Best way to mount under eaves?

[Ainsophaur]

The eaves of my garage are not parallel to the ground. They slant with the pitch of the roof. I have a cable drop coming out of the wood covering the rafters where I intend to install a camera. However, because of the angle of the roof, the camera will essentially point at the ground.

Any suggestions for the best way to mount the camera at the location of the cable drop so that the camera is pointed in parallel to the ground?

Here is a pic of my eaves.

 

[cyberwolf_uk]

Unless I'm not understanding this correctly. Drill a small hole to feed your pigtail of the camera through (dotted line in picture) then mount the camera flush to the eave facing out (Tried to explain in picture) you can tilt the camera down to obtain the best view.

 

[Ainsophaur]

That picture shows the rafters exposed. On my actual garage it's closed up. So I can't drill through to the facia.

Found a picture of my actual garage eaves.

 

[cyberwolf_uk]

Is it closed yet hollow? If so it can still be done just would involve fishing the RJ45 cable through and attaching to the pig tail before fixing the cable to the facia. A little tricky if you've not tried before but practice fishing will help. Or pumpkin patch cutouts the bottom of the facia to work in the area then replace the cutout.

 

[Ainsophaur]

Is it closed yet hollow? If so it can still be done just would involve fishing the RJ45 cable through and attaching to the pig tail before fixing the cable to the facia. A little tricky if you've not tried before but practice fishing will help. Or pumpkin patch cutouts the bottom of the facia to work in the area then replace the cutout.

Closed up. Yes, I suppose I could drill a hole and fish it through. Definitely an option.

 

[Fastb]

Ainsophaur,

Welcome to the forum!

You didn't mention the form factor of the camera. If a turret or dome (but be aware of pitfalls with domes re: sun, IR shadows, spiders, etc), you may have trouble looking past the 2x6 at the end of the eaves. (if the cam is mounted where the blue cable leaves the soffit)

Eg: If you want to look across the yard, and have the camera see someone 6ft tall standing near the fence, the upper portion of the field of view will be almost horizontal. A dome or turret might end up seeing the 2x6.

Secondly, IR reflection may be reflected off the 2x6, even if the 2x6 is outside the fov.

A bullet's optics would be lower, due to the bullet's mounting arm.

A test rig would be wise, to check FOV before you mount the cam under the eaves.
Better yet would be to mount where cyberwolf_uk suggested.

Fastb

 

[Ainsophaur]

You didn't mention the form factor of the camera.

Was thinking bullet for factor on the garage. Here are a some pictures of the vantage point for the camera that faces down the driveway and it's corresponding cable drop. This is the SW corner.

NOTE: I shot this with my iPhone, and the lens captured at 4.15mm. So a 4mm bullet should be about right.


Here is the vantage point of the opposite corner (NE corner). Also 4.15mm. On the left side of the image, it's cutting off the flower bed and the brick wall along the property line. So I would probably need a 2.8mm lens to capture it.


Thoughts?

 

[Fastb]

What is the purpose of the cameras?
1) Security/identification (eg: good resolution facial shhots)
2) keeping an eye on the kids in the back yard

1) cams recording at choke points, w/ good Pixels Per Foot (ppf) of intruders is the first approach
2) "Overview" cams are used. 2.8mm commonly, see the whole yard.

If your desire is #1, you may consider 6mm to look down the driveway. Don't record the side hedge, or to the left of you back door.
Of course, a starlight varifocal makes lens size moot. Dial in the FOV you need. And it has excellent nighttime vision. See:
Dahua Starlight Varifocal Bullet (IPC-HFW5231E-Z)

My thought: You want good PPF when someone opens your gate. To calculate ppf, visit the camera calculator site, enter your address, google maps will show you house, place a virtual camera, and check the FOV and PPF based on lens size. Camera Calculator / Design Software
Using a varifocal makes picking a lens, with the above calculator, moot.

Similar comments on the second camera. The choke point , at the corner of the house, is where people will travel. A 2.8mm lens will NOT get a good facial capture that far away. (objective #1, above)
But a 2.8 will capture more of the wall (objective #2)

Maybe just purchase one cam now. Mount it to a test rig (search here for info), and tryout locations. From personal experience, my initial selections changed. (form factor, lens size, cam location, etc). If your objective is #1, then a 2.8mm cam next to you back door should be considered.

Fastb

 

[Ainsophaur]

Wow that camera calculator is slick. Great tool. I will definitely be using that to choose which cameras to buy.

To answer your question I would like something more than just keeping an eye on the kids in the back yard. I want facial recognition-- especially for when people open the gate down the driveway as you mentioned.

People seem to be huge fans of Dahua. Best bang for the buck it seems. Thoughts about HikVision?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fastb]

I'm a dahua guy, never owned hik products, so can only describe what I hear others say on this forum.
- Dahua seems to be investing more in R&D than hik.
- Dahua seems to be ahead right now, in technology. Starlight cams are an example.
- Dahua seems to be better, in terms of security.
- Hik seems more aggressive in thwarting people who want to update firmware on their own, instead of using a hik reseller. Dahua cams can be upgraded, though it's not often required.
- There's a dahua seller in China that is a member on this forum. He provides excellent support. And his prices (on aliexpress) are great. Using other sellers on aliexpress contains some risk, based on experiences I read about on this forum

I would like something more than just keeping an eye on the kids in the back yard. I want facial recognition-- especially for when people open the gate down the driveway as you mentioned.

These objectives are understandable, though somewhat mutually exclusive. "Overview" is different than "Security" in some respects. #1 and #2 mentioned above differ.
For Overview, a wide FOV is used, eg: 2.8 or 3.6mm lens. For security, those lenses require the subject to be within 10 to 15ft of the camera.
Overview cams will tell you "what happened". Security cams will tell you "Who did it".
The threads on the various Starlight Varifocal cams will explain in detail. I do recommend you read those posts by nayr, you'll learn alot, before you purchase cams. Me, I bought cams, and then learned that I didn't make the best choices.

Fastb

 

[Ainsophaur]

Camera Calculator / Design Software

Don't suppose you have a membership login I could use so I can design my layout with multiple cams? Otherwise no worries. I'll just do them piecemeal.

 

[Fastb]

No, I didn't enroll. One cam at a time worked for me.
And my house is mostly obscured by trees, making the google satellite image less useful...

Varifocal makes the lens selection capability of the tool less necessary....

Fastb