New system design - need assistance filling the gaps

[orbo 0]

Hello All -

 

I'm in the process of putting together a residential solution for my house. I have 3 primary areas to monitor - Front Driveway, back door and office area.

 

Some specifics on the coverage areas;

Front Driveway - camera will be surface mounted outside to house (upside down on soffit) ~16' high and needs to monitor a max distance of ~60' day and night.

Back door - camera will be surface mounted outside to house (upside down on soffit) ~8' high and needs to monitor a max distance of ~20' day and night.

Office area - camera will be surface mounted to ceiling ~8' high and needs to monitor a max distance of ~10 daytime only.

 

The solution I have assembled is as follows;

Dahua 8ch Tribrid 1.5U DVR HCVR7408L

Dahua 2Megapixel Vandal proof dome camera 1080p mini IP dome camera IPC-HDB3200C for office area (vandal proof is not required but comes with this camera)

 

And this is where I'm struggling. My understanding is that the range on most IR cameras is dismal at best and its often recommended that one should augment the IR lighting with an external IR illuminator to improve overall coverage. Additionally, my understanding is that the dome cameras tend to get reflection issues over time due to a (dust...etc) buildup inside the dome.

 

I am looking for recommendations for the Front driveway and back door cameras. Assuming my understanding is close to accurate, I'd like to take these items mentioned in previous paragraph into consideration. One last item I will mention, the back door area really needs to be a dome camera, the front driveway can be just about any solution...except that old British Security Knight from the Xfinity commercials.

[ssnapier 0]

For a 60 foot run about the size of a typical driveway I would use two of these and mount them 5-10 feet away from the camera if possible:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Univivi-U15R-WideAngle-Range-Illuminator/dp/B00NXYA0XM/ref=sr_1_16?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1417355801&sr=1-16&tag=cc4m-20&keywords=ir+illuminator

 

You could use the same model for the backyard, but it might take a test run to see how you want to deploy them.

[orbo 0]

thanks for your response ssnapier!!!

 

This next question is definately going to illustrate my newbie-ism but here goes anyway;

 

When selecting cameras, can I get just any camera and pair it with an IR illuminator to get night vision? or do I need to get an IR capable camera (nearly ALL of which come with IR LEDs) and figure out how to either remove or disable the IR LED's? I'm guessing its the latter of the two but I wanted to be sure. There is just something about buying and brand new item and "breaking" it to somehow make it better.

 

I'm leaning towards these two cameras, the bullet for the Front Driveway and the Dome for the back yard. I've attached a pseudo schematic if it helps to visualize.

 

Dahua 3.0 Megapixel Full HD 1080p Network IR-Bullet Camera - IPC-HFW3300CP

Dahua 2.0 Megapixel Full HD 1080p 12x PTZ high-speed Dome Camera Vandalproof Waterproof IP66 - SD40212S-HN

 

The IR illuminator ssnapier recommended would be perfect as I can mount them next to my existing flood light so its not very obvious

 

[ssnapier 0]

If a camera comes with IR's built it, it will see the IR from external units without an issue. I am not aware of any camera that has a night mode that is not IR sensitive. I would also be looking at cameras that have varifocal lenses on them (2.8 - 12mm is typical) so that you can adjust the field of view to get as much or as little of what you need in the shot.

 

Bear in mind that wide shots look awesome and work well for situational awareness but provide very little detail beyond a few feet. If you have a specific area you want to see you must be willing to make a choice. Either mount a second camera for the wide shot or just forego the wide shot altogether to ensure that you have usable video should it ever be needed as evidence or a crime.

 

Personally I am in favor of the two camera solution, but I am a bit of a CCTV nerd so I tend to go overboard. If you want a decent (and very reasonably priced) camera option, send me a PM and I will give you some more details.