Garage camera placement - walls closing soon

[kickstart24]

I posted previously about camera placement near a 3-car garage. It was suggested to add cameras to at the outside corners at the garage header (labeled 1 and 2 in red in the photos below). It turns out, this won't be structurally possible.

Any alternative locations? I was thinking about putting the cameras at the locations marked with a yellow dots. The only issue is there is a exterior coach light going in where the white wires are hanging and I'm not sure if the glare from that would render the cameras useless.

Any help is appreciated as the walls are going to be drywalled soon!

 

[wittaj]

Those would be decent locations and many here put them there.

 

[kickstart24]

Those would be decent locations and many here put them there.

Thanks. Do you see issues with having a light bulb from a nearby exterior light causing camera image quality problems?

 

[wittaj]

There are so many variables - type of fixture, lumens of bulb, bulb type, etc. that the answer ranges from no impact at all to complete washout.

Now granted yours will be angled slightly away from the lights, complete washout shouldn't happen, but you may get a little glimmer of reflective glare that usually isn't a big deal or can be minimized with fine tuning angling adjustments.

 

[Ri22o]

How is under the garage door header not structurally possible?

 

[kickstart24]

How is under the garage door header not structurally possible?

That's what it looks like on the inside. Not sure you can get a cable through all that.

 

[The Automation Guy]

Generally you can mitigate glare when the camera is on the same wall/plane as the light source. If there is any noticable glare at all, usually a small lens hood/cover would block the light from the lens. However most lens flare occurs when the camera is facing the light source which is not the case in this situation.

 

[Ri22o]

Mine is the same way, that's why I just surface mounted it and then made a slit in the garage door weatherstripping.

Not a fan of having an exposed cable, but it’s the least invasive and gets the camera in a good spot.

 

[tangent]

One option is just to leave a coil of several wires to terminate / run after the build is done (run to locations like through the weather strip and future cameras).

The 2x4's marked in red aren't key to the structure, they're for the garage door. If you had to, you could drill a small hole through them, but a building inspector still may not like that.



If you were to go through the brick, make your hole for the cable through a mortar joint. Something like the orange mark here.
You'd need other holes to mount the junction box and would want to caulk the top of the junction box to the brick leaving the bottom uncaulked to allow water to drain.

 

[kickstart24]

One option is just to leave a coil of several wires to terminate / run after the build is done (run to locations like through the weather strip and future cameras).

The 2x4's marked in red aren't key to the structure, they're for the garage door. If you had to, you could drill a small hole through them, but a building inspector still may not like that.



If you were to go through the brick, make your hole for the cable through a mortar joint. Something like the orange mark here.
You'd need other holes to mount the junction box and would want to caulk the top of the junction box to the brick leaving the bottom uncaulked to allow water to drain.

Thanks. Few questions:

1. You would go higher with the camera at the orange arrow you drew vs lower at the yellow dot? In the photo, for reference, you can see green wire hanging down from the soffit at the top right. Another camera will go there, but probably too high to get identify images. The exterior coach light looks like this and is 11.5” w, 24” h:



2. Would you also hang the camera on the other end of the garage at the same height (orange arrow)?

3. What's the reasoning for drilling into the mortar for the wire vs the brick? Just curious

 

[mat200]

I posted previously about camera placement near a 3-car garage. It was suggested to add cameras to at the outside corners at the garage header (labeled 1 and 2 in red in the photos below). It turns out, this won't be structurally possible.

Any alternative locations? I was thinking about putting the cameras at the locations marked with a yellow dots. The only issue is there is a exterior coach light going in where the white wires are hanging and I'm not sure if the glare from that would render the cameras useless.

Any help is appreciated as the walls are going to be drywalled soon!

View attachment 211708View attachment 211707

Looks like a good time to "stub out a few spots" .. if uncertain about which way to run the cable, a short conduit and box behind the wall would be useful.

Do you have a test camera to try out the locations at this time for POV and angles?

