New Home - First Security System

merkaba

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Hey,

It looks like i found the right spot for getting some assistance from this great community. My home is currently being built I plan on purchasing an 8 POE camera system for outside using a 16 channel NVR. I've been leaning towards HikVision, but am pretty confused as to which camera would be best for my situation. They will all be mounted on the trim of corners of the house, and one or two on some of my light posts coming up the driveway. I was considering the DS-2CD2T42WD-I8, but really don't know enough about these things to make the best choice. I'm also trying to find out where the best place to purchase them is. If anyone has suggestions or questions please let me know. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 

looney2ns

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merkaba

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Learn how to use this: Camera Calculator / Design Software keep PPF>100, tutorial upper left of page.

This is the best cam at this time: Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

Buy a cam or two now, as soon as the framing is up, using a test rig consisting of a 2x4, 5gal bucket, bag of rocks.
Test your proposed locations, day and night.

You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
Thank you! Do you have a recommendation for a NVR for these?
 

mat200

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Welcome Merkaba,

Looney2ns has some great sugguestions! Thanks to him and others I ended up picking up a Dahua NVR and cameras and really like it.

We've got a great group here to help with suggestions and advice.

While building I want to encourage you to be assertive during your planning of ethernet / Cat6 wiring.

IF you are in doubt of pulling a line to a location - just do it now while it is easy and the cost is minimum.
Also pull an extra line to any location you are pulling lines to, and ensure there is enough slack in case you need a little extra cable.

Remember, it is better to over build your network wiring now while it is very affordable.

Also do consider running a HDMI cable from your network closet to your media center and one your office / den, iirc the 4K rated NVRs can display 4K video also.

FEEL free to share the house plan with folks here for inputs.

For electrical boxes I HIGHLY recommend using steal boxes instead of plastic - they only cost a little bit more and are very sturdy.
( I have had a dry wall crew drywall OVER plastic and metal boxes - and the only way I noticed was that the metal box did not break and it forced a bump in the drywall - the plastic box broke... thus I really recommend metal boxes - especially for electrical. Remember YOU are going to have to keep a close watch on your builders to be certain they build the house with attention to details like 90 degree corners and straight and even trim... seriously on one build out I had only ONE subcontractor do an A+ job. )

I would also recommend using junction boxes for the cameras, dahua calls them public fixtures - as they provide a great place to put the cable connectors in.

Also,

Please feel free to check out the notes I made which are a summary of a lot of the reading I've been doing here,:
Looking for some advice and direction!

Lots to learn, and I am still learning.
 

merkaba

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Welcome Merkaba,

Looney2ns has some great sugguestions! Thanks to him and others I ended up picking up a Dahua NVR and cameras and really like it.

We've got a great group here to help with suggestions and advice.

While building I want to encourage you to be assertive during your planning of ethernet / Cat6 wiring.

IF you are in doubt of pulling a line to a location - just do it now while it is easy and the cost is minimum.
Also pull an extra line to any location you are pulling lines to, and ensure there is enough slack in case you need a little extra cable.

Remember, it is better to over build your network wiring now while it is very affordable.

Also do consider running a HDMI cable from your network closet to your media center and one your office / den, iirc the 4K rated NVRs can display 4K video also.

FEEL free to share the house plan with folks here for inputs.

For electrical boxes I HIGHLY recommend using steal boxes instead of plastic - they only cost a little bit more and are very sturdy.
( I have had a dry wall crew drywall OVER plastic and metal boxes - and the only way I noticed was that the metal box did not break and it forced a bump in the drywall - the plastic box broke... thus I really recommend metal boxes - especially for electrical. Remember YOU are going to have to keep a close watch on your builders to be certain they build the house with attention to details like 90 degree corners and straight and even trim... seriously on one build out I had only ONE subcontractor do an A+ job. )

I would also recommend using junction boxes for the cameras, dahua calls them public fixtures - as they provide a great place to put the cable connectors in.

Also,

Please feel free to check out the notes I made which are a summary of a lot of the reading I've been doing here,:
Looking for some advice and direction!

Lots to learn, and I am still learning.
Thank you, again! I definitely agree with you in regards to running cable. I'm running a ton, and also putting flexible conduit in place empty for future expansion/needs in several locations. I don't have the best quality plans for you to see....but i'll post what i have and post more, better plans later. It would be best if you downloaded the photo and zoomed in. Above the garage is a theater/game room with my 122" projector screen.

 

mat200

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Thank you, again! I definitely agree with you in regards to running cable. I'm running a ton, and also putting flexible conduit in place empty for future expansion/needs in several locations. I don't have the best quality plans for you to see....but i'll post what i have and post more, better plans later. It would be best if you downloaded the photo and zoomed in. Above the garage is a theater/game room with my 122" projector screen.

