Total System Opinions Needed

[Remington19]

I am hoping to get feedback on my entire system. In the process of building a home so CAT6 will be ran soon.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Main goals - keep an eye on things when we are out of the home. Example: package deliveries, vehicles in/out of driveway, suspicious activity around property

Wire - Monoprice Cat6 Ethernet Bulk Cable - Solid, 550MHz, UTP, CMR, Riser Rated, Pure Bare Copper Wire, 23AWG, 1000ft, Blue - Monoprice.com

Cameras - recommended by Andy:
front door (audio) IPC-HDW5231R-ZE

rest of locations (no audio) IPC-HDW2231R-ZS

NVR - NVR4108-8P-4KS2


Locations:

O = flood light
X = camera

Front door is under covered porch approx. 8 ft high in corner (doorbell cam with audio also will be installed)

Rear patio door is under covered porch approx. 8 ft high in corner where people will slide door open/closed

Rear on peak approx. 13-14 ft high will be looking out into backyard (area too large to cover completely, but I only care about what happens close by the house)

Garage man door approx 8 ft high to cover man door and drive pad

Left side under flood light approx 13-14 ft high to cover where equipment will be sitting

Right side under flood light approx 15-17 ft high to cover where equipment will be sitting

Any locations I should have wire ran for the future?

 

[Walrus]

On the left elevation the cam covering the man door and the driveway won't be enough. If you have it pointed down enough to see the base of the door you probably won't see enough of the driveway. Or, if you have it aimed to see the entire driveway, you won't cover the area immediately in front of the door. Put another cam on the top right corner of the single garage door, you want two cameras in a cross pattern covering a driveway, especially a triple one.

Similar on all the other, especially the front elevation. Not enough coverage. Run multiple wires to each corner of the house.

 

[VorlonFrog]

I'd advise getting an inexpensive off-lease/used i7 desktop system and running Blue Iris, instead.
Why limit yourself to 8 PoE ports built into an under-featured NVR?

 

[Walrus]

I'd advise getting an inexpensive off-lease/used i7 desktop system and running Blue Iris, instead.
Why limit yourself to 8 PoE ports built into an under-featured NVR?

Yeah, that too.

 

[mat200]

I am hoping to get feedback on my entire system. In the process of building a home so CAT6 will be ran soon.
..

Garage man door approx 8 ft high to cover man door and drive pad

Left side under flood light approx 13-14 ft high to cover where equipment will be sitting

Right side under flood light approx 15-17 ft high to cover where equipment will be sitting
..

Hi @Remington19

I believe your mount locations are too few and typically too high.

Remember to check out the cliff notes on this.

Remember to hurry and test your theory of placement by picking up 1-2 varifocal cameras and having a friend act as a prowler.

OVER CABLE while it is cheap, N+1+ to all locations.

review the video


then add our recommendations for security cameras...

 

[mat200]

Hi @Remington19

Looks like you have a nice house planned.

A few ideas for you to test placements and considering running cat6 for cameras
note:
1) I do not know the property layout so I have little idea about possible threat vectors
2) If you have a scenic view I would consider mounting a PTZ at the roof peak for a nice scenic camera setup.
3) If you have vinyl siding, you can often run cat6 under the siding from the roof line
4) remember to also run conduit to the front of your property for sensors / cameras / intercom - especially useful if you have a longer property line OR if you have a mailbox on the street side
5) This is just a quick suggestion of placements to consider, please adjust as needed.. again I am a strong believer in over cabling when the walls are open. ( also I hate plastic electric gang boxes - go metal I recommend... )

 

[Remington19]

Thank you for the replies so far.

Can someone link me to a generic or universal mount that will work with whatever cameras I choose?

 

[mat200]

Thank you for the replies so far.

Can someone link me to a generic or universal mount that will work with whatever cameras I choose?

Hi @Remington19

I have not seen any universal mounts.

Closest I have seen for current Dahua camera is the base for the PFA121 .. if you look at the Lorex website the 3 screw and 4 screw camera bases fit onto different models of the junction box - which appears to share the same base
security camera accessories

I would probably just put a flush 1 or 2 gang box there and mount a junction box on top of that.

 

[Remington19]

@mat200 - sorry for the dumb question, but can you link me to exactly what junction/gang box I should get? Right now, the plan is to have the wires ran to the locations I would like the cameras. Then have the terminated ends be sealed in the junction/gang box so the siding installers know where the cameras will be. That way they can work around them and I won't have to butcher up brand new siding.

Then, once I decide on which cameras and mounts to those specific cameras, I simply screw the mount onto the junction/gang box?

 

[mat200]

@mat200 - sorry for the dumb question, but can you link me to exactly what junction/gang box I should get? Right now, the plan is to have the wires ran to the locations I would like the cameras. Then have the terminated ends be sealed in the junction/gang box so the siding installers know where the cameras will be. That way they can work around them and I won't have to butcher up brand new siding.

Then, once I decide on which cameras and mounts to those specific cameras, I simply screw the mount onto the junction/gang box?

Hi @Remington19

Do you plan to install the cameras right onto the siding? - if so then terminating them before putting the siding makes sense

otherwise I like to drill smaller holes out of the exterior wall ( siding in this case ) and then go into a nice outdoor weather rated junction box ( like the PFA121 - just search the forum for examples of that one ).

For under the siding a typical 2-gang or DEEP 1-gang electrical box should work. Remember to take pictures as it is good to know where the studs are if you need to drill into support for a camera / junction box. ( I like to screw at least one screw into the stud to make ripping any camera / junction box off the wall very challenging )

Example of a electric 2-gang junction box you can use under the exterior wall surface for you cat6 cable... I like the 2 gang box as it gives some room for extra cable length.
Madison Electric Products Smart Box 2-Gang Adjustable Depth Device Box-MSB2G - The Home Depot

note: there are various ways to do this - with house wraps and tight insulation standards this can get a bit more challenging compared to older houses which had loose insulation and you could get away with just stuffing the cable back into the wall cavity.

 

[Remington19]

Another dumb question.

Do the Starlight models IPC-HDW5231R-ZE and IPC-HDW2231R-ZS need a Dahua specific junction or wall mount to mount the cameras?

 

[mat200]

Another dumb question.

Do the Starlight models IPC-HDW5231R-ZE and IPC-HDW2231R-ZS need a Dahua specific junction or wall mount to mount the cameras?

Hi Remington19

Yes - as the screw holes iirc follow only the OEMs standards. Or you can do a DIY mod job on something from home depot / lowes / local hardware store