(yet another) Installation / Wiring / Camera Question

[miggc 0]

Hi

 

First time poster.

 

I am working on a DIY security camera project and have done a great deal of research here at CCTV Forum. Thanks to everyone for a fantastic resource.

 

 

 

The house with the blue star is mine. The red dots on the South wall approximately represent the location of 2 cameras. There are 2 more cameras at same location on the North side of the house and one more each on the East (back) and West (front) sides.

 

There is approximately 4' of space between my house and the house on the North side. There is 6' of space on the South side. My house is longer than both by about 20-25' (the lot is 24 x 100). I am currently in the process of a gut rehab, so the walls are open.

 

I am looking for very small outdoor cameras. Given the proximity to the street I don't want the place to look like a Bank or Prison.

 

I have prewired with cat5 and 22/4, which together I can just barely get through the hole that was drilled through the outside wall (triple brick). The hole was drilled by an electrician on a tall ladder with a hammer drill. He is gone and I don't own either- so I am stuck with the hole size, which is too small to fit any wire with a connector attached.

 

Here is a camera that is the size I am looking for:

 

http://www.uspystore.com/low-light-varifocal-bullet-camera.html

 

I believe this camera may be a white label of one of these cameras:

 

http://www.vhtamericas.com/downloads/VHT-VB21HQSeries-Datasheet.pdf

 

 

The camera has hard-wired Siamese cabling (with what I believe is a Ferrite core attached).

 

In a perfect world I would cut off the camera connectors and wire them to my 22/4 and cat5. The 18/2 to 22/4 is trivial, but how do I connect the coax to the cat5? I know I can use a balun, but that would have to go in a gang box, which would defeat the 'small footprint' I am looking for. Can I simply splice the cat5 to the coax and then protect with electrical tape?

 

My other option is to remove the cat5 and put in rg59. This would work, but take a lot of time I don't really have.

 

The drywall goes up next Wednesday, so after that I will not have access to the wiring. I won't buy and set up the cameras until after the house is done (March).

 

Question 2:

 

I don't believe I need a zero-light IR camera. The North and South walkways are lit with motion floods, two on each side. The East and West sides have street lights nearby. Can I get away with a non-IR camera?

 

 

 

Given the narrow space (4' - 6') between the buildings it seems I would want / need a pretty exact focal length and so should buy a variable focal length camera.

 

My budget is around $200 per camera. Would the camera I gave a link to above be a good fit? Can anyone recommend something better?

 

Lastly, is there anything else I need to do / consider before my drywall goes up?

 

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

 

Cheers.

 

Mike

[Soundy 1]

I'd recommend this camera, personally: http://www.cnbusa.com/en/html/product/product.php?seqx_prod=1073

 

While not "small", these are fairly inconspicuous (especially if you can paint them to match the color of the wall or other fixtures, and certainly compared to a bullet cam hanging off the wall). They're vandal-resistant (try throwing a rock at your bullet cam and see how easily you can re-aim it from the ground), weatherproof, give excellent picture even with very little light, the wide varifocal range gives you plenty of room for adjustment... and most importantly, there's lots of room inside the back-box to make your connections (we use these baluns with them, they fit great).

 

While you're at it, you can make life easier on yourself by deleting one of the two wires you're trying to cram through the hole - video over baluns only requires a single wire pair, so whether you use the Cat5 or the 22/4, you'll have other wire within that same sheath for the power (and just for completeness of information, baluns DO NOT require UTP - Cat5 is most commonly used because it tends to be readily and cheaply available, and is generally more versatile for other purposes).

[miggc 0]

That camera looks great, thanks Matt.

 

Is it really a coin toss between the 22/4 and the cat5? I assume the wire gauge is pretty similar. Will the twist in the cat5 help protect the video signal from interference? My longest run is about 80', if that matters.

 

I just went from needing a wire to having an extra wire- nice!

[Soundy 1]

First few times I ever used baluns was on 22/4 station-Z wire, and that was just out of necessity because we couldn't have got coax to the locations (baluns ran $40+ *each* at the time, so they were something reserved just for such instances). Video on one pair and power on the other, works just fine.

