TechBill's surveillance build

[tangent]

as far as seeing packages, you could put something on the porch in the lefthand corner where it's out of frame to keep packages from being placed there. a garden gnome or some shit.

 

[TechBill]

as far as seeing packages, you could put something on the porch in the lefthand corner where it's out of frame to keep packages from being placed there. a garden gnome or some shit.

Garden Gnome will give all my four kids nightmares however you bring up a good point.

I might get something like a bald eagle or a bear holding welcome sign but I might scale back the zoom or lower the cam a bit more on the final adjustment.

The package that I recieves weekly from my work are big enough that part of it will still be visible in the camera view if placed in that corner. It would really have to be s small package to be out of view

Thank you for your feedback!

 

[ThomasPI]

Nice work Bill, thanks for posting this up. I am going to use the same cameras at my doorways and around the garage doors in front of the house, 5231RZ. Actually probably about 10 of them. These install threads are a MAJOR benefit for getting ideas on cameras and install locations.

 

[TechBill]

I plan to mount all my cameras directly to the wall or soffit on the house without using any junction box. That mean I will have to drill at least 3/4 inch hole to be able to insert the Ethernet and power jack from the camera into the wall or above the soffit.

I wanted some way to seal it but still give me the flexibility to adjust the rotation of the camera without binding the Ethernet/power cable so I came up with a seal that will work perfectly for this project.

I plan to drill 1 inch hole instead of 3/4 inch hole because a 3/4 inch hole will be a very tight fit for a Ethernet jack capped with weather seal cap so a 1 inch hole should give me lots of room to work with when inserting the cable back into the wall but I don't just want to glob it with silicone seal filling up a 1 inch hole

At first I went to Lowes and brought a rubber grommet and a 1" plastic end cap.




I overestimated the thickness of the Ethernet cable when I got the rubber grommet for it so I cut a piece out of the grommet allowing it to tightly wrap the cable. I had to slice it anyway to be able to insert the cable into the grommet and also I drilled a hole and sliced the plastic end cap.






This is what the final project look like after putting it all together onto the Ethernet/power cable. I will be coating the cable and grommet with a waterproof grease to keep weather element and bug out of it but allow the cable to slide in and out freely while I do fine tune adjustment and I will be using a silicone seal around the cap to snap it into the hole on the wall or soffit to help seal it in.

 

[TechBill]

I wanted to add that originally I planned to get a rubber cork and drill a hole in it then slice it to insert a cable into it which I would press the cork into the hole.

The problem with cork is that once you plug it up there still some cork sticking out of the hole and there is very tiny space between the eye of the camera and the wall itself. Instead, I went with plastic cap / grommet method since it will seat flat against the wall giving cable lots of flexing room between the eye of the camera and the wall.

If the plastic cap end doesn't work out then I still plan to give a rubber cork a try by trimming the end down until it is flush with the wall.

 

[ThomasPI]

Looks great. Thanks much for specifics, if you have specific stock numbers from Lowes could you post them up?

 

[TechBill]

Looks great. Thanks much for specifics, if you have specific stock numbers from Lowes could you post them up?

Here a photo of the parts and the stock numbers for each parts.
The rubber grommet I used last night, I felt it was still a bit big (1/4 inner diameter) after trimming down. It the one on the far left in the photo.

I went back to Lowes today and got two different rubber grommet which have 3/16 inner diameter both center and far right in the photo. I decided to go with the one on the far right because it a little thicker rubber which I think make it easier for me to insert it into the hole in the plastic end cap.



I use a 5/16 drill bit to drill the hole in the plastic end cap for the rubber grommet which I choose the one on the far right in the photo above (#884624). It come with two in a package also the end cap comes with two in the package.

Photo of the end cap drilled out and sliced with rubber grommet inserted in. Make sure that the slice on end cap and rubber grommet is going in the opposite direction. I plan to use silicone seal covering the slice on the end cap after I inserted it into the hole. But I plan to use only waterproof grease on the rubber itself.





Here what it look like with cable inserted into it using a different smaller rubber grommet than the one I used yesterday

 

[tangent]

feed through bushing

 

[ThomasPI]

Here a photo of the parts and the stock numbers for each parts.
The rubber grommet I used last night, I felt it was still a bit big (1/4 inner diameter) after trimming down. It the one on the far left in the photo.

I went back to Lowes today and got two different rubber grommet which have 3/16 inner diameter both center and far right in the photo. I decided to go with the one on the far right because it a little thicker rubber which I think make it easier for me to insert it into the hole in the plastic end cap.

View attachment 18790

I use a 5/16 drill bit to drill the hole in the plastic end cap for the rubber grommet which I choose the one on the far right in the photo above (#884624). It come with two in a package also the end cap comes with two in the package.

