Where to hide LPR cameras on my property?

Boost20

n3wb
Apr 28, 2020
4
4
Texas
Hello everyone. I am going to have 2 LPR cameras installed at our house (one facing each direction on the road), and I've received differing information from various surveillance companies regarding the best mounting location. The first company said we could mount them on the front of our house facing the street, but another company (who seems to have more experience) said they should be mounted approx 4ft off the ground a few feet away from the sidewalk. Our neighborhood sidewalks get a lot of daily traffic, so I was hoping to keep the cameras hidden as much as possible. Note, the second company mentioned said another customer recently built a stone enclosure (i.e. like a mailbox) with plexiglass covers to house 2 LPR cameras. We could do that if that is the best option, but I was ideally hoping to mount them on the house. We are upgrading the existing camera system, but this is my first experience with LPR. Here are some photos from the front of our house, so I appreciate any recommendations and ideas. Thanks!
 

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It looks like you have some pretty good angles on the road from your house, if you get cams with enough zoom. Varifocal or PTZ cameras can easily have lots of zoom. The trouble is getting them to stay in focus because when you set up a camera for LPR it tends to be pitch black at night when there isn't a license plate in view, so the autofocus will fail. An alternative is getting a "box camera" where you screw on your own lens which you can manually focus, but these require bulky and conspicuous enclosures in order to be weatherproof.
 
This will be interesting to see. I predict a LOT of digging and rounting lines. Iit'll be a challenge (although doable with effort) to get cable buried underneath that driveway to service the cameras hidden in the bushes. I'm not saying it can't be done. It's gonna take a bit of effort (or hiring) to have it put in place.

To be clear, I really envy LPR. I think its likely the coolest thing done with this whole hobby. I wish I could do it but to look at the cost, it seems like a lot just to know something interesting. What's it gonna cost in a situation like this? $500? I'm estimating 2 cams, a good bit of cable, connectors, mounting, and even more if you hire it done. Seems pricey and cool to see & know. If I had a long driveway and just needed to know everyone that came onto my property then I could more easily justify it. To just see the hundreds (lots?) of cars just passing by is a lot though to me.

Still cool to see as long as someone else is paying for it! I wish I could justify the cost to myself for mine.
 
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Yes, I am going to hire to handle the camera project. I don't have the quotes yet, but they should be here this week. The company who recommended roadside mounting said they only need ethernet at the enclosure, as he will use wireless modules to get the video to the house. The location he preferred is by the telecom box, so I'm guessing we can get ethernet there without too much hassle.
 
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Yes, I am going to hire to handle the camera project. I don't have the quotes yet, but they should be here this week. The company who recommended roadside mounting said they only need ethernet at the enclosure, as he will use wireless modules to get the video to the house. The location he preferred is by the telecom box, so I'm guessing we can get ethernet there without too much hassle.
Uh oh.....you said the W word! lol....

Seriously that has a major bad reputation here. It'll be great to see you get good results and I hope you share the info on the hardware and setup. Maybe good wireless performance does exist & we (or maybe just me?) hasn't found it yet.
 
Yes, I am going to hire to handle the camera project. I don't have the quotes yet, but they should be here this week. The company who recommended roadside mounting said they only need ethernet at the enclosure, as he will use wireless modules to get the video to the house. The location he preferred is by the telecom box, so I'm guessing we can get ethernet there without too much hassle.
This makes no sense. IF there is ethernet at the enclosure you dont need wireless.
 
Does anyone have placement experience with LPR cameras? As mentioned, I would prefer to mount them on the house, as I don't like the idea of building a structure in our flower beds to hold the cameras. Can you get reliable LPR results when not mounting cameras directly next to the road?
 
Does anyone have placement experience with LPR cameras? As mentioned, I would prefer to mount them on the house, as I don't like the idea of building a structure in our flower beds to hold the cameras. Can you get reliable LPR results when not mounting cameras directly next to the road?

Yes. I use a Dahua IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E 12x PTZ cam mounted on my home and zoomed in all the way at 12x about 150ft down my driveyway and have had no issues once it was dialed in.
 
I'm looking at setting up my inconspicuous LPR setup. Probably going to weld up a mount and cover it with something like this fake rock with a hole cut in one side. Put it out by the street around some bushes. Hopefully it'll blend in well enough.
 
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Yes. I use a Dahua IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E 12x PTZ cam mounted on my home and zoomed in all the way at 12x about 150ft down my driveyway and have had no issues once it was dialed in.

That camera is not a PTZ..

But yes I can get plates at 200 feet with it and in the right location would be possible, but dialed it back to about 140 feet to get them reliably.
 
If it was my home i would put a PTZ facing the east zoomed in to the plates at the location the trash cans are sitting in. Or i would put it on the west side zoomed in to that section of the road that is going up hill. And like the others said i would not go wifi, to many issues with drop outs. I use a ptz sd49225t-hn and it does great for me. Here are a few sample pictures of my PTZ 25x zoom camera. I think any ptz will work just as long as you get something with 25x zoom or more. My distance is only about 30 to 40 feet to the road.


IMG_2384.jpgmustang license plate capture.jpgPTZ1.toyota corolla 5.jpg
 
The company who recommended roadside mounting said they only need ethernet at the enclosure, as he will use wireless modules to get the video to the house.
Possibly check your understanding with that guy, maybe casually ask him if he said WIRELESS or WIRED POE, give him a chance to give the correct answer else go with the other contractor imho.
 
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Is this the same direction as "porch west" side but higher? Porch West looks like the most challenging to me due to all the bushes. Do you have access to a higher point (like circled) on the property to snap a picture of that angle?

Across the street.jpg
 
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Is this the same direction as "porch west" side but higher? Porch West looks like the most challenging to me due to all the bushes. Do you have access to a higher point (like circled) on the property to snap a picture of that angle?

View attachment 61342
I think it will work going west from the location of his picture, if it is that high i think the trees will get in the way of hitting that focus point at the top of that hill.
 
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if it is that high i think the trees will get in the way of hitting that focus point at the top of that hill.
Ok, I wasn't sure if he was going to be able to thread the needle between all those bushes (effectively shooting his LPR down that gap provided by the brown pathway).

@Boost20 definitely test some of these positions/recommendations with the camera mounted on a temporary test rig like recommended in the Wiki.
 
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looks like a nice place!. I'd mount LPR cams under the eves of the carport (red dots), or even up under the eves of the second floor porch. being a bit higher gets you over the garbage cans or parked cars that may block the view of low street-side cams.
49871916986_37e990100b_k.jpg49871916996_020cf7e7d8_k.jpg
 
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I had a similar problem, you may like my solution.
 
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