okay, so i've pretty much given up on neighborhood-wide monitoring. that was perhaps a little too ambitious for a first step. instead, i'd like to set up some cameras outside the house to look up and down the street (in front) and up and down the alley (in back). however, the alley is probably 50 feet behind my house. what kind of cameras would i need for outside, and how would i wire them to go back to the house (to a dvr, i presume)?
outside cameras, away from house
- Thread starter DeLicious
- Start date
yes, but how do i run those cables to the end of my driveway? that's largely the part i'm unclear on.
i guess an alternative would be wireless cameras as well... does anyone have any experience with outdoor wireless cameras. i'm not really concerned with people picking up the transmission on these cameras since they will just be pointed at the alley, nothing sensitive, but i would be concerned with durability and transmission quality.
i guess an alternative would be wireless cameras as well... does anyone have any experience with outdoor wireless cameras. i'm not really concerned with people picking up the transmission on these cameras since they will just be pointed at the alley, nothing sensitive, but i would be concerned with durability and transmission quality.
<shrug>... never even thought about it.
this looks interesting https://www.scdlink.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=...amp;category=13
this looks interesting https://www.scdlink.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=...amp;category=13
ok, looking at some other posts about cameras, i'm in completely over my head on this. i'm hoping someone will help me out on what i need given that i'd like to monitor my alley (b&w acceptable), lowlight not an issue with street lights in the vicinity, able to record the results, hopefully able to access via internet or mobile phone, able to store the images and movies on my computer... how is all this done??
As was mentioned Cat5 direct burial in plastic conduit out to the end of the driveway, IP cam or balun at the end. If lighting is good you can go with a color camera it will help with auto identification. A balun and 4 cams would be prefered.
(4 cams, 2 pointing each direction down the alley. 1 for car/driver/activity capture the other for license plate capture.)
Recording, this will be either through DVR hardware (analog cameras) or NVR software (IP cameras) or a "hybrid" of the two. I always reccomend hybrids so you can use cheaper analog stuff today and IP based stuff tomorrow. Definately a big selling point. When you buy DVR hardware always keep upgrades in mind, I see many who bought a 4 channel setup and want 8 cams. This means you will basically have to repurchase equipment to upgrade. The DVR/NVR software will provide for webservices and encoding of the video or transcoding it to still images.
You can PM/email me if you get serious about making this work right... the first time, inside your budget.
upstatemike
Senior Member
If you don't want to deal with plastic conduit, there is cat-5 direct bury cable.
but what's a reasonable budget on this? say, the cable and conduit, 1 camera pointed each direction (no license plate capture, for now), appropriate connectors, and an 8 channel dvr so i could hook up all my other cameras to it as well? is this under $1000? under $500? I already have some IP cams, so whatever DVR solution I get will need to accomodate those. It would be nice to get analog cameras at a lower price point that IP cams of similar video quality, so I guess that means a hybrid DVR. Do you have specific recommendations?
It kinda depends...
See a cheapo place would probably use RG6, a wall wort and two baluns. That drops the price of result as much as possible. They might also use regular Cat5 inside conduit and run the power over it too. That would make $500 aside from the DVR very possible. However that would have to be completely reworked to add another camera.
I would want you to get direct burial Cat5 inside conduit, a UL listed power supply that would support the 8 channels you desire on the DVR in the end. I also factor in your current automation and security system and end goals there to ensure the DVR fit in with them as well. Also the "hybrid" factor basically kills all the really budget DVRs, many cheaper companies can't integrate IP cameras they don't sell/install. Some IP cams aren't very well supported outside of their own codec in their NVR software, so that needs to be taken into account too. I basically don't have anything for recording that can plug and play and meets all of our needs thats under $500 in itself.
Conduit is not required for direct burial, but if you use it you can later pull wire out there with ease, this would allow for speakers, a drieway monitor or whatever other LV you might be able to dream up. Size the conduit for this. Otherwise you can directly bury direct burial cable, you can use landscape lighting wire for the camera's power.
Realistically, and done so you don't need to swap stuff in the future I'd guess $1500-2000 is alot closer. However that would basically provide for a buch of expansion and integration you may not really need or want. That would also have enough wire and connectors to max out the DVR (or 1000' 95-110% copper RG59-18/2 siamese).
They don't say a picture is worth a thousand words for nothing, being able to see the driveway would help alot. If you PM me pics make sure and list make/model of the IP cams you already have.
See a cheapo place would probably use RG6, a wall wort and two baluns. That drops the price of result as much as possible. They might also use regular Cat5 inside conduit and run the power over it too. That would make $500 aside from the DVR very possible. However that would have to be completely reworked to add another camera.
I would want you to get direct burial Cat5 inside conduit, a UL listed power supply that would support the 8 channels you desire on the DVR in the end. I also factor in your current automation and security system and end goals there to ensure the DVR fit in with them as well. Also the "hybrid" factor basically kills all the really budget DVRs, many cheaper companies can't integrate IP cameras they don't sell/install. Some IP cams aren't very well supported outside of their own codec in their NVR software, so that needs to be taken into account too. I basically don't have anything for recording that can plug and play and meets all of our needs thats under $500 in itself.
Conduit is not required for direct burial, but if you use it you can later pull wire out there with ease, this would allow for speakers, a drieway monitor or whatever other LV you might be able to dream up. Size the conduit for this. Otherwise you can directly bury direct burial cable, you can use landscape lighting wire for the camera's power.
Realistically, and done so you don't need to swap stuff in the future I'd guess $1500-2000 is alot closer. However that would basically provide for a buch of expansion and integration you may not really need or want. That would also have enough wire and connectors to max out the DVR (or 1000' 95-110% copper RG59-18/2 siamese).
They don't say a picture is worth a thousand words for nothing, being able to see the driveway would help alot. If you PM me pics make sure and list make/model of the IP cams you already have.
I don't know if you live in a lightning prone area but if you run wire on the exterior of any building factor in surge protectors. It get real goofy when you have a "potential difference between grounds". Get a good quality protector and make sure the distance between the protector and ground is shorter then the distance to the equipment being protected. If you are going from the house to the alley then use one at each end. This applies to the power and video. Good luck!
