Home Security/Surveillance Setup

[JM Aggie08]

I've been wanting to get some POE IP cameras cabled and mounted inside and outside of the house. I'm having some difficulty figuring out a couple of things, an figured my homies here would have some experience.

• What's your network config? Are all of the cameras running to a central switch?
• Storage -- what kind of DVR?
• Where is your networking run from?

I have a pretty firm grasp on what I need to do, but just want to see what everyone else is working with. My only issue is that I'd want the networking hardware setup in the laundry room, with the cabling running through the ceiling into the attack to be dropped in various indoor and outdoor locations; currently the only location where I can connect my modem/router is in the living room. I'm guessing I'd have to reroute or split the shit coming in from the outside?

Please and thank you.

 

[KK]

I got currently one poe camera installed. Network wise, I got the cable modem and router on the main floor(ranch on basement), I got a run going downstairs to a switch which has a feed going to the synology ds212j in the safe, and another feed that goes to the attic. up in the attic i got a poe injector feeding my one camera. eventually I'll swap that out with the poe switch I have when I get my next camera. I'll also look at updating the synology system to a newer model. Right now the current synology works perfect and does so much other stuff, I just think though the bandwidth will suffer the more cameras going to it.

 

[JM Aggie08]

That's pretty similar to what I'm looking at doing (POE switch, rather than injector).

Still on the fence regarding NAS vs. adding a few 2TB disks to my desktop.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Are you any good with Linux? I set up a network of WiFi IP cameras in my house and I'm pretty happy with the results. I run Zoneminder on a server for the backend and the config was pretty easy.

I looked into POE but wifi turned out to be easier. Just gotta run the power to the camera -- no fussing with switches and routers.

 

[kt]

Are you any good with Linux? I set up a network of WiFi IP cameras in my house and I'm pretty happy with the results. I run Zoneminder on a server for the backend and the config was pretty easy.

I looked into POE but wifi turned out to be easier. Just gotta run the power to the camera -- no fussing with switches and routers.

If you can run power to the camera then you can run network cable to the camera. It's not like one is more difficult than the other. Also, with WiFi you have to deal with spotty connectivity and chances of signal interference. Have you tried using your WiFi with your microwave running?

 

[Lash444]

If you can run power to the camera then you can run network cable to the camera. It's not like one is more difficult than the other. Also, with WiFi you have to deal with spotty connectivity and chances of signal interference. Have you tried using your WiFi with your microwave running?

Almost every house has power on every wall. Most houses have 0 ethernet.

Plugging an IP camera into the wall, and a NAS to your network is far easier than punching a hole through walls and rerouting cable to a bunch of cameras all over the place.

Also, if you decide to move the cameras for whatever reason, then what?

 

[JM Aggie08]

Are you any good with Linux? I set up a network of WiFi IP cameras in my house and I'm pretty happy with the results. I run Zoneminder on a server for the backend and the config was pretty easy.

I looked into POE but wifi turned out to be easier. Just gotta run the power to the camera -- no fussing with switches and routers.

Not a bad idea. No harm in firing up another CentOS vm. What cameras are you using for your setup? How's the mobile app working out?

 

[KK]

Almost every house has power on every wall. Most houses have 0 ethernet.

Plugging an IP camera into the wall, and a NAS to your network is far easier than punching a hole through walls and rerouting cable to a bunch of cameras all over the place.

Also, if you decide to move the cameras for whatever reason, then what?

Most houses don't have power in the attic where you would probably need it for outdoor cameras. Indoor, yeah, you would probably more likely go wifi. If you got a lan feed into the attic then poe is pretty simple. the only thing I'm questioning it the temp of the poe switch when I do get it up there.

 

[WackyDan]

Look at the Synology NAS products for your DVR.

 

[WackyDan]

Most houses don't have power in the attic where you would probably need it for outdoor cameras. Indoor, yeah, you would probably more likely go wifi. If you got a lan feed into the attic then poe is pretty simple. the only thing I'm questioning it the temp of the poe switch when I do get it up there.

Don't put the switch in the attic.

I had same thought process... So, I ran multiple CAT 6 drops to attic and will have POE switch in Garage. However, since then I also had my attic fully encapsulated with Spray foam... THe attic is only 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house during the summer which is amazing, so I might end up putting a switch up there instead.

 

[NutBucket]

Seems OK so far. I have two switches in the attic at my in-laws and that attic roasts 8 months of the year. So far so good!

 

[RossMAN]

Are you any good with Linux? I set up a network of WiFi IP cameras in my house and I'm pretty happy with the results. I run Zoneminder on a server for the backend and the config was pretty easy.

I looked into POE but wifi turned out to be easier. Just gotta run the power to the camera -- no fussing with switches and routers.

Have you heard of or used Bluecherry?

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Not a bad idea. No harm in firing up another CentOS vm. What cameras are you using for your setup? How's the mobile app working out?

I never really used the mobile app. I just set up my ports so I could navigate to the server's web interface outside my home's LAN. Streamed the live camera images just fine.

I use all D-Link DCS-932L cameras. They're not really suited for outdoor installation, although I do have one installed underneath a balcony so it's out of the wetness. I live in a fairly populated area so installation around the exterior of my house presented privacy concerns for my neighbors -- my cameras would record things thru their windows if installed in a meaningfully useful way. They're just posted throughout my house, for the most part. I'm running 7 cameras total.

 

[luv2liv]

synology nas is probably the best nas money can money. if you are tight with budget, check out raspberry pi nas.
i built a nas, instructions online, and my poe cam dump all the clips on that nas. running rock solid so far without needing a reboot!