Door & license plate camera locations and choices

[Relay700]

Hi there,
1st post so go easy on me

Been researching & learning from this forum. Thank you to all of you that spend your time and effort helping us noobs!!!!!!
I have finished installing Ethernet all around my house for cameras and I am ready to start installing cameras. I will be using Blue Iris and already have a nice PC, i7 6700 and WD Purple 4tb drives. Will use Ubiquity Toughswitches for switch and POE functions.

I plan to use the HDW 5231R-Z turrets for most of my outside locations but I need to decide on camera and locations for doors and same for car/plate.

1st, which would be better, installing the HDW 5231R-Z turret just above the doors or a HFW4231S mini bullet installed at head height just off to the side of the door and recessed INTO the woodwork? My wife would prefer NOT to have an ugly camera thing sticking out in your face so that's why I thought of drilling into the wood and recess mounting the camera.
If I am barking up the wrong tree, please point my in the right direction.

2nd, I have a good location at the intersection of my driveway and the road to install a camera. It's a 4x4 mailbox post along with a 1/3 whiskey barrel type planter right up against it. I will run some sort of protected Ethernet cable out to this location so that gives me power and video. Would the HFW4231S mini bullet (easiest to hide) with a 6mm lens work for this? How about the IPC-HFW5231E-Z?
The distance for mounting location is less than 3' from the edge of the road. The distance from the road to my house is about 85' so it seems like the mailbox area is a better option if I can figure out how to hide / blend it in.

Thanks for any help or suggestions!!!!!

 

[Relay700]

 

[Fastb]

Relay700,

Welcome to the forum!

cam mount: less than 8ft to get good facial shot
Recess: if too recessed, the IR at night will bounce off the sides of the recess, especially if the recess opening is snug to the cam.
Wife says ugly: Some say having a visible cam is a deterrent. Others say the bad guys are brazen, stupid, or both, and so the cam isn't a deterrent. Consider mounting the turret on the soffit. Less visible, and turrets aren't as obvious/ugly as a bullet...
Light by door: Cam mount location must take that light into consideration. If cam adjusts the exposure at night, the rest of the FOV will be so dark it won't be useful. Somehow, mount the cam so that porch light isn't in the FOV.
Trial and error: Some mount the cam on a 2x4 and lean it against the house, to test the image quality and FOV. Fine tune the location. Then mount the cam. I learned this the hard way. Pre-planning and real-world sometimes don't overlap well...
Cam by road: 3ft back from road, on a whiskey barrel (ie: short and low) sounds like a place with lots of dirt and grime to coat the cam. Judging by snow shovels in your pic, you may have snowplows cruising by.
Why not hide that cam in a piece of landscaping, like a birdhouse or windmill?. In any case, temp mount that cam and experiment


Good luck
Fastb

 

[Relay700]

Thanks for the ideas!!!
The soffet heightis around 8' at its lowest and close to 9' where it meets the house.

I meant flush mount the mini bullet can, not recessed.

That front light by the door is never on. We have a fake gas lamp type light out in the front yard that is on all night. It's about 35' out into the yard away from both doors.

Good idea on the 2x4. I see what you mean about real world vs camera view not being the same.

The road cam would be mounted on the back of the mailbox post, about 4' off the ground and just behind the mailbox on the unused part of the mailbox post horizontal beam. The rest of the property is wide open along the road with nowhere else to mount something.

Thanks again!

 

[tangent]

Will use Ubiquity Toughswitches for switch and POE functions.

That only supplies passive PoE it won't work the 802.3af compliant HDW5231R-Z

 

[Relay700]

That only supplies passive PoE it won't work the 802.3af compliant HDW5231R-Z

Crap! strange limitation on these devices. Okay, off to find some other POE switches. I am thinking Netgear GS-110TP as I need 6 POE ports.

Thanks for the info!!!!!

 

[Relay700]

Wow, my pics of the doorways make my house look like crap It's a long white box with white trim so nothing to look at from the street.