wireless security cameras

[GSRinmyCRX]

i am looking to get some security cameras and was wondering if anyone has some suggestions.

the range needs to be about 250 ft max and go through a number walls before it makes it back to the house where the viewing screen will be. power at the camera locations in not an issue.

i am on a budget for this so the less expensive the better but i know the cheap china ones dont have the range as i have already tried and ended up stuck with a unit that wouldnt do what i needed.

any suggestions would be great.

Thanks.

Levi

 

[Trey T]

I've gone through it and it's unreliable. DON'T DO IT!!

I went from a $200 system to $2000 wired (POE) system.

 

[bmxdad]

Why not?
What problems did you have?
What system did you have?

 

[rlitman]

Reliability. You were told by one person not to do it. Here's another. Don't do it.
Anyway, WiFi is easily blocked. Just wire the system. Whether you use POE, or can provide power separately isn't that important.

 

[PeterT]

I know I've already asked this, but can someone recommend a decent NVR? I don't need a package deal as I already have a couple of the REOLINK cameras and like them. Just an NVR with or with a Harddrive.

 

[willf650]

I use a software on a PC called blue iris for an nvr. I like it but it is all I've used as it can integrate with my home automation system. It's about $50 and the phone app is $10. The phone app is worth the money.

I will also voice a vote not to use wireless and add the point of using a separate dedicated gigabyte switch if you have multiple high def cameras.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Denwood]

We've been using D-link PTZ cams for some time. They lasted about six years...but need replacing. This ones were just introduced with a firmware very similar to the D-links and the price/feature set is excellent. 702 customer reviews with 4.5/5 stars.

They allow uploading pics/video at 1080P to a variety of sources.including FTP. This means you can upload snapshots on motion detection events to any combination of: your own server, write to a local SD card,...or use their cloud service. The price with the resolution and feature set is hard to believe at $119 USD.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0145OQTPG/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[PeterT]

I am going to try Blue Iris using a PC I've got at home here. Thanks for the input.

 

[Falcon67]

Wifi signals won't travel reliably 250'. The devices may well be able to SEE each other, but actually exchanging data - maybe not. Motion Video is a pretty high data rate unless you are just storing snap shots every second or two. For consumer quality WiFi, 60~80' is pushing it going through walls. If any of those are brick or concrete siding, you'll lose nearly 10dB of signal crossing that one wall.

Another vote for a PoE camera. Run Cat5 and put the power block in the closet next to your home router.

 

[willf650]

I am going to try Blue Iris using a PC I've got at home here. Thanks for the input.

Download it and try it for free. I think it will run for a week or so with out paying for it. I believe the images will have a logo on them but you can see if it works for your application before paying for the license.

http://blueirissoftware.com/

I will say for a single camera any pc will probably work. I noticed my PC pegged the CPU when three 1080p cameras started recording simultaneously. I don't have a very powerful PC, just an I3 processor. I don't think that will be an issue in the real world. The only reason it happened is the fact I had all three cameras sitting on a bench while I was setting them up and walked passed them. Nothing bad happened and the footage still recorded but I would think you would miss footage if it happened for an extended period.

 

[Moss]

I used power line adapters to get network capabilities in my garage from barn. It was so easy and works so well I can't believe more people don't use them! My speeds are almost identical the garage around 200' from barn.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AWRUICG/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[mx500]

Dahua for NVR or cameras. check out the footage on youtube. I install much higher priced cameras for a living and have had these on my house and barn. 2 years, perfect resolution. dahua IP cams that is. You can get them on amazon.com

 

[TonkaJoe]

I'm having 4 Foscam HD wireless cameras installed Friday, I'll have to let you know how it turns out... they're 720P, H.264 video compression, motion detection, IR, PoE Rj45 port which transfers data and power with one cable. NVR, HD IP camera access, wireless access points at each camera, and Blue Iris software to view on the go with my cell.. Should be a great little system for my home and out building, the video quality looked excellent, can't wait till it's in!

 

[CT2012]

Moss, did your wireless camera have ethernet ports to plug in a wire from the power line adaptor?

Can you describe your system a bit more? I forgot about powerline adaptors for wireless, and that would save me a ton of wiring headache.

Thanks.