Looks like a fun project!

Flex conduit - i recommend you avoid it from my experience, and use EMT instead - flex makes it really hard sometimes to pull wires - and with cat5e/cat6 wires you can not pull as hard as electrical wiring. Trust me here, you will curse much more with flex in the future...

Also try to keep the number of bends down, ideally if you can just do a long tube down the wall with one 45-90 bend in the attic.

..and one or two on some of my light posts coming up the driveway.
Since you've got a great setup now on the project I would agree at placing cameras by the front of the driveway to catch anyone parking nearby. I would probably plan for 2 cameras there and pull 3 lines.

Also remember to ID suspects you typically want the camera 8 feet or lower to be able to get a decent facial image.
 

merkaba

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Sounds good! Can anyone recommend a 'bundle' or a place i can buy everything i need in regards to NVR/Cameras? It seems like all of the sites sell them individually. Which NVR would you recommend?
 

mat200

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Sounds good! Can anyone recommend a 'bundle' or a place i can buy everything i need in regards to NVR/Cameras? It seems like all of the sites sell them individually. Which NVR would you recommend?
Many of us are picking up the Dahua Starlight Turrets - which we typically do not see in any bundles - so we have to create a DIY package.

This is what I would recommend as a starting point based on my purchases:
1) Dahua Starlight Turrent - IPC-HDW5231R-Z - as it is a varifocal you can adjust the FOV to your needs, use this as your principle camera - great for night time images - est $170 each
IPC-HDW5231R-Z | Dahua Technology - Dahua Technology
2) Dahua Wedge mini-dome - IPC-HDBW4231F-AS - consider getting one of these for the front door area if you can keep it in the shade from direct UV exposure. I like it because it is smaller and thus looks better. I placed my at eye level.
IPC-HDBW4231F-AS | Dahua Technology - Dahua Technology
3) I picked up a NVR with POE switch built in. NVR5216/5232-16P-4KS2 - another option is to get the non-POE port version NVR5216-4KS2 and buy a separate switch. For most of us <=16 cameras should take good care of us.
4) A western digital purple HDD - I purchased a 4TB version and have enough room to add another to the NVR.
5) Dahua junction box for each Turret camera - either the PFA137 or PFB203W ( iirc these are the model, please do double check before purchasing )
PFA137 | Dahua Technology - Dahua Technology
PFB203W | Dahua Technology - Dahua Technology

Do feel free to take a closer look at the discussions around those products and see if you would like to change it up a bit.
( for example maybe you need a PTZ camera? or a camera with a better "zoom" .. )
 

MacFun

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Matt, thanks for your post—very helpful. So, I was thinking that each turret cam could attach directly to the soffit of my home.... why would I need the junction box?

Robert
 

EMPIRETECANDY

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Matt, thanks for your post—very helpful. So, I was thinking that each turret cam could attach directly to the soffit of my home.... why would I need the junction box?

Robert
Make the installation as a professional way and very tidy.
 

mat200

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Matt, thanks for your post—very helpful. So, I was thinking that each turret cam could attach directly to the soffit of my home.... why would I need the junction box?

Robert
Hi MacFun,

This is where the fun comes in, designing your setup.

You certainly can put it directly on the Soffit - and leave a hole ( 1"+ ) which to push the connector back into the attic area. Do note that sometimes insulation can get in your way, and if that maybe the case - the junction boxes gives you a better option to stuff the connections in and not disturb your insulation.

True we do not expect to have to access the connections once we have installed them until the camera fails or we upgrade.

Note - that cameras on the soffit maybe too high to get a good ID image ( facial image ) of potential suspects, and you may need to install at least a couple of cameras lower ( 8 feet or less ) which would help you get a good image for ID purposes.

Another reason I like the junction boxes is that they give a good weather resistant setup when properly installed and it's easier to take the connection in and out of the junction box - and from the junction box into the wall I just need to pull the bulk ethernet cable through a smaller hole - <1/2" )

Thank You
 
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Peekonu

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Thanks for all the great information!

What is the purpose of the wall mount (PFB203W | Dahua Technology - Dahua Technology)? Is it for cosmetic reasons only? The turrets can be mounted both vertically or horizontally with equal function I believe. So what benefit does the PFB203W wall mount provide?

Thanks again
 

merkaba

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Well...I ordered six IPC-HDW5231R-Z, six PFA137, and a NVR5216-16P-4KS2 to get me started. Is there some sort of guideline to follow in regards to cameras inside your house? Would the camera recommendations stay the same?
 

mat200

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Thanks for all the great information!

