Spec me a CCTV System

fobose · 14 Dec 2020 at 18:41

The NAS is great and doesn't have any issues with network bottleneck whilst I am just using 1 of the gigabit network ports. When I had all 4 cameras recording constantly, they were using around 5MB/s max I think so not much at all. I've currently set them all to record on motion only.

I have just put on a 1080p movie (10GB file size) to test, here are the results (I think one or two camera's were recording at the time too). Playing the movie only caused a spike up to around 5MB/s every now and then as per the graph.

Wings · 14 Dec 2020 at 20:52

@fobose, great, thank you for taking the time to share that. I will get some Dahua cams on order and work out the rest of my network plan!

batfink · 14 Dec 2020 at 20:57

Likewise @fobose , great information there, thanks.

I've just finished running Cat6 around the house so I have gigabit networking everywhere now. The next step is to upgrade my ageing DS209 (which has run brilliantly...for 10 years!). Then onto a CCTV install and since I'll have a new NAS, might as well use that rather than buy a dedicated NVR at this stage.

fobose · 15 Dec 2020 at 07:16

batfink said:
Likewise @fobose , great information there, thanks.

I've just finished running Cat6 around the house so I have gigabit networking everywhere now. The next step is to upgrade my ageing DS209 (which has run brilliantly...for 10 years!). Then onto a CCTV install and since I'll have a new NAS, might as well use that rather than buy a dedicated NVR at this stage.

NP, glad to help. 10 years, that is interesting. I hope my DS1520+ lasts that long, it will make the original outlay seem negligible. If you have a project log of your network install, I would be interested to see

Steven Rimmington · 15 Dec 2020 at 09:38

Getting a bit fed up of the Ring Doorbell 2. Over summer it's fine but these cold wet mornings it's about as good a chocolate fire guard.

fobose · 15 Dec 2020 at 14:56

That's annoying. I wonder if there is something you can put on the glass to stop that from happening?

The only issue I have had with the dahua tioc bullet camera for my patio is when it is foggy. The LED reflects off the fog I think and the view is not great. It kinda looks like it is raining heavy but you can still see.

Armageus · 15 Dec 2020 at 15:28

Steven Rimmington said:
Getting a bit fed up of the Ring Doorbell 2. Over summer it's fine but these cold wet mornings it's about as good a chocolate fire guard.

Fairy Liquid is apparently a good solution (at least for some people)
https://community.ring.com/t5/Video-Doorbells/Ring-doorbell-misting-over-in-cold-weather/td-p/3318

Steven Rimmington · 15 Dec 2020 at 16:36

fobose said:
That's annoying. I wonder if there is something you can put on the glass to stop that from happening?

The only issue I have had with the dahua tioc bullet camera for my patio is when it is foggy. The LED reflects off the fog I think and the view is not great. It kinda looks like it is raining heavy but you can still see.

My old plastic Amazon special CCTV is perfect

quite strange something costing 3x as much is very poor during winter months. It's almost like it has no weather proofing.

Armageus said:
Fairy Liquid is apparently a good solution (at least for some people)
https://community.ring.com/t5/Video-Doorbells/Ring-doorbell-misting-over-in-cold-weather/td-p/3318

I will try and get some RainX or test the washing up liquid trick tonight, had this issue last year and was going to try a nest door bell.

fobose · 16 Dec 2020 at 08:47

@Steven Rimmington. Do you have a porch over your front door/door bell? My drive camera which is under the eaves of my garage roof does not have any issues at all. My front door has a porch and I am planning to put either a door bell camera or another camera under it to cover people coming to the front door at some point.

batfink · 16 Dec 2020 at 12:39

fobose said:
NP, glad to help. 10 years, that is interesting. I hope my DS1520+ lasts that long, it will make the original outlay seem negligible. If you have a project log of your network install, I would be interested to see

Didn't think of doing that (and I'm not confident enough to post it on here for it to be ripped apart

). It's an interesting project to do and I fully recommend doing it if you have the opportunity. My Mrs regularly asks 'why?' when powerlines have worked ok for almost 10 years but I just ignore those comments! The flexibility we have now is so much more than before.

fobose · 16 Dec 2020 at 13:15

batfink said:
Didn't think of doing that (and I'm not confident enough to post it on here for it to be ripped apart ). It's an interesting project to do and I fully recommend doing it if you have the opportunity.

Haha. This is not GD so not so much chance of people ripping in to you here. Although I am only 35, I feel I am too old to care what people think these days. If it helps others then that is good enough for me.

