Thrilled with my custom Dahua Setup!

[SJGUSMC21]

I wasn't for sure where to post this, so I am starting here since all of my equipment is Dahua. I owe much of this to a co-worker that passed away 3 weeks ago. He saved me a lot of money and time, by showing me what he has with his recommendations. Part of them was Andy and this forum.

I have a Dahua NVR4116HS-4KS2. The main reasons were: 1. Price, 2. 16 channesl (for expansion) and 3. Non-poe version. It works great. Cut the sides out and added the Noctura fan mods...works like a champ and is quiet. Only have a 2 TB drive in it for now, that will change in the next month or so and go up to a 6 TB. I love the fact that I can plug it in anywhere....it just simply works, and didn't break the bank. Will I upgrade in the future? Who knows, but for now it works great.

I have 7 Dahua IPC-HDW4631C-A cameras. 6 are 2.8mm, 1 is 3.6mm (long, narrow side of house). They work great and thus far, I have had zero problems with them. Setting them up was easy (reading here, youtube, etc) and again, just as easy as they can be.

To top it off, I have added 3 LONNKY LED IR Illuminator lights to assist with brightening things up. They to have worked great without a hitch.

I have them all connected to two, Netgear 8 port 127 watt POE's, plugged into a Netgear 16 port dumb switch. I have spent the last 2.5 months hard wiring my home (9 drops with Cat6A), and DO NOT care to do that again. Getting too old and fat to be a attic monkey.

I ordered my last camera today, a Dahua IPC-HDW2831TM-AS-S2. There will be one more that I add later, but not until I get a small rain gutter leak that is letting water flow on the frame to my covered patio, exactly where I need to mount the camera at (spring time). I have asked that Santa Claus bring me either a Dahua A35 or the A46. Mostly just to play with. (Updated: Nope, went with the Amcrest 4MP UltraHD Indoor WiFi Security IP Camera Pan/Tilt IP4M-1051W instead)

(can't believe I said 'last' camera...Ha, Haaaaaaaaaa!)

My system certainly is not high end, and I cannot read license plates. But what I can do is monitor the area's around my house, to help provide security for my family and home, and added another layer of security for them. In that sense, mission complete.

Will I ever change out the camera's for more high speed ones? I have no doubt I will.... Will I ever change out the NVR for a more robust, featured enhances one? I am certain I will. (Already did-Dahua 5216) But for now, I am ecstatic....I had fun....and what a GREAT HOBBY!

Thank you all for your help and assistance. I hope I can give back in some way as well. Take care and be safe.

A few pics for now...will add more later....

 

[flynreelow]

I wasn't for sure where to post this, so I am starting here since all of my equipment is Dahua. I owe much of this to a co-worker that passed away 3 weeks ago. He saved me a lot of money and time, but showing me what he has with his recommendations. Part of them was Andy and this forum.

I have a Dahua NVR4116HS-4KS2. The main reasons were: 1. Price, 2. 16 channesl (for expansion) and 3. Non-poe version. It works great. Cut the sides out and added the Noctura fan mods...works like a champ and is quiet. Only have a 2 TB drive in it for now, that will change in the next month or so and go up to a 6 TB. I love the fact that I can plug it in anywhere....it just simply works, and didn't break the bank. Will I upgrade in the future? Who knows, but for now it works great.

I have 7 Dahua IPC-HDW4631C-A cameras. 6 are 2.8mm, 1 is 3.6mm (long, narrow side of house). They work great and thus far, I have had zero problems with them. Setting them up was easy (reading here, youtube, etc) and again, just as easy as they can be.

To top it off, I have added 3 LONNKY LED IR Illuminator lights to assist with brightening things up. They to have worked great without a hitch.

I have them all connected to two, Netgear 8 port 127 watt POE's, plugged into a Netgear 16 port dumb switch. I have spent the last 2.5 months hard wiring my home (9 drops with Cat6A), and DO NOT care to do that again. Getting too old and fat to be a attic monkey.

I ordered my last camera today, a Dahua IPC-HDW2831TM-AS-S2. There will be one more that I add later, but not until I get a small rain gutter leak that is letting water flow on the frame to my covered patio, exactly where I need to mount (spring time). I have asked that Santa Claus brink me either a Dahua A35 or the A46. Mostly just to play with.

My system certainly is not high end, and I cannot read license plates. But what I can do is monitor the area's around my house, to help provide security for my family and home, and added another layer of security for them. In that sense, mission complete.

Will I ever change out the camera's for more high speed ones? I have no doubt I will.... Will I ever change out the NVR for a more robust, featured enhances one? I am certain I will. But for now, I am ecstatic....I had fun....and what a GREAT HOBBY!

Thank you all for your help and assistance. I hope I can give back in some way as well. Take care and be safe.

Post pics of the set up. Sounds great.

 

[SJGUSMC21]

I certainly will.

 

[Jessie.slimer]

Cameras are so freaking addicting. I can't explain why to other people who seem to roll their eyes at me.

 

[crw030]

Cameras are so freaking addicting. I can't explain why to other people who seem to roll their eyes at me.

Yeah, my wife thinks I'm crazy also.

 

[samplenhold]

I say it's a hobby...but others tell me it's an obsession.

 

[SJGUSMC21]

My wife as well, but actually it was her idea because of what happened a few years ago...so she isn't fighting it too hard...