I used power line adapters to get network capabilities in my garage from barn. It was so easy and works so well I can't believe more people don't use them! My speeds are almost identical the garage around 200' from barn.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AWRUICG/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Moss]

I put put an inexpensive wireless access point in garage connected to that power line adapter. The camera does have an ethernet port but the adapter is right at the electrical panel so wireless from there out to rest of garage works good. I used the same settings (ssid etc) on the access point as my router so my phone just connects to whatever signal I am near with ease. My garage is all steel so wifi wouldn't work from barn to garage. I decided to try powerline and I'm sure glad I did! Saved me a ton of work.

 

[pmiranda]

"wireless security" now that's an oxymoron!
If it's worth doing, do it right.

 

[kart-racer]

I have been using wireless IP cameras for years.
I currently run 3 IP cameras and a TiVo Mini in my garage on WiFi.
One Ubiquiti NanoStaionM in the Media closet in the center of my house another NanoStation in the garage apx 150 feet away through several walls.

I stream HD TV and 3 full time IP cameras as well as WiFi for the garage computer with no problems.

Long distance WiFi is totally doable these days with the right equipment. The off the shelf **** from Best Buy etc will not cut it.
We have been using Ubiquiti WiFi products for years at special events to provide Wireless access for event media as well as long distance security cameras.
At one venue we have a feed to 2 cameras and a ticket scanner that is a bit over a mile out, has been reliable for years.
To the OP, if you get two Nanostations setup as a bridge you will have reliable wifi for your cameras. At home I use two 5.8ghz Nanos for my bridge to the garage.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0049AVWAO/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I also use Blue Iris at home to control my cameras, its the best software I have found.

 

[Falcon67]

If he's "going to shoot through a number of walls" the 2.4gHz items "might" work. If OP wants to use 5gHz units they need to be outside the buildings.

If we're talking "security", make note of failure points. Granted the typical punk probably doesn't know what a Ubiquity Nano is, but stealing it or whacking it with a stick pretty much disables your security right there. So they better be mounted high and the cable out of reach. Also note that you'd want to back up the internal security and support items in the shop with a UPS. Depends on how easy it is to cut the power to the building(s).

 

[kart-racer]

If he's "going to shoot through a number of walls" the 2.4gHz items "might" work. If OP wants to use 5gHz units they need to be outside the buildings.

Depends on the wall material. I agree if its going through metal shop walls, but my 5.8 Nanos are going through 4 wood construction walls with ZERO effect on the signal.

Don't know if you have used the product, but they are not your typical off the shelf ****.
We also use these indoors at a old concrete arena, going through several concrete walls..... They work ......

 

[Falcon67]

I use a lot of those products at work and have a couple at the house. One at home shoots through some Masonite siding, which isn't a big deal. I picked the 2.4 for a 400' run because I would be going through a few things, including part of a tree that could not be moved or trimmed. Also, they were cheap. Mostly the cheap thing. However, if I had better line of sight at the house to the target, I'd have used a sector antenna and nodes on both the shop and the far target. As it was, I pulled cable to the shop to get around earth obstacles.

I've got some concrete walls here at work that'll stop those signals. Try double cinder block filled with sand (old ROTC building). Also lots of plaster and lath in old buildings - pretty decent signal attenuator. The building I work in used to be a library and was built in 1947. The walls and floors are concrete + brick and are VERY thick.

 

[Trey T]

Wireless ip camera work but wifi connectivity is unreliable over one year I had it. I use my surveillance to have some protection and deter thief. Using high quality camera comes with many benefits especially for outdoor, like dome type

 

[Todd.Brock]

I had a Foscam outdoor camera. That thing was a total POS, impossible to get setup, the software may as well still in in Chinese. Total waste of 85 bucks and many many hours trying to get it and a static IP to work.

 

[GSRinmyCRX]

let me qualify things a little more. the idea of using a computer based system is out. this is for my aunt so that she can keep an eye on her sheep as they are starting to have lambs. my thought is to use a 2.4 ghz based unit and a wifi signal extender to help get the signal to here house.
i have read but have not been able to verify that a wifi extender will boost/ extend a 2.4 ghz signal. can anyone verify that?

Thanks.

Levi

 

[ez-duzit]

Will the wireless signal pass through a thin aluminum travel trailer skin?

