Another cam placement topic

[spork]

I have been running with 2 acti d32's outside and several hik cubes indoors. My original goal was just to have over view cams for outside and not worry about trying to id someone. The only time the driveway is used is when we have visitors. I am able to see when someone arrives at the door or driveway with this cam and also able to see in front of one of my windows. I already installed a mounting board in the soffit by the front door when I was experimenting. I'm planning to add a cam there as I'm changing my goals and would like to be able to id someone.

I have also been considering to mount a cam on my garage. I was thinking of putting it on the soffit on the far side of my garage. I could somewhat hide it behind the downspout and it would be more discreet vs being mounted on the front. This would get my cam further out and I could monitor the mailbox, sidewalk etc. Or maybe I could zoom the front door cam? I could probably get my mailbox in view of it and be able to id someone further out on the sidewalk during the day. I am also aware the cam in my pic needs to be repositioned

For the backyard I was thinking of adding a battery powered motion light by my deck patio door. I thought about putting a cam on my deck as well but thats a more difficult spot to wire up. Not sure if I need to id someone back there but nice to know the area is clear. A burglar would probably come from the front even if they broke in the back. They broke in the side door to my garage previously but that is braced up now and I don't feel the need to monitor the sides of my house.

My goal is to be able to id someone out front while minimizing cams. I don't consider the cams a replacement for my home alarm either but a nice added bonus. I have 2 dahua varifocal cams on the way. I also plan to use a patch panel and surface mount punch down to rj 45 block somewhere inside close to the cam location. From cam to switch that is like 4 coupling jacks. Does that cause a problem for poe?

thanks

 

[Kawboy12R]

My rule of thumb- one cam per door (4mm generally, maybe 2.8) mounted at face height or just above the swing of the door plus one longer lensed cam (minimum 6mm) per driveway, then add cams as needed for other areas of interest like garages, backyards, gates, play areas, etc. Angle the door cams to catch faces well at the door but keep in mind what they see in the distance and jiggle the mounting a bit for double duty. At 2mp or a bit better, 2.8s basically work for ID if the subject comes right up to the cam or maybe 10ft out. They're good for adding a bit broader situational awareness to a door cam but the wider field of view can also screw up proper exposure if too much door/wall/column/soffet is lit up and causes the actually important parts of the scene to be too dark. 4mm a bit farther out (20, maybe 30ft if you're lucky). Minimum of 6mm if the area/car/person of interest is 20+ feet from the camera.

Not entirely sure what you're doing with 4 connections between cam and switch. You should homerun the cables from cam to switch then switch to router or switch to NVR. I'd only use couplers if absolutely necessary. Cam to keystone jack and then to switch is fine as well. Each coupler/punchdown/etc is another possible problem area for data let alone POE. Troubleshooting one bad wire with 2 connectors is easy. 4 jacks, 5 wires, and ten connections? Not so much. KISS.

 

[spork]

thanks for the distance recommendations. seems like a cam on the garage will be a good idea.

The connector on the cam is a break in the line. Then a keystone / surface mount or whatever to the solid line. Then again at the patch panel is another keystone. The attachment to the poe switch is another connection. This just seems like a lot of breaks in the line. Not sure if it would be better to just get rj 45 plugs for the solid cat 6? Then I could reduce the connection points to just the switch and cam. I've heard solid wire should be terminated to a punch down though?

 

[Kawboy12R]

Some standards state to terminate solid wire to keystones on either end. Then use stranded patch cords from keystones to equipment. It is extremely common practice for cameras to terminate the solid wire at RJ45 connectors because they aren't getting moved or plugged/unplugged all the time. RJ45 at the camera and and keystone at the switch end would be a good compromise between cost and ease and reliability.

I've seen pros insult each other and almost come to blows online over the subject. Both work, but jacks on either end of the solid wire run and stranded patch cords from jacks to equipment is "better" but not necessary. Stronger financial arguments against jacks vs RJ45 termination at the camera could probably be made when using burial grade cat 5 as well.

 

[spork]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IO3H88C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1AMUYYA3CT6HJ

I was planning to use these for my connections close to the cam. Didn't see the need to have a entire outlet box with face plate etc.

I'm just a hobbyist but I also think its code for any cable that enters from the outside to be grounded. I also know that you can't just hammer a ground rod next to the cam and call it a day as the potential across your grounds has to rise and fall together (a quote from someone more knowledgeable than me). I think the only way to accomplish a correct single point ground would be to bring all cables in at the service entrance or have a array of ground rods around the house all bonded together with some heavy duty stuff.

I'm not planning to ground them but I will minimize any outside cable and I feel better running some nice cmr stuff.

 

[Del Boy]

Don't use 2.8mm it's too wide and open. The night images will be shocking. Use 4mm for general overview and see how you get on. Then you can add 6mm or whatever later.

 

[spork]

I think my current cams are 4mm. The 2 on the way are varifocal. This should give me some room to experiment. I would like the cam on my garage to be set at 12 mm. I'm hoping this will give me a nice close up around my mailbox and cover sidewalk activity, cars going by etc. I'm going to cover as much of my driveway as possible with it. can't wait for them to show up so I can experiment.

 

[Del Boy]

Compared to that Acti crap you are going to be so excited. You're going to need more cameras but you'll have a good idea what lens for future ones.

 

[spork]

I am not impressed with my acti d32 cams at all. I can't get over 8 or 9 fps on them during the day at 1080p. At night its about 4 fps with my settings. They are also somewhat bulky cams and require a tool for adjustment. That being said they do what I need for the most part so I won't be replacing them. I had originally planned to use all acti because their nvr software is quite good and can utilize on cam motion.

My hikvision cubes stay around 10 fps no problem.