Looking for advice on my install locations.

[Ri22o]

I put these up earlier to see if I like them or not.

Varifocal at the forward #2 position pointed back and at full zoom on the end of the fence.
2.8mm in #2 position pointed a little differently than before.

I am going to give these through the night to get some night images and then see from there. My next consideration is in-between #2 and #3 and putting it on the siding below one of the windows. It will get me a little further back and lower but without the issues presented by a full #3 commitment.

Are there any junction box alternatives for the 5442s to the ones Andy sells?

 

[Ri22o]

For those still playing along, here is where I am currently testing. I am thinking I am happier with these and can add the birdhouse-corner-fence-post camera later on if I decide I want more coverage.

Same forward #2 location as above, but I have since lowered the angle to just cut off the top of my third fence post on the left. This is a varifocal at full zoom.





Mounted on a test 2x4 at the second piece of siding under the right half of the first window. This is a 2.8mm.

 

[wittaj]

Looks good.

Yeah, I would strongly consider the birdhouse option with a camera facing each way. The straight on shots of someone going through that pathway will give you the best shot of ID for anyone coming thru that.

 

[Ri22o]

Looks good.

Yeah, I would strongly consider the birdhouse option with a camera facing each way. The straight on shots of someone going through that pathway will give you the best shot of ID for anyone coming thru that.

For sure. I do have other "more important" areas I would like to work on first, but it's definitely something I want to consider. It will be a good project because I plan to place a camera on the outside of the back of my fence to cover the gate entry and have eyes back there. A birdhouse in that location would be a good cover and ideally keep anyone from messing with it.

My only concern with the shots above is the IR illuminator is mounted on the second story soffit. I will likely drop it down to the first floor soffit so any hats are less likely to create a shadow on the face.

I have also changed my lighting strategy for the porch and driveway. The driveway now has 100w LED bulbs and new fixtures that make better use of the light. There may be too much light there now for the 4K-X (and I begrudingly retract my previous statement about its low light capabilities). I will post some stills tonight for opinion.

 

[wittaj]

One can never have too much light LOL.

But it is a work in progress as you are finding out.

And hopefully an event doesn't happen, but if it does, then you will probably find another deficiency in your layout. Thus the comment cameras multiply like rabbits LOL.

 

[Ri22o]

One can never have too much light LOL.

But it is a work in progress as you are finding out.

And hopefully an event doesn't happen, but if it does, then you will probably find another deficiency in your layout. Thus the comment cameras multiply like rabbits LOL.

This is a still before 100w bulbs (still set to change colors for Christmas) and the old fixtures.



This is a still from last night after changing to 100w bulbs and installing the new light fixtures. I made settings changes as well.



Oh, I definitely get it. I have come a long way since I first started with my Lorex MPX DVR system. Even with that I definitely had an advantage over my neighbors with at least having some sort of footage to review. Most of my neighbors know I have cameras, but I don't think they know the extent of coverage and I'm pretty sure they have no idea I am working on LPRs... Next up will be planning coverage for the covered deck to be built in the Spring. That will also push me to move some of what I currently have over the backyard. My rack is ready for it though and most of the unused ports are already slotted for various locations back there.

You don't know what you can't see until something happens and you can't see it.

 

[Timokreon]

Coming along very nicely. I could easily add another 10+ cameras to my system, but at this point with winter I'm done for awhile. Give me until spring to think about if I want any other coverage on the exterior.
I do want to add a PTZ in the basement so I can keep track of the water heater/sump pump, etc.. when I'm out of town.

I had yesterday, for the first time, a neighbor realized I had cameras. lol... I happened to be watching the screen, turned the sound up, and heard the guy say to his wife, look at the cameras! Then they started counting.. lol.. they're both like, WOW! Then she waves.
They must have told other neighbors, due to several other neighbors walking past who NEVER noticed the cameras... all of them were now looking up, counting, and waving.

