Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

[Tygunn]

Another tip, when drilling the hole on the outside, drill down at an angle. That way when you are shoving the fish tape into the hole, it's already traveling downwards and in the right direction. Another issue we had was when drilling, I thought I was through the brick into the wall cavity, but there was a second something or other... Wood I guess, that I had to drill through to get to the actual cavity. I thought for sure I was going to bust through the interior wall, but the father in law with all of his fancy measurements of the length of drill bit said to keep going. He was right... Again. Taking measurements and putting a piece of tape on the drill bit so you know where to stop drilling is super handy. Keeping the angle downward and straight while drilling helps when it comes time to send in the tape. Metal (and probably fiberglass) you can bend or keep super straight to go through both holes, even if there's a gap, and then when it hits the back side of the inside of the wall it'll bend slightly and start heading down.

Another good tip; I'll keep that in mind the next time since these rods do tend to sag down on their own via gravity.

The fiberglass rods I'm using a reasonably flexible but I find that when they hit something, they just bite into the wood and don't end up heading in any other direction. Perhaps I got what I paid for when I spent all of $30 for a set.

The USB endoscope has been fun though, and for $18 I can't argue. Its unfortunately been very good at creating work for me though. I have to cut a hole in a wall at some point to get access to the splice the previous owner made on a wire in the wall but failed to use a junction box on. <sigh>

 

[Tygunn]

That seems like a great idea. I have used these to mount some ceiling fans and it was very easy. Should be easy to use in the soffit too

The only thing you'd have to be careful of is whether you need a lot of clearance.

Based on this pic (which is probably not realistic anyways) it looks like this might not work as well if you don't have a lot of clearance over the joists:

 

[hmjgriffon]

Well because I forgot them it's more like 22 per camera. But oh well.

Andy said shopping for just the boxes is prohibitively costly. Didn't say how much but he said for just the boxes it's not worth it.

I can get them on another sellers site for $10 ea but 20-30 day shipping. Lol.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Just buy another camera and get all the junction boxes with it.

 

[Tygunn]

Just buy another camera and get all the junction boxes with it.

I held up one of the turrets above the front door yesterday and my wife said, "Hate it, its ugly. Get a typical dome camera for there"...
Lol, so I guess I could have done just that.

 

[nayr]

Domes suck.. leave your wife's doors unlocked for a few weeks then she'll let you install whatever you want where ever you want

 

[Bryan]

Why is it one if my cams allows me to slowly and precisely zoom in and the other 3 take hugs steps between the time I push the + or - and the amount it adjusts?

Could be defective..I found the silica bag in another of my Dahua cams. Wonder if it voids the warranty to take it out? After it absorbs moisture over a year, would you have to change it to keep the moisture protection? Seems kind of hokey..and too much of a variable.

 

[Hound Dog 911]

The zoom functions correctly when logged in to the camera. For some reason it does not function the same way in Blue Iris.

 

[mat200]

I wanted to drill straight up through and feed the cat6. No go. Couldn't get to it. Between back problems and an unfinished attic space I kept having nightmares of falling through my ceiling crawling across rafters to try to work the line. Definitely the cleaner install. I'm going to have to run it through some conduit after the weather breaks to clean it up.

I bought a few sheets of 4x8 lighter plywood and cut them into 2x8 sections and moved them around as needed when doing work in a unfinished attic space - worked very nicely and well worth the $60-80. ( the attic space did not have enough insulation so I was able to easily place it on the rafters. )

Suggest looking at installing a radiant shield / barrier in your attic if you live someplace which gets very hot - looks like an easy DIY install. ( example video, not endorsing this brand, others similar products are available: )

Also note, if you are serious about insulation you'll want to double check for any possible leaks while in the attic from holes in the walls due to pipes, electrical lines, ..
this video does a good job of covering that:

 

[DavidDavid]

For those of you that are or plan to install an SD card into your cameras, what is the reasoning for doing so? Assuming you have some network location recording 24/7 and most likely some software recording motion events, I can't see the need for throwing an SD card into each camera.

 

[nayr]

redundancy on recordings and automatic network recovery is why I put SD cards in everything

 

[mat200]

For those of you that are or plan to install an SD card into your cameras, what is the reasoning for doing so? Assuming you have some network location recording 24/7 and most likely some software recording motion events, I can't see the need for throwing an SD card into each camera.

1) Equipment fails. Software fails.

