Home installation

[galen 0]

I've got a question for you guy's. I had a home owner that was burglarized last week and now wants a video security system. The bad guys ram sacked the place pretty good. The first thing the customer ask me is where would you put the DVR so they won't take it also? Do any of you prefer a hidden place or secure box or should I suggest a false door in a closet?

[cachecreekcctv 0]

Hey, that's a tough question. Unfortunately, I run into that all the time since the majority of installs I do are residential.One reason I switched over to the smaller Avermedia DVR's. Most homeowners want to be able to access their DVR's just like their DVD players, VCR's , etc. with remote controls at their fingertips. The first time someone asked me about that, I built my own DVR "lockbox" for them. Took me way too much time to build, as I built it out of diamondplate mild steel, and had to mount it so that the IR from the remote control would still work, and had to put a fan in it, to keep it cool. I made more on that job than the camera install!! I did eventually find a box that would work at Walmart. Heavy duty, just had to install a 120vac fan and weld some "tabs" on the outside to mount to the wall. Someone could still pull it off, but it would take them quite awhile. You just need to remember that the DVR box needs to be kept "vented". Will try to remember what the manufacturer name is and post it.

[galen 0]

Thanks for the response. You say you got it a Wally World?

[cachecreekcctv 0]

In fact, I have to take my daughter over to Wally world tomorrow to look for a new DVD player. I will look and try to remember where I got the lockbox. I know it was not designed for a DVR, but, from what I remember, it fit an Avermedia perfect, expect for me adding a small cooling fan and welding 4 small tabs onto the back of the housing. I actually remember finding it by accident, in the sporting goods section (I think). Will post name when I find it again.

[rory 0]

i wish i could go to Wally World

Short of catching a plane over there ..

 

what type of box was it?

[galen 0]

If I could weld the tabs on 16" centers then that would work. I'd lag bolt that baby in so that it would take too long to jack with. My customer said he didn't think they were there very long. 20 minutes at most.

Edited April 22, 2007 by Guest

[CollinR 0]

If I could weld the tabs on 16" centers then that would work. I'd lag bolt that baby in so that it would talk too long to jack with. My customer said he didn't think they were there very long. 20 minutes at most.

 

One of my bombproof options fits between studs, so you just recess it into the wall also makes fising wires tons easier. I'm working on another much cooler one but I'm not talking till it's ready.

[galen 0]

Oh come on Collin, let the cat out of the bag!

[scorpion 0]

I feel your pain!

 

I had a customer with a request for a hidden DVR. We came up with the idea of going in to the laundy room and taking all of the shelves out of the closet (actually a Pantry). The area was ideal construction wise. We tore in to the drywall and built a wooden box. All of the componets are parked here and we are using a Xantech IR repeater system. A piece of dry wall was screwed in at the 4 corners over the hole, and the shelves are put back in, and the paper towels and can foods hide it very well. The IR "receiver" is hidden behind a tv, and you can access the DVR from here.

 

This is in a high rise condo and there is no attic space, no crawl space, and in fact the ceiling is concrete which is the floor for the space above! I got very lucky running my wires through this condo. I was able to pull all of the electrical lights out along a chase and I tore through the ceiling in a closet and down the path I pulled a fart fan out of a bathroom that allowed me access until I got to the laundry room. Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

On other installs I have hidden a DVR in a master closet, and I have used a pawn shop VCR as the evidence bait. I just have some wires from a multiplexor going in to the wall and thats it. Thank god for low voltage retro trim rings, and wall plates!

[Scruit 0]

I have a DVR lockbox that I got used from eBay for $50. It's a purpose built VCR/DVR lockbox with ventilation slits and a 120vac fan. It's big enough for the DVR and the UPS. The wires from the cameras terminate at f-type wall plates, look like cable tv outlets just with 6 per plate, right under the lockbox. Some are cameras going in, some are video signals being forwarded to the TVs in the house, one to my computer which then records a set of 1fps backup images to a standalone firewire HD that is hidden.

 

On top of the lockbox is a cheap $40 VCR with a tape in it that says "CCTV TAPE #17" on it and jsut sits there. The hope is that if this area is discovered they'll either be stupid enough to steal just the vcr, or at the very least they won't be able to steal the DVR. That lockbox is lag-bolted to 3 studs on two sides. I can sit all my weight on it, it's that strong.

 

Even if they do manage to rip it off the wasll or pick the lock/crowbar it open... They might get away with the DVR and the computer but the backup images are saved to that hidden hard drive.

 

And even if they find that, I FTP an image of the 9-way split to a server in another location 20 miles away from here every minute, so at least I'd get occasional snapshot up until they wreck the DVR.

