Hello for snowy western Canada

rwbryce

n3wb
Nov 9, 2021
12
6
Ardmore, AB
Hi, looking forward to learning from what you guys are posting here, figured I should join.

Just bought BI from the store, waiting for the key. ;)

I had ordered up some Reolink cameras based on a recommendation from a local who is in the security business. Postal service messed up the order, so I ordered more from Lorex, and will likely return the Reolink ones when they finally show up. But I'll try them first because they still may be useful for some locations. I'm satisfied with the Reolink Argus 3 Pro, though unhappy that I can't use it with BI.

My primary motivation here is that the farm internet uplink is too slow to handle any kind of cloud based service. I need an on-site solution like this, to do processing before data is sent upstream.

FYI, in case any forum admin reads this, I had to create a 2nd account. Office 365 seems to block the account verification email. I had to create a 2nd account using an email hosted by Zoho, to get authenticated here.
 
:welcome:

Do yourself a favor and return the Reolinks unopened. They do work OK during full day light, but at night they are useless if there is any motion. Have a look at this thread that includes some Reolink night motion captures -

Compiled by mat200 -
 
Hi, looking forward to learning from what you guys are posting here, figured I should join.

Just bought BI from the store, waiting for the key. ;)

I had ordered up some Reolink cameras based on a recommendation from a local who is in the security business. Postal service messed up the order, so I ordered more from Lorex, and will likely return the Reolink ones when they finally show up. But I'll try them first because they still may be useful for some locations. I'm satisfied with the Reolink Argus 3 Pro, though unhappy that I can't use it with BI.

My primary motivation here is that the farm internet uplink is too slow to handle any kind of cloud based service. I need an on-site solution like this, to do processing before data is sent upstream.

FYI, in case any forum admin reads this, I had to create a 2nd account. Office 365 seems to block the account verification email. I had to create a 2nd account using an email hosted by Zoho, to get authenticated here.

Hi @rwbryce

Good to have you join us.

Feel free to let us know what Lorex camera model you bought and the price.

Sometimes Lorex charges too much for their cameras, and recently the are selling cameras with smaller sensors

Let us also know what your functional goals are.
 
Hi,

I bought a few different models to experiment, learn.


Black Friday deals sure helped here. I spent some time on the phone and they assured me that all of these cameras support ONVIF.

This is likely a typical set-up for a farmyard - night vision in the reported range of these cameras - 100-150 feet, and able to do some analysis / AI at the computer to avoid overloading my upstream data link. The tough thing will be configuring to avoid animals (some pets, some wildlife), but signal on at least vehicles coming into the yard. The yard is about 4 acres and we have likely a half-dozen buildings I want to cover. Although license plates would be nice, that's going to be hard, and I know that. Then, when an event occurs, I need multiple events - push, phone (which is why I selected BI), etc.

I put wifi across the farmyard (happy with AyrMesh Hub2x2C - Ayrstone Productivity ) but now that I have that, I'm finding that I will be using ethernet powerline adaptors to get to some of the buildings because none of these cameras are wifi (and it appears that should work). Unfortunately, not all buildings have power in them, so I have yet to find a good battery/wifi camera - I need to spend more time on the forums here.

Temperature is another concern - not all buildings are heated - and I'm picking cameras with IP66/IP67 ratings.

Of course, this is in reaction to a recent B&E but we're trying to be smart about hardware and software, and avoid digging up the whole yard to run CAT-5.

--Rob

Hi @rwbryce

Good to have you join us.

Feel free to let us know what Lorex camera model you bought and the price.

Sometimes Lorex charges too much for their cameras, and recently the are selling cameras with smaller sensors

Let us also know what your functional goals are.
 
Those cameras will be fine in unheated buildings - they are fine in outdoor cold blistery conditions. They generate enough heat as well to not be a problem.

You will want to go with powerline adaptors or nanostation. Wifi cameras thru a consumer router will not work and will fail when you need it the most.

None of those cameras will be able to IDENTIFY at 150 feet and certainly not at night. The rated IR night vision of 150 feet needs be cut at least in half to a third. Once you dial in the settings to minimize blur, that will drop to about 50 feet to OBSERVE and about 10 feet to IDENTIFY. You may get 150 feet OBSERVE if you leave on auto/default settings, but you will then only know there was movement in your field of view because it will all be a blur.

To identify someone with the 2.8mm lens that 3 of the 4 models you got are, someone would have to be within 13 feet of the camera, but realistically within 10 feet after you dial it in to your settings.

1636601644199.png

My neighbor was bragging to me how he only needed his four 2.8mm fixed lens 4k cams to see his entire property and the street and his whole backyard. His car was sitting in the driveway practically touching the garage door and his video quality was useless to ID the perp not even 10 feet away. Meanwhile my 2MP varifocal optically zoomed in to the public sidewalk provided the money shot to the police to get my neighbors all their stuff back. Nobody else had video that could provide anything useful, other than what time this motion blur ghost was at their car.

