recordings are saved.

If you want to read a bunch on this topic, https://ipcamtalk.com/ is 
very good.

Brian


On 6/8/2024 7:45 AM, old dirtbeard wrote:
> Hi Tim,
>
> I know that you said you do not want a Ring camera and would like 
> professional installation, but I would like to offer an option.
>
> I currently have three Ring cameras that are wireless and solar 
> powered. It really is a simple matter of powering them up and 
> connecting to your WiFi. I believe it is about $50.yr for the 24 
> service for unlimited number of cameras, you can monitor 
> multiple cameras simultaneously from your phone or on your computer, 
> have them send alerts that you can configure, you can activate them 
> "live" with click to monitor what is going on, you can speak through 
> them or activate a light, etc.
>
>  I believe they are warranteed for life with the annual service fee 
> (free replacement, including postage, I have needed to send one back 
> that failed after about ten years).
>
> I think it is a very good deal.
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 8, 2024 at 7:22 AM Tim . <tims_datsun_stuff at outlook.com> 
> wrote:
>
>     After yet another issue with a crazy neighbor (had to call the
>     police TWICE in two hours), I have decided it's time to install a
>     surveillance system of some sort. I don't want a single ring
>     camera as I need at least three cameras.
>
>     I am hoping for self installation and simple use, but will have it
>     done professionally.
>
>     Thoughts please, especially if you have direct knowledge from use.
>
>     Thanks
>     tim
>
>
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