 

[Trey T]

If you have to use WiFi, I suggest getting one w/ 5ghz

 

[75149]

tag.

 

[ishiboo]

I've gone through it and it's unreliable. DON'T DO IT!!

I went from a $200 system to $2000 wired (POE) system.

I agree. Went from a few WiFi cameras to a bunch of POE, very glad I did. Zero problems now. I actually switched to commercial APs and finally started hard-wiring everything I can again.

 

[Moss]

let me qualify things a little more. the idea of using a computer based system is out. this is for my aunt so that she can keep an eye on her sheep as they are starting to have lambs. my thought is to use a 2.4 ghz based unit and a wifi signal extender to help get the signal to here house.
i have read but have not been able to verify that a wifi extender will boost/ extend a 2.4 ghz signal. can anyone verify that?

Thanks.

Levi

Man, try the powerline adapter instead of the wireless extender like I suggested earlier. It's cheap and they work well.

 

[GSRinmyCRX]

UPDATE
i hook everything up this weekend and unfortunately the 2.4 ghz was not nearly strong enough. i think that the metal roofs and what not are really killing the signal range. i would like to go the power adapter method but the buildings and the house are on separate services and hard wiring is not an option.

i was able to get the signal from one part of the barn to the house so my next plan is to extend/ relocate the antenna with some adapters and coax cable.

Levi

 

[Denwood]

I set up three of these over the last few days: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0145OQTPG/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://amcrest.ca/prohdseries

There are a lot of features under the hood, 1080p resolution is excellent...surprisingly good for its price. Night viewing is quite good up to about 45ft. Getting remote access to them was a bit of a pain, but managed to manually port forward on the router (static WAN IP) and get everything working both for remote viewing from their iOS app, and FTP recording offsite. The video motion detection allows four zones, and all there are all kinds of scheduling options. If you're getting "under the hood" prepare to spend some time. I did end up spending some time on the phone with their tech support (I'm guessing India) to answer a few questions, and they were excellent, logging in to my PC using team viewer and sorting through my questions.

You can trigger on motion, audio, external alarm, or just schedule recording. Recording options are microSD, NAS, FTP and cloud based...and you can mix/match with different sources for still images and video. They're around $100..which is crazy.

This image is from the same camera and gives a good idea of the quality at 1080

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/txqbj24qT7A/maxresdefault.jpg

 

[TonkaJoe]

I was suppose to have a set put last friday but got screwed by the installer... he offered me my money back but still hasn't given it to me even after a visit to his home. This has been an ongoing problem since January.. excuse after excuse setting install dates then cancelling on me at the last minute. Just got the papers filled out to take him to small claims court if my money isn't back in my hand by tomorrow night. I've done a lot of looking on the IPcamtalk forum and received a lot of really great advice. Still looking for a place to buy the cameras and everything I need to do an install on my own.. its been tough to find a complete "kit" that I like without paying an arm and a leg.

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[fastbike02]

I have one from dlink that connects to my wifi and I really like it, I think it was about 60 bucks on ebay

 

[Pwrgeek]

I started with wifi. Ended up having so many issues that I hard wired all of them. The one at my gate (about 250') uses Ethernet over Powerline (HomePlug). No issues with it so far.


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[A**holes Garage]

I researched quite a bit before I bought. I realized wireless camera systems were pretty much worthless and performance is over stated. Costco and internet packages below $1500.00 for 8 cameras were pretty much worthless as well. And if you got a DIY package, support was non-existent.

I decided on a mid to high quality home system. I have a POE system from Hikvision. Excellent clarity and night vision, 24/7 connectivity, 10 day recording for 8 cameras. Probably not a DIY kit though.

I ran all the Cat6 cables and fabricated some custom mounts because I have a flat roof with parapets. Professional installer did the rest. Hikvision has a good technical support for their installers.

One of the cameras is for inside the house and is wireless, works great. Can switch to Ethernet if needed.

 

[CJ7VFR]

I set up three of these over the last few days: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0145OQTPG/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://amcrest.ca/prohdseries

...There are a lot of features under the hood....

I have two of these also. I have them inside my house, and they do work quite well for inside the house needs.

I like that they can pan back and forth, tilt up and down, zoom, and can be mounted right side up or upside down and have pretty impressive night vision.

