How much did your system cost you?

DawsonDownunder

DawsonDownunder

n3wb
Aug 12, 2022
21
17
Australia
Hi,

So i've just dipped my toe into the world of CCTV and thought it would be fun to do thread for newbies on how much different setup costs.

I went down the bespoke route as opposed to getting a Reolink NVR and now that I'm at this point I'm wondering if it's worth it.

All prices in Australian Dollarbucks...

Dahua DH-IPC-HDW2431EMP-AS-0280B-S2 4MP - $90
Dahua DH-ipc-hdw3849h-as-pv (TiOC) - $202
Dahua DH-ipc-hdw3849h-as-pv (TiOC) - $202
TP-Link 8 port 10/100 POE Switch - $119
100m Cat 6 - $56
HP Elitedesk 800 G3 - $115
Blue Iris - $125
4TB HDD - Free

Total: $909 ~($646US)

I'm happy with my setup as it covers everything I want to do. Would I do things differently if I went through the process again? Sure. Maybe not as much on the Camera's but it's in and working as it's meant to

What is everyone else running and what did they invest in their systems?

Interested in your thoughts on the above too.

Thanks,
 
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22 cameras, 2 16 port switches, NanoLoco M5, recent upgrade of CPU, mobo and GPU, 3 HDD, lots of 12VDC power bricks for lots of IR illuminators.

I'd say a dollar three eighty by now.
 
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The price or the amount invested will obviously fluctuate by a large margin based on when and type of hardware purchased.

Never mind if bought locally or via online e-tailor.

If a person bought all blue light specials no matter how many it’s gong to cost significantly less than someone who bought a tier 1 / 2 hardware.

Than we have second hand purchases of enterprise hardware from eBay.

Than we have to consider what type of infrastructure is present vs what other supporting hardware such as UPS, SPD, PtP. A person could easily spend thousands of dollars just on the cabling from shielded to fibre.

Even more just for Things like racking, cabinet’s, patch panels etc.

It’s probably safe to state the dollars you see here will range from $0.00 - Skies the limit.

When you see a $399.XX reply for a all in one system everyone knows you’re just starting off. Nothing wrong with that as this is a journey toward something else!

People come here and other forums in hopes of doing it once - Doing right.
 
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sebastiantombs said:
22 cameras, 2 16 port switches, NanoLoco M5, recent upgrade of CPU, mobo and GPU, 3 HDD, lots of 12VDC power bricks for lots of IR illuminators.

I'd say a dollar three eighty by now.
Click to expand...
What are you trying to cover with that type of system? Is my understanding right that its quality not quantity of surveying that counts?
 
There's equipment costs, AND labor costs.
Your time to research, purchase, install and the big one - config of the software. Which is a big learning curve & always an ongoing process.
My guess is the assumed labor costs far exceed the equipment.
 
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Mine only costs $10 a month for 300 months then this baby is ALL mine wooh hoo.

But I'm with @33696933

This hobby grows like a cancer once you get infected.
 
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Teken said:
The price or the amount invested will obviously fluctuate by a large margin based on when and type of hardware purchased.

Never mind if bought locally or via online e-tailor.

If a person bought all blue light specials no matter how many it’s gong to cost significantly less than someone who bought a tier 1 / 2 hardware.

Than we have second hand purchases of enterprise hardware from eBay.

Than we have to consider what type of infrastructure is present vs what other supporting hardware such as UPS, SPD, PtP. A person could easily spend thousands of dollars just on the cabling from shielded to fibre.

Even more just for Things like racking, cabinet’s, patch panels etc.

It’s probably safe to state the dollars you see here will range from $0.00 - Skies the limit.

When you see a $399.XX reply for a all in one system everyone knows you’re just starting off. Nothing wrong with that as this is a journey toward something else!

People come here and other forums in hopes of doing it once - Doing right.
Click to expand...
Fair comment.... There's lots of variables to consider and these all have a bearing on the overall cost.

Maybe I'm just looking for some comfort in spending nearly a grand on a system with only 3 cameras.
 
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DawsonDownunder said:
I suppose that's the other interesting part of the story. How big a property you're trying to cover?

I'm only covering a suburban house on a 700m block with limited points of access.
Click to expand...

When I was in Aus a few years ago, only had time to visit Sydney and Perth the properties there were mah-hoo-sive when compared to say my house in the UK.

