Let's talk security camera options
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So apparently another business in our industry, locally, was robbed recently. They blew a hole in the wall and stole all their stuff.
This has my boss on edge, they want to look at security camera options.Here are some limitations and challenges.
- Commercial building is leased and we can't run new internal wiring or hook up to existing alarm system.
- Existing alarm system only has motion detectors indoors, nothing else.
- The primary feature the boss wants is taking "pictures" when camera detects motion and sending it immediately to their phones.
- Ideally we want to install a couple outside, and purely wireless and even battery powered would be acceptable..
- Whether indoor or outdoor, they would need infrared.
- Some advanced features would be nice, like setting a schedule, having "ignore" areas in the camera's view, conditions for when it sends pictures versus maybe taking a recording, or both, etc.
- Central recording isn't even required if they can use built-in memory cards, or record to our NAS or whatever.
Obviously there are a million questions and concerns with doing security. We are not trying to build fort knox, I understand the myriad of ways these systems could be disabled or bypassed or whatever.
The number one thing is simply that seeing cameras might deter prying eyes. If not that, then getting photos sent to phone is next requirement. After that, perhaps recording video to built-in memory card (I know that could be stolen or destroyed) so recording to internal NAS is also ok.
Wireless is necessity, as is potentially battery operated unless that's no good.We just want something fast and easy to get set up quickly just so something exists rather than nothing.
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Axis have always been nice, but generally not cheap.
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I know that Ubiquiti and Netgear both have options. I've not used either, though.
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Ubiquiti stuff is good. I know people using it all over. I have not used it yet myself.
Axis has long made good stuff.
Dahua is also a brand I know has been used to good reviews, but again not something I have personally installed or managed.
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I guess people do make wireless battery powered cameras too. This one is an option I found. https://reolink.com/product/argus/
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Digital Watchdog is one of my go to lines: https://digital-watchdog.com/
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Ubiquity, Watchdog, Axis, no battery units.
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@guyinpv said in Let's talk security camera options:
Ubiquity, Watchdog, Axis, no battery units.
If your camera's are PoE powered, your switch's power backup would then power your cameras. You'll want to take that into account when sizing your UPS needs.
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@nashbrydges said in Let's talk security camera options:
@guyinpv said in Let's talk security camera options:
Ubiquity, Watchdog, Axis, no battery units.
If your camera's are PoE powered, your switch's power backup would then power your cameras. You'll want to take that into account when sizing your UPS needs.
He wants battery because no running cables, because of stupid lease rules they aparently signed.
BAsically I doubt if they could even put up a battery powered camera. because the holes drilled to mount it would be damage too.
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I've set up Axis and Ubiquiti. I think Axis come in at 4x the cost by the time you add a license to the NVR.
I think the real struggle is going to be not running wires. Chris at Crosstalk solutions did a project where he tried to run a wifi access point via solar power. You would need even more power for the camera. I have no idea how you could do any of that without mounting it...
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@jaredbusch said in Let's talk security camera options:
@nashbrydges said in Let's talk security camera options:
@guyinpv said in Let's talk security camera options:
Ubiquity, Watchdog, Axis, no battery units.
If your camera's are PoE powered, your switch's power backup would then power your cameras. You'll want to take that into account when sizing your UPS needs.
He wants battery because no running cables, because of stupid lease rules they aparently signed.
BAsically I doubt if they could even put up a battery powered camera. because the holes drilled to mount it would be damage too.
Right, missed that. That seems like a strange rule otherwise the lessee would have to agree to only use whatever structures exist or power setup is in place.
@guyinpv could you be misreading those lease rules? Not sure how any business would operate under those types of agreements.
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Running the Ubiquiti cameras at a few locations. Some on their NVR and some on a Dell server with the Unifi Video software. No issues and very good video quality. Cameras are the G3 - both dome and bullet. Can't beat the price.
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Time to go to the leasing department and tell them you need an amendment to the lease.
Not able to run cables (which would only be ethernet (PoE camera's. . . ) is a bit insane.
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I would go with UBNT and the UBNT NVR - and never wireless.
I picked up a UBNT PoE switch just for this and the two APs here.
If you HAVE to use wireless - change the password before it hits the pole, and make sure it's complex and such...
PTZ cameras are nice,.. but more expensive... Most are now IR able.
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@dustinb3403 said in Let's talk security camera options:
Time to go to the leasing department and tell them you need an amendment to the lease.
Not able to run cables (which would only be ethernet (PoE camera's. . . ) is a bit insane.
Agreed - Depending on the needed work, offer it as an upgrade to the existing structure.
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I installed a 60 camera Ubiquiti system at the largest hog farm of it's kind (whatever that means) in North America. I like the Ubiquiti cameras, are there better systems out there, yes. Those systems cost a LOT more than Ubiquiti. So you have to way the costs vs what you need the cameras to do. I don't think you will get around the wiring. Ubiquiti had Micro cameras that were wireless but you will still need power for them. Talk to the landlord, express your concerns and try to get them to have someone install a system.
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I found only three potential options for completely wireless.
Ring Spotlight Battery, Arlo Pro 2 (from Netgear), and one called Reolink Argus.
Ya I don't expect much from a wireless camera. At best, if it's online, we'll get a few seconds of recording, maybe some snapshots, and an alert sent to our phones. That's all they are trying to cover on the cheap, with fast setup.
As for the building lease, I don't care. It's a two story building, metal studs, stucco, firewall between stories. Just a mess for wiring. A mess for drilling into stucco too. We are out of lease period now so boss is afraid to bother landlord lest they decide we have to reup the lease and wants to charge a lot more!
I'd love to do a full security camera setup here but with wiring and hardware it's many many thousands of dollars. And that might get in the way of xmas bonus, just saying.
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Are you sure that if you didn't put all of your time into your business you couldn't quickly turn a profit to what you're making now?
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I just got a UniFi
Video Camera G3 Dome for my household. Seems like decent bang for the buck, however, will need to put it through various real world tests to see how it performs. But yes, you would need to run Ethernet for PoE. -
I have about 10 customers with Ubiquiti Cameras and they all will need POE. I have a AWS Server and my friend setup an HTML5 RSTP Stream
http://git.hostiton.com/teamyamaha91/unifi-video-html5-embed
