New Member - cameras for new construction home

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Claymo

n3wb
Jun 4, 2017
7
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We're in the process of designing our "forever" home and should start construction in the next month. I'm doing all the low voltage wiring and running about 7,000 feet of CAT6 and about 1,000 RG6 cable all to a centralized data closet with a rack mount system and a 48 port PoE switch. (I've done this for a living so now I get to build my geek home. :))

I'm starting to test various dome IP cameras for outdoor under-eave mounting but there are what seems to be a million different vendors. I will be using my Synology 1815+ as my security camera NVR and want HD resolution as a minimum. I'm looking at Axis, Vivotek, and Lorex(FLIR) cameras right now. I'm figuring on 4-6 external to cover the front, back and side doors. I have read through the four guides that are pinned at the top of this area and picked up some good information, but still struggling on brand and model selection.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
 
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Welcome Claymo.Theres a lot of great people and information here Can't wait to see what you come up with.
Is your new home going to include some Home automation too?
 
It's going to include a lot of home automation. :)

For lighting control, I've used Insteon in previous homes but am still looking at several others. I'm leaning towards Niles Audio for the whole-house audio system (speakers in almost every room) but it currently does not interface with Insteon light controllers. I may have to roll my own bridge between the two. I'm also curious to see if Apple comes out with the expected Siri speaker to compete with Amazon's Alexa. I'll have Nest thermostats and Nest Protect smoke and CO alarms as well as a complete wired security alarm system that will have every sensor monitored by my command and control system.
 
Claymo said:
We're in the process of designing our "forever" home and should start construction in the next month. I'm doing all the low voltage wiring and running about 7,000 feet of CAT6 and about 1,000 RG6 cable all to a centralized data closet with a rack mount system and a 48 port PoE switch. (I've done this for a living so now I get to build my geek home. :))

I'm starting to test various dome IP cameras for outdoor under-eave mounting but there are what seems to be a million different vendors. I will be using my Synology 1815+ as my security camera NVR and want HD resolution as a minimum. I'm looking at Axis, Vivotek, and Lorex(FLIR) cameras right now. I'm figuring on 4-6 external to cover the front, back and side doors. I have read through the four guides that are pinned at the top of this area and picked up some good information, but still struggling on brand and model selection.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
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Sweet!

btw - For the electrical I recommend metal gang boxes .... seen enough problems with the cheaper plastic ones ( such as dry walling crew breaking the plastic boxes when they forcefully cover them up )... shouldn't cost you too much more for better and stronger boxes.
 
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tangent said:
Under the eaves can leave you with a camera that's too high to be useful. Nobody wants a bald spot cam.
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Interesting take on the camera placement. Under the eaves will give me a lot longer and wider view but I can put some cameras lower near doors with a tighter view for facial recognition.

tangent said:
I suggest you allow some flex in your plans for recording the cameras. It's a choice you can make easily after the house is built.
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I figure that if I have all the cameras CAT6 going to the data closet and on their own subnet isolated on the switch, recording device is easy to change. I currently have a Synology 1815+ that I use for NAS and recording two cameras.

tangent said:
As for cameras I suggest you start reading this thread: Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)starlight | IP Cam Talk
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I have so far tried two cameras from Lorex with less than satisfactory results. I got one PT to work but the mini dome had issues and tech support was less than impressive. I'm trying to get a hold of a Hikvision mini dome to test next. I will take a look at that thread. Thanks!
 
If I were building a house, I'd also be wiring for a security system with a lot of hard wired doors, windows, motions, glass breaks, and smokes. In addition, I'd run a few wires for exterior motion sensors or other sensors in key areas like near the front door, garage door, gate.

RE: camera brands, hikvision and dahua are the biggest Chinese camera mfgs they are actually the OEM for a lot of brands you'd recognize including Lorex. You certainly can buy from Vivotek, Agivilon, and Axis, but you get more bang for your buck direct from china. The trade off is you're giving up on extensive customer support and warranties. Generally speaking all of these brands don't really support end users they rely on a network of dealers for that. Currently the Dahua starlight line is really hard to beat, it's better quality than many of the other options even things that are 2x the price.