I prefer people not knowing they're there, but.. :shrugs:

 

[wittaj]

Yeah that is a big improvement. And the nice thing about the lights on all night is that the perps would rather go to a dark house.

Probably what will happen if something happens is that they will skip your house, and then you will be able to detect observe stuff going on to a neighbors car and what not, and then you decide if you want to add coverage for that LOL.

That is where a PTZ and using the fixed cams as spotter cams can be valuable.

We had an incident in my neighborhood right after NYE midnight. Brought the whole town's cops LOL. None of my neighbors arlos, blinks, simplisafe, Rings, Night Owls, Reolinks, etc. caught anything of any value. Most of theirs didn't even trigger including the perps running thru their backyard within 10 feet of their cameras.

 

[wittaj]

Coming along very nicely. I could easily add another 10+ cameras to my system, but at this point with winter I'm done for awhile. Give me until spring to think about if I want any other coverage on the exterior.
I do want to add a PTZ in the basement so I can keep track of the water heater/sump pump, etc.. when I'm out of town.

I had yesterday, for the first time, a neighbor realized I had cameras. lol... I happened to be watching the screen, turned the sound up, and heard the guy say to his wife, look at the cameras! Then they started counting.. lol.. they're both like, WOW! Then she waves.
They must have told other neighbors, due to several other neighbors walking past who NEVER noticed the cameras... all of them were now looking up, counting, and waving.

I prefer people not knowing they're there, but.. :shrugs:

This exactly LOL.

I do not chat to my neighbors that I have cameras. Some have noticed, but most do not. When we had door checkers in here a couple years ago or so and the neighbors with cameras were talking how their great arlo, ring doorbell, Lorex, Foscam, and reolinks captured something happened but the police couldn't find any useful video from them other than what time their car was rummaged thru (several had their car rummaged through and their cameras were less than 10 feet from their car) and they were chatting how this is just an accepted fact from camera systems and poor nighttime performance. I just stood there smirking to myself.

One of them joked that my cameras probably didn't catch anything since I didn't have a car on the driveway that night and they skipped me. I didn't want to brag or boast LOL, but I let them see what my cameras captured and they were blown away. The money shot that got all their stolen stuff back was my varifocal 60 feet away zoomed in to a spot on the sidewalk at the street where the perp walked past and my LPR got their plate. They were shocked my 2MP cameras were blowing away their 4K cameras...and one with sense started replacing cameras and buying them from Andy since they would work with his Lorex DVR. He was all ticked that his $1,300 Lorex 4k box kit was being beat by a 2MP camera LOL, but he recognized now what we all preach and went with 2MP cams to replace his 4K cams...now several of these have since been updated to better cameras with the right MP/sensor combination, but many of us know that a good 2MP camera will beat out a low-end 4K camera on the same sensor size all night long!

And then I have had neighbors that have given me rude remarks on my cameras, but who was the first person they asked when something happened to one of their cars? I should have been "oh man sorry I didn't catch it", but I was nice and provided them with the make/model/plate of the car that hit theirs.

Another neighbor stopped when I was putting one up one day and was like "can you stop please". Guess what, that camera provided the info he needed when he was broken into.

I really wish they would contribute when I provide useful video. Even 10% of the value of the damage would add up LOL.

 

[Ri22o]

Coming along very nicely. I could easily add another 10+ cameras to my system, but at this point with winter I'm done for awhile. Give me until spring to think about if I want any other coverage on the exterior.
I do want to add a PTZ in the basement so I can keep track of the water heater/sump pump, etc.. when I'm out of town.

I had yesterday, for the first time, a neighbor realized I had cameras. lol... I happened to be watching the screen, turned the sound up, and heard the guy say to his wife, look at the cameras! Then they started counting.. lol.. they're both like, WOW! Then she waves.
They must have told other neighbors, due to several other neighbors walking past who NEVER noticed the cameras... all of them were now looking up, counting, and waving.

