The explanations and help on this forum were invaluable to me. From knowing nothing about cameras, I was able yesterday to install a Dahua on the outer wall of my house, with Blue Iris set up on my PC, and OpenVPN in my router. I'm still sorting things out (still have to research how to control the microSD storage for example) but I wanted to suggest the following to improve the clarity of the cliff notes. For example, I was not familiar with IP addresses, so I was not sure what was going on with all that changing address and I like to understand what I'm doing, so here it is:
The Dahua cameras ship with a default IP address of 192.168.1.108. Say you disconnect your PC from your router, then connect the brand new camera to a PoE switch, and the PoE switch to your PC. If your PC has an address like 192.168.0.100, then you won't be able to connect to the camera. Under your PC network settings, change it from "obtain IP address automatically" to 192.168.1.100 subnet 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.1.1. Now you should be able to connect to the camera, and change its IP to, for example, 192.168.0.108, and get its MAC address. Now disconnect the PoE switch from your PC and connect the router to your PC (you'll have to change your network PC setting to "obtain IP automatically"). Block the camera MAC address in your router. Now you can connect the switch to the router, and your PC to the router. You can now connect to the camera with the IP address you set, for example 192.168.0.108 in the example above.
under the weatherproofing section:
The dielectric grease should not be applied to the metal contacts, as it is dielectric and therefore does not conduct electricity, it should rather be applied to the internal plastic surfaces of the rj45 boot, taking care not to spread it on the metal contacts.
under the Dahua camera mount details:
The PFA130E mount has 3/4 inch side openings. You can use outdoor electrical conduits to wire the ethernet cable. Schedule 40 PVC rigid pipes work, but the flexible conduit (Liquidtight) is even better. Since 1/2 inch conduit is sufficient for 1 ethernet cable, you can screw in a PVC reducer in the box to go from 3/4 to 1/2, and then use 1/2 conduit. PVC liquid cement is usually sold in the same home improvement store isle of PVC conduits (it comes with a brush inside), and it is used to glue and waterproof conduit connections (for example from the reducer to the Liquidtight). The box opening has a 3/4 inch rubber O ring which you can use to screw in the 3/4 inch conduit coupling. A ratcheting pipe cutter can be used to cut Liquidtight or other conduits to size. You can use silicon sealant to seal around the conduit where it enters your house walls.
The Dahua cameras ship with a default IP address of 192.168.1.108. Say you disconnect your PC from your router, then connect the brand new camera to a PoE switch, and the PoE switch to your PC. If your PC has an address like 192.168.0.100, then you won't be able to connect to the camera. Under your PC network settings, change it from "obtain IP address automatically" to 192.168.1.100 subnet 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.1.1. Now you should be able to connect to the camera, and change its IP to, for example, 192.168.0.108, and get its MAC address. Now disconnect the PoE switch from your PC and connect the router to your PC (you'll have to change your network PC setting to "obtain IP automatically"). Block the camera MAC address in your router. Now you can connect the switch to the router, and your PC to the router. You can now connect to the camera with the IP address you set, for example 192.168.0.108 in the example above.
under the weatherproofing section:
The dielectric grease should not be applied to the metal contacts, as it is dielectric and therefore does not conduct electricity, it should rather be applied to the internal plastic surfaces of the rj45 boot, taking care not to spread it on the metal contacts.
under the Dahua camera mount details:
The PFA130E mount has 3/4 inch side openings. You can use outdoor electrical conduits to wire the ethernet cable. Schedule 40 PVC rigid pipes work, but the flexible conduit (Liquidtight) is even better. Since 1/2 inch conduit is sufficient for 1 ethernet cable, you can screw in a PVC reducer in the box to go from 3/4 to 1/2, and then use 1/2 conduit. PVC liquid cement is usually sold in the same home improvement store isle of PVC conduits (it comes with a brush inside), and it is used to glue and waterproof conduit connections (for example from the reducer to the Liquidtight). The box opening has a 3/4 inch rubber O ring which you can use to screw in the 3/4 inch conduit coupling. A ratcheting pipe cutter can be used to cut Liquidtight or other conduits to size. You can use silicon sealant to seal around the conduit where it enters your house walls.
