Month: October 2019

Driveway Security Camera

The first thing I had to deal with was that there was a wasp’s nest everywhere i wanted to install a camera. Luckily I had a can of wasp spray and had to deal with them first.

The electrician who installed the new carriage lights decide to re-use the power line for those and cut out the nice motion triggered spot lights. Who knows why. I remember when I installed them, being very lucky running the power lines in the corner of the roof, finding a crack that I could stick the wire through. I tried to get the new Ethernet cable through but the corner is just too far away to get to from the inside. I have cabinets in the garage that prevent me from reaching in there. I did put a longer power wire in the hole and I will re-wire up the old motion detector lights soon. There wasn’t enough room on the same rafter for all these things.

I moved the security camera to the next rafter and discovered that the fascia is metal. I could just see the rafter from inside, but I couldn’t quite reach it.

I made great use of a grabber tool that we had laying around.

The only way to get to the space inside was to bring a ladder inside and close the garage door. Then I had to open the door to get out and bring the ladder back to the front. I did this about 20 times.

The camera has a casing for the Ethernet jack that is 3/4 of an inch in diameter. So all holes must be this wide if they are close to the camera. The normal Ethernet connector will fit in half inch holes or pipes. The trouble is that the camera had two other pig tails with the same length of wire: a power cable and a reset button. This makes it hard to fit the cable through holes and pipes like the PVC pipe I was using to protect the cable. In order to get the camera low enough to peek out from under the eave, I needed to widen the rafter make a place to screw the base to it. I cut some 2x4s into 4 inch lengths. Then I had to carve a path into the inside of the block so that the cable can travel through it protected until it gets into the PVC tube. I used my dremel with a sanding drum to carve a quarter circle from the bottom to the back side.

I connected the camera to the Ethernet cable and ran the other end into the hole. I used the grabber to pull the cable from the inside. The next big problem was to fit the camera’s plug through the PVC and into the hole in the fascia board and string it through the path carved in the 2×4 block and screw the block to the rafter and the base of the camera to the block and the rafter and pull the cable tight (but not too tight) from the inside. All at the same time.

I used a red plastic hole protector thingy to wrap around the wires as they went into the hole in the metal fascia. The casing that goes around the RJ45 plug has a rubber washer/gasket that has a slit in it, but it would have to fit around the strain relief of the Ethernet cable and it really doesn’t work. I will add some silicone caulking around all the edges before I paint the contraption.

Adjusting the view by watching on my iPhone app.

Reolink POE Camera Installation

https://reolink.com/product/rlk8-800b4/

After extensive research (there’s always more research that can be done) I decided to purchase a self contained security camera kit from Reolink. There are others that are better and more expensive. But I think this will do the job. Did it meet all my requirements? Nope. But it kept me busy for a few weeks installing it and I’m happy with the system.

  • ONVIF compatible – Not completely
  • Cost effective – Under $500
  • Wired – comes with 400 feet of cable
  • Phone app – Actually works pretty good
  • Configurable controls – the central recorder is a black box
  • Expandable – I can add 4 more cameras
  • Low maintenance – It sits on a shelf out of the way

I wanted to get a system that was interchangeable with other systems so I could get a newer cheaper camera in the future, or so I could use my current cameras with a new system. Almost all the mid range systems are proprietary, but I see this as a means for the companies to provide better and cheaper support. I think all the cameras can be used with other systems anyway, they are just not supported this way. I’d have to buy more systems and test them out to find out.

You can spend $1,000 or more on some systems. I was considering getting just cameras and using a PC to run the recording software. BlueIris is a Windows package that you can buy and configure how you want motion detection setup. It interfaces with other security alarm systems. I really wanted to use this because it would be fun to play around with it. But then I had to think about what computer to buy, where to put it. I’d have to buy a hard disk, buy windows to install on it. and let it run all day and night in the garage. I really don’t see that I need that much hassle. The NVR (networked video recorder) is a small quiet box .

There seems to be only one NVR that Reolink sells, whether it’s the 4MP/5MP or the 8MP setup. I had read that the earlier boxes had a noisy fan and I thought I might want to install it inside the house so that I could hook the output to a TV or monitor next to the TV. The box has no fan at all. There is a limit to how much bandwidth there is and 8MP (4K) cameras are sending over lots of high res pictures. I went with the newest hi-def cameras although some of the older cameras had some pretty good color and night-time performance.

I ordered the system directly from the Reolink website. I wanted to be sure and get the right kit and the latest version. The price was the same as on Amazon and they ship from the US. In fact, there is a 10% first time buyer’s discount on top of being on sale, so instead of the regular $529 price I only paid $429. I accidentally entered the wrong email address when I ordered so I didn’t receive any confirmation emails. I created an account on the website and sent a support request in. They got back to me right away said that they couldn’t change the email on the order or reconcile it to my on-line accounts. I ordered it on a Thursday and it arrived on Tuesday. I was very pleased. If you want to order any other cameras then add them to your first order for the 10% discount.

I dumped out the contents and hooked everything up on a table in the garage. I have a TV out there and hooked up the HDMI output on the NVR box. Everything worked first time. The cameras are solidly built and they get a little warm when plugged in. They have 24 IR leds for nighttime viewing that glow a little in the visible spectrum. I like the look because they can be seen at night watching you. One by one I installed the cameras, running the first cables back to my table and TV.

There were lots of little problems to overcome when running wires through your walls and in your attic.