I prefer people not knowing they're there, but.. :shrugs:

I discovered some water around the utility drain in the basement. I thought it had come from the humidifier drain based on some boxes that got wet and placed some pans to detect if this was it. But then a few days later I received notice from my water alarm that there was water on the floor. It had come from the water softener during a regen. It turns out the utility drain had just collected a bunch of crap and was backed up. A good blow out and snake fixed it. I will likely be placing one of my extra Lorex cameras to watch the floor drain so I can at least tell how bad the water alert is if it happens again and I am not home.

I also prefer people not knowing where cameras are which is why I have such an aversion to mounting them any lower than the soffits. But, most people don't notice more obvious things and it is what it is, I suppose.

Yeah that is a big improvement. And the nice thing about the lights on all night is that the perps would rather go to a dark house.

Probably what will happen if something happens is that they will skip your house, and then you will be able to detect observe stuff going on to a neighbors car and what not, and then you decide if you want to add coverage for that LOL.

That is where a PTZ and using the fixed cams as spotter cams can be valuable.

We had an incident in my neighborhood right after NYE midnight. Brought the whole town's cops LOL. None of my neighbors arlos, blinks, simplisafe, Rings, Night Owls, Reolinks, etc. caught anything of any value. Most of theirs didn't even trigger including the perps running thru their backyard within 10 feet of their cameras.

Yea, at some point I will help where I can but I'm not increasing my investment just to help other people who are just as capable.

This exactly LOL.

I do not chat to my neighbors that I have cameras. Some have noticed, but most do not. When we had door checkers in here a couple years ago or so and the neighbors with cameras were talking how their great arlo, ring doorbell, Lorex, Foscam, and reolinks captured something happened but the police couldn't find any useful video from them other than what time their car was rummaged thru (several had their car rummaged through and their cameras were less than 10 feet from their car) and they were chatting how this is just an accepted fact from camera systems and poor nighttime performance. I just stood there smirking to myself.

One of them joked that my cameras probably didn't catch anything since I didn't have a car on the driveway that night and they skipped me. I didn't want to brag or boast LOL, but I let them see what my cameras captured and they were blown away. The money shot that got all their stolen stuff back was my varifocal 60 feet away zoomed in to a spot on the sidewalk at the street where the perp walked past and my LPR got their plate. They were shocked my 2MP cameras were blowing away their 4K cameras...and one with sense started replacing cameras and buying them from Andy since they would work with his Lorex DVR. He was all ticked that his $1,300 Lorex 4k box kit was being beat by a 2MP camera LOL, but he recognized now what we all preach and went with 2MP cams to replace his 4K cams...now several of these have since been updated to better cameras with the right MP/sensor combination, but many of us know that a good 2MP camera will beat out a low-end 4K camera on the same sensor size all night long!

And then I have had neighbors that have given me rude remarks on my cameras, but who was the first person they asked when something happened to one of their cars? I should have been "oh man sorry I didn't catch it", but I was nice and provided them with the make/model/plate of the car that hit theirs.

Another neighbor stopped when I was putting one up one day and was like "can you stop please". Guess what, that camera provided the info he needed when he was broken into.

I really wish they would contribute when I provide useful video. Even 10% of the value of the damage would add up LOL.

My neighbors on my street are all pretty close and most of them know I have cameras but definitely don't know the extent of my system.

Contributions would be nice, haha.

 

[wittaj]

If at all possible, I have been installing my cameras or making adjustments to them at night LOL.

 

[Timokreon]

I'll also comment on lights. After I replaced a standard floodlight, that covers my side yard and my back deck, with a canopy light (think of those fixtures providing light while pumping gas), I overheard my backyard neighbor say it was too bright, blah blah blah. My other neighbors who also share the back area immediately told the guy to be quiet. Heard them say it's great you can actually see what's going on in back, without it being blinding.

Also, with that new light up, I can keep my side and back deck cameras on color 24/7.

