Help with camera placement (new install)

[bballlal]

I'm thinking of installing two cameras on the front of my house and use Blue Iris. I thin I've narrowed it down to the Hikvision DS-2CD2332-I (turret) or the DS-2CD2032 (bullet) I've included pics of my house and I circled where I'm thinking of putting the cameras. I'll be using a powerline adapter. Any suggestions on whether to use bullet or turret in the locations I've marked? Or have suggestions for better placement? Thanks!

 

[fenderman]

Welcome to the forum. Either would be fine but the 2332 will look better at the door. Your mounting locations are an issue because they are high, not only will you lose detail but you will have a hard time getting a good face shot because of the angle. For the camera at the door, if your purpose is to see who is at the door you need to mount it close to the door. Where are you going to connect the powerline adapter? How are you running the cable?

 

[bballlal]

For the one on the side of my house I'd be coming through the wall from a power outlet in my garage. I'd use ethernet from the powerline adapter to the camera right? On the entry way it would be plugged into an outlet that you can barely see under the even to the top and a little to the left of the red circle. I don't know if I care to see who is at the door as much as I care about just seeing who is walking up to the door in case someone breaks in or steals something off the porch. I guess I was trying to make them not look too obvious. Probably why I put them so high. But of course I don't want to make the cameras useless.

 

[fenderman]

You still need to power the camera, either with a 12v adapter or a poe injector/switch....powerline while workable is not ideal if you can get a direct network connection you will be better off. Have you tested the powerline connection quality at both locations?
I would mount the left camera to the left of your garage door.
If you can get an ethernet cable from your network to your garage you can use a 4 port poe switch in the garage, and mount one camera on the left side then punch out on the right side to mount a camera to cover your porch/steps...

 

[bballlal]

So maybe under the eves on the right and left side and aim the one on the right at the front door?

For some reason I thought the Powerline adapter would provide PoE power as well. If not then maybe I should try to get a line to the garage. Will be tough though because I won't have an attic to work with. It's all on the bottom floor.

 

[fenderman]

yes, for the right one you can even place it further back along the wall near the steps, or if your garage goes back far enough or you can snake it you can actually place it to the left of your front door.

 

[bballlal]

Ok thanks, I may try the ZyXEL 600 Mbps Powerline adapters first before trying to run an Ethernet cable to the garage. Do you think the bullets would be best for both of the cameras we talked about? Or would a turret be better for the one aimed towards the street because of the wider angle?

 

[icerabbit]

I agree with fenderman. Original eve position on second floor too high, no view of xx feet in front of the garage. Porch camera too high. As far back as you can to the left corner right at the top of the door level would be great.

Regarding the powerline adapters. If you can't run ethernet to the garage. Don't get one per camera. Because then you need 3 sets of powerline adapters and Power Over Ethernet adapters.

How about a simpler version of 1 powerline adapter in the house to 1 powerline adapter in the garage, which feeds to a POE switch. From that POE switch you'd then run 3 ethernet cables to the two cameras by the garage door and the one by the front door. No local power for the camera needed. Single wire to the camera.

Should powerline be a technical / practical issue (due to complex wiring and other equipment on the lines) a wifi bridge could work too.

The turrets and domes exist in 2.8 and give a little wider field of view. You can also get a wider field of view by using a 3mp camera in 1920x1080 mode (what I do). Many people don't quite like the 2.8s wide angle aspect. 4mm gives a bit more detail to what is captured (it is a little more zoomed in on the viewed space) You are shooting close up, so field of view is important, but you'd have to determine if having 10deg or so more fov is important. I don't think it is for the porch camera. And maybe not for the garage either. Measurements may help. I mapped and measured my areas.

 

[eyeball]

I'm no expert - just a couple of thoughts - if I was placing the garage camera (assuming a bullet camera) I would put it just to the left of the downspout (if facing garage door) pointing towards the driveway. I'm not familiar with the hikvisions, but for the cameras I've used you can only rely on around 15-20 ft for IR coverage - if it was placed above your garage as indicated in your photo you would lose a lot of night coverage on the garage roof.

Regarding your door cam - I have a similar situation - I ended up putting the camera to the left of the door pointing down from the ceiling. It's not the best of all situations, particularly when it comes to getting face shots, but it is better than nothing, and more importantly I get alerted via Blue Iris if any motion is detected, which is at least half of the value of having cameras (my opinion).

I'm finding that although it would be great to position cameras at the best angles, I have to settle for a balance of home aesthetics and coverage. By placing multiple cameras around I get adequate notification of motion/activity -and- collectively, they provide pretty decent detail.