I did actually network my downstairs last year and managed to get a cable up to my office at the start of this year too (then my recent CCTV install in Oct/Nov). It was quite a big job because I took all my skirting boards off downstairs due to wood flooring anyway. I didn't have a build log at the time but I created one retrospectively as I had a lot of pictures that I took. My wife also asked 'why' a lot of times too, she thinks it was completely unnecessary.

I have posted these links in a couple of threads, but here is my install if interested. My English is generally not very good so you'll have to look over that

This was my first ever network install.

Downstairs network install: https://imgur.com/a/O64caQN
Middle floor network install: https://imgur.com/a/bt5E4j0

Steven Rimmington · 16 Dec 2020 at 16:17

fobose said:
@Steven Rimmington. Do you have a porch over your front door/door bell? My drive camera which is under the eaves of my garage roof does not have any issues at all. My front door has a porch and I am planning to put either a door bell camera or another camera under it to cover people coming to the front door at some point.

Hi yes it's fitted to a porch door, I got the door bell due to it been head height as my CCTV is placed quite high. The doorbell in summer is perfect and the added bonus of sound, just in winter it's terrible. Managed to order some rainX so will give this a go once arrived. Washing up liquid did not work unfortunately.

batfink · 16 Dec 2020 at 16:27

fobose said:
I have posted these links in a couple of threads, but here is my install if interested. My English is generally not very good so you'll have to look over that This was my first ever network install.

Downstairs network install: https://imgur.com/a/O64caQN
Middle floor network install: https://imgur.com/a/bt5E4j0

Your English is fine and that install :eek:

It's way more complicated than anything I did. My main aim was minimum disruption and visibility so I went for the surface mounted CCS 4000 boxes so the ports are basically hidden. There's a small run of trunking (<1m) where the cable run from the loft pops out at ground floor level (behind a door) and needs to go into the understairs cupboard. I've got a couple of runs that went outside behind guttering and drainpipes so again, only a small amount visible at the point it enters back into the house.

Two rooms still to do - both first floor so easy access from the loft, along with cavity walls. I need to work out how to get the cable down to floor level through the wall or I just run it near to an existing socket in those two rooms.

CCTV comes once all this is finished.

fobose · 16 Dec 2020 at 17:25

Steven Rimmington said:
Hi yes it's fitted to a porch door, I got the door bell due to it been head height as my CCTV is placed quite high. The doorbell in summer is perfect and the added bonus of sound, just in winter it's terrible. Managed to order some rainX so will give this a go once arrived. Washing up liquid did not work unfortunately.

Ah, I was thinking yours must be fully open to the elements and that was why you were getting the condensation on your doorbell cam.

batfink said:
Your English is fine and that install It's way more complicated than anything I did. My main aim was minimum disruption and visibility so I went for the surface mounted CCS 4000 boxes so the ports are basically hidden. There's a small run of trunking (<1m) where the cable run from the loft pops out at ground floor level (behind a door) and needs to go into the understairs cupboard. I've got a couple of runs that went outside behind guttering and drainpipes so again, only a small amount visible at the point it enters back into the house.

Two rooms still to do - both first floor so easy access from the loft, along with cavity walls. I need to work out how to get the cable down to floor level through the wall or I just run it near to an existing socket in those two rooms.

CCTV comes once all this is finished.

Thanks

I've just googled those surface mounted boxes, they look great. Having the ports point down like that helps to keep everything looking neat and means you can put furniture against them which is a real bonus I am sure! I think running cable externally is fine, especially if you have hidden it behind the down pipes. I did something similar with three cat6 cables that exit the house through my office (although I used a terminal box with flexible conduit which looks super neat).

Good luck with routing your next lot of cables. Are your cavity's insulated or empty?

It was quite difficult to network a 3 story house like mine. I have a tiny loft which only has access to my master bedroom and ensuite so it is useless for getting network cables to the other bedrooms on the main floor. I don't feel those rooms need network points though as they get very good wifi coverage and I would never put a computer in them. If I could have got network cables to the guest bedroom at the front of my house, it would have saved me running network cables externally to my garage as I could have put a camera on my house instead of the garage. I may still run a network cable out of my living room by my front door (I have a gigabit switch there) for an extra CCTV camera. There is a down pipe nearby so I could hide that cable behind that.

kaku · 16 Dec 2020 at 18:39

fobose said:
Haha. This is not GD so not so much chance of people ripping in to you here. Although I am only 35, I feel I am too old to care what people think these days. If it helps others then that is good enough for me.