 

[JNDATHP]

My wife was reticent when I first set up our cameras and, using Blue Iris, use UI3 to display the streams on a tablet computer next to our couch.

After about a year, I had to replace the tablet because it was failing. I ordered a new one and it took about a week to arrive. By this time the current tablet was dead.

I came home and she asked when the tablet would be replaced. I asked “why?” and her response was “I want to see what is happening around our house.”

She’s a believer now. When strangers approach our front door she can decide if she wants to answer the knock. Or, when we have had two people come into our backyard without prior authorization, she has been able to tell me so that I could confront them.

I love this hobby obsession.

 

[SJGUSMC21]

I like how you can either do it all at once, or take your time and build it up. It can easily be upgraded, piece by piece, or entire sections at a time. It is a very satisfying 'end result' that also provides a sense of security for your family. And really, what person that does this on their own, doesn't ENJOY new technology?

 

[Jessie.slimer]

I went into it knowing very little about computers and even less about networking, so I had the added benefit of a crash course on top of the hobby.

 

[handinpalm]

Now you have to migrate into having a monitor in every room (to keep wife happy). She just does not realize it yet. The good part is, you can do it wireless.

I wasn't for sure where to post this, so I am starting here since all of my equipment is Dahua. I owe much of this to a co-worker that passed away 3 weeks ago. He saved me a lot of money and time, by showing me what he has with his recommendations. Part of them was Andy and this forum.

I have a Dahua NVR4116HS-4KS2. The main reasons were: 1. Price, 2. 16 channesl (for expansion) and 3. Non-poe version. It works great. Cut the sides out and added the Noctura fan mods...works like a champ and is quiet. Only have a 2 TB drive in it for now, that will change in the next month or so and go up to a 6 TB. I love the fact that I can plug it in anywhere....it just simply works, and didn't break the bank. Will I upgrade in the future? Who knows, but for now it works great.

I have 7 Dahua IPC-HDW4631C-A cameras. 6 are 2.8mm, 1 is 3.6mm (long, narrow side of house). They work great and thus far, I have had zero problems with them. Setting them up was easy (reading here, youtube, etc) and again, just as easy as they can be.

To top it off, I have added 3 LONNKY LED IR Illuminator lights to assist with brightening things up. They to have worked great without a hitch.

I have them all connected to two, Netgear 8 port 127 watt POE's, plugged into a Netgear 16 port dumb switch. I have spent the last 2.5 months hard wiring my home (9 drops with Cat6A), and DO NOT care to do that again. Getting too old and fat to be a attic monkey.

I ordered my last camera today, a Dahua IPC-HDW2831TM-AS-S2. There will be one more that I add later, but not until I get a small rain gutter leak that is letting water flow on the frame to my covered patio, exactly where I need to mount the camera at (spring time). I have asked that Santa Claus brink me either a Dahua A35 or the A46. Mostly just to play with.

My system certainly is not high end, and I cannot read license plates. But what I can do is monitor the area's around my house, to help provide security for my family and home, and added another layer of security for them. In that sense, mission complete.

Will I ever change out the camera's for more high speed ones? I have no doubt I will.... Will I ever change out the NVR for a more robust, featured enhances one? I am certain I will. But for now, I am ecstatic....I had fun....and what a GREAT HOBBY!

Thank you all for your help and assistance. I hope I can give back in some way as well. Take care and be safe.

 

[JNDATHP]

Now you have to migrate into having a monitor in every room (to keep wife happy). She just does not realize it yet. The good part is, you can do it wireless.

Yes, if you have a reliable WiFi network. This tablet has been working flawlessly for nearly a year.

 

[SJGUSMC21]

That is very nice! What tablet is that? I am using my 6-7 year old LG G-Pad 8.3 tablet, with kit-kat on it. Still works, looks nice but I do have to press the refresh buttin in the middle sometimes. I have a very strong wifi signal in my house. BTW...Nice SONOS!

 

[JNDATHP]

I paid 139.99 at the time. Great Win10 tablet for viewing UI3.

 

[Jessie.slimer]

View attachment 73119

I paid 139.99 at the time. Great Win10 tablet for viewing UI3.

Do you let it stream ui3 24/7? If so, does it stay reliably connected or does it disconnect itself after awhile?

 

[JNDATHP]

24/7 and it does stays connected to our network. I did add a 5 GHz usb WiFi adapter as it only comes with a 2.4 GHz adapter on the motherboard. We have all UniFi equipment for our networks.

 

[SJGUSMC21]

I use gDMSS Plus on my tablet, which I am amazed it still works with KitKat. Can't complain at all.

 

[Shockwave199]

I love my new choices too, much credit to this forum and Andy. I hate installing but love having installed. So I guess that doesn't make it a true hobby for me. Along the way I'll upgrade the cameras because I do suffer from gear acquisition syndrome and I like having quality. If I didn't I'd have settled for ring stick up garbage installed with a bare minimum of sweat. I chose to kill myself alone over three days ripping out old and installing new and a further four days sore and recuperating. Did I mention I hate installing? But I too love my new setup. Glad yours is doing well too!

 

[Mike A.]

I love my new choices too...

View attachment 73149

Where did you get the gutter mount? I've not seen those/

 

[SJGUSMC21]

Looks Great! I like installing, just not being a attic rat!