1 or 2 Camera Surveillance System Using Home Computer

[jimmi328]

I’m new to surveillance cameras and need advice to put together a 1 to 2 camera system using hardware I already have. My plan is as follows.

Both my computers I built for performance (gaming) and both have additional hard drives of around 2 terabytes. I believe I could use one as a NVR? Both computers run 24/7.
Next; I would buy an outdoor hardwired IP bullet camera(s) and mount to the front of my house. I figure 75 feet of CAT5 (per camera) and feed it through the attic or existing hole in the cement wall of my house. The CAT5 cable(s) would attach to a PoE switch and then the uplink port of this switch would attach to the RJ-45 port on the mother board or one of the ports on my router. Then purchase Blue Iris software.

Am I thinking correctly? Would this work? Please advise.

 

[Zorac]

should work, those computers might not be power friendly but if they are already running, its not an issue. watch out for the hard drives, i would dedicate one of the storage drives to BI's storage needs, consumer drives have a high rate of fail as well, so you may want to look at something like a WD red or purple, but you could run them to they fail (depending on what they are), then upgrade them.

2 cameras wont much in the way of resources on the computer, so you can still use the computer for gaming.

 

[jimmi328]

should work, those computers might not be power friendly but if they are already running, its not an issue. watch out for the hard drives, i would dedicate one of the storage drives to BI's storage needs, consumer drives have a high rate of fail as well, so you may want to look at something like a WD red or purple, but you could run them to they fail (depending on what they are), then upgrade them.

2 cameras wont much in the way of resources on the computer, so you can still use the computer for gaming.

Thank you for responding Zorac.
After further consideration, I decided to buy a NVR and two cameras to start my security system (see below) and CAT5e cable for each camera. The vendor said if run cable from the NVR to my router, I can view the cameras via my computer or smart phone.

Hikvision DS-7608NI-E2/8P
Hikvision EXIR Series 3MP Outdoor Bullet Camera
Hikvision 4MP Indoor/Outdoor EXIR Turret Network Camera

 

[Zorac]

that will work too! having them separate does have its advantages, namely, it should be more reliably and an NVR does use less power than a computer. BI does have remote abilities for viewing if you ever change your mind. their phone app is quite good actually.

 

[Q™]

Outdide bullets attract spider webs and are prone to IR reflection. Use turrets for outside.

 

[jimmi328]

Outdide bullets attract spider webs and are prone to IR reflection. Use turrets for outside.

I pretty handy with a can of RAID.

 

[Q™]

I pretty handy with a can of RAID.

I kid you not...spider webs are a problem which (for me anyway) switching to turrets outside has resolved.

 

[Zorac]

I kid you not...spider webs are a problem which (for me anyway) switching to turrets outside has resolved.

maybe its climate (im fairly northerly in latitude) or situational related? i have 4 bullets outside and only one has an issue with spiders and it only get bad enough once or twice a year to need to pull out a ladder. the other 3, never had an issue and they have been up for a few years now.

 

[PSPCommOp]

I pretty handy with a can of RAID.

Not sure if you're joking or not but you don't wanna spray the camera with that. As far as how much of a problem it is based on location, I live/work in Northeastern PA. Home cameras are turrets which don't provide my home system any issues but the bullet cams at work have new spiders in the summer almost daily. Basically maintenance wipes them with a Webster brush on a long pole in the afternoon and usually by 9-10 that night you can see Charlotte spinning new webs on almost all over them. Within an hour they are useless because the IR light reflecting off of the web destroys any chance of a decent picture.

Yes cleaning them is easy until you get thru the first week of cleaning them every day or every other day. Or until something happens and you need video of someone trespassing or breaking in and all you see is a big white spider web.

