New member thanks to Mat200

[digdoug]

Hi all,

I found out about this forum thanks to Mat200 in some incredibly helpful posts he made on the Slickdeals forums. I've been perusing this forum and reading. We built a house and I had 6 security camera pre-wires completed. I didn't specify the locations and relied on the recommendations of the builder.

I purchased a Lorex 4K 6 camera system from Costco and purchased junctions boxes at Mat's recommendation. I've successfully mounted 1 camera on the stone front of our home. Now, I'm not certain what I should or want to do for the other 5 cameras on our siding. I was originally planning on mounting the junction boxes to the siding and the cameras to the junction boxes. Now, I'm wondering if I should be vinyl siding mounting blocks and mount the cameras directly to them or use the blocks and junction boxes.

The blocks give me some flexibility in the positioning of the cameras without drilling more holes in my siding.

If I were to use the junction box install in the location for the garage front and didn't want to drill more holes, I would have to bring in the Cat5e cable through the bottom of the box instead of the back. That would leave the cable exposed a little.

I'm curious what you guys suggest for installation. I've included some pics.

 

[looney2ns]

Welcome,
I would use the siding mounting blocks.
You can purchase a tool that will allow you to unzip the bottom of a piece of siding and allow you to run cable behind the siding.

Some of those locations look like they are too high.
For the purpose of ID'ing faces, 8ft or lower is advised. Other wise, you get tops of heads.
You want to know who did it, not just what happened.

You will probably want a small cam close to the front door for better face id, such as the : New arrival 2MP Starlight IR Mini Dome Network camera IPC HDBW4231F AS,free DHL shipping-in Surveillance Cameras from Security & Protection on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Use this tool: IPVM Camera Calculator V3 keep PPF>100 to help you decide where and what you want to see.

It's personaly preference really whether or not you use both the junction box and the block. If you use just the block, you have to be certain the connections are properly waterproofed.

 

[digdoug]

Welcome,
I would use the siding mounting blocks.
You can purchase a tool that will allow you to unzip the bottom of a piece of siding and allow you to run cable behind the siding.

Some of those locations look like they are too high.
For the purpose of ID'ing faces, 8ft or lower is advised. Other wise, you get tops of heads.
You want to know who did it, not just what happened.

You will probably want a small cam close to the front door for better face id, such as the : New arrival 2MP Starlight IR Mini Dome Network camera IPC HDBW4231F AS,free DHL shipping-in Surveillance Cameras from Security & Protection on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Use this tool: IPVM Camera Calculator V3 keep PPF>100 to help you decide where and what you want to see.

It's personaly preference really whether or not you use both the junction box and the block. If you use just the block, you have to be certain the connections are properly waterproofed.

Thank you Looney! Are you suggesting I should abandon the locations the builder used and run the cable lower? I could caulk the hole in the siding and run the cable down lower. They left quite a bit looped up hanging outside.

Our yard slopes down so some of the cameras are probably 22+ feet up from the ground.

Would you go with the mounting blocks and junction box? or just the mounting block? I have the junction blocks. I have to find the mounting blocks.

I am a complete novice at this and with building a house and taking an interest in this for the first time, I knew I wasn't going to be able to research this extensively at the time. After reading this forum a bit, I know I will need to supplement the 6 cameras in some fashion.

 

[looney2ns]

Thank you Looney! Are you suggesting I should abandon the locations the builder used and run the cable lower? I could caulk the hole in the siding and run the cable down lower. They left quite a bit looped up hanging outside.

Our yard slopes down so some of the cameras are probably 22+ feet up from the ground.

Would you go with the mounting blocks and junction box? or just the mounting block? I have the junction blocks. I have to find the mounting blocks.

I am a complete novice at this and with building a house and taking an interest in this for the first time, I knew I wasn't going to be able to research this extensively at the time. After reading this forum a bit, I know I will need to supplement the 6 cameras in some fashion.

If you care about ID'ing faces, then yes, you will have to use lower locations for the cameras.
I would use both the blocks and the junction boxes. What lens does the cams have in them. You can use the calculator I linked above to give you and idea of Id'ing faces with the cams you have.

Or you could place the cams at the cable locations, and just use them as overview cams, the add the Dahua starlights at face ID.

 

[aristobrat]

Thank you Looney! Are you suggesting I should abandon the locations the builder used and run the cable lower? I could caulk the hole in the siding and run the cable down lower. They left quite a bit looped up hanging outside.

If you're looking for a good way to really recognize faces, the closer to 8FT, the better. If you're looking for cameras that give you more of a general overview of what's going on outside, higher up can work.

My garage camera is about 20 feet up (and off to the side). If someone who wanted to mess with the cars knew that, and never looked up, I'd only catch the top of their head (to @looney2ns point). With how the exterior lighting in my driveway and around my yard triggers on motion, I'm fine with the driveway shots I get from 20 feet up. For others, that wouldn't work.

 

[digdoug]

If you care about ID'ing faces, then yes, you will have to use lower locations for the cameras.
I would use both the blocks and the junction boxes. What lens does the cams have in them. You can use the calculator I linked above to give you and idea of Id'ing faces with the cams you have.

Or you could place the cams at the cable locations, and just use them as overview cams, the add the Dahua starlights at face ID.

I did a quick google on the camera model included and attached the PDF with the specs. There's not enough cabling to run down to 8ft level. I would have to figure out the appropriate female to female connector and run an additional cable from the end of the original cable. Running cable after construction was the whole thing I was hoping to avoid. I suppose moving them down just a few feet isn't going to make a big difference so I may want to leave these as overview and add other cameras.