Here are my general distance recommendations, but switch out the Dahua 5442 series camera to the equivalent 2MP on the 1/2.8" sensor or equivalent Hikvision works as well.
  • 5442 fixed lens 2.8mm - anything within 10 feet of camera OR as an overview camera
  • 5442 ZE - varifocal - distances up to 40-50 feet (personally I wouldn't go past the 30 foot range but I like things closer)
  • 5442 Z4E - anything up to 80-100 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 60 feet but I like things closer)
  • 5241-Z12E - anything from 80 feet to almost 200 feet (personally I wouldn't go past 150 feet because I like things closer)
  • 5241-Z12E - for a license plate cam that you would angle up the street to get plates up to about 175 feet away, or up to 220 with additional IR.
  • 49225 PTZ - great PTZ and in conjunction with an NVR or Blue Iris and the cameras above that you can use as spotter cams to point the PTZ to the correct location to compliment the fixed cams.
You need to get the correct camera for the area trying to be covered. A 2.8mm to IDENTIFY someone 40 feet away is the wrong camera regardless of how good the camera is. A 2.8mm camera to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet is a good choice OR it is an overview camera to see something happened but not be able to identify who.

One camera cannot be the be all, see all. Each one is selected for covering a specific area.

So you will need to identify the distance the camera would be from the activities you want to IDENTIFY on and purchase the correct camera for that distance as an optical zoom.
 
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Hi,

I bought a few different models to experiment, learn.


Black Friday deals sure helped here. I spent some time on the phone and they assured me that all of these cameras support ONVIF.

This is likely a typical set-up for a farmyard - night vision in the reported range of these cameras - 100-150 feet, and able to do some analysis / AI at the computer to avoid overloading my upstream data link. The tough thing will be configuring to avoid animals (some pets, some wildlife), but signal on at least vehicles coming into the yard. The yard is about 4 acres and we have likely a half-dozen buildings I want to cover. Although license plates would be nice, that's going to be hard, and I know that. Then, when an event occurs, I need multiple events - push, phone (which is why I selected BI), etc.

I put wifi across the farmyard (happy with AyrMesh Hub2x2C - Ayrstone Productivity ) but now that I have that, I'm finding that I will be using ethernet powerline adaptors to get to some of the buildings because none of these cameras are wifi (and it appears that should work). Unfortunately, not all buildings have power in them, so I have yet to find a good battery/wifi camera - I need to spend more time on the forums here.

Temperature is another concern - not all buildings are heated - and I'm picking cameras with IP66/IP67 ratings.

Of course, this is in reaction to a recent B&E but we're trying to be smart about hardware and software, and avoid digging up the whole yard to run CAT-5.

--Rob

Hi Rob,

The Lorex USA website, this is the only camera I have seen that they currently have available that has a 1/1.8" sensor ( 8MP ) that is a new camera. ( they do have some older models listed that appear to be open box condition )



iirc all the models you posted have smaller sensors than 1/1.8"

btw here is the black friday 2021 related post from Andy:
 
Example of the E841CD specs .. sensor is 1/2.7" .. rather small imho for a 8MP sensor ..


1636604065881.png
 

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I'm using a Ubiquiti nano station pair, to send remote camera data thru the airwaves. to the main bldg.

Thanks - now that's interesting technology! I'm going to read up on this, and also see if there may be a wifi receiver that may work with the existing wifi across the yard.
 
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[...]
None of those cameras will be able to IDENTIFY at 150 feet and certainly not at night. The rated IR night vision of 150 feet needs be cut at least in half to a third. Once you dial in the settings to minimize blur, that will drop to about 50 feet to OBSERVE and about 10 feet to IDENTIFY. You may get 150 feet OBSERVE if you leave on auto/default settings, but you will then only know there was movement in your field of view because it will all be a blur.
[...]

So you will need to identify the distance the camera would be from the activities you want to IDENTIFY on and purchase the correct camera for that distance as an optical zoom.

Well, thanks again! Lots of great info - and I'm learning, which has to happen. I'll have to spend some time soon going over each of the cameras you listed. I'll try what's coming and plan to add to the system I'm starting to build.
 
WiFi isn't really very good for surveillance cameras. Cameras send a constant, never ending, stream of data that easily overloads the bandwidth of WiFi. Either dedicated RF links like the Ubiquity Nanco Loco, a fiber or a properly protected, surge protected, link are reliable enough when more than two cameras are involved.
 
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Yeah I'm thinkin if you want good performance of the Cam streams you keep them off the general use Wifi. The RF links are amazing. But you certainly can try your way.... Let us know how it pans out.
 
“Let us know how it pans out” (no pun intended!)