I was also thinking a PTZ might be your next step as well. This new mini-ptz is really nice. It's small, and seems to track REALLY good.
That is kind of weird your neighbor didn't extend the fence to the property line. Have you ever spoken to them about it? Seems like it would be pretty cheap to fill that in.

 

[Ri22o]

I'll also comment on lights. After I replaced a standard floodlight, that covers my side yard and my back deck, with a canopy light (think of those fixtures providing light while pumping gas), I overheard my backyard neighbor say it was too bright, blah blah blah. My other neighbors who also share the back area immediately told the guy to be quiet. Heard them say it's great you can actually see what's going on in back, without it being blinding.

Also, with that new light up, I can keep my side and back deck cameras on color 24/7.

I was also thinking a PTZ might be your next step as well. This new mini-ptz is really nice. It's small, and seems to track REALLY good.
That is kind of weird your neighbor didn't extend the fence to the property line. Have you ever spoken to them about it? Seems like it would be pretty cheap to fill that in.

We have talked to them about it. When they built the house and installed the fence the HOA was still ran by the builder/property manager. If it's anything like when I applied for our fence they denied mine to the property line and said I could go to the utility easement line. I said no because that line is 2 feet off of my house (ultimately I got approval to my property line). The neighbor likely got approval for placement on the easement line and didn't complain.

 

[wittaj]

I'll also comment on lights. After I replaced a standard floodlight, that covers my side yard and my back deck, with a canopy light (think of those fixtures providing light while pumping gas), I overheard my backyard neighbor say it was too bright, blah blah blah. My other neighbors who also share the back area immediately told the guy to be quiet. Heard them say it's great you can actually see what's going on in back, without it being blinding.

Also, with that new light up, I can keep my side and back deck cameras on color 24/7.

I was also thinking a PTZ might be your next step as well. This new mini-ptz is really nice. It's small, and seems to track REALLY good.
That is kind of weird your neighbor didn't extend the fence to the property line. Have you ever spoken to them about it? Seems like it would be pretty cheap to fill that in.

Same LOL. One neighbor complained my floodlights were too bright, but others appreciated it that they could see their car and surroundings coming home or leaving 2nd or 3rd shift jobs.

I am jealous of those that have streetlights LOL.

 

[Timokreon]

Gotcha. I live in a HOA neighborhood who won't even let us put up a fence. It's a bunch of BS how much control certain HOA have.
I doubt I'll ever live in another HOA neighborhood, unless I'm super rich and wouldn't care about any of it.

I actually asked our local energy company about replacing the old sodium lights with new LED lights. They came within a week and replaced EVERY light pole in our neighborhood. They were going to eventually do it anyway, but I guess me asking them sparked a "lets do it!". lol

 

[Ri22o]

One can never have too much light LOL.

But it is a work in progress as you are finding out.

And hopefully an event doesn't happen, but if it does, then you will probably find another deficiency in your layout. Thus the comment cameras multiply like rabbits LOL.

It looks like I am going to need to address the lights I switched to on the porch. I went to Menards to get another LED flat can light and it appears Sylvania has changed up their offerings from what I am currently using. I got enough to make all 3 the same, but they are far different than the previous lights. Where I would normally be at 20% I have had to bump the new ones to 50% to get the lighting about the same. I may swap back to the previous lights (stealing one from in the house) and swap that room to the new ones.

 

[Ri22o]

Here is a good example of someone coming up to the side of my front door/porch. Amazon does this all the time as they run between houses; it bothers the hell out of me, but there's not much I can do. It could just as easily be a random people coming to steal my doormat.

I got my junction boxes today (this guy was actually delivering them) and plan to commit to the North location, but might drop it down one piece of siding if it doesn't look too bad on the side of the house. Also, Front Porch vs Front Yard shows the difference just a couple feet worth of install height can make.

 

[CanCuba]

This exactly LOL.