I'm not sure what I should do now.

 

[aristobrat]

It looks like you have a couple of extra feet of cable on most of the pictures you posted. I'd be inclined to run that down behind the siding as low as you could go (and still have enough left to work with for mounting) and mount there. Every bit lower helps, and could make the diff between needing an additional camera or not.

 

[digdoug]

It looks like you have a couple of extra feet of cable on most of the pictures you posted. I'd be inclined to run that down behind the siding as low as you could go (and still have enough left to work with for mounting) and mount there. Every bit lower helps, and could make the diff between needing an additional camera or not.

Ok, I'm going to take height measurements and some more pics to give better perspective. Would you be able to provide some feedback on install locations?

 

[looney2ns]

Ok, I'm going to take height measurements and some more pics to give better perspective. Would you be able to provide some feedback on install locations?

Get familiar with the Calculator I linked above to help with that.

 

[digdoug]

I'm trying. Newbie here. I'm not sure what this is telling me. My home isn't in the maps yet because it is new construction. I entered the camera model and I'm trying to determine exactly what this means.

 

[mat200]

Hi all,

I found out about this forum thanks to Mat200 in some incredibly helpful posts he made on the Slickdeals forums. I've been perusing this forum and reading. We built a house and I had 6 security camera pre-wires completed. I didn't specify the locations and relied on the recommendations of the builder.
..

Thanks Digdoug,

Great to have you join us here. These are the folks I've been learning from, there's some great info here.

Definitely listen to what looney2ns and aristobrat have to say.

Looks like the builder placed the locations too high :-(

Typical - few builders really understand the needs well.

Since you have vinyl siding you should have a easier time finding a way under the siding to extend your cat 6/5e lines down.
You may need to find a good way to connect the RJ45 plugs from the current cables to another section to bring the lines down to where they would be useful for IDing purposes.

I know if the line was in the attic I would removed the RJ45 play and replace it with a RJ45 jack. Concerned that may add some width which maybe challenging to slip under the siding... perhaps you have to mount some sort of surface junction box to seal the connection? ....

hmmmm... have to think about what the best way would be to do this.

 

[mat200]

I'm trying. Newbie here. I'm not sure what this is telling me. My home isn't in the maps yet because it is new construction. I entered the camera model and I'm trying to determine exactly what this means.

Hi Digdoug,

Remember those cameras give you about 25 feet to the 100 ppf point ( aka ID distance ) during daylight conditions ( in theory ).

Also remember you can add 2 Dahua OEM starlights to the kit if needed to cover the spots which need better low light coverage.

 

[digdoug]

Ok, my wife helped me measure the height and get some perspective shots. I was a bit off on my estimates. Here are the heights plus/minus a few inches.

Garage Front: 119 in = 9.9 ft
Garage Rear: 144 in = 12 ft
Morning Room: 190 in = 15.8 ft
Family Room: 201 in = 16.75 ft
Office: 152 in = 12.6 ft

 

[aristobrat]

The garage front height isn't horrible "as is". Looks like you have enough cable to maybe lower it more, maybe between the two lights. All of my cameras near lights are above the lights, so I'm not sure if there's any "gotchas" to mounting with lights above/below. Maybe @looney2ns or @mat200 have some experience there. That's cool your wife helped out there!

Would you be able to provide some feedback on install locations?

Your other install locations are pretty much where I have cameras on my house.

 

[digdoug]

The garage front height isn't horrible "as is". Looks like you have enough cable to maybe lower it more, maybe between the two lights. All of my cameras near lights are above the lights, so I'm not sure if there's any "gotchas" to mounting with lights above/below. Maybe @looney2ns or @mat200 have some experience there. That's cool your wife helped out there!


Your other install locations are pretty much where I have cameras on my house.

Thank you aristobrat! Ya, my wife is a keeper. Are your cameras as high off the ground as mine?

 

[looney2ns]

The garage front height isn't horrible "as is". Looks like you have enough cable to maybe lower it more, maybe between the two lights. All of my cameras near lights are above the lights, so I'm not sure if there's any "gotchas" to mounting with lights above/below. Maybe @looney2ns or @mat200 have some experience there. That's cool your wife helped out there!


Your other install locations are pretty much where I have cameras on my house.

Camera mounted above the coach light, but below the floods should be fine.

 

[digdoug]

Thank you guys for help! I am working on getting the mounting plates. I can't believe how difficult it has been to get plates that match my siding.

 

[looney2ns]

Thank you guys for help! I am working on getting the mounting plates. I can't believe how difficult it has been to get plates that match my siding.

Ask the builder where he gets the siding, and call those folks.

 

[aristobrat]

Are your cameras as high off the ground as mine?

I've got three mounted at 12 feet, and three mounted at 14-15 feet. Not the best practice recommendation heights, but works OK for my needs.

The yellow camera in the first attachment doesn't point down (like the arrow indicates)... it points out about 30-40 feet to a neighborhood "common area" that folks use to walk/bike in and out. I have one camera on the back of the house that isn't doodled in.

 

[digdoug]

I just had a great epiphany this morning on the drive into work. The area under our morning room is unfinished. That is also where I keep the NVR. It would be simple to run 2 cables inside and out of the house at the preferred heights you guys shared. I can leave the other cameras where they are and add 2 more. I think I could benefit from a different type of camera on the front porch so I could move that one to one of the new locations in the back. I also plan on adding a camera at the front door as recommended. If I go hard wired, I have out grown my NVR already. LOL

I've attached a screenshot of my camera view from my porch camera. Would you recommend replacing that with a camera with a wider FOV and better night vision? I see you guys are fond of the starlight cameras.