Newbie Needs Help w/ Covered Porch Cam Placement

B

BrandonR

n3wb
Nov 14, 2016
7
0
Hello folks, I've been reading this forum for a few weeks now and plan to add a few cams out of necessity. I run an e-commerce business out of my home (office is the front room overlooking the porch) and had some recent package thefts from my front porch that were awaiting UPS pick-up from my front door. Right now I have added a Ring Pro doorbell (which sucks) to have something until I can get some cams installed.

I have already purchased a Hikvision NVR and a couple of 4mp Hik turrets (one 2.8mm and one 4mm) to get me started. I will eventually add more to monitor the driveway, garage and other areas of my yard. I am also not opposed to buying any other Hikvision cams, which may suit the front porch application better and use these around other places of my home. My main goal with the front porch is to be able to clearly identify subjects at the front door, as well as keep an overall view of the activity around the front door and walkway. I know the covered porch will pose some issues with lighting, but I can add motion lights where needed. I already have a battery powered one above the front door for when the UPS guys come after dark to do package pick-ups, which can easily be moved or taken down. My home is also a single story, so running cable and placing cams to anywhere around the home is not an issue.

Below are some pictures and an overhead plan of the area in question. Any suggestions for placement or alternative Hik cams (2mp, other lens sizes, etc) would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

house1.jpg House2.jpg house4.jpg house5.jpg Porch Plan.PNG
 
I would put that 4mm directly above the center of your front door. It should point ahead nice and shoot between those two columns no problem. As for "lighting issues" I honestly don't think you'll really have any. The purpose of that camera is to ID people as they approach. You'll also be able to set up a motion trigger if you want when they hit the porch so it grabs some still images. If those two porch lights are on a dedicated switch then I would throw one of these bad boys in: Honeywell 7-Day Programmable Timer Switch for Lights and Motors-RPLS730B1000/U - The Home Depot You'll prob find that you won't even need IR at night and it will assure the lights are always on once the sun goes down. I wouldn't add motion lights to the actual porch and I would take the battery powered one down. The main reason is if your camera is bouncing from IR/Night mode to day mode when the light kicks on it could miss a critical ID, especially since the thief prob isn't moving slow, the last thing you want is a camera bouncing between modes as the thief comes into camera view then a bunch of lights kick on and the camera tries to bounce back to day mode.

You have some nice over hangs so you can mount a couple more turrets under those eaves covering the front of the property, driveway, street etc without them standing out like a sore thumb.

Good Luck
 
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Thanks for the advice...I hadn't thought about putting the porch lights on a timer, but I went ahead and ordered the switch and plate cover to install next week.

I also have 5 lights along my sidewalk and landscape beds outside that are extremely bright, but I'll probably play around with those once all cameras up before putting them on a timer. My worry with those is they may wash out images due to placement if I leave them on all night.
 
Having a light shining at a camera at night can really screw it up, depending on the cam's dynamic range. I love my Hik Darkfighter but when I put lights out on my lawn to light up the house a bit at Christmas it really washes out everything near the light. Same goes with lights on a car- with headlights shining on the house and brakelights and backup lights on a car backing straight out from across the street will obscure the whole car.
 
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