[NA] Security Camera [NA]

[Caramon13]

I bought a rather inexpensive wired camera that I'm looking to setup above my door looking down at the entry way. Yes I know I could have gone wireless, but I hate replacing batteries and the spot I'd place it is pretty high up, so climbing up there and changing batteries out all year is not something I want to do.

I looked at the Ring products, none of which will work because I do not have a peep hole in the door and my doorbell is to the right when you exit the house, and rather low on the wall.

My problem is determining how best to wire this without taping an extension cord along the wall which would look stupid.

Here's the place I was thinking of putting it, and the black line shows the route the wire would have to take to get to the outlet:



The outlet is actually about 5 feet from the door near the ground, it's not directly down like it shows.

Any ideas?

 

[TCABM]

Though it doesn’t solve your video camera problem, you can Use a wedge kit similar to this for a side mount doorbell.

Alternatively, if you have access to the wall above the window, you can fish the wiring down from above and drill a small hole for access from the side.

 

[steingar]

I have a ring situated right next to my front door. We recharge it every so often, charge lasts a few months. Mrs. Steingar pays to have its film uploaded to the cloud, so if something does happen we'll have the footage. A nice bit of kit, actually. And it works as a doorbell.

 

[Rushie]

If it was me I’d pick a different location, pointing the other way to see the face of the person entering, and use wireless.

 

[Caramon13]

@TCABM Thanks, I may look at that again then. The doorbell is a bit low though, I was worried it wouldn't give me a real good view. I have tomorrow off so will take a look and see.
@steingar Thanks! Battery is definitely option #2, but I was worried about the frequency of changes..

@Rushie I have a second one that I was planning on putting indoors to capture that particular viewpoint. Wireless, cordless cams are great, I just hate replacing batteries..the cam that I'd be using in that location is wireless, it just requires a power source is all.

 

[steingar]

@TCABM @steingar Thanks! Battery is definitely option #2, but I was worried about the frequency of changes.

It's such a non-thing that Mrs. Steingar charges the device.

 

[James331]

Is this camera to know when you have a package or for looking at the weather or for security?

Because if it’s for security, talk to your local cop shop and you’ll probably end up saving your money and install a fake camera, most departments even if someone breaks into your house and you have them dead to rights on video, the cops won’t do anything.

 

[FormerHangie]

If I were going to install a camera inside my house, I'd keep the recordings local. I have no interest on sharing my personal life with Amazon or Google or whomever.

We do have a Ring doorbell and floodlight, and the recordings are on Ring's network, but they are monitoring my front yard which anyone can see from the street.

 

[Rushie]

I have a second one that I was planning on putting indoors to capture that particular viewpoint. Wireless, cordless cams are great, I just hate replacing batteries..the cam that I'd be using in that location is wireless, it just requires a power source is all.

I certainly understand hating replacing batteries. My pet peeve is the chirping smoke detectors that decide to tell me they need a new battery in the middle of the night.

 

[Caramon13]

Is this camera to know when you have a package or for looking at the weather or for security?

Because if it’s for security, talk to your local cop shop and you’ll probably end up saving your money and install a fake camera, most departments even if someone breaks into your house and you have them dead to rights on video, the cops won’t do anything.

James, it's sorta multi-purpose. We live in a gated community and don't have many problems with security. Mostly it's for deliveries, tracking when my son gets home, potential porch pirates, etc. I am not installing as a deterrent in other words, but I can see how a fake one would work in that regard.

Side note, I do also have a closed circuit system installed that uses a couple outdoor cameras with a DVR, but its not real advanced.

@FormerHangie Agreed..I thought about this for a while before pulling the trigger on it. I'm not keen on cameras monitoring the entire inside of our house 24/7. The setup would be pretty focused to avoid capturing the day-to-day life of me and my family. The cameras I bought use micro sd cards for local storage, but they also have an app for remote monitoring.

 

[Caramon13]

I certainly understand hating replacing batteries. My pet peeve is the chirping smoke detectors that decide to tell me they need a new battery in the middle of the night.

Yes! I hate those too..and they always go off in the middle of the night too don't they? Like 2 AM, never a convenient 5:30 PM or when I have time to replace them...I just recently replaced all of the detectors with new ones since the ones I had were like 12 years old..waaaay past the timeframe you are supposed to replace them. Hopefully those are more efficient..

 

[Rushie]

Yes! I hate those too..and they always go off in the middle of the night too don't they? Like 2 AM, never a convenient 5:30 PM or when I have time to replace them...I just recently replaced all of the detectors with new ones since the ones I had were like 12 years old..waaaay past the timeframe you are supposed to replace them. Hopefully those are more efficient..

Supposedly there are new ones that have a 10 year battery life. I’m not so sure about that.

In one of our old houses we had wired smoke detectors that didn’t need batteries. One night one of those started chirping! Mark was out of town and I had to deal with it by myself. I went insane trying to figure out what it wanted. I ended up ripping it off the ceiling, disconnecting it completely and STILL it chirped. When I removed it from that vicinity I realized the chirping wasn’t coming from it at all. There was a battery powered detector that I never knew existed on the wall hidden behind a door right next to where the one on the ceiling was, and that’s what was chirping.

 

[JOhnH]

I certainly understand hating replacing batteries. My pet peeve is the chirping smoke detectors that decide to tell me they need a new battery in the middle of the night.

Do like I do. Take your hearing aids out at night.
Of course though, my hearing is so bad I wouldn't hear the thing blaring a real warning.

 

[JOhnH]

Do like I do. Take your hearing aids out at night.
Of course though, my hearing is so bad I wouldn't hear the thing blaring a real warning.