Take your time and choose the right places - I've even run temporary ethernet/power & mounted the camera just to see what the vantage is before I went to the trouble of running cables in some cases.

Good luck!

 

[Labrobot]

I too am no expert, but have just gone through the same process of trying to find the best position. Here is my take.

I personally like the POE cameras; make the whole system seem much cleaner. I would get two Hikvision DS-2CD2532F-IS cameras. One mounted under the eave as you depicted in your update post, just above the garage door. Although I don't know your garage layout, I suspect that you have a dead area or storage area directly above since the second floor is set back a bit. this may make running cables easier. You can get either a 4mm or 2.8mm lens; I would probably go with the 2.8mm being that you are lower. the issue with distortion is offset with the high res image and wide FOV.

For the second camera, I agree the previous posters that you want to cover the doorway. Could you wall mount directly to the left of the door along the garage wall? If you mount it at level with the joists for the second level, you may be able to go through the wall, knock a whole in the garage ceiling, and carry the line forward to that same crawl space. I know aesthetics is a concern, but these little cameras look pretty clean. You could probably paint the cover to match the wall paint. I also feel leaving the cameras visible creates some deterrence.

 

[bballlal]

Thanks for the input guys. I've ordered two Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I 4mm and one DS-2CD2332-I 2.8mm along with a TP-LINK PoE switch and a XyXEL 600 Mbps Powerline adapter. I'll see if I like the turret or bullet better on under the eve to the left of the garage (if facing the garage) and to the left of the downspout aimed towards the driveway.

For the entry way...eyeball, it seems like your placement would make it hard to see faces? If I put a bullet under the eve basically just opposite to where the driveway camera is, facing the door...I'm assuming I'd get pretty good coverage of them walking up to the door and good face shot of them walking away from the door wouldn't I?

I'm in an HOA and I'm afraid they may bitch if they see too many wires and I don't have any access to above my garage. Running wires would be a huge pain and would involve cutting out some drywall and I don't want to deal with all that. My plan is to use a Powerline adapter in a garage outlet. Then run a wire from the PoE switch (thanks for the the idea icerabbit) to each side of the garage on the ceiling and then just go straight through the wall to the cameras on each corner.

 

[Rollo]

You can actually get a power line adapter which will also supply PoE in the UK - I guess there may be an equivalent model for other countries.

http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline-pl-500av-poe.html

 

[bballlal]

Only things I've found are for other countries. I've read that the Powerline adapters that came with the Logitech Alert systems provided PoE power along with the Powerline functionality but those have since been discontinued. I'm actually glad they're discontinued, I would have gone with them but I researched more when I saw they weren't available and got the Hikvision cameras. They seem to be better overall.

 

[icerabbit]

...
My plan is to use a Powerline adapter in a garage outlet. Then run a wire from the PoE switch (thanks for the the idea icerabbit) to each side of the garage on the ceiling and then just go straight through the wall to the cameras on each corner.

You are welcome.
Hopefully it all works out. Crossing fingers. Careful with the drill. Be mindful of possible plumbing and electrical lines in the wall. Think twice, measure twice, drill once ... or something like that And you can always do a test mockup by having somebody hold the camera or securely placing it on a ladder with a long ethernet line, prior to committing to a series of mounting holes in a certain location.

Keep us posted

 

[bballlal]

Yeah, I'm gun shy about drilling holes. I'll definitely do some testing with a long Ethernet cable before I drill. I'll probably end out drilling through the mortar on the bricks...I really don't want to drill into my stucco (harder to patch).

 

[bballlal]

I'm very happy with the Powerline adapter. I'm getting 70 Mbps upload and 71 Mbps download on my LAN. Very steady and constant speeds as well. Hopefully I'll be able to get the cameras installed this weekend. I'm a little bummed at how long the pigtail on these cameras are. Will be tricky to hide all that.

 

[icerabbit]

Isn't it something how leads are always too short or too long

Better a bit too long though, and remember these are also used with extra housings and mounts in commercial installs, where one isn't worried about extra bulk and trying to blend in aesthetically. It just needs to get installed, hopefully be install friendly, have maintenance convenience and be weather tight.

You should be able to tuck the excess into a soffit easily and into a wall with a gentle nudge against the insulation. Unless you have spray foam.

 

[bballlal]

Install went pretty well. Very happy with them and Blue Iris.

 

[fenderman]

Nice Job, looks good.

 

[eyeball]

Good work @bballal! Nice & neat. On the first shot (of your door stoop) where is the camera?