These are my 8 cams and the extra one is going to cover the side of the house as we constantly get rubbish dumped there and sometimes graffiti

IMG_9660.jpg
 
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IAmATeaf said:
When I was in Aus a few years ago, only had time to visit Sydney and Perth the properties there were mah-hoo-sive when compared to say my house in the UK.

These are my 8 cams and the extra one is going to cover the side of the house as we constantly get rubbish dumped there and sometimes graffiti

View attachment 136313
Click to expand...
Both sensational locations.

We are lucky with our space. Not everyone is in a mansion. A majority of people are in modest dwellings.
 
I'm covering a little over an acre with the house and two outbuildings. There are lots of trees on our lot/land so multiple cameras are handy due to partially blocked views. I also believe in the theory that each camera should be watching another. There are three cameras inside the house and 19 on the outside. That also lets me cover the street traffic with two of them.
 
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DawsonDownunder said:
Fair comment.... There's lots of variables to consider and these all have a bearing on the overall cost.

Maybe I'm just looking for some comfort in spending nearly a grand on a system with only 3 cameras.
Click to expand...

Two boxes (1000 feet per) of shielded CAT-6 direct burial gel UV rated cost more.
 
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I started out with a NVR system from LaView about 5 years ago. It cost something like $700 USD and had 4 4MP cameras. At the time, 4MP cameras were a little pricey and I got one of their ’high end’ NVR’s. I still use several of those cameras (but have every intention to replace them).

Then I moved to BI about 2 years ago. I joined right as AI had been natively integrated. I never knew a camera system could add such value. The NVR certainly did not.
I have a single home residential 1/3 acre lot.
My security concerns are situational awareness whether I am home or not for my entire lot.
My non-security concerns are how are my pets doing when I am out of town.
I have 7 cameras outside and 9 inside with several more planned Inside and out

I have an independent PIR setup that acts like trigger wires. The PIR beam is roughly 7 degrees and can cover up to about 40 feet in distance. They are aimed just like a trigger wire around my front and back door and some windows.
So if the cameras don’t see you, and the smart home sensors don’t trigger, then the PIR system triggers. The system is independent for failover concerns, but I do have it integrated with my smart home as well. So if you don’t hear the manual buzzer going off (more of a ‘ding-a-line’), then I am alerted via push on my phone. About $140

If you step onto my lot, I know about it day or night.

I ordered a custom built i7-10700 16GB ram SSD along w/purple 8TB, etc. It is dedicated to BI only. All requirements specifically from this forum. $2200
POE switch 99
Dedicated viewing monitor purchased used 80
I have three 24/7 monitors (tablets) that originally cost over $2100 but were sitting around so I re-purposed them. So not really a direct cost for them as I already owned them.
So many cameras it would take too much time to break them all out. One of my first cameras was $750 as I did not know what I was doing (12MP 1.7 sensor). All in around $3300 (not including the LaView cameras)
But several of those cameras are for sale. For example, I bought 2 of the HikVision 2087 and then replaced them with Color 4X. So the 2087 are sitting around.
I have used the 12MP 1.7 to monitor squirrel activity as it does not catch night time movement as well as my 5442
I have run something like 2000 foot of Cat5e and Cat6 mostly by myself. No idea what the cost is on that.

None of these numbers include my smart home setup which is tightly integrated with BI. They trigger each other depending on what event has occurred in each respective system. Without it I would find any security camera system to be very frustrating and would greatly curtail my enjoyment of it and how I would use BI. Meaning I would mostly just disable the alerts as I get way to many unnecessary alerts without a smart home integration. My smart home system (HomeSeer) has over 60 z-wave sensors with its own dedicated PC. PC and sensors about ~1400

None of this includes the infrastructure costs which are ancillary. Like the mounts for all the monitors I have (3), POE injector, the UPS, the rack etc.

Here is a shot of what I call “command and control” which is in my basement. The actual BI PC is nowhere near the rack. But you can see the BI dedicated monitor mounted on the 72U rack. That rack also holds the various NAS, Sonos, UPS, whole home sound, transducer amps, home theater, etc components.
CommandAndControl.jpg
EDIT: So all in for the cameras and associated hardware (not including my smart home or anything else) is roughly $6400.00
 
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