I’m sharing an image of my planned camera placement: https://placehold.co/600x400.png. Looking for feedback from others on this. What do you think of the setup and any suggestions to improve it?
I’d recommend checking out a tool like jvsg.com for camera placement and coverage. It allows you to upload your home’s floor plan and virtually place cameras to see exactly what they’ll cover. Best of luck with the setup!
@SentinelSanctuary
Thank you for sharing this… I tried using it but man is it a confusing tool to use. Maybe I’m not up to the task brainpower wise…
In terms of placement, this seems okay, but I have two questions…
- Where are the paths around the house?
- Have you examined the angle of each camera?
The garden plan is important to get a full picture because you might be missing a camera that will allow you to see how someone got near the house.
Have you already tested the total field covered by cameras according to your plan? For example, you think a camera will cover one door and a window, but when you complete the installation, you see that it doesn’t cover the window, only the door is visible.
@Earl
Thank you for this.
The paths around the house - that’s going to be a solid fence (not too high, maybe 4-5’) parallel to where the garage begins. So the camera in the bottom left of the image is meant to protect that window and would-be fence climbers on that side. And on the garage side I figure I have the Duo for the street side and then the other one on the back of the house protecting that door and potential climbers from the back fence (we have neighbors on all sides and the fence will be about 60’ from the house).
Not sure I’m answering your question correctly but this is what I’m thinking.
Re: fov - I have not, and tried messing with one of those online tools but found it too confusing. At this point I’m trying to go for good enough, based on not wanting too many cameras, and trying to get a good angle on the entrance. I figure I’ll be able to pivot the duos slightly where they mount, to ensure I have a good angle where needed.
@William
It looks like a good plan.
You can test one camera and measure its angle by setting a fixed distance, let’s say 10 ft, and then see the actual width and height of the fov, for example, it will be 7 x 7 ft. This will assist you in positioning the camera.
@Earl
Cool, thank you again for taking a look and the tips.
Reolink doorbell is a solid choice. Stay with that one.
As for the CX410. They are good enough cameras. Those will work well if you have very good lighting around your house during night and that applies to any color night vision cameras tbh. I would only swap out the cx410 for cx810 if the cameras were overlooking the streets or there was a long distance to cover. CX410 are meant to cover short distances.
For that same reason, I would use Duo 3 instead of Duo 2 if any of the dual cameras are facing towards the street or large distances.
That setup will do, if you are on a small budget.
If you have a big budget then you can opt for having Dahua or Hikvision cameras instead.
Also don’t forget to cover the left and right side of the home.
@Felix
Thanks for taking a look and this feedback, I really appreciate it.
I’m fairly flexible on budget - if I wanted to upgrade the CX410/810 to something from Dahua/Hikvision, what would you recommend for night time? I expect there to be a little bit of light but not much, and where I had planned for the CX410s are all short distances and not really looking out much at the street.
I really like the Duo Floodlights because of the integrated floodlights (really want the deterrence factor from the floodlights)… just less moving parts and wiring for me, and I’m at a point where I can run Cat6 but not more electrical wiring. AFAIK Reolink makes the only 2 camera + floodlight combo hence the interest. Where I’m planning the Duo Floodlights are also relatively short distances … the one in the front of the house is for driveway which is close to the street, and in the backyard the fence is about 60 feet away from the house and is bordered by a neighbor’s house, so hopefully not expecting too many visitors via there.
Re: left and right side of the house - there aren’t entrances on the sides (neither windows nor doors) so I’m trying to just have all entrances covered by camera.