Wiring exterior cameras into basement

br05

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Hello,

I've lurked this forum for quite a while and finally purchased a surveillance system (PoE).

My problem now though, is that I don't really know how I'm going to install the cameras.

We own a manufactured home with a full basement. I would like to run the ethernet through the soffit, down and inside the exterior wall, ending up in the basement.

Has anyone made a run like this before that can give me tips? Is it even possible without a ton of work?

I've attached a photo for reference. I cannot run into attic (there is nothing that would be accessible). I could run it through the foundation (cinder block) i guess, but then the wire would be visible even if I tucked it behind siding for most of the run until it were to go through the foundation.

Also, if I were to hire out, who is best for this task, an electrician, handyman, homebuilder?

Thanks for any guidance.
 
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mat200

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Hello,

I've lurked this forum for quite a while and finally purchased a surveillance system (PoE).

My problem now though, is that I don't really know how I'm going to install the cameras.

We own a manufactured home with a full basement. I would like to run the ethernet through the soffit, down and inside the exterior wall, ending up in the basement.

Has anyone made a run like this before that can give me tips? Is it even possible without a ton of work?

I've attached a photo for reference. I cannot run into attic (there is nothing that would be accessible). I could run it through the foundation (cinder block) i guess, but then the wire would be visible even if I tucked it behind siding for most of the run until it were to go through the foundation.

Also, if I were to hire out, who is best for this task, an electrician, handyman, homebuilder?

Thanks for any guidance.
Hi @br05

If you have vinyl siding you maybe able to fairly easily do it yourself by slipping the cabling under the siding on down. Remember you do want to be cautious and not cut into any water proofing plastic which maybe behind the siding.

If that does not work, then maybe run an exterior conduit up a wall to the soffit?
 

br05

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Hi @br05

If you have vinyl siding you maybe able to fairly easily do it yourself by slipping the cabling under the siding on down. Remember you do want to be cautious and not cut into any water proofing plastic which maybe behind the siding.

If that does not work, then maybe run an exterior conduit up a wall to the soffit?
Thanks Mat,

It is vinyl siding, yes. I'm trying to keep it as close to the original appearance as possible, so adding more conduit is not something I'd like to do. Personally, if I must run it through the siding, i'd run it vertically behind the 'right angle' cap or edging, whatever it's called on the corner, and then run it parallel to the ground behind the bottom-most piece of siding and into the foundation. The only cutting I think it would require is maybe a little gap on the bottom piece where the cable would run down into the foundation.

Just curious, does anyone know how far down the siding comes past the foundation? ie. is there another 5 inch of foundation height behind the bottom piece of siding? this way i could run it into the basement behind it. I don't think that's the case though.

Thanks for your input.
 

dudemaar

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look for the outdoor water tap and that should give you an idea of where you should be for height. Look in basement for where that water pipe goes outside too. And Make sure you check Area inside basement before drilling hole and be sure there is no wires or water lines behind the 2x10 rim board (behind the insulation maybe).
 
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br05

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look for the outdoor water tap and that should give you an idea of where you should be for height. Look in basement for where that water pipe goes outside too. And Make sure you check Area inside basement before drilling hole and be sure there is no wires or water lines behind the 2x10 rim board (behind the insulation maybe).
thanks dudemaar, after looking into this further, I think it will run the cable up inside the soffit, to the siding corner cap, then down inside of the corner cap (it looks like there's a lot of space in there), come out at the bottom to the bottom piece of siding, then along the bottom piece of siding inside of it, then bring it down about an inch and drill a 1/2" hole into the foundation with conduit right nearby the, yup, spigot for the water. have clear view of area, that part of basement is unfinished.

now i just gotta figure out how to remove the soffit pieces (aluminum) without destroying them.... hopefully that's my only issue. I'll get someone else to drill the hole into the foundation.

thanks.
 

looney2ns

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thanks dudemaar, after looking into this further, I think it will run the cable up inside the soffit, to the siding corner cap, then down inside of the corner cap (it looks like there's a lot of space in there), come out at the bottom to the bottom piece of siding, then along the bottom piece of siding inside of it, then bring it down about an inch and drill a 1/2" hole into the foundation with conduit right nearby the, yup, spigot for the water. have clear view of area, that part of basement is unfinished.

now i just gotta figure out how to remove the soffit pieces (aluminum) without destroying them.... hopefully that's my only issue. I'll get someone else to drill the hole into the foundation.

thanks.
Typically, the soffit is nailed/stapled just behind the fascia trim piece.
Sometimes you can pull that fascia trim out far enough to see and remove the staples/nails holding in each soffit piece.
Then you can slide out the soffit.
Take your time, you can do it.