There are lots of images and videos from other peoples cameras here to help you make better choices as well as other people in similar situations who posted copies of their architectural plans seeking advice on camera placement. High overview cameras can be useful, you just don't need very many of them. A camera that's mounted higher needs to look farther away to get a decent angle.
 
tangent said:
If I were building a house, I'd also be wiring for a security system with a lot of hard wired doors, windows, motions, glass breaks, and smokes. In addition, I'd run a few wires for exterior motion sensors or other sensors in key areas like near the front door, garage door, gate.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely going with a wired alarm system with wired sensors on every door and window so that I can also monitor positions with my own system. There will be wired motion detectors near each door and window. Not sure about glass breakage. Also will have heat detectors wired in for fire detection in addition to smoke and CO alarms. Garage doors will have position sensors too. I have also been researching the current line of electronic door locks that can be remotely closed and monitored. Not too sure that market is mature enough yet.

I have been trying to figure out if prewiring for microphones for a future whole-house voice control system is prudent or just creepy. :wow:
 
tangent said:
Currently the Dahua starlight line is really hard to beat
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The Starlight quality is amazing, but I'm somewhat constrained by camera size and appearance. My wife is all for security cameras but does not want the house to look like a high security prison. I'm not sure if she will like the size and look of those cameras. As of now, they do not appear to have any dome or mini dome style cameras with Starlight capabilities.
 
Claymo said:
The Starlight quality is amazing, but I'm somewhat constrained by camera size and appearance. My wife is all for security cameras but does not want the house to look like a high security prison. I'm not sure if she will like the size and look of those cameras. As of now, they do not appear to have any dome or mini dome style cameras with Starlight capabilities.
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fyi - Dahua does have a couple mini-dome starlight models:
IPC-HDBW4231F-AS
IPC-HDB4231C-AS

http://www1.dahuasecurity.com/products/ipc-hdbw4231f-as-3691.html
http://www1.dahuasecurity.com/products/ipc-hdb4231c-as-3471.html

Also, remember you can also paint the covers to get it to blend in better.

The starlight turrets aren't too big - with a bit of paint they can blend in fairly well.
 
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Claymo said:
The Starlight quality is amazing, but I'm somewhat constrained by camera size and appearance. My wife is all for security cameras but does not want the house to look like a high security prison. I'm not sure if she will like the size and look of those cameras. As of now, they do not appear to have any dome or mini dome style cameras with Starlight capabilities.
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You don't want dome cameras all sorts of problems with sun breaking down the dome, ir reflection, and a bunch of other things. Search the forum for dome. If you want something less intrusive by the front door you could consider a wedge/mini dome style camera but night performance isn't as good.

The starlight turrets really don't look so bad especially with a little paint on them: check out @wantafastz28's thread:Finally some progress with my cameras.
 
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Claymo said:
I have been trying to figure out if prewiring for microphones for a future whole-house voice control system is prudent or just creepy.
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waste of time. Your network infrastructure will be adequate, though you may want to prewire for some wall controls with cat-6. On the security front I recommend prewiring for some outdoor sensors. On glass breaks I was referring to indoor acoustic sensors.

Door control is plenty mature in the commercial space and those products work in residential too you just won't find them at home depot. The doors I'd want it on the most would be garage to house and garage to backyard or your shed and for that a battery powered zwave option works ok, but nobody's going to stop you from prewiring for something else:).
I'd also put a camera or two inside your garage, particularly 1 by the door into the house.
 
Hi Claymo,

After a lot of reading and seeing what others have been doing I'm installing the wedge mini-dome starlight ( IPC-HDBW4231F-AS ) by the front door at eye level - while clearly a camera, with some matching paint it is looking good.

Other locations I'm mostly installing the Dahua starlight turrets ( IPC-HDW5231R-Z )
and planning to paint at least the front facing ones to match the building. For the turrets I am using junction boxes ( public fixtures as Dahua calls them ) to hold the connections. After working with the junction boxes I'm becoming a big fan of them compared to the other options.

For a new construction - I would recommend considering installing and placing the junction boxes flush to the exterior wall as:
1) Future options - as Dahua releases newer turret models in the same form factor you can more easily up grade them without disturbing your wall insulation.
2) provides a reduced profile compared to placing the junction boxes on the surface of the wall.

Have a great time designing and building your new place.

Ref: example of a junction box / public fixture
PFA137 | Dahua Technology
 
If I were designing a house today, I'd use double 2x4 exterior walls. Meaning you've got 7.5+" of insulation in your walls and the studs would be staggered for even more energy efficiency. This style of construction is cheaper than 2x6 walls.
 
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