Need some advice

[ak47]

Hi,

Newbie here....I bought a 6 camera lorex package with NVR and looking to supplement it with a few dahua starlights. I plan on getting a 4231FAS mini wedge for the front door and one for inside the garage. For the front door, its recessed quite a bit so there is no direct sunlight. Should i get the 2.8, 3.6, or 6mm version? Can i place it on the left side above the doorbell? In the photo there is an old intercom which will be replaced by the mini-wedge. Also, should i get the 2.8, 3.6, or 6mm for inside the 3 car garage?

Should I also get a 5231RZ in front of the garage to monitor the driveway or would the Lorex bullet cams be enough? How do you supplement the 5231RZ with a motion sensor light? The Ring with motion sensor light would be perfect but I wanted to stay away from wireless products.

Where do you recommend i install the bullet cams in front of my house?

 

[mat200]

View attachment 25414 View attachment 25415 Hi,

Newbie here....I bought a 6 camera lorex package with NVR and looking to supplement it with a few dahua starlights. I plan on getting a 4231FAS mini wedge for the front door and one for inside the garage. For the front door, its recessed quite a bit so there is no direct sunlight. Should i get the 2.8, 3.6, or 6mm version? Can i place it on the left side above the doorbell? In the photo there is an old intercom which will be replaced by the mini-wedge. Also, should i get the 2.8, 3.6, or 6mm for inside the 3 car garage?

Should I also get a 5231RZ in front of the garage to monitor the driveway or would the Lorex bullet cams be enough? How do you supplement the 5231RZ with a motion sensor light? The Ring with motion sensor light would be perfect but I wanted to stay away from wireless products.

Where do you recommend i install the bullet cams in front of my house?

Welcome ak

Nice home.

I would get a 2.8mm by the front door, mount it in the best location to get a good facial image - which maybe on the side where the door opens as I think people will be looking more that way when they expect the door to open. Of course you want to test my theory.

For the Bullets - I would get another starlight camera to cover your driveway. That will give you 8 cameras total maxing out the NVR.
( or you can get the varifocal turrent - depends on if you want all the cameras to sort of look the same or not )

I would place that starlight outside covering your cars on one side of the driveway about 8 feet high, one of the 4K bullets covering the other side of the driveway also 8 feet high ( update 6-8 feet ).
( I see there's a lot of people attempting to break into cars at night )

Then add put another bullet covering the walkway to the house.

That counts for 4 cameras.

If you want you can place one of the 4K bullets in the garage if you keep that open.

Put one camera covering each side of the house ( subtotal used 4+2 )

Put one camera covering the back door.

 

[mat200]

@ak47

This is good to review
Got robbed... looking for ideas to make me more secure

Also, remember to test the possible locations for good facial images of people wearing hats and images walking to your garage or front door, you may actually want to even have the cameras lower than I noted.

 

[Camit]

Welcome ak

Nice home.

I would get a 2.8mm by the front door, mount it in the best location to get a good facial image - which maybe on the side where the door opens as I think people will be looking more that way when they expect the door to open. Of course you want to test my theory.

For the Bullets - I would get another starlight camera to cover your driveway. That will give you 8 cameras total maxing out the NVR.
( or you can get the varifocal turrent - depends on if you want all the cameras to sort of look the same or not )

I would place that starlight outside covering your cars on one side of the driveway about 8 feet high, one of the 4K bullets covering the other side of the driveway also 8 feet high ( update 6-8 feet ).
( I see there's a lot of people attempting to break into cars at night )

Then add put another bullet covering the walkway to the house.

That counts for 4 cameras.

If you want you can place one of the 4K bullets in the garage if you keep that open.

Put one camera covering each side of the house ( subtotal used 4+2 )

Put one camera covering the back door.

2.8 mm are you kidding me ? 2.8mm should never be used for facial ID. 2.8mm is used for a overview camera. 6mm sounds about right in that door way. But there’s a webpage calculator somewhere on this forum to tell you exactly what you need.

Just get the starlight that’s recommend here and take the guess work out of it

Maybe I’m not reading this post right, 2.8mm bad idea.... return Lorex system if you can.

 

[ak47]

Hi Mat and Camit. Thanks for the responses. Ok now im confused more than ever. 2.8 and 6mm are on the opposite sides of the spectrum. I will have a Ring doorbell there but just wanted to supplement it with a high quality camera (where you see the old intercom in the photo).

For the INSIDE of the garage, i want to see the whole 3 car garage space so should i go with 2.8, 3.6 or 6mm? I don't want the bullet cam in the garage for asthetic reasons so a miniwedge would be perfect.

For the driveway, i'm planning to put a 5231RZ varifocus cam there but what do you guys do about the motion light with sensor? Do you just place it above the camera? Don't want it to look like a prison. For me, i think the light sensor would be more a deterrent than the camera.

I live in a VERY safe neighborhood so the Lorex is good enough for my purpose. I've also got a whole house alarm system. Its overkill for my area, but just being overly cautious i guess.

 

[Philip Gonzales]

2.8 mm are you kidding me ? 2.8mm should never be used for facial ID. 2.8mm is used for a overview camera. 6mm sounds about right in that door way. But there’s a webpage calculator somewhere on this forum to tell you exactly what you need.

