Home Security Camera Purchase/Installation Questions

[entropy0321]

Hello Everybody,

First time posting on IPCamTalk and after quite a bit of research using the resources on this awesome site I think I've almost settled on how I'm going to setup my security camera system.

But before I make any camera purchases I figured that I'd reach out and see if any of you fine folk could share your wisdom with me.

For starters, my house is wired (cat6) to my Ubiquiti Unifi network equipment (USG, POE Switches, APs, etc) which connect to my Synology NAS as well as a Dell Optiplex (i7-8700K) that I have running as a hypervisor (ProxMox).

My Dell already houses several VMs (Plex, OpenVPN, Unifi Controller) but I plan to add one more VM dedicated solely for Blue Iris and have it record security footage to my NAS.

My goal is to wire enough cameras to cover the perimeter of my house, isolate them in their own VLAN and apply all additional security steps covered by this site.



My first question is since my roof has attic vents (similar to this users thread here Arizona Install through Attic Vents) could it be as simple as dragging a cable from my network closet into the attic and through these vent holes at each location where I'll be installing my cameras?



My second question is what POE cameras would you all recommend if I'm trying to stay under $1000 for 4-5 cameras? Due to the location of the attic vents these cameras will probably sit close to 10 feet off the ground so not sure if I'll be able to identify subjects at that height. Also, I just installed floodlights with motion/dusk-to-dawn sensors in my backyard so certain areas of my house are already well lit.

After much research I was pretty settled on starting out with the Dahua 2MP Starlight Varifocal Turret IPC-HDW5231R-Z but I can't seem to find it (maybe discontinued?). I saw the IPC-T5442T-ZE on EmpireTechs Amazon page, would this be a good alternative? Are there any camera suggestions you all would recommend given this lengthy outline? If DORI is out of the question might it be worth it/cost effective to go with Amcrest?

Thanks and sorry for the lengthy post.

 

[Justin Blackburn]

The 5442 ze is fantastic. Go here and you can see what coverage/overlaps you get. IPVM Camera Calculator

 

[Holbs]

you have no cameras watching the side of the house. Any windows along the sides? Something to keep in mind for future considerations. Same for slapping in a PTZ for front street/sidewalk duties as well.

 

[Holbs]

I only say "MORE cameras" because I know the "just want a couple cameras to see things" to "omg, if someone or something happens I really need to see livestream and recording for ID police purposes". There is a large gap difference.
I could see 2-3 guys rushing past your left single camera catching some of the front area...to only disappear for 2-3 minutes along the side of your house. Wonder what they are doing...hmm....

 

[sebastiantombs]

The 5231 has been discontinued and, basically, replaced by the 5442 which is an even better camera. There is still an equivalent to the 5231 which is the 3241T-ZAS. It's a 2MP varifocal camera on a 1/2.8" sensor and has basic AI, human and vehicle detection through IVS. It works, produces better night video, a little better than a 5231, Daytime the 5231 and 3241 are the same, IMHO. Neither produce better video at night than the 5442 though. I have all three so I've got experience with all of them.

In terms of mounting and wiring, you could use either an electricians snake or a set of push rods to push/snake from the outside in, then pull the wire back out of the attic. In terms of mounting, both the 5442 and 3241 fit on the PFA-130 mounting box. If you use them you could use a short piece of PVC conduit, say two feet, to get the camera down to eight instead of ten feet. You can also paint the cameras and conduit to match the house color to blend them pretty well.

You may also want to consider more cameras, see the rules below, to give better coverage of the front and rear as well as, possibly, along both sides. I always mount cameras so that one "watches" another, just in case. Food for thought for you.

The three basic rules of video surveillance cameras-

Rule #1 - Cameras multiply like rabbits.
Rule #2 - Cameras are more addictive than drugs.
Rule #3 - You never have enough cameras.

 

[Rob2020]

Look at the Dahua 5442 (turret) series, look at the Dahua PFB Mount to match the camera model #. The PFB will mount to the trim board and look good, I just posted an example here in a thread here about 3 or 4 days ago.

It is OK to start with one or two cameras and expand based upon what you learn.

The Dahua 5442 varifocal is useful to get an idea on what focal length will or will not work across various locations.

Read the cliff notes in the wiki.

 

[entropy0321]

Thank you all for your insight, I'm thinking of purchasing an EmpireTech IPC-T5442T-ZE as well as an Amcrest IP8M-T2599EW to compare them (I'd purchase 5-6 IPC-T5442T-ZE cameras but the price I see on Amazon would definitely bring me above budget quickly).

I didn't really worry too much about the sides of the house until I saw night video of somebody running past these cameras and the blur it puts off so I'll definitely heed Holbs' advice and get a couple extra cameras to cover these areas.

From what I hear 10ft may be too high to identify subjects so I'm mustering up the courage to mount these to the walls which means I'll probably have to drill through the top plate from my attic and hopefully be able to snake a cable down to the location of my camera (I've run cable in exterior walls before and needless to say it wasn't much fun).

Any advice/tips/feedback would be greatly appreciated... otherwise I'll probably post back here in a few days with my progress

 

[mat200]

Thank you all for your insight, I'm thinking of purchasing an EmpireTech IPC-T5442T-ZE as well as an Amcrest IP8M-T2599EW to compare them (I'd purchase 5-6 IPC-T5442T-ZE cameras but the price I see on Amazon would definitely bring me above budget quickly).

I didn't really worry too much about the sides of the house until I saw night video of somebody running past these cameras and the blur it puts off so I'll definitely heed Holbs' advice and get a couple extra cameras to cover these areas.

From what I hear 10ft may be too high to identify subjects so I'm mustering up the courage to mount these to the walls which means I'll probably have to drill through the top plate from my attic and hopefully be able to snake a cable down to the location of my camera (I've run cable in exterior walls before and needless to say it wasn't much fun).

Any advice/tips/feedback would be greatly appreciated... otherwise I'll probably post back here in a few days with my progress

hi @entropy0321

A short section of conduit from the attic down the wall to a junction box for the camera imho is a easy solution.