Anyone do a security camera type system based out of home and shop?

LittleBill21 · Oct 30, 2019

are you doing motion tracking recording only? if you are what stream rate are you doing and what cpu is in your computer and what load does it sit at?

tomplum · Oct 30, 2019

The wife and I were discussing this earlier. She is more techie than I. She had thought that we could get a POE switch as the CAT5 cable enters the shop that could detect if the port used the POE or not then split that into the WIFI router and cameras. She mentioned that there is another Ubiquity access point in a box somewhere which may simplify the shop WIFI and keep it on the same network. I think that we will likely get the Reolink NVR and camera set up. Likely 5 MP. Someone mentioned the Ubiquity cameras too, but I have delved in yet to check them out.
Her son who set our network up 4-5 years ago was brilliant, among other things. He worked for a cable company and set up call centers with all the tech stuff. He's passed now and missed in many ways.

dlctcg · Oct 30, 2019

tomplum said:
The wife and I were discussing this earlier. She is more techie than I. She had thought that we could get a POE switch as the CAT5 cable enters the shop that could detect if the port used the POE or not then split that into the WIFI router and cameras. She mentioned that there is another Ubiquity access point in a box somewhere which may simplify the shop WIFI and keep it on the same network. I think that we will likely get the Reolink NVR and camera set up. Likely 5 MP. Someone mentioned the Ubiquity cameras too, but I have delved in yet to check them out.
Her son who set our network up 4-5 years ago was brilliant, among other things. He worked for a cable company and set up call centers with all the tech stuff. He's passed now and missed in many ways.

Sorry to here of his passing....

You can get a PoE switch for the shop area, as I stated in my earlier post, but it might be more cost effective if the cameras come with the PoE Injectors to use them if you are only doing 2 cameras in the shop... It really is just a preference...

The PoE switch needs to be in the shop... you can not have it in the main house & power all 4 cameras with it; it will only sense a PoE device that is directly connected to it via a direct cable connection not through another switch....

However..... If you have another Ubiquity Access Point.. then a PoE switch in the shop will most likely make sense there.... connect the new PoE 10/100/1000 switch to your existing Cat 5 run in the shop & let the switch power the Ubiquity Access Point & your 2 PoE Cameras... Configure everything on the same IP range & make all your SSID's on all your Access Points the same... (You really only want an Access Point in the shop... you mentioned router earlier)

tomplum · Oct 31, 2019

Thank you for the thoughtful insight. I'll take this to the boss!

AllDodge · Oct 31, 2019

I thought about running cat5 from house to shop but read in other places years ago that lighting could be an issue. A nearby strike could take everything out. I have a second router sitting in a back window and wireless card with external antenna in the pole barn. Drilled a hole and have the antenna mounted outside the building, has been no issue for years

LittleBill21 · Oct 31, 2019

nothing is really gained by a poe switch if the camera's come with injectors, the ability to reboot them remotely, but thats about it. and maybe some cleaner cables since there are no injectors, for you i don't feel a poe switch is worth the cost.

mike48130 · Oct 31, 2019

With IP cameras, you need to look at the streaming data usage for the camera and the wifi together. 5MP cameras can use up to 512mps each since they actually broadcast multiple streams. I had 4 cameras on one 100MPS switch, and the cameras would drop out when all 4 were seeing motion. You might only have 2 cameras, but you need to add what you are doing with your WIFI to it.

I have a similar setup as you, but I ran 2 Ethernet lines to the barn, one dedicated to the cameras.

I like the Dahua cameras and NVR. The 5216 NVR (Amazon) has 16 POE ports on it so you can plug the cameras directly in or go thru the router. The Dahua 6MP dome cameras have mics built in so you can record audio. Very nice feature. Some people say that is illegal, but I say if you don't like it stay off my property. I would get a NVR with more ports than you think you need. I use spare cameras all the time as temporary, or they are also good for monitoring things when you are not around, like your basement for flooding, or your sump pump. I have a WIFI sump pump monitor and added a camera so I can see real time what it is doing if I have a concern. I travel a lot so these things matter to me.

I have had good luck with the BV-Tech POE switches on Amazon. They may make them with a gigabit uplink for your line back to the house. If you only have 2 cameras, plug the wifi router and cameras into the gigabit POE switch and you should have no issues as long as you have a gigabit switch at the house side.

tomplum · Dec 10, 2019

Thought that I should post an update. We grabbed a Reolink 5MP 8 channel NVR with 4 cameras initially. Now we have 8, though one is a floater so to speak and isn't currently hooked up. One camera is a PTZ which is real sweet. She removed my wireless router in the shop and installed a POE switch. We have 2 bullet cameras and that PTZ that run through that switch. Through that the wireless access point that we had laying around makes a seamless internet. I'm a total noob at this, but I like the cameras very well. The Android and IOS apps do well, the windows client not so much. It is kind of clunky. Maybe it is in part running the 3 cameras through the switch as it kind of breaks 2 of the cameras up into it's own system kind of in the device list. Which is odd as all you have to do is shut the 2 off and you still get all 8 cameras in the feed via the device list. I can see why people dedicate a PC and set up the Blue Iris for there cameras.

HillStreet · Dec 10, 2019

bdog said:
We have 5 Arlo wireless cameras at our house. One is out on our shop maybe 100 behind the house and one is in our driveway about 75 from the house. They work great. Nice app for the phones to monitor them. The only downside is charging the batteries once a month or so. They have the capability to be hardwired to power I just haven稚 got around to it yet.

I have three Arlo cameras that I installed prior to our long road trip in October. Covers all the bases. It was very refreshing to be away for more than 2 weeks and see all is well at the house. All we really want is to have film so police can make an arrest whatever that means today. Still on original charge two months and lowest is 62%.

bunyip · Dec 10, 2019

I discovered some years ago that there is CAT5 and CAT5, I wired our place and lost signal over a run of about 30', turned out it was the rebadged CAT5 with massive loss, I replaced it with a well known one, I think it was Belden, no problems since.