External ethernet termination questions on new contemporary build

[alanant]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice regarding terminating external ethernet on the second story of an under-construction contemporary ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit). See attached pic. It's a flat roof with a parapet extending past the roof line by 1 and 2 feet.



The cladding is in the shou sugi ban style (charred timer). PoE cameras will be on all 4 corners. Aesthetics are important.

I'm heavily invested in the Ubiquity UniFi ecosystem. The rest of the house is full of their tech (switches, door access, access points, indoor cams, etc). I will likely go with their PoE AI Bullet which supports the ethernet cable entering directly through and behind the mounting shaft or entering at the side of the mounting plate.

View attachment G4 Cam.webp

I'll be running the ethernet in conduit to the corners.

Questions:

• I'm thinking the cameras will be mounted on the verticle cladding. The ethernet will terminate near the corners (female). I don't want the ethernet cable sticking out as the cameras may not go up right away. They may also need to be removed in the future (privacy-related concerns for tenants and owners). What can I use to do this? Ideally, it would be something small and round that sits flush and has a weatherproof cover. I found bulkhead couplers that are designed to be used with a junction box. I suppose I could recess the junction box and plate and clad over it just leaving a hole for the now flush coupler with cap. What do you think?

• Would it be better to parapet mount it on an arm that hangs over the edge along the sides that have the most open space? And use a dome camera?

I'm looking forward to your feedback!

 

[wittaj]

Depending on how far along the construction is, you should really consider mounting the cameras lower.

2nd story makes great overview cameras, but are horrible for IDENTIFY as you lose all of the IDENTIFY distance just in the vertical.

I would probably opt for the flush junction boxes.

 

[looney2ns]

Yep what he said, mounting higher than 8 ft will ruin chances of getting any face IDs. That's the whole point of surveillance cameras.

Flush mount junction box for the win.

They're much better cameras available than any of the unifi cams. Stick with Dahua or hikvision.

Is there a such thing as a camera system that is not complete trash? Suggestions?

Pardon if I seem frustrated, but I grow tired of wasting money and more importantly time. . . . First system was a Lorex setup which has always been absolute garbage. Everything about the experience has been terrible. Their support I thought was the worst, but atleast I could get them on the...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[alanant]

Thank you @wittaj and @looney2ns. Good advice. I'll definitely put cameras around the 8-foot mark and rethink the number and location of the surveillance ones I planned for 22 feet.

I'll take a deeper look at the Dahua and Hikvision lines. Staying in the Ubiquiti (Protect) ecosystem is compelling (one app, one management console, a US company, and I've already got the NVR component) I agree however the camera price-to-performance ratio doesn't match Dahua or Hikvision. I could always VLAN the Dahua or Hikvision cameras to block any in and outbound traffic to China (I should probably do that for any camera anyway). I'm sure there are some good threads on this comparison in the forums so I'll get busy reading!

 

[saltwater]

I'm also in the Unifi universe, have the UDM Pro, 2 x 24 por POE switches, one is 500 w and the other 250 w, 5 Unifi Access points. I do not use the protect software. When I checked just over 2 years ago, it was too expensive. I can't recall all the reviews, but the camera specs were not up to the job or didn't compare well with Dahua. So, I went with Dahua and Blue Iris. Haven't looked back.

 

[looney2ns]

From Unifi site "The manufacturing of Ubiquiti products is done by contract manufacturers exclusively outside the U.S. Also, logistics/fulfillment is “primarily in China, and to a lesser extent, Taiwan and United States.” In addition, roughly 2/3 of UBNT's workforce is outside the U.S."