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seems you did the work already , but i would have suggested going in to the stockroom , unscrewing a fluoro light off the ceiling and pushing draw rods through the ceiling cavity in both directions using the holes above the light fixtures , next pull from the attic side to lift the cabling upwards away from any power cables , then screw the light fitting back up to the ceiling. if you wanted to , make a new hole above the light , it will be hidden when you put the light back up. as long as it allowed you to push and pull cable in two directions to bridge that space ... end of problem

will you have any cams in the backyard along your fence lines , thieves may climb the fences at the rear through a neighbours property if they have less lighting or less security than you , or more trees for cover. also , if you have a high fence along the front , have you thought of one cam mounted inside the fence , recessed into the fence or gate pillar and pointing at the house , it may give you an all over shot that will show anyone hiding in a camera blind spot waiting for you to walk out of the house. i like the camera in the garage , but would use two , burglars have access to remote control scanners and enter through garage doors , garage door locks are not the best quality , so a pushbutton operated electronic slide bolt on each door prevents anyone getting past the door opener but you need to create access for yourself too of course when returning home. Den camera . good a thief might jack another guy up to a second floor window / door because some homes dont put alarm sensors on the second floor , alarm sensor and cam there is good. i agree with Scorpion re the camera angles at the front , it may not suit your building materials but have you thought of making up a miniature high quality camera recessed into a fake brick , the camera can end up being only 50 mm round x 70 mm long and if using something like Mintron MTV-83S85HN-IRVF with 256x SensUp , it wont require an IR array , it has minimum light level at 0.0014 lux and is quite a cheap camera , you can fit these in to a camera body made of 2 inch PVC pipe for mounting under a roof tile or next to an elbow on a stormwater downpipe. only problem in canada you will need a heater too ( only get minus 5 celcius where i am in australia ) i absolutely love making my own custom cameras . If people try the same they might want to use optical precision glass like Borofloat or similar. another option is to mount a fake exterior light on the wall which wont look out of place architecturally , but mount the mini camera board inside the base of the light , look at lights that are around in the shops already that will match your architecture , use one that is cheap looking and commonly recognised by the subconscious mind through familiarity , they wont notice it ! as scorpion has said , the eye can be tricked into missing a camera , if you mount it near " other clutter " The photo above where you want a camera in the top corner near the ceiling , have you thought of a matched colour triangle housing in the corner covered with smoked glass or window tint film , with a potted plant hanging below it ? potted plants can help to disguise a camera like that. i was going to post a picture here of a pinhole camera to mount behind drywall , but my technique for mounting is so damn good i dont want to give away that one just yet sorry. it needs only a 3 mm hole in the drywall ( we call that gyprok in australia ) , search for a Mintron ( again ) camera , model MTV-54C2A , take a look at it and use your imagination. have fun and good luck mark.

take the cream , ignore the rubbish. you are better to stay at home and clean up your truck than to run around doing a budget job for nothing the headache isnt worth it. i have heard the same game before too , Joe-who-doesnt-exist-said-he-will-do-it-cheaper quote to make a living or dont bother. there is better customers around ps , as far as profit is concerned , once we have good products sourced , buying in bulk does help with discount i have suppliers i have dealth with for years , i always pay them on delivery and they give me better pricing , people appreciate it when you dont make them wait 30 days for their money.

Soundy....... just had to say ............... great reply to his question. your first reply answered it , but i echo you with the photo. sigh.

i think you guys need to consider human psychology in your response. ( although i love scorpions response - that is a gem ) the guy is obviously infatuated / obsessed with you because of problems in his own life , so harness his weakness as your strength. what would happen if someone gives him a new target for his infatuation by dropping mail in his box from some other " anonymous individual " with a fantasy conflict. the guy will stop hating you , and might even want friendship instead if he feels threatened by someone else. for example , if he gets unsigned letters threatening " i know you have been sleeping with my aunty betty ......i am gonna get you if you dont leave her alone " or...... " we know you stole our swimming pool when you lived next to us in Vegas ...... we gonna git you " you wouldnt want him to know who put it in his mail of course , but i think you understand what i am saying. keep in mind though that the best way to get rid of an enemy is to make them your friend. and the best way to inflame a conflict is by damaging his cameras. i still think scorpions suggestion is an absolute gem here in australia , it is illegal to point a camera at someone elses property without their permission , and that also applies to a street or footpath. in fact if you go to the beach and take a photo of a pretty girl , police can charge you and / or delete the photo.

