If you bought the mount, you do not need to additionally add the junction box. You can also just buy the junction box, it all depends on how you are going to mount the camera, and what surface you intend to mount upon. One of the reasons I went with the diy Klein crimper, if you have to drill holes in your siding, it makes a much smaller hole pushing the cable through vs the cable with the connector already installed.
Dahau camera availability
- Thread starter EricB
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Smaller hole makes a lot of sense.
In the front, for the inside of the porch area, do to the ceiling being very tall, I am going to have to go through brick unfortunately. Depending what else I need, and where the cameras are located, I might be able through the soffit area to either side of the porch. In the back, I believe all of the cameras can hang from the soffit.
Thanks,
Eric
Yep, I have to keep reminding myself of that. I need to figure out how it all works with BI and single camera, and then plan the rest of it. I need a plan so after the fact I can determine how badly I planned and where I screwed upBaby steps.
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I had to drill through cement siding, I used Milwaukee long red masonry bits (SHOCKWAVE Carbide), started with the smallest size, like 1/16", then 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, at 1/4 I was able to feed the cable through. Home Depot sells them by the set for about $25. I did not need to use a hammer drill, my cordless DeWalt 20V worked fine.
I hate to admit it, but I found this site researching the Reolinks thinking they were the cameras I should be going with.
I took about 30 minutes on the "youtube review is bogus" post and then a quick forum search to see how wrong I was.
Then I saw found reference to the Cliff Notes and Wiki, Focal Length and others and realized I was really glad I came upon this site.
Eric
My wife just got me a new Milwaukee M12 Drill/Hammer Drill and a Impact Driver, so they will be getting tested here in the near future. It will be interesting to see if the M12 work as well as my old 19.2 Craftsman or if I need to look at the M18 line. I have been very impressed with the M18 line of powered lawn tools.
Eric
Mike A.
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I've used the M12 hammer drill a lot. It's a great little drill. More power than you'd think. Once in a while I'll break out the M18 but usually don't need to for just a few small holes for cables and mounting cams. Key with getting through masonry is good bits. Otherwise you'll be getting nowhere fast with anything. Mortar's usually easier to get through than brick. And easier to patch if you move something later.
I wish I found this site before I started my camera journey LOL. I started with the Logitech 700 cameras and then moved to the big box store Swann all in a box kit LOL. And a few other questionable systems before I found this site LOL.
I now have a box of useless cameras as I realized how poor those systems were.
But you came here with an open mind.
We have seen several that are all set to go reolink and came here for confirmation that was a good purchase and despite all the evidence showing otherwise, they called us names and still purchased the reolinks LOL.
Even with all the great knowledge you get here, you will stumble across a learning opportunity mistake and will be able to share it here for others.
Many of us had the same idea as @samplenhold that we have a perfect plan, but until you buy a camera and test locations, and then put up the cameras and analyze it with an open mind to find the weak spots, you will have a void in the system.
Or an event happens and you realize you need some more cameras.
It is really easy to get lulled into a sense of satisfaction by walking around your house and watching the playback and be like "Yeah look I can easily tell it is me".
It is the total stranger that we need to be able to IDENTIFY. You need to find a way to test that.
I live in an area with lots of families. A neighbor was having a party for their son's baseball team and they were all in their jerseys, so they all had the same clothes and basically looked alike LOL. I asked the kids to run and walk around my house and then I printed out a few and tried to see if I could ID which kid was which.
That is when you realize that the DORI numbers the manufacturers provide are WAY overestimated LOL. Those are under perfect conditions with no movement. Realistically you cut it in half for day time and then cut that half in half again (or more) for nighttime.
Do you mean the "But here are the daytime pics from my camera (with the person standing still in the perfect lighting), how can you dispute this" posts?
I have an "idea" of what I think I want/need to do, but that has changed a fair amount over the last couple of days of reading here. That is why I decided I needed to get a camera (other than the little Wyze Cam V3 that I have been playing with) and get the license for Blue Iris and play with them. Get familiar/comfortable with what BI and a good camera can offer so that I am better able to determine what I need and want (I think those are the same, but my wife often explains that they are not the same)
After seeing a couple of the posts with test rigs, my ideas on how to test the cameras in various locations has changed. I had never thought about putting them on a "stick" and positioning them for testing. My thought was get familiar/comfortable with BI and the 1st camera and then add additional cameras where I thought I wanted them. But after seeing those posts, after I am familiar/comfortable with the 1st camera and BI, I will now I use a test rig to try the camera in various positions to get the coverage I want from it at the front door, and mark that spot. I will then move the camera to the next position to determine where camera #2 should be and what type of camera should be there, etc. until I have all of my cameras mapped out.
I think when #1 is setup, I will take a screen capture of the view from BI so that I can then compare the coverage of the additional front cameras to verify that I have overlapping coverage like I want.
Right now, I think only the front door camera needs the identification, the ones facing down the driveways just need Detection and Observation (at least initially) since they will only be providing additional "intruder detection" to supplement the driveway alarms I have, although that is subject to change of course.
