Installing a CCTV camera on a tiled roof

S

StevoShortKing

n3wb
Oct 11, 2026
3
0
Wellard Western Australia
Every security camera I have seen in this city is installed under an eave, and most of them are below 6'5" above the ground. Anyone can reach up and disable it, spray paint it, etc.
Homesecurity systems
The house I am living in, I cannot install it like that for one main reason apart from the vulnerability.
In front of the house, we have a lot of shrubbery which my housemate is loathe to cut down or prune. Vicious pruning would be required to give visibility to the footpath.
I want to use a pair of brackets attached to timber tile battens,, that bend backwards over the tile, so I can attach a TP-Link camera with PTZ.
My housemate is opposed to this as she thinks:
  • local council may have a height limit on cameras
  • nobody else appears to do this therefore it cannot be a good idea
  • it fails the aesthetic test

We live in Perth WA and temperatures in summer can reach 40 deg C (over 100 F) and there may be an issue with reflected heat from our dark roof tiles as well.

The camera will have an attached solar panel.

Can anyone advise me about whether this is a decent idea
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Welcome to IPCT! :wave:

First, not to be overly picky but I believe your tile illustration is rotated incorrecty....water would flow under the tiles on a sloped roof as shown.

Second, before I went any further I'd get ALL rules IN WRITING regarding such a camera installation from the "local council", HOA, etc.

Lastly, I doubt seriously you'll be happy with that solar-recharged, battery-operated, wireless camera. If you're going to this much trouble why not pull in a solid (not stranded), copper (not CCA) 23 gauge CAT-6 Ethernet cable with an outdoor/UV-rated jacket for a POE-powered PTZ camera?

tile-mount..jpg
 
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The lower height (between 7' to 9') is desirable because you can capture faces better (rather than the top of someone's head.

As for concerns about vandalism, consider mounting additional cameras that have overlapping views so they couldn't reach the camera without being recorded, possibly from multiple angles.

Mounting under the eaves gives some additional protection from the weather and is often easier when running Ethernet cables for PoE cameras connected to an NVR/VMS (highly preferable).

If you haven't already, read the Wiki on mistakes to avoid, camera placement, camera choices and running Ethernet.

IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes

Information in this section was contributed by [URL='https://ipcamtalk.com/members/mat200.29441/'][COLOR=#0000b3]@matt200[/COLOR][/URL] and [URL='https://ipcamtalk.com/members/giomania.36271/'][COLOR=#0000b3]@giomania [/COLOR][/URL] [/LIST] Any dedicated manufacturer NVR should match...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com
 
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I borrowed the picture from the K2 website when I did an image search. their website maybe has bots running it, or a junior intern, that thought it looked better when rotated.
Also, I don't wanna pay a sparky any money at all, so i will get a Tapo C520WWS which runs off 9V DC, and I will build up the power using a solar panel, a solar panel controller, a 12V 7A SLA battery, a 12v to 9V buck converter so the electrons don't fry the camera.
Having DC power means less lag for event detection.
I already have another C520WS on top of my garage roof running DC and it talks to my wifi pretty easily using a repeater
 
Maybe you are fine now one day with wifi cams, but one day something will happen. A new device, neighbors microwave, etc.

Cameras connected to Wifi routers (whether wifi or not) are problematic for surveillance cameras because they are always streaming and passing data. And the data demands go up with motion and then you lose signal or a degraded pixelated image. A lost packet and it has to resend. It can bring the whole network down if trying to send cameras through a wifi router. At the very least it can slow down your entire system.

Unlike Netflix and other streaming services that buffer a movie, these cameras do not buffer up part of the video, so drop outs are frequent, especially once you start adding distance. You would be amazed how much streaming services buffer - don't believe me, start watching something and unplug your router and watch how much longer you can watch NetFlix before it freezes - mine goes 45 seconds. Now do the same with a camera connected to a router and it is fairly instantaneous (within the latency of the stream itself)...

Here is a thread showing all the images obtained by various wifi cams. Are these images sufficient for your needs?

wittaj

Thread 'The Typical picture of a Perp on Nextdoor-type Apps with Consumer Grade Cameras like Ring, Nest, Arlo, Canary, Wyze, etc.'

Love these posts on Nextdoor type apps LOL.

This thread will be used for members to post the poor quality consumer grade type camera images that we see people post to the Nextdoor type apps.

Can anyone make out this person that went thru their cars LOL....

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And this thread is where members are posting the type of images we capture from better cameras of perps our cameras have captured:

The Better typical picture of a Perp we capture with better cameras than the consumer grade camera images we tend to see on Nextdoor

A while back I started the thread for us to comment and point out the issues and problems with consumer grade cameras and the images that people have posted to the NextDoor type apps. That thread has been a great resource to send the NOOB to in order to see what quality they don't get from...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com


Here is a good...
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Here is one image from that thread of a tapo in the middle of the day, so best light available, and you can see with motion, the person and car are a blur.

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So is that quality acceptable for your needs?

You will find that wifi cams will not give you IDENTIFY quality. If all you care about is an overview to use instead of looking out a window, maybe.

But is suspect after the initial being impressed with the static image it provides, you will find it lets you down with motion, especially for a porch pirate or something else bad.
 
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