Options for condo community.

[IslandRob]

So, I am an owner in a gated community that is about half filled with renters. There are issues with trash, vandalism, uninvited guests, and typical issues. The association has 3 cameras but that is all. Is there a system that could place inexpensive wifi cameras around the complex tied to owner's wifi (with their consent and adequate isolation), that could all feed to a central cloud or onsite DVR system to have a record of what goes on? 15 buildings, a pool, a harbor, a dock, and parking lots, so I am thinking that it might be more scalable and less expensive to use owner's wifi instead of hard working or using a bunch of repeaters.

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[mat200]

So, I am an owner in a gated community that is about half filled with renters. There are issues with trash, vandalism, uninvited guests, and typical issues. The association has 3 cameras but that is all. Is there a system that could place inexpensive wifi cameras around the complex tied to owner's wifi (with their consent and adequate isolation), that could all feed to a central cloud or onsite DVR system to have a record of what goes on? 15 buildings, a pool, a harbor, a dock, and parking lots, so I am thinking that it might be more scalable and less expensive to use owner's wifi instead of hard working or using a bunch of repeaters.

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Welcome Island,

WIFi is problematic, wired is typically a better cost effective option.

Definitely take a look at the notes members have assembled here, the cliff notes are a good place to start
IPCamTalk WiKi | IP Cam Talk

 

[zebrock]

So, I am an owner in a gated community that is about half filled with renters. There are issues with trash, vandalism, uninvited guests, and typical issues. The association has 3 cameras but that is all. Is there a system that could place inexpensive wifi cameras around the complex tied to owner's wifi (with their consent and adequate isolation), that could all feed to a central cloud or onsite DVR system to have a record of what goes on? 15 buildings, a pool, a harbor, a dock, and parking lots, so I am thinking that it might be more scalable and less expensive to use owner's wifi instead of hard working or using a bunch of repeaters.

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Sounds like a security nightmare

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[crw030]

Sounds like a good use case for dedicated PTP wireless backhauls to a single central building (like a pool building or administration/security building) with a few cameras feeding back video on the dedicated link.

Something similar to this post

 

[crw030]

This idea was so bad I edited the post:
I know you mentioned using regular wireless but even over ideal conditions (i.e. on a single family home) you wouldn't try to run this many camera feeds, and spread across a number of buildings (unsure the # of acres) I think that is doomed from the start.

Minus the wifi headaches you appear to be considering, even hardwiring and setting up a reliable over VPN will be full of potential problems plus a nightmare to setup and get working with several owners and multiple buildings. Just don't, I think you would regret it in the end.

There are services which will do all this for you (install cameras, configure cloud, record to cloud and even monitor 24x7), but you are talking significantly more money to do it that way. I know someone that setup a Home Owners Association recently paid about $6000 to professionally install just a 6 cameras, vendor setup recording to cloud and provides a year of monitoring, and an app to view on the phone for a single building. You would probably have to pay more than that (sounds like more buildings/coverage) and you could do it for less (minus 24hr monitoring) by just following guidance on these forums.

 

[bababouy]

Our installers just finished a community in the Florida Keys that had about 12 buildings, 2 pools, a marina and basin, bait shop, rec hall, and two parking lots where owners could park their boats and trailers. We used local power from each building and ubiquti nano stations to get all the cameras back to the manager's office where the recorder is. I think we had a total of 46 cameras that we installed on the property. We were able to give the guards at the front gate access to all cameras so they can self monitor the entire property. It wasn't to expensive since the nano stations do all the work, we just built several small networks on each building and tied them all together.

 

[bababouy]

Reading this again, Just for liability purposes alone, the board of directors or property management company would want full control of the cameras and recorder. You wouldn't want a resident gaining access to your cameras then using them against you or another tenant or resident. Also, you would be liable for, and the first one to be blamed, for any type cyber attacks on anyone's networks where these so called wifi cameras would be connected to.