I did actually network my downstairs last year and managed to get a cable up to my office at the start of this year too (then my recent CCTV install in Oct/Nov). It was quite a big job because I took all my skirting boards off downstairs due to wood flooring anyway. I didn't have a build log at the time but I created one retrospectively as I had a lot of pictures that I took. My wife also asked 'why' a lot of times too, she thinks it was completely unnecessary.

I have posted these links in a couple of threads, but here is my install if interested. My English is generally not very good so you'll have to look over that This was my first ever network install.

Downstairs network install: https://imgur.com/a/O64caQN
Middle floor network install: https://imgur.com/a/bt5E4j0

Thanks for posting these. I'm planning a similar project but have no idea where to start so it's great to see how other people have managed it.

Wings · 16 Dec 2020 at 21:09

@WJA96 - sorry to draw upon your excellent advice once again... I've got Dahua DH-IPC-HFW3549T1-AS-PV (3.6mm bullet) and DH-IPC-HDW3549H-AS-PV (2.8mm turret) sat in my cart right now. The 2.8mm turret is to go under the awning at my front door, where there is a security light. The 3.6mm bullets are for the back of the house. The garage I am unsure of. It is a detached double garage, and will (possibly) have a bright security light above it. I want to cover the width (7.5m) of the driveway and length (13m) to the other side of the road. I'm interested in observing the two cars on my driveway and any vehicles stopping on the road at the end of my drive.

I've found these angles for the camera:

2.8 mm: Horizontal 103° × Vertical 53° × Diagonal 122°
3.6 mm: Horizontal 81° × Vertical 43° × Diagonal 95°

Would you recommend a 2.8 or 3.6mm camera, and would a bright security light be a bad thing in that it could temporarily blind the camera while it adjusts? I also need to decide on position - in the centre of the garage (looking down the centre of the two cars on the driveway), or in the top corner - I guess each have blind spots and I can try this out when I get the camera.

Really appreciate your help, please don't feel obliged to respond as I know you get hounded for your thoughts a lot!

fobose · 17 Dec 2020 at 08:46

kaku said:
Thanks for posting these. I'm planning a similar project but have no idea where to start so it's great to see how other people have managed it.

NP, glad to be able to help. If I can offer one piece of advice, take your time with your planning and think about what you might need in the future and run the extra cables. I only put a single cable up to my office, in hindsight I should have at least run a second cable. On my CCTV install, I have ran a cat6 cable out to my garden camera with about 25m extra than I needed in case I ever build a home office and want a cable directly to it. I can always run a cable back from the home office to my camera.

@Wings, although I can't help with the majority of your questions. I found it really handy to have a camera to hold up to locations where I thought they might work, connected to a long network cable out the window and using the mobile app to connect to the camera to see its view. I spent quite a bit of time doing this for all of my locations. This was really helpful and meant I could achieve the best possible position without having to move the camera later on.

Wings · 17 Dec 2020 at 08:59

Yeah, thanks @fobose. You're right. I think I'll just order one of each for now as I know I will have use for them both; I can play about afterwards! I'd be interested to know whether pairing CCTV with a security light is a good thing though as I haven't bought the lights yet - I'd imagine the CCTV whites out when the light comes on for a few seconds.

fobose · 17 Dec 2020 at 10:05

I don't have any security lights myself so I am not sure re the white out you mention. I would not have thought so though, unless the security light is directly facing the camera. The camera might auto adjust its brightness/contrast etc if that's set to auto. My internal garage camera is always in IR mode as the lights are off. When I turn my garage lights on (3x bright 5 foot LED fittings), the footage shows it goes completely white for a split second before it adjusts and switches to full colour mode. I would expect that though, and the garage lights are directly in view of the where the camera is facing so that's expected.

If you do place an order, make sure to include the junction boxes if you think you will need them. I think the turret cameras need a different size to the bullet cameras as well so don't get caught out with that. There is normally a .pdf available on the place of purchase which you can check to see what junction box is required for the camera.

P.s the dahua camera's default to 192.168.1.108 so be prepared for that when trying to connect to them. Change the IP address in the network settings as soon as you login to the camera etc.

Wings · 17 Dec 2020 at 20:25

fobose said:
P.s the dahua camera's default to 192.168.1.108 so be prepared for that when trying to connect to them. Change the IP address in the network settings as soon as you login to the camera etc.

Thanks, good tip. I've ordered them now. The site I used had an 'accessories' tab that showed the right mounts etc, got a junction box for each. I've got a 2.8mm turret and 3.6mm bullet and can try them both out on the garage before buying another to go there. I'll let you know how I get on!