Energy saving solution- NVR the best option? Dahua

[tomasi]

Hey,
I am building my system, I have NVR4216-4ks2 recorder. I will have 1x8mp camera, 2x5mp and also 5x4mp cameras. I am trying to have as low as possible power consumption. I think that NVR will always use less power than machine with BI.
Am I right? Or maybe you have some nice and powerful solutions based maybe on ARM processors?
Why it is important? I will have it connected to UPS, together with POE switch. I already have UPS and don't want to buy something bigger (cyberpower pwr750elcd). On the same UPS I will also have LTE router and access point.

 

[wittaj]

Don't discount Blue Iris so fast LOL

Do like many of us do and purchase a refurbished computer that is a business class computer that have come off lease. The one I bought I kid you not I could not tell that it was a refurbished unit - not a speck of dust or dents or scratches on it. It appeared to me like everything was replaced and I would assume just the motherboard with the intel processor is what was from the original unit. I went with the lowest end processor on the WIKI list as it was the cheapest and it runs my system fine.

A member here just last month found a refurbished 4th generation for less than $150USD that came with Win10 PRO, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB drive. More than sufficient to run what you have. Probably can't get a DVR much cheaper than that. And then this future proofs you if you decide to upgrade cameras later.

A NVR is an underpowered computer and with the Blue Iris computer you turn off Windows updates and the uptime will be comparable to a NVR. If you are concerned about power consumption, according to my kill-o-watt meter, my computer for BI uses less than my NVR does. In fact, for the true test, I actually still have an old NVR going just for kicks and backup until it dies. We had a power outage recently and the BI computer lasted the entire outage on backup power and the NVR did not - two separate backup units but the exact same model purchased at same time. You run the computer without the monitor on and BI runs as a service and you don't run anything else on it and the power isn't really as much as you think.

 

[DanDenver]

Also, without knowing what it is you are recording of course, you may want to factor in results. If you go to all this trouble to save a few kilowatts and miss recording an event, then it was all for nothing. I have found that BI is way more effective at triggering properly when there is motion than a NVR is. I just moved to BI from a NVR and their is a huge improvement in what gets triggered or recorded (I am using AI). BI is so much better in that area alone, not to mention most other areas as well.

 

[wittaj]

^+1 - I found with NVRs that I had over an 8-10 year span before I moved to BI that I was more reactive with an NVR, meaning I only looked at the footage LONG AFTER something happened like a neighbor asking if my cams caught anything. The false triggers and pulling up the slow interface and what not just got too time consuming so I could go months without looking at it.

With BI - I only get notifications for actual events - not shadows, leaves, rain, etc. I am notified BEFORE someone comes to my door. In addition to knowing IF someone came close to my house in the middle of the night, in literally less than 30 seconds I can scrub the entire nighttime videos for anything unusual. It could take longer than that just to key in the search parameters on the NVR....and then wait and wait and wait...

 

[tomasi]

I understand qualities of BI, I don't question it at all. But if I want to also have surveillance and recording during power outage, I need to: 1. Aim at energy saving solution. 2. Multiply UPS or buy some big one.
Maybe the second is easier, but I am actually trying to reduce consumption as much as possible. Probably it is not fully justified, but this is my reality.
I wanted look into Linux, as Linux can also work on ARM processors which has very often better capability in coding/decoding, energy saving and finally in machine learning processing than x86. Maybe somebody is using such custom solution?

 

[wittaj]

Unless you get a standby generator or solar grid or get a Tesla batterpack LOL, you won't get extended periods. Even the big one you do not want to purchase is only rated for 6 minutes at full load....

 

[The Automation Guy]

Unless you get a standby generator or solar grid or get a Tesla batterpack LOL, you won't get extended periods. Even the big one you do not want to purchase is only rated for 6 minutes at full load....

I agree. Between the power that the cameras require and any NVR solution, you are going to be talking about run time measured in minutes, not hours unless you are generating power yourself.

Will a NVR take less power than a computer running BI? It depends.....

As mentioned, a NVR is running the same components as a computer does. The components are going to be matched to the capabilities/requirements that are spec'd and not anything higher. So in that regard, a NVR is going to use less power than a computer that has more hard drives, RAM, and CPU power. But if you match a computer's hardware to match that of the NVR, I suspect you will find that the two units use about the same amount of power.

 

[DanDenver]

I agree, UPS is not meant to “run” something, it is actually used to to send a shut down signal to the OS when the grid goes down. This way the OS can perform a graceful shut off. And just like mentioned above, they are rated for minutes, not hours or days.

 

[Dramus]

I've a tiny little APC BE600M1, 600VA, UPS supplying my Synology DS218+ NAS, upon which runs Surveillance Station, an OTA TV networked digital tuner, and a small 5-port switch. Uptime is two hours. When large enough SSDs become economical enough and I replace the WD Reds in my NAS with SSDs, I expect the runtime to increase appreciably.

I've another little APC UPS, 450VA, IIRC, supplying an 8-port managed PoE switch and the six PoE cameras I have. Runtime on that is in excess of two hours.

Our main LAN server, plus cable modem, Internet border router, LTE modem for fail-over Internet connection, main LAN switch, PoE for the WiFi AP, and VoIP ATA has a runtime of over two hours on an APC Smart-UPS 1500. (Or it does with fresh batteries. It's about time to replace them.)

The alarm system has its own battery.

The goal is to keep everything critical running long enough for me to get to the generator from anywhere reasonably close to home, w/o having to panic.

 

[Teken]

I’ve been on the energy monitoring & energy management quest going on 30 plus years. So here are a few things to consider if you intend to go down this path.

CPU TDP: You’ll need to find a CPU that states a low TDP which in the Intel realm will be using ATOM based processors. The problem going this route is trying to balance performance vs cost just for a low power consuming CPU.

If money isn’t an issue than the world is your oyster!

Memory: Depending upon type of memory and how many this is another area to save energy.

Storage: Again depending upon the type M2, SSD, HDD and the quantity of drives this is one of the second largest energy consumer.

PSU: Anything that is going to be running 24.7.365 must use the most efficient 90+ PSU with the highest PF. This will insure what you take in vs put out is used up efficiently.

FANS: The size of the case will dictate if you’re stuck with screaming 1U 40 mm fans going 12K vs a 2U / 4U or regular PC case that uses larger 120 mm fans that are quieter and run slower. How many fans will impact the current draw and power consumed.

Video: If you use any video card you’ve already lost the energy war.

Monitor: If you intend to go down this route you need a high quality energy monitor to confirm and validate the changes in hardware in place / removed. Just reading the spec sheet only gets you half way.

I built a high performance low power firewall a few years ago. As the primary goal was low energy, high performance, while offering screaming fast 10 / 40 GB throughput! That cost a bit of change to achieve that goal so it can be done.

If money can solve a problem - it’s not a problem. If money can’t solve a problem - You have a serious problem!