Great example of Dahua Starlight 2MP Verifocal Performance in low light

JoelJ

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Here's my mounting point to give some perspective on distance, etc.
This is awesome! The Dahua HDW5231R-Z's are the cameras I've been looking at installing at the house I'm building. I was thinking of setting them up in exactly the same location as you are here; right under the soffit in the corners. Is that a separate mounting base that you have there, or is the camera attached directly to the soffit? It looks great!

During the framing stage on my house, I am planning on running my CAT6 to all potential camera locations, even though I am not 100% on all locations. I figured I could mount a camera to test a location, then keep it or move it. At the locations I decide against, I can leave in a rubber hole plug or something similar that will hide the opening with the wire stuffed up inside the soffit. That way if I ever change my mind, I can pull the plug and attach my camera.

Now that you've had your camera installed this way for a few months, what do you think? Anything you would do differently?
 

thomaswde

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This is awesome! The Dahua HDW5231R-Z's are the cameras I've been looking at installing at the house I'm building. I was thinking of setting them up in exactly the same location as you are here; right under the soffit in the corners. Is that a separate mounting base that you have there, or is the camera attached directly to the soffit? It looks great!

During the framing stage on my house, I am planning on running my CAT6 to all potential camera locations, even though I am not 100% on all locations. I figured I could mount a camera to test a location, then keep it or move it. At the locations I decide against, I can leave in a rubber hole plug or something similar that will hide the opening with the wire stuffed up inside the soffit. That way if I ever change my mind, I can pull the plug and attach my camera.

Now that you've had your camera installed this way for a few months, what do you think? Anything you would do differently?
Sorry, just seeing this...

First (so I don't forget) why CAT6? An IP camera could never even come close to maxing out a 10/100 link let alone needing 1000Gb. I'd save the cheddar and pull cheap Cat5e to my cams.
Yes, I mounted directly to soffit, it's very sturdy IMO, no need for a mounting base. I have no concerns at all about that thing coming down in a storm, it would take two hands and a death grip to rip it down.
I love my mounting point for that cam, I've added more cams since then but that's still my most useful single cam as it watches my driveway / cars, and can see up the cul-de-sac.
Nothing I'd do differently I don't think.
Def pull that wire in framing because it was a bear to pull that over my vaulted ceiling in between the wood framing, awful actually. If you saw my attic you would think I was a sorcerer for ever pulling it off, haha.
 

fenderman

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Sorry, just seeing this...

First (so I don't forget) why CAT6? An IP camera could never even come close to maxing out a 10/100 link let alone needing 1000Gb. I'd save the cheddar and pull cheap Cat5e to my cams.
Yes, I mounted directly to soffit, it's very sturdy IMO, no need for a mounting base. I have no concerns at all about that thing coming down in a storm, it would take two hands and a death grip to rip it down.
I love my mounting point for that cam, I've added more cams since then but that's still my most useful single cam as it watches my driveway / cars, and can see up the cul-de-sac.
Nothing I'd do differently I don't think.
Def pull that wire in framing because it was a bear to pull that over my vaulted ceiling in between the wood framing, awful actually. If you saw my attic you would think I was a sorcerer for ever pulling it off, haha.
The price difference between quality cat5e and cat6 is negligible...cat6 is generally a bit thicker...you never know what you might want to use that run for in 10 or 15 years....it silly to run anything else if you have an open house...
 

tigerwillow1

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First (so I don't forget) why CAT6? An IP camera could never even come close to maxing out a 10/100 link let alone needing 1000Gb. I'd save the cheddar and pull cheap Cat5e to my cams.
I agree with you 100% and I still use cat6, spending more money for it and dealing with the stiffer, harder to work with cable. It's just a thing with me to use the higher end stuff when the price penalty isn't all that great. If I designed an airplane it would be too heavy to get off the ground. I could argue that there's less heat loss from cat6 23 awg wire than the cat5 24 awg, reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the powerplant. On a slightly more serious note, I do have several runs close to the 100 meter length limit and did factor the power loss into the cat6 decision, knowing in reality that cat5 does the job just fine.
 

JoelJ

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First (so I don't forget) why CAT6? An IP camera could never even come close to maxing out a 10/100 link let alone needing 1000Gb. I'd save the cheddar and pull cheap Cat5e to my cams.
Exactly what @fenderman and @tigerwillow1 are saying. I can get a 1000' roll of CAT6 off monoprice for $10 more than CAT5e. I'm using it for fiber internet as well throughout the house in addition to cameras. CAT5e "might" be good enough for that, but I know CAT6 will be for sure...at least for what I want it for. Besides, "future proof" is the idea right? And because I'm pulling it all during framing, I'm not too worried about thicker/stiffer cable.
 

thomaswde

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Hey, all valid.
I have a couple rolls of Cat5e, a roll of Cat6, and a couple hundred feet of Cat6A. I have about 100 Cat6A patch cords (Happens when the only work you do outside your home office is in datacenters). Nevertheless I still pull Cat5e to my cams since there's about 0% chance I'll ever install a workstation, server, or edge switch in my eaves. ;) My 1920x1080 cams trickle about 2-5Mbps of H.265 in a rainstorm down that link, I could upgrade to 8k cams and still rock out on Cat5e. Everyone's use case and home is different. If I was buying a roll to pull my house and not sitting on tons of cabling I'd for sure buy Cat6 like you fellas. Respect. :)
 

parallon

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Hi there. Very informative article. What brand NVR or software are you using that you are able to draw detection zones like that? Not sure if you just added a Dahua camera on another brand DVR, or using something like Blue Iris...

Thanks,

Mike
 

BubbaJoe

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Hi there. Very informative article. What brand NVR or software are you using that you are able to draw detection zones like that? Not sure if you just added a Dahua camera on another brand DVR, or using something like Blue Iris...

Thanks,

Mike
Mike, Thats the software that comes with dahua cameras.
 

aristobrat

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The screenshot in the message you quoted looks like the camera's web interface.
 

Firefighter

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Looks great, I love having one in our nursery. He's almost 2 now but still nice to have.
 
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