camera placement advice for outside home

[Anarchist]

Hi all,

I have a home similar to the one posted below and need your advice on camera placement and camera models. I have marked in red the spots I want to put a camera. My issue is running the cables...I have an unfinished basement that I want to run all the cables down to but dont know what the best route might be. How would you recommend I install the camera near the front door? should I run the cable to the right side of the house and then drill into the basement?

For the camera on top of the garage door and left side of the house - should I run the cables into the garage somehow and then put a POE switch and wireless extender?

I was even thinking of not mounting a camera at the top left corner if the garage camera gets good coverage. What model ip cameras would you guys recommend I use? I am considering going with a Lorex 8 camera/dvr kit. I am in Toronto btw.Thanks in advance.

 

[mat200]

Hi all,

I have a home similar to the one posted below and need your advice on camera placement and camera models. I have marked in red the spots I want to put a camera. My issue is running the cables...I have an unfinished basement that I want to run all the cables down to but dont know what the best route might be. How would you recommend I install the camera near the front door? should I run the cable to the right side of the house and then drill into the basement?

For the camera on top of the garage door and left side of the house - should I run the cables into the garage somehow and then put a POE switch and wireless extender?

I was even thinking of not mounting a camera at the top left corner if the garage camera gets good coverage. What model ip cameras would you guys recommend I use? I am considering going with a Lorex 8 camera/dvr kit. I am in Toronto btw.Thanks in advance.




View attachment 22618

Welcome Anarchist,

Looks like a nice house worth protecting, and thus taking some time to do a nice job of it.
Before you finalize your placement options you will want to test your particular views.
There's a lot to decide upon and determine what your needs are, and a couple of us during our learning process here have put together notes to help point yourselves and others to information which will be useful to cover many of the questions you have, and many which you may not know you should have.

It's easy to get swamped with information here, so I wanted to share some notes with you

Please check out @giomania 's notes:
Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

I have also made which are a summary of a lot of the reading I've been doing here,:
Looking for some advice and direction!

Have fun joining us here.

 

[looney2ns]

You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
To ID faces, don't mount cams higher than 7-8ft from the ground.

Learn how to use this: IPVM Camera Calculator V3 Keep PPF>100, tutorial on right.

One issue that newbs fall into is trying to cover too much per cam, thus limiting your success in ID'ing faces.

Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE

Avoid wireless.

 

[Anarchist]

Thanks guys..do you recommend running the cables in through the garage and drilling into the basement? How should I run the camera cable for the right side of the house? Conduit down the side and then drill into the basement?

 

[mat200]

Thanks guys..do you recommend running the cables in through the garage and drilling into the basement? How should I run the camera cable for the right side of the house? Conduit down the side and then drill into the basement?

Hi Anarchist,

This is where you get to have some fun and plan what will work well for your building / house.

1st - decide options on where everything will terminate - that is where your "data center" or closet will be - where the NVR will go. Then decide how to get there from where your cameras will be.

Normally people use basement or garage.

Conduit can be helpful. If you run the wires exposed on the outside wall - I would use conduit there as sometimes attackers will just cut your wires.

 

[bababouy]

If running pipe is your only option, run it down the side of the house behind the chimney or down the back of the house where the pipe is out of view from the road. I would consider running the wires for the two side cameras and the door camera down the back side of the chimney in the corner where it meets the house. Same thing on the other side, run your wires over in the soffit if possible and come down the side or the back of the house and go into the basement. Also, consider running a couple of extra wires to each side of the house and plan on using conduit that is a size larger than what you need in case you want to run another cable later on. I had some 1" left over from a job that I used on my house, which was probably a little over kill, but it was there and paid for already. 3/4" will work just fine for 3 or 4 cat5 cables.

 

[Anarchist]

Thanks a lot bababouy...that makes perfect sense. You are right about running the conduit in the back so its not visible.

 

[bababouy]

The conduit for the front door cam and the one on the right corner of the house may have to go behind that rain gutter so that you don't have to go around the chimney. You can also run pipe along the ground where the foundation of the house is. Just cover the pipe with some soil or some landscaping.

With the garage cam you probably want a nice clean look with no pipe or wires showing. I would recommend mounting it to one side of the garage, probably the right side of the garage facing left only because you are putting a camera under the eve on the far left side of the house. This will give you a criss cross view, which will help you to capture both the driver side and passenger sides of your vehicles.