 

[tangent]

Thanks. Few questions:

1. You would go higher with the camera at the orange arrow you drew vs lower at the yellow dot? In the photo, for reference, you can see green wire hanging down from the soffit at the top right. Another camera will go there, but probably too high to get identify images. The exterior coach light looks like this and is 11.5” w, 24” h:

View attachment 211739

2. Would you also hang the camera on the other end of the garage at the same height (orange arrow)?

3. What's the reasoning for drilling into the mortar for the wire vs the brick? Just curious

I'd probably go above the coach lights rather than below, symmetry looks better. I still like the location on the garage header the best. If you leave a bundle of wire to install it later, you just have to hope the drywallers don't cut it off. A test camera is a good idea before you decide on the exact location. With a camera above the coach lights, you may just want it zoomed in a bit more. Some people like to have overlapping cameras on the garage with one zoomed in towards the end of the drive and the other wide angle. You may miss a few things, but for many it's a good compromise. You could also put a camera in the soffit zoomed in much more (could be a bulkier camera).

It's much easier to drill through mortar than brick and easier to patch if you ever remove it, especially for the hole the cable goes through. 1 or more of the mounting screws for a junction box in that location would probably end up in brick rather than mortar.

 

[kickstart24]

I'd probably go above the coach lights rather than below, symmetry looks better. I still like the location on the garage header the best. If you leave a bundle of wire to install it later, you just have to hope the drywallers don't cut it off. A test camera is a good idea before you decide on the exact location. With a camera above the coach lights, you may just want it zoomed in a bit more. Some people like to have overlapping cameras on the garage with one zoomed in towards the end of the drive and the other wide angle. You may miss a few things, but for many it's a good compromise. You could also put a camera in the soffit zoomed in much more (could be a bulkier camera).

It's much easier to drill through mortar than brick and easier to patch if you ever remove it, especially for the hole the cable goes through. 1 or more of the mounting screws for a junction box in that location would probably end up in brick rather than mortar.

Symmetry with what? I could copy whatever I do on one side of the garage with the other side. Or do you just mean you would match the sides?

I'm trying to get an understanding for why above the coach light might be better. I thought a lower height (yellow dot) would be better to get identify info. Above the coach light would prob be around 8-9 feet.

Unfortunately, I don't have a camera/time to do a test. Walls are closing next week. I may run a conduit to the garage attic to make things easier for the future.

 

[tangent]

Symmetry with what? I could copy whatever I do on one side of the garage with the other side. Or do you just mean you would match the sides?

I'm trying to get an understanding for why above the coach light might be better. I thought a lower height (yellow dot) would be better to get identify info. Above the coach light would prob be around 8-9 feet.

Unfortunately, I don't have a camera/time to do a test. Walls are closing next week. I may run a conduit to the garage attic to make things easier for the future.

Anything in the 5-8' range will work. 10-14' or higher doesn't work as well, but can still serve as a wide overview or zoom in on a distant choke point like the end of the driveway or a gate. Too many people/builders put cameras 12'+ feet off the ground.

In this specific instance, going for 7-9 feet instead of 4-5 feet (my guess for your yellow dot) means the camera is a bit more protected from weather, sun, and blocked views from vehicles in the driveway. The downside is it's a little easier for people to avoid looking at higher cameras. Either would work.

If you're going to go through the brick, and the garage attic is accessible, I'd probably just take a bunch of pictures / measurements before the drywall and leave 4 or 5 ethernet cables coiled up with 20-30' of extra wire in the attic. There are other parts of the house that are much harder to deal with later.

 

[mat200]

without being able to test if the camera would work better above or below the light fixture,

I would stub out a short section of conduit and a box to hold cable at the red dots

Later once you have the light fixture up you can test the locations by the fixture which works best and run the cabling.
( I am thinking that you would run the cabling in the garage on top of the dry wall to the conduit stubs and use something like duct seal to seal the conduit hole into the garage .. )