What is the purpose of the wall mount (PFB203W | Dahua Technology - Dahua Technology)? Is it for cosmetic reasons only? The turrets can be mounted both vertically or horizontally with equal function I believe. So what benefit does the PFB203W wall mount provide?

Thanks again
Cosmetic? No purely functional for me. ( PFB203W )

1) The mount allows you to have the camera a little further away from the wall - which can be especially useful to provide a better angle in some situations.
Example: You have a conduit or storm drain running up and down along the wall and need to set up your camera to stand off from the wall just a bit more to get a good view past that.
Example: Downward angles can better be setup with this mount.

2) More room to stuff you cable into the mount / junction box. ( actually I guess I shouldn't be calling it a junction box since it does not accept a 1/2" conduit into it )

3) Better protection from weather due to less joint area on the top of the entire junction box / camera assembly
[ note the "water-proof" umbrella symbol in the following pdf ]
http://www1.dahuasecurity.com/download/accessory_selection_20170706.pdf

4) PTZ + this mount - Dahua has a selection of smaller(*) PTZ which can use this mount... unfortunately they are dome PTZs. I really would like to see a nice non-dome mini-PTZ use this mount as I would certainly like a smaller outdoor PTZ.
( * SD22204T-GN, SD22204T-GN-W )


I like both junction boxes and this mount, all of my cable runs go through the wall to a junction box or this mount - and I've used silicone caulk to seal the mount / junction box back when screwing them on the wall.

Thank You
 

randytsuch

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FYI, I don't know if you can install a starlight turret directly to a wall, its not designed to do that. I think you'd need to go to a bullet if you want to mount camera directly to wall
I used a PFA137, I think this is the minimum required. Since the 137 is the same diameter as the camera, it integrates together very nicely.
 

mat200

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Well...I ordered six IPC-HDW5231R-Z, six PFA137, and a NVR5216-16P-4KS2 to get me started. Is there some sort of guideline to follow in regards to cameras inside your house? Would the camera recommendations stay the same?
HI Merkaba,

From what I have read people like smaller cameras inside of the house do to aesthetics, and dome cameras work better indoors than outdoors:

Thus, in addition to the other form factors you have already been looking at you may want to look at the following as examples of smaller dome form factors:
IPC-HDB4231G-AS - Dahua Technology
IPC-HDBW4231F-AS | Dahua Technology - Dahua Technology
IPC-HDB4231C-AS | Dahua Technology - Dahua Technology

I have not yet placed any indoor cameras, I did see a good post by nayr which is worth checking out:
Dahua Starlight Mini-Dome 3.6mm (IPC-HDB4231C-AS)

In general I don't want to place a lot of cameras inside the house - probably will be placing one in the garage and maybe one covering the entry way(s).
 

merkaba

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HI Merkaba,

From what I have read people like smaller cameras inside of the house do to aesthetics, and dome cameras work better indoors than outdoors:

Thus, in addition to the other form factors you have already been looking at you may want to look at the following as examples of smaller dome form factors:
IPC-HDB4231G-AS - Dahua Technology
IPC-HDBW4231F-AS | Dahua Technology - Dahua Technology
IPC-HDB4231C-AS | Dahua Technology - Dahua Technology

I have not yet placed any indoor cameras, I did see a good post by nayr which is worth checking out:
Dahua Starlight Mini-Dome 3.6mm (IPC-HDB4231C-AS)

In general I don't want to place a lot of cameras inside the house - probably will be placing one in the garage and maybe one covering the entry way(s).
Thanks again! Appreciate it. Would you recommend a junction box for inside cameras as well?
 

mat200

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Thanks again! Appreciate it. Would you recommend a junction box for inside cameras as well?
Happy to help.

With most interior walls / ceiling made out of dry wall and with a good airspace behind you should easily be able to push the wiring connection behind the drywall and mount the camera(s) on the drywall and make it look good. Also you have little worries about water inside - So with that sort of building construction I would not use a junction box. [ if you were in a concrete or brick building you may need to use a junction box in some areas ]
 

merkaba

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Happy to help.

With most interior walls / ceiling made out of dry wall and with a good airspace behind you should easily be able to push the wiring connection behind the drywall and mount the camera(s) on the drywall and make it look good. Also you have little worries about water inside - So with that sort of building construction I would not use a junction box. [ if you were in a concrete or brick building you may need to use a junction box in some areas ]
Makes sense. Cool!
 

Peekonu

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Thanks mat200! Your explanation is extremely helpful.

For a new construction exterior wall, the junction box would screw onto wood, and then stucco (or other finishes) around it, I assume.

For the wall mount, how would that work? Attach directly onto stucco? I don't see any finish lines on it to accept stucco if it were attached directly onto wood framing.
 
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