Recommend a security camera set up

In My Humble Opinion
1

Now that my mother has passed, her home is empty. I’m not going to rush to sell it. I may use it occasionally. Probably sell in about a year.

I live 100 miles away. So it’s not easy to just pop over to check on it.

I’m thinking about getting some security cameras that I could look at real time stuff. I know absolutely nothing about them. I would want wireless, a few inside, a few outside. Connects to the WiFi at her house I guess. And then I could just pull up live images on a remote computer or my phone. ???

2

I’m sure many people will suggest Ring or some other cloud-based service.

I use Amcrest wireless cameras and Blue Iris running on an old Dell desktop. It’s not completely wireless, as the cameras require power, but they use power supplies almost identical to USB chargers. (OK, they ARE USB chargers.) Blue Iris requires a subscription, but it does a great job with motion detection, video management, remote access, and other functions.

The exterior cameras can be a bit of a problem. You might be tempted to put cameras in your windows to view outside the house. This makes it easier to power them and not have to drill holes or run cables through your attic. Unfortunately, the IR illuminators will reflect back off the window glass at night. If you turn them off, you won’t see much. I tried a solar unit attached to the outside of the house, but I was disappointed in the run time even after a sunny day. I just bit the bullet and put a small POE switch in the attic, ran data cables to cameras mounted in the eaves, and then used a line-carrier system to bring the camera signals to my desktop.

My current system: three exterior fixed POE cameras, two exterior PTZ POE cameras, and two interior wifi cameras. All but two are Amcrest. Desktop is a Dell 3020 with a 1 TB SSD.

3

One possible solution for remote property monitoring is a trail camera that works off a cellular phone network. Some come with or have a solar panel accessory so you (theoretically, anyway) don’t have to trek over there to change the batteries. Make sure there’s a strong cellular signal for whatever provider the camera is joined to.

If there are indoor valuables to protect, it may be worthwhile to use one of the DIY security system setups along with a subscription to a monitoring service. There are devices that can be linked into such systems to detect (for instance) water leakage, which would be handy if a plumbing problem developed.

4

What are your security concerns? Break-ins? Vandalism? Storm damage? What do you want to be able to see?

While waiting for your reply, I’ll mention that we have been happy with SimpliSafe. I’ve had it in several homes. It’s inexpensive, flexible, and easy to set up, scale, and use. You can add and remove devices, including cameras, door/window sensors, and motion, smoke, freeze, water, and glass break detectors.

Monitoring is relatively inexpensive and can be suspended if, for instance, you’ll be living in the house for several weeks. You can also use it without central-office monitoring, and just use the in-house alarms, so there’s no monthly expense. I originally bought it for my wife’s peace of mind while I was traveling, so we’ve used the central monitoring only when we’ve been away for extended periods of time.

It requires no wiring, and is therefore portable. Once you’ve sold the house, you can take all the components and install them in your house, or a vacation home, whatever.

@ZonexandScout is right about cameras having to be outside, not looking through windows. SimpliSafe’s cameras use IR for detecting motion, so they won’t trigger when looking through glass.

The system uses an internal cellular module to connect to the central office, so a land line connection is not required.

I will mention that we’ve owned and used SimpliSafe for more than ten years in four houses, and in that time we’ve been lucky: we’ve never had an event that required it: no break-ins, fires, etc.

5

Thanks for the replies. I’ll dig into stuff.

To be honest, I’m not sure what I’m concerned about. The house has very secure security doors. And I will/did turn off the water to the entire house. That’s actually easy. I have two timers on lights to turn them on and off. I’m really not worried about any valuables. I did leave a pretty nice computer there, but plan to work from that house maybe twice a month.

One problem will be powering the cameras. The house was built in 1952 and is bereft of power outlets.

I guess I would just worry a bit less if I could take a peak once a day and make sure everything is ok.

6

Using POE cameras made my life quite a bit easier. There was a light in the attic already. I tapped in to that circuit and added a quad receptacle. The quad receptacle allowed me to use a 4-port POE switch (later upgraded to an 8-port) and a spare TP-Link line-carrier system for data. Then I was able to run standard network cables and drop through holes to the exterior dome cameras.

The two wifi cameras I use are not permanently mounted. They are pan-tilt units and they simply sit on their bases (after inverting the image through the set-up). I locate them as required.

In my case, I have two (big and loud) dogs, so motion detection would not be very helpful inside the house. The only time I use video motion detection is when I go on vacation and bring the dogs with me. The exterior cameras have limited motion detection zones defined.

The cameras both edge record (32GB microSD) and record to the Blue Iris desktop. I activate the e-mail feature when I’m away on vacation, but not when I’m at work. I do not use the front door camera as a doorbell and there’s no connection between my doorbell and the recording system.

The interior pan-tilt cameras were about $45. The exterior fixed dome cameras were about $75. The exterior PTZ cameras were about $90. I had an old Dell 3020 desktop, so I just needed a 1TB SSD and a copy of Blue Iris. I believe that Blue Iris is free to use and try out for a limited number of cameras. I have seven in total, so I bought a copy.