Home surveillance systems

[SwampyDog]

Hey y'all, I've been having a problem with varmints prowling my property and killing my livestock and barn cats. I need a camera system set up ASAP. Any suggestions on products and installers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[thperez1972]

What the purpose of the system? Detection, Observation, Recognition, and/or Identification? What range are you looking at? How many cameras do you think you will need? Do you want a plug and play system, a professionally installed system, or a diy system? Have you set a budget?

We have a Vivint alarm system with some cameras. Those cameras suck. I have begun putting together a system that I would have wanted someone else to have when I used to work as a detective. There's no real "do it all" camera. Each camera serves a specific purpose. The settings on each camera are very customizable. I have a camera set to a narrow field of view and a fast shutter speed that can capture license plate of a car at night driving about 30 mph. I have one that is color only, even at night, with only a little bit of ambient light. There's one with a narrow field of view that can be used to identify people walking up to the front door. They are all installed on their own wired network and the footage is recorded on an older pc running nvr software called Blue Iris. The 7 cameras are recording 24/7 and the 14tb drive can hold about a months worth of footage. Most of the cameras are 2mp and 4mp rather than 8mp or 12mp because bigger is only better at night id the sensor is big enough to capture what little light there is.

 

[SwampyDog]

My issue now is not knowing what type of predator I'm dealing with. So I need a system of about 6-8cameras to cover my pens so I can identify a threat either after or during an attack. Hardwiring may be too much of a chore because some of my pens are 100 yards apart and not near a power source. Obviously I need something night capable and that downloads either to a hard-drive or cloud so I can review footage. I would prefer to have a monitor set up with the multiple feed in my house but it may not be feasible. Fairly certain wireless is gonna be an expensive pain too but it is what it is. Not at all interested in being monitored by a company for a few reasons. Mostly because the threat from people is pretty low where I'm at but also because I frankly don't want the hassle of dealing with a company every time the power goes out which is often, or of having to talk to a robot. I'd like to come in significantly lower but I have 6k to throw at it if need be. The range would be within 50 ft of the pens specifically, covering the approaches to them. Ideally I'd find someone to talk to to and install all this stuff because I just flat don't have the time, patience, or experience to do it myself correctly

 

[Gator 45/70]

What's the real time cameras being used to watch hog traps?
That sounds like the application you need to install.
Animal approaches, you get an alert over the phone.
Boom bada bing, you ambush said predator.

 

[hotbiggun]

I have a Cobra 4K security system from harbor frieght. Works good, wifi is wireless, hooks to your TV or phone, excellent pic quality, 1 TB hard drive
What i dont like
Still need to run power to the camera, set up is not hard but not easy either, no instructions with the camera.

I did catch a crack head inside my house so it paid for itself.

 

[pandabear]

Until you decide what to do long term. Just install 1, or 2 ring camera. Mostly your issue is racoon. Watch them as they come in, go out there and pop-em!

 

[thperez1972]

Don't chase megapixels if you want better low light performance. If you look at a camera and they do not list the sensor size, they're probably using a sensor that is too small for the resolution. If you have a 2mp camera and an 8mp (4k) camera using the same size sensor, the 8mp camera will pick up more, smaller pieces of light. But there must be some space between to points. So the more points, the more space between the points. Think of a window screen. In order to fit more, smaller holes on the same size screen, you need more wire. But the more wire you use, the less light can get through the holes. The more wire you use, the more light you need so that enough can get through. A lower resolution camera will get better low light performance than a higher resolution camera on the same size sensor.

Most "package" cameras will also not allow you to adjust the shutter speed. A higher resolution camera on too small of a sensor will be a blurry mess at night.

There's a company called EmpireTech. They sell rebranded Dahua cameras to the public. Dahua is usually marketed toward installers. I'm going to suggest 2 products that may help you figure out what you want. The first is a poe network video recorder. You'd have to get a hard drive for it. I'd suggest a WD Purple drive. They are made for the constant recording of a surveillance system. The second if a 1-12x camera. It's got a great mp to sensor size ratio. You can install it close and use the optical zoom to reach out to where you need coverage. The nvr has 8 poe slots so hooking the camera up is as easy as running an ethernet cable to the camera that covers both data and power. A wire is much more reliable than wireless. And the camera allows you to adjust for day and night so you aren't relying to the manufacturer's choices. Those usually sacrifice night performance for the pretty daytime videos. And even those aren't great.

EmpireTech NV41AI-8P-4K 8 Channels Smart 1U 1HDD 8PoE Network Video Re

Multiple decoding formats | Access, storage or forwarding at 256 Mbps (180 Mbps when AI function enabled) | Max. decoding capability: 16 × 1080p@30 fps | Supports adaptive decoding | AI by NVR | AI by Camera | Connected to the third-party network cameras | Security baseline 2.3

empiretech01.com

EmpireTech IPC-B52IR-Z12E-S2 1/2.8" CMOS 2MP 5mm–60mm Ultra Low Light

2-MP 1/2.8" CMOS image sensor, low luminance, and high definition image. Outputs max. 2MP (1920×1080) @25/30 fps. Built-in IR LED, and the max. illumination distance is 150 m. ROI, SVC, SMART H.264+/H.265+, AI H.264/H.265, encoding after filter, flexible coding, applicable to various bandwidth...

empiretech01.com

These suggestions would be for a long term, quality system. If you just want something quick and simple to salve only this issue, these suggestions might be overkill.

 

[frankinola]

You could go with game camera as a short term

 

[Scrape]

I think this picture is of the camera I bought for my remote hog trap with remote drop gate. It worked well. It alerts via cell phone, has infared lights, rotates like 240 degrees, up and down, and has a zoom lense that worked for me out to about 80 ft. Has 2 way communication if’n you want to talk to the critter…lol

I wired it up with green led lights around the trap to really brighten up the area.

Mystery killers like after your animal s suck. Best of luck!!!!

 

[SwampyDog]

Holy sh!t did you guys come through! Thanks for all the suggestions, now I've got a starting point

 

[SwampyDog]

These suggestions would be for a long term, quality system. If you just want something quick and simple to salve only this issue, these suggestions might be overkill

Long term is exactly what I'm after and I'm big fan of overkill when it comes to security and A-hole predators killing my animals. Again, much appreciated!

 

[Magdump]

You could go with game camera as a short term

I was gonna say the same thing. Sent right to your phone in real time. Good sensors, Great night vision. Likely way better in the elements too. No way I’d go the home system route for this.

 

[thperez1972]

Long term is exactly what I'm after and I'm big fan of overkill when it comes to security and A-hole predators killing my animals. Again, much appreciated!

Another more advanced option is to add a 25x or 45x ptz (pan tilt zoom) camera. You can then set up tripwires on other cameras. When those tripwires are tripped, it could alert the ptz and have the ptz zoom into the area and follow whatever it was that tripped the tripwire.

Here's an example from today. I cropped most of the image except the person and the settings. It's a 25x camera but only zoomed into around 14x. I don't think that's an option with ring.



If you have any real questions, you're welcome to pm me and I'll answer the best I can.

 

[PCPGunner1027]

I build out custom systems. The PTZ “tripwire” setup is certainly a good idea! It takes a bit of programming and using a decent viewing software with an AI that is able to do this is the tricky part. Blue Iris is a great and affordable software option if you are at all knowledgeable in computers.