Residential IP camera placement help - PICS inside!

[Sifter 0]

Im a DIY person who is in the process of installing an IP cam network to cover my entry points. However, Im unsure of the best placement for cams. I think I have an idea of where they should go to achieve the best shots, but want to give your pro's a chance to correct me if Im wrong. The camera's will be HFW2100's, all tied into a Netgear 24 port POE switch. On each of my pictures, you will see a red dot to indicate where I currently plan to place the cams.

 

First picture is of the front door. This door faces straight east, so it gets full sun in the morning. Im unsure if I can angle the bullet down enough to where it wont get baked and ruin the sensor. This picture has two red dots. The one in the corner is where the cam will go if I face the bullet towards the east, into the sun and towards the sidewalk. The second red dot further out on the soffit will be the placement of the cam if I aim it back towards the door. So with this being said, should I face the bullet cam toward the door, or towards the east and the sidewalk leading up to the door?

 

 

This is a shot looking out the front door, and as you can see, only the very end of the soffit is visible from where I am standing inside. In this picture, the red dot indicates the bullet cam pointing back towards me and the door.

 

 

Next picture is of the basement entry. Its self explanatory. Is this a good location?

 

 

We have an L shaped covered porch with two entry doors. The first one is here:

 

 

The second door on the covered porch is tricky for me. Do I put it in the corner, or do I hold it out so I can also capture that side of the driveway as well? You will see two red dots to indicate my dilemma.

 

 

This is just another shot so you can see the L shape of the porch and how it wraps around to the other entry door. The red dot in this picture is how I would hold the placement of the bullet cam out so I could capture some of the driveway as well.

 

 

Finally, a shot of the garage doors, which Im hoping to monitor with a single bullet cam in the soffit as represented by the red dot and arrow. Will this suffice?

 

 

I can change out the lenses on the bullets if needed, but all come with the 3.6mm. I will be adding a couple of additional cameras higher up for a property view, but thats down the road a ways. Any and all advice will be much appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Guest

[Sifter 0]

Anyone?

[Kawboy12R 0]

For the front door I'd place the camera looking outwards from the front door. Much more useful because it gets a better front-on face shot of those approaching, plus a good view of the front yard and what is going on, who is coming, etc. That's the best use of my front door cam with a monitor at the front door. Any outdoor rated camera that dies from looking in the general direction of morning sun is defective, IMHO.

 

The basement entry red dot is too high for good ID much of the time. Anybody coming to the rear door will be quite far away when the cam has a reasonably flat angle at their face. Anybody up close will reveal mostly forehead details, bald spots, hoodies, and ballcaps. You're also giving away 10' of distance to the subject by mounting up that high. These weaknesses aside, it's probably a good location for watching the kids in the back yard and wildlife because of the vantage point, but then if it's aimed that high to be useful for that job you won't be covering the door. For a one camera backyard solution, I think I'd pick something with a wide angle lens (3.6 is probably decent but closer to 3.0 would show more of the back yard), mount to the near corner side of the basement entry, and angle it towards the doors a bit. The wide angle will still be good enough to ID folks at the door but will cover most of the back yard to give you quick situational awareness if you hear a bang at night, plus hopefully give coverage if someone breaks in a back window instead of the door. I'd probably have two 3.6s in the back yard near each corner crossing towards the center of the house.

 

The first porch door dot (over the woodpile) looks good to me. For the porch door by the ADT sign I'd probably stick the cam in the corner looking at the driveway rather than to the left of the door looking more at the fan. Both spots have advantages because the woodpile cam would be covering up towards the fan as well and additional driveway coverage is never a bad thing. I have three covering mine. You might want to stick them up temporarily before drilling and see which you prefer. Run long wires from each location into the house through a door or whatever and have people walk and drive up NORMALLY (not stop, pose, and look up). Hoodies are popular, so have someone wear one and see if you want the cams lower. Took me quite a while before I knew what my paperboy looked like because he always wore a hoodie coming up the front steps and my front door cam lens is just a few inches over the top of the screen door. Walking outdoors, especially in a strange environment and most particularly at night, makes people walk with their heads down naturally to keep from tripping.