I put each one in a different room in the house so that they can see all the doors and windows by panning back and forth. Also, these cameras have both a speaker and a microphone built in so you can have it with one-way sound (hear what is going on), two-way sound (you can hear and anyone in the house can hear you too) or have it setup for no sound at all.

Mine are the 720p versions, and I got the two of them from Newegg.com for just over $100.00 for both of them when they were on sale.

The cool part is you can use your smartphone, iPad, tablet or any other internet ready device to completely control the cameras from anywhere. And you can put a total of 16 of them on one network.

Now, I don't know if they would work out to 250 feet on wifi, but they do come with an eithernet port on the back, so if you got the powerline adapters and hooked up a short eithernet cable to them, they might work over that distance.

Jim

 

[TonkaJoe]

I researched quite a bit before I bought. I realized wireless camera systems were pretty much worthless and performance is over stated. Costco and internet packages below $1500.00 for 8 cameras were pretty much worthless as well. And if you got a DIY package, support was non-existent.

I decided on a mid to high quality home system. I have a POE system from Hikvision. Excellent clarity and night vision, 24/7 connectivity, 10 day recording for 8 cameras. Probably not a DIY kit though.

I ran all the Cat6 cables and fabricated some custom mounts because I have a flat roof with parapets. Professional installer did the rest. Hikvision has a good technical support for their installers.

One of the cameras is for inside the house and is wireless, works great. Can switch to Ethernet if needed.

Do you have a link or the place of purchase , something of the sort for the system you got? I'm looking for an 8 camera system as well..

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[A**holes Garage]

Do you have a link or the place of purchase , something of the sort for the system you got? I'm looking for an 8 camera system as well..

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I have an 8 channel POE system. Purchased it through a professional installer as the CCTV distributor (ADI) does not sell direct retail.

https://adiglobal.us/Pages/results.aspx?v=3320&m=b

All installers I called recommended the Hikvision. Good pricing, good quality, good warranty, good support. Avoid buying Hikvison off Amazon or Ebay, Chinese knock off on both sites.

Of course, your monitoring requirements will dictate number of cameras, type, etc.

My system;

1) Hikvision 8 channel NVR 2TB

3) Hikvision 3MP IP Vari Focal Bullet 2.8mm – 12mm
DS-2CD2632F-I

2) Hikvision 3MP IR Mini Bullet 4mm Fixed Lens
DS-2CD2032-I

2) Hikvision 3MP IP Mini Dome 2.8mm Wide Angle
DS-2CD2132F-1

1) Hikvision 4mp Inside WDR Mini Dome – Wireless
DS-2CD2542FWD-WS

 

[TonkaJoe]

I have an 8 channel POE system. Purchased it through a professional installer as the CCTV distributor (ADI) does not sell direct retail.

https://adiglobal.us/Pages/results.aspx?v=3320&m=b

All installers I called recommended the Hikvision. Good pricing, good quality, good warranty, good support. Avoid buying Hikvison off Amazon or Ebay, Chinese knock off on both sites.

Of course, your monitoring requirements will dictate number of cameras, type, etc.

My system;

1) Hikvision 8 channel NVR 2TB

3) Hikvision 3MP IP Vari Focal Bullet 2.8mm – 12mm
DS-2CD2632F-I

2) Hikvision 3MP IR Mini Bullet 4mm Fixed Lens
DS-2CD2032-I

2) Hikvision 3MP IP Mini Dome 2.8mm Wide Angle
DS-2CD2132F-1

1) Hikvision 4mp Inside WDR Mini Dome – Wireless
DS-2CD2542FWD-WS

Thanks for the info! I'll have to call around and see if I can find someone locally who sells these.. otherwise it'll have to be an online purchase I guess.

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[Git]

Thanks for the info! I'll have to call around and see if I can find someone locally who sells these.. otherwise it'll have to be an online purchase I guess.

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Talk (PM) Milkisbad on the ipcamtalk site. He sells 'rebranded' Hiks and a lot of people are very happy with him and the product

https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/257-Good-source-to-buy-IP-items-at?highlight=good+place+buy

Another option is to email Hikvision USA directly and ask them where you can buy. (They set up a special arrangement for me to buy from one of the big dealers who only sell to installers)

 

[bedn0009]

Nest camera's work great, but 250' is a long way