Examples which I have experienced:
HDD failure.
Systems coming up in different order - and the network not fully recovering.
Network switch can fail.. perhaps still providing PoE power to devices, but unable to get packets through. ( 85-95% packet loss )
Software can fail - DHCP server failure, OS lockup ( Blue Screen of death ) - if using Blue Iris your nvr will no longer record.
Internet router failure.
ISP connectivity failure.
UPS can fail, as can surge protectors.
Network connections can fail - tho I normally see this with patch cables which are abused ( twisted too much, bend too much ) or poorly assembled jacks / cables. ( remember to use care when pulling your cat5e/cat6 cables watch out for kinks which can break wires )

All of the above failure modes can cause the cameras to be unable to connect with the NVR device - in which case local storage on the cameras would be useful.

2) Virus infections of systems.
Possible to have your nvr and/or cameras infected.

3) Theft of NVR system - possible - hopefully you've hidden it well.

If your camera has an SD card slot, a simple $20 investment per camera can be very helpful.

 

[DavidDavid]

All very good points. I'm recording to a 4 hdd NAS set up in RAID6 so I could lose 2 hard drives and no data, but that's assuming nothing in between the camera and the NAS fails. And just yesterday I had some weird issue with my router screwing up my DCHP reservations and I couldn't VPN into my network to view the cameras. Luckily everything was still recording, I just couldn't check in and live view all day.

The more equipment I buy, the more chances there is for something to fail. An SD card (extreme local storage) seems to just be one more small bit of insurance against failure.

Thank for the input guys. Please stop opening my wallet for me.

PS - this is the best forum I've ever joined. The helpfulness and knowledge available here is awesome. The only downside is that I've never been so convinced to spend so much money so quickly.

 

[nayr]

RAID and video surveillance dont mix..

You really going to take your recorder down for a multi-day rebuild? A JBOD you can loose every disk but the last one and it'll still be recording.. and its more abusive and power wasteful to be writing parity to all disks continuously.

If you require redundancy; run 2 video recorders and let all the drives not in active use power down.. your drives will also last longer.. in most cases having a local SD card will cover 99% of recorder failures, is someone going to steal your car, or break into your house and you not realize for over 24h?

A NVR using an External NAS is adding alot more points of failure to boot.

 

[Chase]

Is it recommended to use a junction box if I am installing this camera on the side of my house? It will be exposed to rain, snow, other elements.

DH-PFA137

 

[ekaz]

Is it recommended to use a junction box if I am installing this camera on the side of my house? It will be exposed to rain, snow, other elements.

DH-PFA137

Depends on your house and if you're willing to drill through the side of your house. Me personally will be using those boxes. Ordered them from @EMPIRETECANDY with my cameras.

 

[Brian Martin]

Is it recommended to use a junction box if I am installing this camera on the side of my house? It will be exposed to rain, snow, other elements.

DH-PFA137

you can probably use a round outdoor junction box ( comes in white ) with an adapter ring. Fits almost anything. Most come with a foam weather proof seal. As add protection a small bead of silicone can be applied.

Looks like the only real difference is the bolt pattern on the box. That's why they make adapter rings for US boxes so anything can fit them. Take your cam to the HOME D , electrical and as the guys for help they will get u what u need.

 

[Fastb]

I'm in the process of doing this.
Bought the round electrical junction box at Home D. Bought a blank plate. Both white.
In the box is the poe splitter (to power a microphone), the mic (poking through a hole I drilled), and the connections for power, audio, etc.
It is Tight!
I chose the type with 1/2" connections.
I used flexible conduit for the run from the box to soffit. Next time, I'll use 3/4". The 1/2" was tight for getting the RJ45 through, and into the poe splitter.

The cam has 3 mounting holes, and the spacing is not standard. So I drilled and tapped holes in the blank circular cover.

Next time, I'll look for adapter rings. Or I'll buy a mounting box from Andy.....

Fastb

 

[TechBill]

Also note, if you are serious about insulation you'll want to double check for any possible leaks while in the attic from holes in the walls due to pipes, electrical lines, ..
this video does a good job of covering that:

This is a good video, I think I will work on my attic this spring sealing up the leak and replace insulation in it.

Thank for sharing it

 

[DavidDavid]

Would this safely power this camera?

Amazon.com: NKC 12VDC 1A Wall Adapter Power Supply LJY-186: Electronics

 

[Solar Deity]

I have read the spec somewhere that it's 12v/1000mA. I used that exact power supply to power a HDBW5231R-Z, and it works fine. Can't find it exactly in the data sheet below, but I know it works.

http://www1.dahuasecurity.com/download/DH-IPC-HDW5231R-Z_Datasheet_20160919.pdf

SD