Photo of the end cap drilled out and sliced with rubber grommet inserted in. Make sure that the slice on end cap and rubber grommet is going in the opposite direction. I plan to use silicone seal covering the slice on the end cap after I inserted it into the hole. But I plan to use only waterproof grease on the rubber itself.

View attachment 18791



Here what it look like with cable inserted into it using a different smaller rubber grommet than the one I used yesterday

View attachment 18792

Thanks for the details Bill, much appreciated !

 

[TechBill]

Last night, I ran the cables and installed the weatherproof connector that came with the camera.


Pulled wire




Added connector and crimped




Final result (I use electric tape to tape off the power jack)

 

[HMS]

A verry detailed instal. Thank you for the time you took. some times people assume there words will convey what there are meaning but words with pictures are worth SO much more.

 

[ThomasPI]

A verry detailed instal. Thank you for the time you took. some times people assume there words will convey what there are meaning but words with pictures are worth SO much more.

Agreed photos and details are a big plus and Bill hit a home run!

 

[TechBill]

Installing camera on front porch


Used silicone to plug up the hole with a plastic end cap.

After silicone dried, it was strong enough to hold the camera but cable still can freely move in/out of the rubber grommet




Camera mounted into the bracket. I still need to put the remaining soffit back in.

 

[ThomasPI]

Nice, I'd have to mount in a similar fashion but n the vertical wall. Ceilings are 10' on first floor so soffit mount not really ideal. Nice work.

 

[TechBill]

A verry detailed instal. Thank you for the time you took. some times people assume there words will convey what there are meaning but words with pictures are worth SO much more.

Agreed photos and details are a big plus and Bill hit a home run!

Your welcome!

Since I am Deaf so I rely heavily on using my visual for my whole life and I do enjoy taking pictures of my projects to share with others when I know it will benefit others too!

Bill

 

[TechBill]

Nice, I'd have to mount in a similar fashion but n the vertical wall. Ceilings are 10' on first floor so soffit mount not really ideal. Nice work.

I agree with you that it would be best to mount it on the wall if the ceiling or soffit too high or couple of feet higher above the door height. You can see that my camera is mounted about the same height as the door itself since the previous owner added a new soffit over the old one without removing the old soffit first.

The next camera I am doing will be mounted on the vertical wall which is right above my garage door tomorrow and I will be sharing photo on this next project too.

 

[ThomasPI]

Excellent, looking forward to reviewing the install thanks very much. Selecting equipment is half the battle, doing a nice clean install that functions properly is the other half. You do great work for sure and it's an immense help, more so than you know.

 

[TechBill]

This what it look like at nighttime with both porch and pole light on. The camera kicks into day (color) mode when porch light is on.





In one of my previous post, I had a night screenshot with a glare on it that was coming from the porch light, I managed to get rid of the glare by taping up half of the glass on the back of the porch light that is facing the door and camera. I probably will replace that porch light with something different. I am thinking about getting the same one that Ryan ( @nayr ) got for his house and move it to the wall where the door is at.




I probably will remove the back glass on the pole light that is facing the camera and replace it with a mirror so more light are focused toward the street and driveway reducing the glare some more.

 

[TechBill]

Today I had some free time to do next camera installation which is right above the garage door. The house was built in 1979 so I was hoping they use two headers with 1/2 space in between above the garage door allowing the cable to run in between. But nope lady luck wasn't with me today, it a one piece 4 x 6 solid header board which mean I have to drill all the way through the header board to the wall on the other side inside the garage. At least the board allow me to use 3 inch deck screw to mount the camera on it and it isn't going nowhere.

Drilled an one inch hole all the way through to the other side inside the garage and ran the Ethernet cable inside the wall until it reach to the header board then I cut out an opening in the wall to pull the Ethernet cable inside to connect it the camera. The hold will be patch back in and there will be like 5 inch of cable running from patch to the hole in the wall which lead to outside.

I also added a electric outdoor type junction box above the camera. I will be installing a LED sensor floodlight on it.



While drilling the one inch hole, I ran into a nail grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I had to widen the hole a bit to get that stupid 16g framing nail out using a long nose pliers. I am trying to keep the hole exactly one inch so that an end cap will plug into nicely with a dab of silicone but it gotten a bit bigger than I hoped. Where are you lady luck?!?! sigh .....

So I had to put a good amount of silicone around the end cap and put it in but since it won't stay firmly in and it would pop out if I tried to put the camera on. I use tie zip lock to hang the camera on the mount while the silicone dries. The Ethernet cable still can slide in and out freely in the rubber grommet.

Waiting for the silicone to dry ..................................................................

 

[TechBill]

Silicone had dried enough for me to put the camera in the mount and I did some adjustment. Next project will be putting the camera inside the garage.