i agree with squelch to put the cam under the roof eaves on the right side looking at the photo. however. if someone comes over your back fence they could walk up the side pathway and smash the camera from behind its field of view. i might put a gate on the right side path , or another camera pointing backwards toward the rear , it discourages thieves or vandals from walking to the back of your house , if they were going to break in they wouldnt do it through a front window or door , they would walk to the back where there is no witnesses

BNC lightning surge protectors on the coax cable protects the DVR (see attached photo ) and lightning surge protector on the mains 110 V power before it meets the power supply. i suspect you got the spike through your mains power. Belkin and panamax both make fantastic units which will handle any lightning hit. there is also lightning surge protectors available for wireless transmitter / receiver antennas http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=AR3278&keywords=AR3278&form=KEYWORD BNC coax unit below [/img]

Scorpion , would you be kind enough to PM me with details about the in-car cameras ? i have interest in designing covert cameras to lift the standard over what is currently available. thanks. mark

My experience recently has been that the thieves are aware of PIR cameras , many house breakers rip down the PIR even if they are just conventional alarm PIR's where there is no CCTV fitted. so not only do they steal from the home but also damage the walls and wiring i install mini domes inside the home which of course are visible but will have already captured their picture on CCTV by the time they notice , also install at least one covert pinhole camera behind a gyprok wall panel which requires a 3 mm hole in the wall . see mintron MTV-54C2A another compulsory point which i have mentioned elsewhere on this forum , i prefer to use external HDD storage connected by USB or firewire which i hide in another part of the house , roof space , wall cavity or inside a safe so the video footage cant be stolen , otherwise the whole CCTV is worthless.

these domes which get invaded by spiders wouldnt have IR illuminators built in would they ? i have moved away from those and gone to either using cameras which dont require IR because their minimum illumination is 0.00004 lux in night use......... or i mount the IR seperately from the camera end of spider problem

ps if you use IR illuminators , it is useful to mount them seperately from the camera because spiders like to spin webs in front of the IR heat source by mounting IR and camera seperately , you dont end up with spider webs in front of your camera.

the cameras listed in the thread starter only have 0.03 - 0.05 lux minimum light levels during night use I have tried them , dont waste your time there are cameras , both Dome , Box and module board cams which go down to light levels of 0.00001 lux and 0.00004 lux you dont even need an IR illuminator to get brilliant night vision in pitch black with no moonlight. i wish i could post the model numbers here for you but i dont have 5 posts yet

Thanks for the quality engineering posts in this thread above , you guys saved me buying a book Mintron from Taiwan seems to have some extremely good products , such as day night cams with a minimum illumination of 0.00001 , and 0.00004 lux in BW mode , which they say do not require infrared illuminators. they also claim on the website to have developed a 800 TVL camera in 2004 , which Panasonic also did with their 800 TVL 3CCD. Another Mintron one here MTV-53MG4 , 750 TVL 1280 x 966 lines i can post URL's here now, so Mintron ( taiwan ) http://www.mintron.com What are peoples opinions about the 14 bit cameras advertised on their site ? if people are looking for high quality ; Mintron MTV-83SS80H-IRVF 540 TVL day / night camera requires no infrared due to extremely good sensitivity under low light. SAMSUNG also has the 1/2" CCD SCC-A2313 at 540 TVL @ 0.00004 lux minimum in BW night mode. ( but four times more expensive ). As has been mentioned by the gentlemen above , image quality depends on what we plug our cameras into , the Geovision cards i use now have up to 720x576 PAL ( australian standard ) and give a perfectly good image for residential and small commercial use , including LPR ( license plate recognition ). i am keen to learn more about digital , IP and megapixel cameras , they seem to have so much potential for refinement , and are becoming the norm for government and high security commercial installations here. Best wishes . mark disclaimer : i am not employed by Mintron or Samsung or any other manufacturer , i am just an installer and problem solver / designer.

in case people didnt think of it already....... if you have a DVR or PCI based security system recording on to a built-in hard drive , if a burglar breaks in and steals your computer / DVR then the video evidence is gone too so i use a 5 meter USB cable and external hard drive , and hide the hard drive in another location , such as in the roof or inside a wall cavity etc the video is stored on that external HDD , and is unlikely to be found by your burgulars , they usually just rip the cables out and run. if you installed CCTV because you are expecting your ex to hire a hitman to wack you , then make sure someone knows where the hard drive is located , otherwise the cops might arrive at your crime scene , unplug the computer , take it back to the lab and say durrr there aint no video recorded . if the above idea helps you , please send $ 9.95 consultancy fee to my paypal account .......