I do not chat to my neighbors that I have cameras. Some have noticed, but most do not. When we had door checkers in here a couple years ago or so and the neighbors with cameras were talking how their great arlo, ring doorbell, Lorex, Foscam, and reolinks captured something happened but the police couldn't find any useful video from them other than what time their car was rummaged thru (several had their car rummaged through and their cameras were less than 10 feet from their car) and they were chatting how this is just an accepted fact from camera systems and poor nighttime performance. I just stood there smirking to myself.

One of them joked that my cameras probably didn't catch anything since I didn't have a car on the driveway that night and they skipped me. I didn't want to brag or boast LOL, but I let them see what my cameras captured and they were blown away. The money shot that got all their stolen stuff back was my varifocal 60 feet away zoomed in to a spot on the sidewalk at the street where the perp walked past and my LPR got their plate. They were shocked my 2MP cameras were blowing away their 4K cameras...and one with sense started replacing cameras and buying them from Andy since they would work with his Lorex DVR. He was all ticked that his $1,300 Lorex 4k box kit was being beat by a 2MP camera LOL, but he recognized now what we all preach and went with 2MP cams to replace his 4K cams...now several of these have since been updated to better cameras with the right MP/sensor combination, but many of us know that a good 2MP camera will beat out a low-end 4K camera on the same sensor size all night long!

And then I have had neighbors that have given me rude remarks on my cameras, but who was the first person they asked when something happened to one of their cars? I should have been "oh man sorry I didn't catch it", but I was nice and provided them with the make/model/plate of the car that hit theirs.

Another neighbor stopped when I was putting one up one day and was like "can you stop please". Guess what, that camera provided the info he needed when he was broken into.

I really wish they would contribute when I provide useful video. Even 10% of the value of the damage would add up LOL.

"Can you stop please"??? lol

If one of my neighbours had said that, I'd have bought a dozen fake cams off of Amazon and installed them just to get under his skin. But, like you said, the cameras worked in his favour when he was robbed so....

 

[Ri22o]

I'm back...

This is a bit of an update and request for advice. I have info and questions scattered through the post, so try and follow along.

I feel I have most of the front of the house handled now, even though I still need to move/install some locations and get the LPRs dialed in. However, it is coming up on time for my back deck to be installed and I am working through all of my angles in anticipation of running ethernet and ordering cameras.

The deck will extend off of the back of the house and be covered by a roof. This permits me to move cameras closer to the ground and also further out into the yard. Here is the drawing, marked up with camera locations.




The back of the house/aerial, for reference:




Current camera angles:

Front Gate (1)

Back Yard (2)

Back Yard (3)

Side Yard (4)

Back Porch (5)

Back Gate (6)


Current Cameras:
1 - Points at the front gate, will remain in this location.
2 - Covers the patio. I plan to drop this down from the soffit onto the siding and move it over.
3 - Backyard overview. This will be taken down unless I see a need for it after the deck is installed.
4 - Side yard overview. Nothing will change with this.
5 - Back porch. Nothing will change with this.
6 - Focused on the Back Gate. This will move to location B on the back of the deck roof.

Proposed locations:
A - Lower Back Yard position.
B - Relocated Back Gate camera.
C - Lower Back Yard position.
D - Varifocal set to cover the steps onto the deck.
E - Lower Back Yard position.
F - ?? Under the Deck Roof somewhere?

Questions:

• With A and E, is it better to have them pointed inward at each other or outward?
• If I wanted a camera under the deck roof to cover the deck, would it be better pointed in towards the house and screen door? Or outwards from the house? Which corner would be best? (If pointed outward, there is the risk of the setting sun from the West.)

 

[wittaj]

I like A and E pointed at each other so that you get if someone tampers with one. This may mean needing an additional camera as a overview for whole backyard if these and existing don't cover it all.

I like the one under the deck roof pointing towards the house so you get someone leaving. Most perps are expecting the cameras to be on the house looking out so they may let their guard down leaving.