New Cameras and Network Upgrade

tasous

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Hello everybody! In the summer I decided to upgrade my surveillance system and my home network. Until then, I had 4 wireless Foscam cameras with a Foscam NVR and the quality was terrible especially at night. I am an IT professional, but I haven’t dealt with CCTV systems in the past, so that was my first installation.

That was my rack cabinet before the upgrade:
Cabinet_Before.JPG

After some research I decided to go with Dahua IP Cameras with an NVR. I wanted to build something that will last so I chose 8MP Cameras supporting 4K resolutions, especially:
  • 3x IPC-HFW4831E-SE (Bullet) – 2.8mm Focal length
  • 2x IPC-HDW4831EM-ASE (Dome) – 2.8mm Focal length
  • 1x IPC-HFW5831E-ZE (Bullet) -Varifocal (2.8mm-12mm)
  • 1x NVR5208-4KS2 (With 2x2TB WD Purple Disks)
Equipment.JPG

I have Cat6 cables running through the house, but I had to install new cables from inside to the garden and that was the hardest part as the house is surrounded by tiles. So, I chose the shortest corridor and I cut the tiles in order to install a tube under the ground:
OutdoorBefore1.jpgOutdoorBefore2.jpgOutdoorBefore3.JPGOutdoorBefore4.JPGOutdoorBefore5.JPGOutdoorBefore6.JPGOutdoorAfter1.JPGOutdoorAfter2.JPG

After that, the remaining installation was easy. I buried the cables underground and led them to the Camera positions. I installed a small 10” rack in the boiler room where all the camera cables terminate and installed a D-Link POE managed switch. Also, I left 4 cables inside the garden junction box for future use and I installed the Cameras:
Small_Rack1.JPGSmall_Rack2.JPGBackCorridor1.JPGBackHouse1.JPGBackHouse2.JPGFrontHouse1.JPGFrontYard1.JPGFrontYard2.JPGGuestHouse.JPGWarehouses.JPG

Now it was the time for the Rack cabinet. I decided to put the NVR inside the cabinet and distribute the signal through a DVB-T Modulator. Since I was out of slots in the rack, I installed a 6U short rack and placed another patch panel in the side to hide all the cables for the cabinet devices.
UnderCons1.JPGUnderCons2.JPGUnderCons3.JPGUnderCons4.JPGModulator.JPG

The chaos during the cable patching:
UnderCons6.JPG

Did the required testing:
UnderCons5.JPG

And the final result with a small 8” monitor that I installed for some basic NVR configuration:
Cabinet_After.JPGSidePP.JPG

And that was my setup. It took me almost 1,5 months working only on the weekends.

Now I have a question, I want to create an automation so when someone hits the doorbell the camera with the varifocal lens zooms in and the NVR switches to 1 full screen view of this camera. I found the Dahua HTTP API and I was able to Zoom In and Out programmatically through a node.js server running on a raspberry pi but I couldn’t instruct the NVR to switch to 1 full screen view. Is there any way to do this? Or perhaps using the RS485 interface of the NVR?
 

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aesterling

Getting comfortable
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I can’t offer any suggestions but thanks for sharing your process and all the photos! Great work and fun to see!
 

looney2ns

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Hello everybody! In the summer I decided to upgrade my surveillance system and my home network. Until then, I had 4 wireless Foscam cameras with a Foscam NVR and the quality was terrible especially at night. I am an IT professional, but I haven’t dealt with CCTV systems in the past, so that was my first installation.

That was my rack cabinet before the upgrade:
View attachment 50359

After some research I decided to go with Dahua IP Cameras with an NVR. I wanted to build something that will last so I chose 8MP Cameras supporting 4K resolutions, especially:
  • 3x IPC-HFW4831E-SE (Bullet) – 2.8mm Focal length
  • 2x IPC-HDW4831EM-ASE (Dome) – 2.8mm Focal length
  • 1x IPC-HFW5831E-ZE (Bullet) -Varifocal (2.8mm-12mm)
  • 1x NVR5208-4KS2 (With 2x2TB WD Purple Disks)
View attachment 50379

I have Cat6 cables running through the house, but I had to install new cables from inside to the garden and that was the hardest part as the house is surrounded by tiles. So, I chose the shortest corridor and I cut the tiles in order to install a tube under the ground:
View attachment 50360View attachment 50361View attachment 50362View attachment 50363View attachment 50365View attachment 50364View attachment 50367View attachment 50368

After that, the remaining installation was easy. I buried the cables underground and led them to the Camera positions. I installed a small 10” rack in the boiler room where all the camera cables terminate and installed a D-Link POE managed switch. Also, I left 4 cables inside the garden junction box for future use and I installed the Cameras:
View attachment 50369View attachment 50370View attachment 50371View attachment 50394View attachment 50376View attachment 50380View attachment 50381View attachment 50382View attachment 50383View attachment 50393

Now it was the time for the Rack cabinet. I decided to put the NVR inside the cabinet and distribute the signal through a DVB-T Modulator. Since I was out of slots in the rack, I installed a 6U short rack and placed another patch panel in the side to hide all the cables for the cabinet devices.
View attachment 50387View attachment 50388View attachment 50389View attachment 50390View attachment 50384

The chaos during the cable patching:
View attachment 50392

Did the required testing:
View attachment 50391

And the final result with a small 8” monitor that I installed for some basic NVR configuration:
View attachment 50377View attachment 50386

And that was my setup. It took me almost 1,5 months working only on the weekends.

Now I have a question, I want to create an automation so when someone hits the doorbell the camera with the varifocal lens zooms in and the NVR switches to 1 full screen view of this camera. I found the Dahua HTTP API and I was able to Zoom In and Out programmatically through a node.js server running on a raspberry pi but I couldn’t instruct the NVR to switch to 1 full screen view. Is there any way to do this? Or perhaps using the RS485 interface of the NVR?
You could do this using one of the alarm inputs on the NVR.
 

tasous

n3wb
Joined
Nov 8, 2019
Messages
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Location
Athens, Greece
You could do this using one of the alarm inputs on the NVR.
By selecting Tour and set only the current channel? I will try that! But I think the only downside is that the screen flashes every time it goes to the "next" channel (same channel).

Also I ordered an RS232/RS485 to Ethernet adapter to play around with PELCO commands.
rs232.jpg
 
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