Camera placement and installation questions on new residence (with pics)

[Bob Sherger]

Hi there,

I've been in a new house for months and during this time, I have been contemplating an installation of my IP cameras to get my Blue Iris server up and at it again. I have five Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-Z cameras that I took down from the house we sold last year and they've been sitting in boxes up until now. So far I have two installed. You can see in the pictures where I was able to put them in the yellow circles. I have access to attic area above the garage mainly on the left side of the house when facing the front (over garage space area). On the other side of the house there is a vestibule entry way in the front door way that kind of separates the house attic (you can see the chandelier hanging in one pic) so I can't really get over there safely to put a camera over there since I would have to climb over the AC unit and a bunch of ducting. See pics on this.

Thus far, I have installed two of old Starlight cameras on the front of the house (and removed previous owner's ADT wireless camera that has its power cable strung across the attic). The red circle depicts where the ADT camera used to be installed and you can see my two Starlights are installed in the fiber cement soffits on either side of the two car part of the garage. I probably could have done a better job but I but drilled a 7/8" hole in the center for the pigtail to fit and drove three philips deck screws to secure the turrets. I hope later down the road it isn't too hard to repair that but maybe I should do a more graceful method if I install another one where the ADT camera used to be on the other corner.

Questions on front camera placement:
1) Does this look like good camera placement? I don't think I can install it lower to get face capture than the soffits due to potential HOA issues and installing behind the brick does not look straightforward. I also provided snapshots of the two camera views

2) Would it be worthwhile to install another camera on that corner circled in red to the left of the single car garage unit?

3) I have thought about installing a PTZ. Does that look like something that could be useful? It seems like it would be neat to be able to move a camera around and see what's going on around the street. I would probably move the fixed driveway camera in the middle to the left corner of the house and the PTZ would go in the middle driveway position.

The front door is going to be challenge. It's all brick veneer and it is possible to get over it if I can figure out a way to climb over that AC unit. I looked at similar floor plans under construction in my neighborhood. I thought that I could get over that door and drill down into the framing to feed a cable through down the drywall where the light switches are behind the doorbell. The issue is I could hit 2x4 blocks and insulation. It would be tricky and require punching holes in the drywall on the inside and then drilling a hole through the masonry to feed it through. I asked the builder about it. He thinks it may be possible to drop the cable between the brick veneer and the sheathing since there is an air gap and I would place that right above the Ring doorbell (also installed by previous owner and is terrible). I'm just not 100% sure where to drill to get the cable in there, but that would be ideal if it's possible. One problem I have is these pigtails are too large at almost an inch in diameter. I am not excited about drilling a 1inch hole into the brick so I can affix the Starlights with their original housing. If the camera were to be removed, that would have to repaired with a new brick and it is not easy to match mortar. Now, I do have a Dahua wall mount bracket that I used at the old place over the garage (part #PFB203W I believe), but those things stick out pretty far and it might look stupid right at the front door at eye level.

Questions on front door camera:
1) Do you think it would be possible to drop the cable down between the brick veneer and sheathing? Would obstacles might I encounter trying to do this?

2) What's a good way to climb over obstacles in an attic? I have attached pics of the issue. Basically there are ducts everywhere and no way to get around the unit to where the vestibule roof and front door wall is easily. On the right side of the unit it's blocked off with studs and structural members and I can't fit through. Seems like I have to get over this somehow.

3) What is the recommendation on attaching these Starlights to the front door to avoid having to drill a huge hole in the brick for the pigtail? Can i make this look good? At the old place I had wood siding so I didn't mine drilling.



For the backyard cameras, my plan was to install two cameras in the back where the circles are drawn. Right now there is an unplugged ADT wireless camera from before but I would most likely have a Starlight camera facing to the right in that position and the other camera across the way from facing the other direction for full backyard coverage. I have no crawl space above these cameras and I have to go to the second floor and run a cable along a raceway on the wall to the ethernet drop (there is only one they put in). I would put a PoE switch there. The cable would run and I would drill a hole into the wall and drop it down into that back patio cover area and fish it to where I need it.

Questions on backyard cameras:
1) Will two cameras facing each direction be good enough? This would allow me to see the whole back yard.

2) Any other installation recommendations? Unfortunately, I have no attic area here due to the second story and the brick veneer makes it hard to fish cables.

I have fiberglass rods and a 15 ft endoscope to peer into cavities. I've already used these tools for the two cameras I have done so far and I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. I'm able bodied and have climbed easier attics than this one before. One side problem is that when I removed one of the Starlight cameras I think I yanked something loose on a pigtail because I felt it and then it does not power on anymore. What's the fix on yanked pigtails?

Thanks for any insight you guys can provide!

 

[The Automation Guy]

This is one of those times where you might want to hire a professional. This installation sounds very hard based on what you have said. For example, It is going to be very hard to run a wire between the brick and the wall. Mostly because it is probably very hard to even get the wire into that space (the top of most of the walls are going to meet the roof at the eave making access extremely hard), but also because there is going to be mortar chunks sticking out behind the wall all over. It isn't going to be a smooth surface like the front side of the brick.

I will say that you should probably change the view of your driveway cameras downward. You gain nothing worthwhile by seeing parts of your neighbors house and you are loosing things in your driveway close to the house. There will always be a blind spot near the house, but tilting the camera downward will make this blind spot smaller. Same thing goes for the backyard view. Unless you want a weather camera, there is no need to capture any of the sky - especially at the expense of the backyard having a larger blind spot.

If you or a professional installer can find a way to run things behind the brick wall, the #1 suggestion is going to be to lower all of your camera locations. I totally understand why you have them mounted at the eaves, but with your yard being so shallow, this point of view is going to show the tops of people's heads instead of a front shot of their faces. You current locations are better than nothing, but they are far from ideal.

 

[Bob Sherger]

I agree on the views seeing the tops of heads. Sometimes I can get decent facial recognition of delivery people if they are not looking at their feet as they approach. My options are limited on this all brick house. This is one reason why I want to build the next house -- running the wires at construction is the best time time to do it right. I haven't seen anyone in this neighborhood with cameras as good as these, mostly just a wireless drive way camera and a doorbell camera which are garbage compared to these.

I had an HVAC tech come over and service my unit. He said I can climb over the metal part of the unit no problem and it should hold my weight. He said there should be a way to drill down and get between that air gap between the bricks and sheathing. I'll take a good look this weekend after I climb over. I have an endoscope so if there is a space I can get drill into then I can push that camera in and see what's down there. I used that endoscope for the hole I drilled where all the camera network cables go down a wall and terminate into my office space next to the server rack using a 6 port keystone jack.

Do you have a recommendation on the 7/8" pigtail on brick? Is there maybe another Dahua mount for this camera model that I can buy to shove the pigtail into rather than drilling a huge hole in the brick/mortar ? I'm guessing it will stick out more than it already does but I'm not sure what else to do. I would like to just make a small hole for a cat 6 wire in the mortar, which can easily be patched if it ever needs to be taken down when I sell the house.