 

[jimmi328]

I initially set up my bullet and dome cam in my living room and both work. Yesterday, I got my first camera (bullet) installed over the garage. I appreciate the advice on spiders; believe I have 30 days to return it if need be.
I drilled through the cement wall; the smallest hole possible; so I cut off the CAT5e connector, ran the wire through the hole with ease and decided to crimp on a new connector inside my house. I didn’t think this would cause the problems I’m having.
My crimping tool has been sitting in a tool box drawer for about 7 years; I think it’s the correct one and I have a box of CATe/RJ-45 connectors. I matched up the 8 wires “to be crimped” to be identical to the original RJ-45 connector that I cut off. With the locking tab facing away from me, it looks like from left to right:

Orange/White
Orange
Green/White
Blue
Blue/White
Green
Brown/White
Brown
I’ve also Googled pic’s of this set up and it appears correct.
When I used this crimper, 7 years ago for my computer wired networking, I don’t recall it was this difficult.

I question if-------
I have the correct crimping tool?
I have the correct connector?
Am I following the correct wiring diagram?
Do I need to strip insulation from the copper and then insert the copper in to connector? I thought stripping was not necessary with a crimping tool. Any advice?
What I did in the meanwhile was to cut off about 6 inches of a working CAT5e cable and the cable I cut, strip the insulation of 16 wires, and splice the 8 pairs together. This scenario works but looks unprofessional. Maybe the pic’s will help.

 

[Q™]

You need to use Coax Seal to weatherproof the power Dahua power supply connector and you should do it as soon as possible.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I’ve also Googled pic’s of this set up and it appears correct.

Apart from missing the strain relief by not having the sleeve pushed up inside the connector under the tab.

 

[Q™]

Apart from missing the strain relief by not having the sleeve pushed up inside the connector under the tab.

Alastair is speaking of the cable jacket being inserted into the RJ45 jack and crimped tight to provide strain relief and to make the cable more viable in the long-term. As shown below...

 

[PSPCommOp]

Make sure BOTH are wired completely correct. I've done the second termination with the connector flipped around and it didn't work. After much bitching I realized what I did and it was fixed and worked great


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[jimmi328]

Q2U, Alastair;

The problem I’m having has nothing to do with the cable jacket at this stage of installation. The problem is my lack of experience crimping an RJ-45 connector to 8 extremely small wires. The picture above in which the cable jacket is not visible is to show how I inserted the 8 wires which I think I got correct.

Now I tried stripping a ¼ inch of insulation off of the 8 wires and then inserted the wires into the connector and crimped. Again; no signal.

As I stated above, my rationale for cutting off the connector of the factory made cable is to minimize the hole I drilled through the cinderblock wall of my house. Now I wish I drilled a larger hole which takes less the one minute; unlike the many hours I have wasted trying and failing to crimp an RJ-45 connector to 8 tiny wires. At this point, “maybe” I can hire my internet service provider to crimp the wires for me or just spend another $40.00 on two sections of 100 foot cable. $40.00 is less than peanuts compared to the time I have wasted trying to crimp the connector to 8 wires.

 

[fenderman]

Q2U, Alastair;

The problem I’m having has nothing to do with the cable jacket at this stage of installation. The problem is my lack of experience crimping an RJ-45 connector to 8 extremely small wires. The picture above in which the cable jacket is not visible is to show how I inserted the 8 wires which I think I got correct.

Now I tried stripping a ¼ inch of insulation off of the 8 wires and then inserted the wires into the connector and crimped. Again; no signal.

As I stated above, my rationale for cutting off the connector of the factory made cable is to minimize the hole I drilled through the cinderblock wall of my house. Now I wish I drilled a larger hole which takes less the one minute; unlike the many hours I have wasted trying and failing to crimp an RJ-45 connector to 8 tiny wires. At this point, “maybe” I can hire my internet service provider to crimp the wires for me or just spend another $40.00 on two sections of 100 foot cable. $40.00 is less than peanuts compared to the time I have wasted trying to crimp the connector to 8 wires.

Do not strip off the insulation on the individual wires before crimping...

 

[PSPCommOp]

Do not strip off the insulation on the individual wires before crimping...

This. When you crimp the RJ45 into the cable with the tool, it pushed metal into the cables thru the insulation thereby making the contacts work. There is no need to strip the wires of their insulation. Just make sure they are in the correct order when you push them into the RJ45 and then crimp. Boom, you're done.

Q2U posted a picture above of how it should be done. As you can see in those pictures, the insulation is left on the wires.


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