Testing for a stranger will be a little more difficult because I am semi-rural and don't have many neighbors. I do however have a neighbor that has a couple of adult kids with families who often meet at his place for get-togethers, so I may see if I can talk him into getting 1 or more of the family members to come over and walk by the cameras. I could then go to his house and see if I can determine who I caught on the camera. I could probably bribe them with some beer or scotch. Don't know if this will work or not since I am making it up on the fly based on what you said about identifying strangers.
This is another of those projects where I think a person could very quickly wind-up way down the rabbit hole and have fun learning a whole bunch of new stuff. Probably frustrating as hell at times as well but the payoff of getting past the frustration is part of the fun.
Later,
Eric
I have an "idea" of what I think I want/need to do, but that has changed a fair amount over the last couple of days of reading here. That is why I decided I needed to get a camera (other than the little Wyze Cam V3 that I have been playing with) and get the license for Blue Iris and play with them. Get familiar/comfortable with what BI and a good camera can offer so that I am better able to determine what I need and want (I think those are the same, but my wife often explains that they are not the same)
After seeing a couple of the posts with test rigs, my ideas on how to test the cameras in various locations has changed. I had never thought about putting them on a "stick" and positioning them for testing. My thought was get familiar/comfortable with BI and the 1st camera and then add additional cameras where I thought I wanted them. But after seeing those posts, after I am familiar/comfortable with the 1st camera and BI, I will now I use a test rig to try the camera in various positions to get the coverage I want from it at the front door, and mark that spot. I will then move the camera to the next position to determine where camera #2 should be and what type of camera should be there, etc. until I have all of my cameras mapped out.
I think when #1 is setup, I will take a screen capture of the view from BI so that I can then compare the coverage of the additional front cameras to verify that I have overlapping coverage like I want.
Right now, I think only the front door camera needs the identification, the ones facing down the driveways just need Detection and Observation (at least initially) since they will only be providing additional "intruder detection" to supplement the driveway alarms I have, although that is subject to change of course.
That sounds like vendors of all tech hardware/software I have ever seen, or come to think of it vendors in any industry... We are %100 x when in reality it is only 100% x when in a perfect world, but the real world is 50% x maximum.
The first time I miss seeing a skunk or raccoon (they are viscous little monsters) and my wife takes the dog out and finds the critter I will definitely know that I need to add cameras or adjust things!
Testing for a stranger will be a little more difficult because I am semi-rural and don't have many neighbors. I do however have a neighbor that has a couple of adult kids with families who often meet at his place for get-togethers, so I may see if I can talk him into getting 1 or more of the family members to come over and walk by the cameras. I could then go to his house and see if I can determine who I caught on the camera. I could probably bribe them with some beer or scotch. Don't know if this will work or not since I am making it up on the fly based on what you said about identifying strangers.
This is another of those projects where I think a person could very quickly wind-up way down the rabbit hole and have fun learning a whole bunch of new stuff. Probably frustrating as hell at times as well but the payoff of getting past the frustration is part of the fun.
Later,
Eric
Yes it can. I call it my hobby. Others call it my obsession.
Do not be to worried about getting folks you do not know to walk past your cams. But do walk test your test rig both day and night.
I have moved from my original thought of security/necessity to the hobby stage. I have a LPR camera I will eventually get mounted if I can find a place. I have picked up three cameras (not mounted) with no intended destination, just to test and see how I like them. The same with mounts, I think I have all the options for each camera so I can pick and choose what I like and works best.
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Same here LOL. I probably have more cameras than I need, but it is as much a hobby and seeing how much performance I can squeeze out of the camera.
No, you have moved from the Hobby Stage to the Obsession Stage.
Welcome to the Pleasuredome!
Actually after conducting a mental inventory of what I have but have not mounted it is four not three cameras
I might find a fifth if I do a physical inventory
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
When testing locations, you need to leave the camera in that position for a minimum of 24 hrs or longer. Recording all that time so you can see the actual results.
Things like.
IR reflection from some item that mess's with the exposure of the cam.
If using in cam AI, the field of view is an important consideration.
You want to test in a variety of conditions when possible.
Bright sunny day, gloomy days, night, night with rain, etc.
If face ID"s are important, you need to do numerous walk tests through the FOV in those conditions.
Static scenes prove nothing.
Things like.
IR reflection from some item that mess's with the exposure of the cam.
If using in cam AI, the field of view is an important consideration.
You want to test in a variety of conditions when possible.
Bright sunny day, gloomy days, night, night with rain, etc.
If face ID"s are important, you need to do numerous walk tests through the FOV in those conditions.
Static scenes prove nothing.
I SO agree with this statement!
But even on here we see folks post static scenes and pat themselves on the back.
So, what you all are saying is that once I get the initial setup done and working, if I get a little obsessed and start adding additional cameras and swapping/testing camera and generally going overboard with this, I will have lots of company?