Another (better) method is to replace your batteries occasionally. All of my smoke detectors are over 5 years old and I just had my first battery die last week. So I replaced all of them and have marked my calendar to replace them all again in two years.

 

[Rushie]

Another (better) method is to replace your batteries occasionally. All of my smoke detectors are over 5 years old and I just had my first battery die last week. So I replaced all of them and have marked my calendar to replace them all again in two years.

I’m an old curmudgeon who would just rather not have the damn things in my house. Don’t “flame” me (ha!) and tell me about the dangers of fire. I’m well aware. Doesn’t change my hatred for them. My philosophy is risk management by not smoking, not using space heaters, not overloading circuits, being obsessive about checking the stove and small appliances, keeping rodents away from the house, upgrading the panel as needed, not leaving burning candles unattended, having a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, not storing gasoline in the garage, and having two escape routes from every room.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Yes! I hate those too..and they always go off in the middle of the night too don't they? Like 2 AM, never a convenient 5:30 PM or when I have time to replace them...I just recently replaced all of the detectors with new ones since the ones I had were like 12 years old..waaaay past the timeframe you are supposed to replace them. Hopefully those are more efficient..

Also keep in mind that if yours include CO detectors, that they normally have a life span of like 5 years between replacement. I bought new ones for my home (4 or 5) and after 5 years or so, I had one keep chirping even after I replaced the battery. Turns out after googling the model instructions that the 5-yr period was up and it was time to toss it and buy new ones. So then I went ahead and bought replacements for the others since I knew they would be on their deathbed soon.

 

[Zeldman]

My pet peeve is the chirping smoke detectors that decide to tell me they need a new battery in the middle of the night.

When I bought the house I am currently living in, I bought 3 smoke detectors. I installed 2 of them, one in the master bedroom and the guest bedroom. A couple years later one started it is infernal beeping. I checked all 4 installed smoke detectors and could not find it. After a week of searching, I finally found it.

It was the one I didn't install and had put it up in the cabinet....

 

[-KLB-]

My philosophy is risk management by not smoking, not using space heaters, not overloading circuits, being obsessive about checking the stove and small appliances, keeping rodents away from the house, upgrading the panel as needed, not leaving burning candles unattended, having a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, not storing gasoline in the garage, and having two escape routes from every room

Do you also manage to avoid chinesium electronics? The more I see tear downs of various levels of electronics, the more I worry about less than well engineered electronics making it into the house. I’m adding smoke detectors into rooms that didn’t come with them from the builder, but have more electronics in them just for this reason.

 

[Brad W]

my wired doorbell is on the sidewall like that. Installed a Nest Hello doorbell and I've been happy. It's a wide enough angle that I can see the whole stoop, even down to the doormat and up to the top of our oversized door.
I can see out a bit into the driveway too, but not enough for my liking.

 

[Rushie]

Do you also manage to avoid chinesium electronics? The more I see tear downs of various levels of electronics, the more I worry about less than well engineered electronics making it into the house. I’m adding smoke detectors into rooms that didn’t come with them from the builder, but have more electronics in them just for this reason.

Yes, don’t get me started on that subject.

 

[mcmanigle]

@TCABM Thanks, I may look at that again then. The doorbell is a bit low though, I was worried it wouldn't give me a real good view. I have tomorrow off so will take a look and see.
@steingar Thanks! Battery is definitely option #2, but I was worried about the frequency of changes..

Depending on how the rechargeable ones work, there could be a middle ground: mount the camera up where you want it, with a semi-permanently installed charging cable down along the side of your door frame. Then instead of climbing up to change batteries or re-charge, you could just bring one of those USB charging battery things along every couple of months, plug it into the semi-permanently secured charging cable, and voila.

 

[Caramon13]

Depending on how the rechargeable ones work, there could be a middle ground: mount the camera up where you want it, with a semi-permanently installed charging cable down along the side of your door frame. Then instead of climbing up to change batteries or re-charge, you could just bring one of those USB charging battery things along every couple of months, plug it into the semi-permanently secured charging cable, and voila.

Thanks John, that's a good in-between suggestion. I got the cameras this morning so will probably be seeing how I can use some of the suggestions everyone has provided tonight or throughout the week.

 

[wsuffa]

You've already bought it, but you might see if it will do power over Ethernet and use a power injector at the point where it hits the router or viewing device. I use PoE on my wireless access points with great success, and would do the same with IP cameras.

 

[wrbix]

I recently installed my second Eufy doorbell cam (made by Anker so dependable), uses the doorbells power.. could conceivably extend wiring to mount the “new” doorbell wherever you’d like - would be much shorter run and smaller gauge than a charger cord. The view is wide angle tho so I think wherever your current doorbell is should work. Communicates to inside via BT and to your phone by WIFI
Approx 0.1 AMU on Black Friday

 

[Rene.]

I hate replacing batteries, too. So I bought the wireless one.
I use this WiFi doorbell with a security camera, it works fine so far.

 

[umiotoko]

Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide protector has a feature called "nightly promise" that checks the battery and won't alert until the next morning. Usually smoke alarms chirp starting at night: when the temperature drops the battery voltage drops.

Check out the Arlo cameras, they are cloud enabled like Ring, but small and can easily be mounted outside and run many weeks on battery.

If you still want indoor with wiring, get some low profile wire channel to hide the wires. Amazon: D-Line Micro Plus Cable Raceway Kit (or similar).

I run ~12 wired OnVif security cameras w/ Blue Iris. This is the definition of over achievement.

 

[GMascelli]

We use Amcrest, no issues, good quality. This is just one of many.