 

Oh, and all the time they're working on my DVR I've already been alerted to the burglary by the alarm company and told them to step up the police response to 'active burglary' based upon the images I can see remotely of their car in the driveway or garage, or the CCTV system suddenly going offline a couple minutes after the burglary alarm.

 

I'm looking for a way I can dial in to my phone and hit a couple of keys and listen in to a microphone in the house... That would help me tell if it;s a false alarm.

 

Did I miss anything?

[scorpion 0]

When your burglar alarm is activated it will seize the telephone line (if it is installed correctly), and you will not be able to dial your house and listen in. Do you have a secondary line such as for a fax machine?

 

In the U.S. spy shops they have a telephone that is called a Tele- Spy.

Before you leave your house you pick up the phone, dial your cell phone, and hang up. When the phone detects motion it dials out. When your cell phone rings you are listening in to your house through the handset's microphone or mouth piece. The variable to this is your alarm company seizing the line. How long does this time out? What about the monitoring company calling back? A second line would be great for this phone!

 

I have tested this phone and it works great! I am really impressed for a "gadget". I don't forsee the CIA using this but that would be ironic would'nt it?

 

Yes this is used by the my wife/husband is cheating on me crowd so in most cases their is no expectation of privacy. If you are using this device illegally than you can suffer the full wrath of the law. 25 years will really suck!

 

SCRUIT you have a back up for every back up! You soon will be designing for the Space Shuttle and for NASA! Ha! Ha!

[Scruit 0]

Hey, I just thought... My alarm went off the other day and while I was talking to ADT on the phone I could hear the alarm trying to dial. That's not right, huh?

[Doug 0]

If you have two lines lines and are talking on a two line phone then sometimes you may hear the alarm faintly, but if you only have one phone line in the house the phones should be dead while the alarm is communicating. It sounds like you don't have line seizure, the RJ31/38 jack is probably installed incorrectly.

 

Hey, I just thought... My alarm went off the other day and while I was talking to ADT on the phone I could hear the alarm trying to dial. That's not right, huh?

[rory 0]

Hey, I just thought... My alarm went off the other day and while I was talking to ADT on the phone I could hear the alarm trying to dial. That's not right, huh?

 

Thats normal without line seizure, as it is sending additional signals to the CMS, probably a disarm signal in your case.

 

Line seizure will disable your phone line while the alarm signal is sent.

But it has to be setup like that at the alarm panel by the installer.

Its actually annoying to some and down here its typically left disabled.

[CollinR 0]

In OK there is a fine that goes along with improper line seizure. I know the CS won't activate my accounts until seizure has been demonstrated.

 

If you want it fixed post it and a pic of the inside of your demarc and the RJ31x jack inside or on the alarm's can.

 

 

 

 

If this isn't done right all the bad guy has to do is knock a phone off the hook.

[rory 0]

well all they actually have to do is cut the wire from outside

Thats why we use Radio Primary down here and phone secondary

[galen 0]

This guy is in the country with three neighbors that are gone durning the day. He's a sitting duck on smooth water. He doesn't want an alarm, he wants a video system. I guess putting the dvr in a steel box with a decoy vcr with a dummy tape init that has a short clip that says your caught MF'er.

[scorpion 0]

Alarm companies hate it when customers switch from land line phones to VOIP phones.

 

You know you have a good dealer when he checks his customer data base every day and calls you and asks about your dead phone. It will appear dead to him because your alarm has not "checked" in to the monitoring company.

 

I cannot say all but most cable installers do not connect up to the alarm at all. They set up the "box" and plug it in to the first wall jack they see, pick up an extension and say yep you got phones!

 

If you are a cable installer I am sorry. In these parts the cable company hires out "subcontractors" and the subcontracting company hires people all of the time. The good ones become managers and the "lost" new employee is not making any money because they have to do 8 installs a day just to barely make any money, and most likely they are delayed and dont do 4 installs. Given time they become good but they still dont care about the alarm panels.

[CollinR 0]

When someone teaches my panels to talk I'll consider VoIP.

[rory 0]

LOL .. well alarm, camera, locks .. wont really help .. nothing is 100% .. time to get proactive and get a machete and a gun and start going rambo style up in there ..

 

Voip .. nah wont work down here ... we have decent broadband but too many occasional down times .. besides what good is any of that when the CMS staff is trying to reach the cops but the emergency system is down .. again!!

[scorpion 0]

Hey Rory..

CMS Is this a monitoring company? Is this the one located in central FL?

[rory 0]

CMS, just short for Central Monitoring Station .. could be anywhere

the down time I was referring to is down here in the Bahamas ..

[scorpion 0]

With all of the tourist dollars coming in your goverment will be installing fiber from the continent U.S. to the Islands!!!!

[rory 0]

thats done, years now actually, the local cable company is to do with Caribbean Crossings. But lots of other issues arise, some come from the connections in Florida, but most are local.