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Remodeling shop, seeking ideas on security cameras, wiring etc... — Parallax Forums

Remodeling shop, seeking ideas on security cameras, wiring etc...

W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
edited 2019-12-29 20:54 in General Discussion
My shop has been mostly emptied into a 26ft storage container so that I can rip out some extraneous walls and put in some insulation and sheet rock. Pictured below is what it looked like after filling the container.

I have a few hundred feet of Cat 5e and Cat 6 (Rg-6 too), I am planning to use the Cat 5e for some POE security cameras and the Cat 6 for computers and other devices. The longest run should be under 50 ft.

I would appreciate some recommendations on POE cameras - it feels like there is an infinite number of models/brands that I have never heard of. I suppose if I want to someday put in a fancy 4K PTZ, I should run the Cat 6 for that - but that would be in addition to three or four fixed cameras - which I hope would be content with the Cat 5e.

Now is the time to run the wiring in the ceiling and the walls, before they are insulated and covered up. Any other ideas on what to put in them?


Comments

  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,066
    These days, I'd just use wifi, but that's me.

    Unless you are in danger of being spooked, wifi is fine IMHO. At work we use CAT5 because we are in an Office building and wifi is not so fast when shifting 1GB+ video files around. Wifi suffers if there are lots of wifi users on separate networks nearby with lots of use, as they share common channels.
  • If you can afford it the best way to go is to put accessible cable channels in there with a rope in them that you can pull another cable in later (together with another rope).

    I used ABS Sever lines, because you have all the connectors, cleanouts and covers you need.

    This way you can add wires later on when needed, say you decide to put some sound system there or need some low voltage wire for a door lock, you know something you are NOT thinking off right now.

    You also should think about putting some waterproof outlets on the outside walls, way more easy then running a conduit around the house. (That one I missed doing and regret it now)

    Same goes for outside Lights, even just run the wires, switches and buy the lights later.

    But once it is closed up you do not want to mess with it again.

    Mike
  • Lots of good ideas above, but I don't have any clue as to your location. The Heirarchy seems to be NFPA NEC followed by state then local government bodies each superceding the last with the most restrictive as the final word. I would very highly recommend that you check to make sure that whatever you do you do not run afoul of the local building codes. Copy of the current NEC is pretty cheap insurrance at around $100USD for the PDF, there is a lot of misleading and plain wrong B.S. on the internet. I put in a hot tub a few years back, hired then fired the electrician and did it myself. The electrician did not want to pull permits and had a fit when I did. (His plan did NOT meet the city codes by the way) Permits applied for and green tag on rough-in and green tag on final. No fails, no reinspections. Why this story?

    CYA. If there is work that would have required permitting and it was not applied for and inspected, three very unpleseant things can result. 1) You go to sell the house and the inspection finds unpermitted work, sale goes on hold or lost until corrected. Also refer to third consequence. 2) you have a fire maybe not really related to the work, but maybe, you insurance company tells you to pound sand and you fight them for a few years before maybe they pay out. Oh, yes, number three may apply as well. 3) locality finds out somehow. First you get the fines and then you get to rip it all out and then do it all again with the appropriate permitting.

    Paranoid? Admittedly so, but still enjoying my hot for the last few years. No issues to worry about from any source down the road.
  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108
    I've been in the security industry for 35 years, 20 of them running my own company.
    Don't use WiFi for security cameras, Cat5 is just fine even at 4K you are unlikely to go above 50MB/s and H.265 is becoming more common so that will go down in the future.
    If you have Cat6 to hand then I would use that, almost all installations we do these days are Cat6, probably been that way for 2 years now.
    As for camera manufacturers, we use Axis, BOSCH and Hanwah Wisenet (formerly Samsung) and we don't use any Chinese manufacturers at all.
    They cost more but you get what you pay for.
    A large retail store deployment we did this year was professionally penetration tested and the company that did it threw up some advisory notices on the Axis camera Linux kernels.
    Within 2 weeks of notifying Axis they had new firmware that addressed all the issues for every camera in their range, that's worth paying a little extra for....
  • Not even sure of the point of cameras anymore because intruders tend to cover themselves.

    I am more interested in reliable intruder detection.

    I just received this TOF sensor to play with.
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    Mickster wrote: »
    Not even sure of the point of cameras anymore because intruders tend to cover themselves.

    I am more interested in reliable intruder detection.

    I just received this TOF sensor to play with.

    Good point. Best intrusion detector to use is the pir/microwave unit imho. Having cameras in a few locations would also help. Hard wired systems are better than WiFi/BT. A single cat5/6 cable can connect to several smart sensors to power the sensor and connect it to the main alarm panel.
  • I recently tried DroidScript and one of the demo apps is a motion sensing camera. Pretty cool. The author is a MCU guy and so USB-Serial is supported along with the IOIO-OTG. One way to redeploy an unused Android device. Keeping the SIM funded would allow text alerts, etc.
  • A 130 lb Great Pyrenees means you never need to buy cameras. Nothing moves on those 10 acres without getting a close inspection. Geese form the inner perimeter alarm (but would be messy in your workshop).

    At my office we use a mix of Arlo wireless and Samsung POE cameras, because the office cat just isnt much of a threat these days. A tripping hazard maybe. When the Arlo’s age-out, I’m going back to the POE cameras. They just work. The Arlo’s are kind of a toy... not so much a serious tool for security. The new POE cameras have an amazing picture.
  • Mickster wrote: »
    Not even sure of the point of cameras anymore because intruders tend to cover themselves.

    I am more interested in reliable intruder detection.

    I just received this TOF sensor to play with.

    We've used those to sense people moving in an indoor fluoro lit area. They work great, better than ultrasonics
  • @Tubular

    Oh cool. I have read good reviews. Don't suppose the driver is in the OBEX?
  • TubularTubular Posts: 4,620
    edited 2019-12-31 00:12
    Ozprop wrote a P8x32a driver for the shorter range (1m?) 0.2m version of the same chip. Ed: the VL6180X

    My memory is that he started looking at the longer range version but the registers were quite different and don't think that went anywhere

    The 4m ones we used were on an Arduino based platform. They worked impressively well, however
  • Mickster wrote: »
    @Tubular

    Oh cool. I have read good reviews. Don't suppose the driver is in the OBEX?

    For quick experimentation, Parallax have a ready-to-go version called LaserPING. Drivers are available in Blockly and Spin. (It uses the same driver as the original Ping, and also has a serial interface option. Easy to interface with PropBasic too!)

    https://www.parallax.com/product/28041


    (Apologies W9GFO for veering OT)
  • @VonSzarvas

    Same problem that we discussed not too long ago.

    Lots of us on this side of the pond would love to be sourcing more stuff from Parallax but unless Digikey stocks it....

    There must be a simple solution because I have purchased from @Cluso99 and other retailers in OZ and the shipping cost has been negligible and the import tax has been zero.

    It's not just a China thing.
  • Mickster wrote: »

    There must be a simple solution..

    Amazon or Mouser.eu
    There's a bunch of other distros too, if you google LaserPing.

    I take your point though, more generally.

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