 

These days, we use Cat5e for new installations almost exclusively, because it's easy to upgrade to an IP camera later, or to run multiple cameras over one line (two cameras + power is standard), and it means I don't have to carry around three or four types of cable in my van. I normally use the blue pair for video, green and orange for power, and leave the brown as a spare.

[miggc 0]

Is there an IP equivalent of that camera? I checked out their website and it seems all the vandal resistant IP cameras have IR.

 

Can I use a normal, dome camera outside? Like this one, for example:

 

http://www.cnbusa.com/en/html/product/product.php?seqx_prod=1180

 

Are there any pros / cons to IP? Better features? Are the DVRs more expensive?

 

Mike

[bike_rider 0]

Are there any pros / cons to IP? Better features? Are the DVRs more expensive?

 

Mike

 

IP cameras are going to be (a little to a lot) more expensive and usually do not do well in low light. OTOH, they can produce much better image quality. I'm moving from all analog cameras to IP (slowly) so that I can get high rez and use PC based software without a capture card.

 

what do you want to see on your cameras? General activity? Faces (not likely if the cameras are mounted high). Do you hope to produce actionable video or just want to know what is going on? Think about the area you want to cover, how much detail you want from that area and what lens size you will need to achive those things. Many (but not all) dome cameras have limited focal lengths - good for wide angle, but not zooming in.

[Soundy 1]

One of the great features of the Monalisa line of cameras (like the VCM-24VF) is their low-light capability, something that megapixel camera are notoriously poor at. However, you say you have good lighting (at least from the motion floods) so the camera you listed should work fine, with about 6 times the resolution. I haven't used any of CNB's megapixel cameras myself, so I can't comment on them specifically.

 

You may want to consider sticking with the analog cameras in the areas that just have street lighting, as it tends to be fairly low-level, and given the narrow space down the side of your house and the fact you should be able to zoom in fairly tight, you probably don't need the extra resolution that much (although it is nice).

 

Now talking about IP cameras in general (vs. megapixel, as there are standard-def/VGA IP cameras available), they do offer other installation options and flexibility, and if you're using all-IP cameras, you don't need an analog DVR or capture card at all, you just need a computer with the appropriate software. However, in your situation, and given that you already have things wired, I don't think you'd see a big benefit from using IP either. It would be a start, if you wanted to move to all-megapixel later, or if you just particularly like to be cutting-edge, but I don't think there's a burning case for blowing the wad on megapixel here.

 

You can't use just any dome outside; you do want to make sure it's weather-rated (IP65 at least), and vandal-resistant is usually preferable... the one you linked doesn't state either, although it does list outdoor mounts as available accessories, so I'd say it's a fairly safe assumption that it'll survive outdoors.

[Soundy 1]

IP cameras are going to be (a little to a lot) more expensive and usually do not do well in low light. OTOH, they can produce much better image quality. I'm moving from all analog cameras to IP (slowly) so that I can get high rez and use PC based software without a capture card.

 

Just to clarify: IP != megapixel. There are standard-def (usually VGA, 640x480) IP cameras available, that will typically have the same low-light capabilities as their analog equivalents.

 

Using IP instead of analog brings potential benefits of its own, especially if you have to use limited existing wiring (the ability to run numerous cameras over a single wire), or have to route cameras via internet, as well as other assorted advantages... and of course, it gets you beyond analog video's resolution limits. And if you're ALL-IP, you don't need video capture hardware.

[bike_rider 0]

IP cameras are going to be (a little to a lot) more expensive and usually do not do well in low light. OTOH, they can produce much better image quality. I'm moving from all analog cameras to IP (slowly) so that I can get high rez and use PC based software without a capture card.

 

Just to clarify: IP != megapixel. There are standard-def (usually VGA, 640x480) IP cameras available, that will typically have the same low-light capabilities as their analog equivalents.

 

 

True. I've written off SD IP cameras so much that I don't even consider them.