Just get the starlight that’s recommend here and take the guess work out of it

Maybe I’m not reading this post right, 2.8mm bad idea.... return Lorex system if you can.

I think 2.8 is fine for a front door cam. They have to get close to the front door to get in. When they do you will have a face ID. I agree everywhere else it's a bad idea. But then again I do not have a 2.8 on my front door. I have a IPC-HDW5231R-Z that is zoomed in about a quarter of the way. I want to get an additional 2.8mm for the front door though.

 

[Philip Gonzales]

@Camit look at @just some dude 's 3.8mm front door cam. Looks like a pretty good ID shot to me. Wouldnt want that as my only cam but definetly does the job.

D'oh forgot to put the link the first time. Here it is. Front door ID camera IPC-HDBW4231F?

 

[mat200]

Hi Mat and Camit. Thanks for the responses. Ok now im confused more than ever. 2.8 and 6mm are on the opposite sides of the spectrum. I will have a Ring doorbell there but just wanted to supplement it with a high quality camera (where you see the old intercom in the photo).

For the INSIDE of the garage, i want to see the whole 3 car garage space so should i go with 2.8, 3.6 or 6mm? I don't want the bullet cam in the garage for asthetic reasons so a miniwedge would be perfect.

For the driveway, i'm planning to put a 5231RZ varifocus cam there but what do you guys do about the motion light with sensor? Do you just place it above the camera? Don't want it to look like a prison. For me, i think the light sensor would be more a deterrent than the camera.

I live in a VERY safe neighborhood so the Lorex is good enough for my purpose. I've also got a whole house alarm system. Its overkill for my area, but just being overly cautious i guess.

Hi Ak...

Camit imho is shooting too quickly from the hip on this one.

For people who will be 2-3 feet away from the camera 2.8mm works very well, far better than 3.6mm... Use another camera to catch them as they walk up to the front door.
In fact that camera with 2.8mm lens has a 10 foot ID distance based on the H FOV, H resolution, and 100 pixels per foot. ( of course if you use it corridor mode it will be shorter )

Also imho Camit is clearly ignoring the value proposition of that Lorex kit - it is a higher end Lorex kit and the components are all quality Dahua OEM IP. Only major thing it lacks is the IVS features, which while nice - at that price point I think a lot of people are willing to accept that compromise for their first system. Remember you can always upgrade to using a Blue Iris system and having it handle the compute to do the more advanced "IVS features".

 

[Fastb]

2.8 for front door is fine. I have one. The cam is at door height, to the right of the door. 90 degree FOV, so it catches good facial id when someone is within 10'. And FOV wide enough to see packages on the porch.
Before people get to the front door, they pass a "choke point" for a good facial capture. That's 3.6mm, so lotsa opportunity to get a facial as they walk up.
I use a 3.6 for an overview cam. And a 5231 Starlight, zoomed in all the way (12mm) to catch cars as they come up my driveway.

ak47, my advice would be to start with a few cams. Get up the learning curve. Read the digest here that mention "Test Rig". Use the "Camera Calculator" that's also mentioned here in many places, to select a lens size. Lastly, a varifocal starlight (lotsa threads here) will help you decide on fixed lens sizes (when you check the varifocal zoom amount for each cam location)

Welcome to the forum! There is lotsa info here already - others have traveled the newbie path. Research here - it's faster an more informative than you asking questions, and waiting for experts to step up and answer a common question, again, like "Ground Hog Day", ad infinitum.

Welcome,
Fastb

 

[ak47]

Thanks guys. I'll get a 2.8 for the front door, 3.6 for the garage and and 5231 for the driveway. Like i said the lorex is good enough for me since my neighborhood is very very safe and it comes with 16 channel NVR so I can add down the road as necessary. I have several layers of security (signs, motion sensors, lights, etc..) so I should be good. Only wish I could get a large dog but thats for another forum.

 

[mat200]

Thanks guys. I'll get a 2.8 for the front door, 3.6 for the garage and and 5231 for the driveway. Like i said the lorex is good enough for me since my neighborhood is very very safe and it comes with 16 channel NVR so I can add down the road as necessary. I have several layers of security (signs, motion sensors, lights, etc..) so I should be good. Only wish I could get a large dog but thats for another forum.

Sweet you got in on the 16 port NVR kit deal!

 

[ak47]

One last thing, should i get the junction boxes for the 4231 mini wedge and 5231 turret cams? Does Andy sell the junction boxes as well?

 

[mat200]

One last thing, should i get the junction boxes for the 4231 mini wedge and 5231 turret cams? Does Andy sell the junction boxes as well?

Hi Ak47,

I like junction boxes or the wall mounts for a good place to put the pigtail.

For inside the garage you don't really need it.

There's a new model box out - PFA130E - heard it is not yet available. Dahua has a new water proof junction box PFA130-E for Turrets ( PFA137, PFA139 )

Andy should have some of the other models.
junction boxes PFA137, PFA139
Wall Mount PFB203W - works for both turret sizes.

 

[ak47]

Thanks Mat!