[vector18 1]

For the basement entry, I would put the camera on the opposite corner of the house. Where you have it now, you will only

see the tops of heads. Or come out of the side of the house with conduit and install a vandal proof dome or covert camera

on that cement wall looking towards the doors.

[Sifter 0]

Should I be reviewing this the same way a commercial building owner would, where every outside wall is covered by a camera? Windows with ground level access are not to be ignored either in my opinion, but should I place first priority on exit/entry points? Thieves are lazy, and will kick in a door before they enter through a window and risk getting cut.

[vector18 1]

Usually, a square house I would put one camera on each side and if there are important areas, additional cameras. Your main goal should be all sides of the house, the front door, the driveway, and the street so you can see make and model of the car that drove

up to your house by the bad guys.

[Sifter 0]

For a one camera backyard solution, I think I'd pick something with a wide angle lens (3.6 is probably decent but closer to 3.0 would show more of the back yard), mount to the near corner side of the basement entry, and angle it towards the doors a bit. The wide angle will still be good enough to ID folks at the door but will cover most of the back yard to give you quick situational awareness if you hear a bang at night, plus hopefully give coverage if someone breaks in a back window instead of the door. I'd probably have two 3.6s in the back yard near each corner crossing towards the center of the house.

 

I will take a couple of other pictures tomorrow of the rear of the house, I have an additional CAT drop that I didnt show, and like your idea of two higher up cams crisscrossing along the back of the house. Then adding an additional dome cam above the basement door for ID.

[Sifter 0]

For the basement entry, I would put the camera on the opposite corner of the house. Where you have it now, you will only

see the tops of heads. Or come out of the side of the house with conduit and install a vandal proof dome or covert camera

on that cement wall looking towards the doors.

 

If I put the cam to the right of the door, then I run the risk of it being more accessible because of the ground and cement wall. If I install it to the left of the door over the casement windows and aim it towards the door, will I still get a clear enough picture to ID with the right lens, maybe 3.6mm?

[vector18 1]

What about something like this above the door but in an IP version? I see you already have one, but this one

has a camera in it.

 

[Sifter 0]

Or I could mount a bullet or dome right below the light? Whats one more hole in the siding right?

[vector18 1]

There won't be one more hole cause the camera would be covering it. My idea of replacing the light with a covert camera was because the light is so low and would get a lot of detail and facial ID but you don't want the bad guy knowing there is a camera there so he can't vandalize it.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Guest

[Kawboy12R 0]

For my home I like a camera at every door (covers 99% of traffic, good or bad), coverage in the driveway for vehicles (we get folks snooping for unlocked car doors at night), plus cams around the rest of the yard to see what's going on and to cover windows in case someone wants to break in that way. My main driveway cam can read plates day or night, even against headlights. You might be able to get a Dahua to get plates at night, but I'm guessing you'd probably have to add an additional IR flood (or white light shining into the eyes of drivers) and speed up the exposure to darken everything else waaay down to the point that it'd only be good for plates during the night. I haven't tried it with the cam you're proposing though.

 

I like vector's replacement floodlight cam idea but don't know of any IP versions offhand. Most I've seen just record to an SD card that you have to pull out to review if you have a break in. That Speco's a bit pricey for analog (and obviously will be tricky to integrate into your network camera system unless you're thinking of using a hybrid NVR already) but is probably good for a covert camera (I've never seen footage from one). Speco's a pretty good name. What're you using for an NVR? Make sure it'll handle motion detection for both the Dahuas and whatever you find if you decide to go the covert IP cam route.

[vector18 1]

The sell adapters that convert analog cameras to IP if you can't find a motion light IP camera.

[Sifter 0]

Finally got around to taking a wide shot of the back yard area. The updated pic should give you a better idea of the overall rear and side of the house. I placed two red dots where the cameras could be in a cross-view configuration. Then I guess placing one more down by the door for ID. However, the single casement window at ground level seems very vulnerable to me. Its tucked into a corner, and someone could remain in that corner for quite some time without any camera seeing what they are doing.

 

[Kawboy12R 0]

I guess you found the next spot for a cam outside. Either that or one inside on the wall facing the window with nice bright LEDs peeking OUT that window from the inside with a sign saying "Smile, you're on Candid Camera!" LED glare on the window will probably make it useless for catching someone looking in the window but you'd get a great shot if they came IN through the window.