 

br05

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Typically, the soffit is nailed/stapled just behind the fascia trim piece.
Sometimes you can pull that fascia trim out far enough to see and remove the staples/nails holding in each soffit piece.
Then you can slide out the soffit.
Take your time, you can do it.

thanks looney, i've watched this video and probably twenty others. of course, my soffit is a little different... it looks like it interlocks, rather than being nailed each piece (maybe some are nailed up, i haven't been able to pull the flashing out far enough, i'm afraid of bending it). i'll be digging into it a little more this weekend. one way or another, i'm getting two pieces of it down so i can feed the line in one end and pull it out the other...
 
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looney2ns

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thanks looney, i've watched this video and probably twenty others. of course, my soffit is a little different... it looks like it interlocks, rather than being nailed each piece (maybe some are nailed up, i haven't been able to pull the flashing out far enough, i'm afraid of bending it). i'll be digging into it a little more this weekend. one way or another, i'm getting two pieces of it down so i can feed the line in one end and pull it out the other...
They do interlock, each side by side piece locks into the next one.
Other option is remove gutter, then remove fascia trim.

I've bent the fascia trim back far enough to get to the soffit out, then with some patience bent it back and no one would ever know.
 

br05

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Kids these days, I was doing those sort of jobs by the time I was 12. ;)
It's not hard with a helper.
i don't want to break something. if someone experienced could monitor what i was doing, i'd give it a shot.
 

Walrus

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I've done this a bunch of times to run wires for installing pot lights. Wear gloves, and bend down the lip of the facia. Each soffit piece will have one screw on the outboard end only (at least here that's how it's done). Take the screw out, and pull down on the soffit piece. It fits tounge & groove style into the pieces on either side, but it'll come out.

Putting it back is a little harder, you have to bend and push it into place, replace the screw, then with the palm of your hand/fingers bend the facia lip back.
 

br05

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I've done this a bunch of times to run wires for installing pot lights. Wear gloves, and bend down the lip of the facia. Each soffit piece will have one screw on the outboard end only (at least here that's how it's done). Take the screw out, and pull down on the soffit piece. It fits tounge & groove style into the pieces on either side, but it'll come out.

Putting it back is a little harder, you have to bend and push it into place, replace the screw, then with the palm of your hand/fingers bend the facia lip back.
Hi walrus, yes i noticed that earlier, haven't gotten all the way there yet but making progress. Fortunately, they only used staples to set the soffit pieces to the front board (fascia overlay was nailed). this makes it very easy to get them loose, since i can just reach in and push down, pops the staple right out and I can slide the soffit piece down. ultimately i removed two, i will slide the rest so that i have an opening on one end and an opening on the other. this way i don't need to bend anything else. i just ran out of time yesterday.

EDIT -

Don't want to bump this thread so i'll just update here --

Camera 1 of 4 installed. looks good.

EDIT 2 -

installed another cam on an area without a gutter, so much easier to bend the fascia back and run the wire. hoping to get the final two installed tomorrow.
 
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br05

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figured i'd give an update on this, been a while.

after removing the first soffit, the rest were fairly easy since i knew what i was doing. didn't help that some were both interlocked and stapled, but not a big deal. had to remove some fascia on one side of the house, much easier task. got a siding removal tool and all of the wiring runs from the camera, through the siding and into one of two holes that someone came and drilled into the foundation. not including of the cameras themselves, one would be hard pressed to see any wiring coming down from them or into the home.

i have eight cameras mounted outside the home covering 360degrees (two others inside) along with pointing down 500ft of driveway. mostly, they are great for not having to get up and go outside to see what the dog is doing. we have used them though for mysteries (like someone else's dog poop in our drive) or other things that have been destroyed (by bears).

the 8 cameras feed into an nvr that is on a continuous loop. storage is about 8 days worth. i am also running ispy on my computer with an extra display to see what's going while working. i have ispy converting feeds to timelapse mp4s (i think 10 frames/min), which are then uploaded automatically to my google drive (2TB) going back through oct 2019. saving as true video was just too much bandwidth. contemplating retrofitting a different machine as a backup NVR running ispy also for redundancy.

for mobile, i've installed tinycam (android), set up all cams using RTSP and can view live feeds from anywhere. my home ip is set up with a dynamic dns, so i'm not worried about ip changes. did the port forwarding and all that. i already know the networking side, so that wasn't a huge deal. i can view actual video instead of the timelapse ones using the manufacturer's app if i need to see past video.

all in all, though the cameras themselves are cheaply made and not the best, i am very happy with the outcome. i'm going to slowly swap the cams out as i find good deals. next big purchase will either be a new poe nvr with 16 channels or a 24/48 poe switch and just configure the other machine to be the nvr. if i hit the lottery, i'll be doing all of those things along with a 250 ft ethernet run to add a camera to view the other half of my driveway hah.

thanks for everyone's help early on with this, i am grateful for those who took the time to comment.
 
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