Home Surveillance

[Targa Me]

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for a wireless home surveillance system.
Completely wireless, no video cords, no power cords for the cameras.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
LE

[nota]

dog

[Aerkuld]

My dog has a lead though . . .

[lindbhr]

I just bought an Arlo Pro security camera. So far, it works very well.

[recycled sixtie]

I have had the blink camera system which is wireless, uses AA batteries which last for a couple of years. Not overly expensive to buy, no monthly fees and combines with the cell phone and app. Now distributed by Amazon.

[Jims5543]

I am using the Ring products. I have the door bell and a back yard camera, the door bell wires into the existing door bell wiring.

The backyard has a battery that can be recharged or, you can buy a solar panel for it (8"x8") and it maintains the battery just fine.

I also have one on the front of my office and I have 2 batteries for it, that I recharge, they typically last a month, that one gets a lot of activity.

They all send alerts to my phone and store footage on the Ring cloud just in case an event happens that I need to refer back to. Unless I tag an event they are stored for 30 days.

6

[PD41]

Ring is pretty nice. Got the doorbell and floodlight cam on the driveway.
Trouble free and great picture.

[jyl]

I use the Blink system. Cameras are about 3" x 3" x 3/4", completely wireless. Cameras have LED illuminator and microphone. There are two types of cameras, an indoor type and an outdoor type that is waterproof and also has infrared plus an infrared illuminator. The latest version of the outdoor camera has two-way audio, I don't know how well that works. Base unit is about the same size as a camera, needs AC power, connects wirelessly to your network. You can wirelessly connect 10 cameras to each base unit. When camera sees motion, it records a video/audio clip up to 60 sec and sends you an alert via the smartphone app, you can then watch the clip. Each camera's sensitivity and detection zone can be customized, as can length of clip and how quickly camera re-alerts for the next clip, whether illuminator turns on, etc.. From the app, you can also select a camera to see a live view. The cameras connected to the base unit can be scheduled to be on/off at various times, e.g. if you don't want the indoor cameras alerting during normal awake hours, but all those cameras will be on the same schedule, e.g. you may want to put outside cameras on one base station and indoor cameras on another, to have two different schedules.

Pros:
- Easy setup.
- Easy scheduling.
- Affordable, about $99/camera if bought individually, and less in bundles.
- Clips stored in cloud, no fees. Can download a clip to phone then email it. I've had a hundred clips recorded and only used 15% of my allotted storage. Easy to delete all recorded clips, or select clips to delete.
- Good battery life (2 AAs, I get about 6-12 mo if the camera is activated a lot, >>12 mo if a camera only activates a few times a day).
- Cameras seem pretty reliable. I have eight cameras and two base stations, and after a few years of use, only one camera has failed (an indoor camera used outside, maybe it got very wet).
- The indoor cameras survive fine outside if protected from direct rain, e.g. under an eave. They work fine in the cold, though doesn't get below 10F here.
- The app also displays ambient temperature at each camera.
- Being totally wireless is convenient. You can stash them in potted plants, bookcases, even mount one in your car and it will connect to the base station when you're parked by the house (but see range comment below).

Cons:
- Image resolution is good, not great. In visible light, image is fine for faces and general surveillance at moderate range, not good enough to read a license plate 50' away. Infrared has lower resolution.
- Wireless range is limited. From camera to base station can be 50' if not much is in the way, further or more obstructions (concrete, brick, metal) may or may not work. From base station to your wireless access point similarly can be 50' pretty reliably, further may or may not work. The range is the biggest "con", wish the cameras/base station had provision to add an external antenna. However, I've installed a mesh network so no part of the house is more than 30' from an access point.
- Not completely stealth. The cameras are fairy unobtrusive but they have a blue LED that illuminates when the camera is recording, they are not meant for "spying". However, you can put something (postcard,etc) over the camera with a little hole for the lens, and can tape over the LED. Of course, if the visible light illuminator is on, that's going to be noticeable.
- The app isn't always immediately responsive, sometimes you'll get a brief "system is busy" delay, e.g. if you change a setting then immediately try a live view. It seems like part of the low-power design is the system doesn't multi-task too well.

This system is not meant to record continuous surveillance video all day. Not feasible to do that on battery power. It works well for us - where-ever I am, I know if someone is walking up to my house or walking around inside my house during the period when I've scheduled the cameras to be active. When I'm out of town, I change the schedule to 24/7, which can be done from the app.

My system is a set of cameras outside the house watching all exterior doors and the driveway plus one in my garage, and another set of cameras inside the house watching the entrances.

[Hugh R]

If you get a ring doorbell, you need to check the voltage of the old doorbell transformer. Not expensive, but you need the right voltage transformer,

[GH85Carrera]

I started on a path of home surveillance for outside only. I will not have cameras inside the house. If the IRS, FBI, CIA and Apple can be hacked, I can too.

Anyway, I ended up looking at many systems from doorbell cameras the high dollar systems. In the end, I decided one of the features I wanted was a DVR to see what happened earlier, and maybe a day or so before. To see what is happening right now is good, but can you capture a high definition recording of the event?

I ended up with a DVR system and 4 outdoor high def cameras. My system is made by Alibi. The cameras are powered by Cat5A with power over IP cameras. It all runs through a standard network switch.

A few weeks ago as I went to take the trash to the curb I noticed a few rocks out of place on our dry stack flower bed in the front yard. One of them had evidently been knocked off and dropped onto the driveway leaving a small scratch in the concrete. It took my 2 minutes to restack them and no real damage was done except for a small scratch in the driveway that is now hidden after the rains.

I wanted to find out who had hit the wall. It was easy to back up a day at a time until the bricks were out of place, and then a few hours at a time. Within 5 minutes I had the answer. The pizza delivery guy had passed our house, and backup up into the driveway, and thump. He picked up the brick knocked off, and did and poor job of putting in back. I could easily read the license plate, and the delivery plackard on top of the SUV. He was likely a college freshman and driving him mom's SUV. It did more damage to the SUV than the wall. I could be a dick and get him in trouble, but it was not worth it for a small concrete scratch that is hidden now. Hopefully he learned to not back up into driveways.

My system was not that expensive. I am too lazy to look up the price, but it was 5 or 6 hundred bucks all in. I can expand it to add more cameras, but 4 is fine.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Targa Me

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for a wireless home surveillance system.
Completely wireless, no video cords, no power cords for the cameras.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
LE

If one thing has been discussed thoroughly here, this subject would be it.

[porsche4life]

I have a ring alarm and doorbell. Easy to setup and monitor from my phone. Going to add at least one more camera soon. Nice thing is you can use the motion sensors on them to trigger formulas in IFTT. For example, if ring senses motion, turn on the porch lights.

[Chocaholic]

I have this:



Problem solved.

[A930Rocket]

We have the Blink system. Seems to work ok but I notice that it doesn’t pick up movement soon enough. Maybe I need to adjust the sensitivity?

[jyl]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

We have the Blink system. Seems to work ok but I notice that it doesn’t pick up movement soon enough. Maybe I need to adjust the sensitivity?

Adjusting sensitivity helps. There will be a short lag from motion to start of recording, but I find its less than a second.

[jyl]

I find its good to pair an outside camera with a motion activated security light. The camera will get a better image at night if the subject is nicely lit up.

I bought some solar powered motion lights, but haven't found a brand that lasts for more than a couple years. The battery packs seem to die and they are not standard batteries.

We have a problem with prowlers, petty theft and burglaries. I've recorded people searching my porch at night, stuff has been stolen from the driveway, people search my recycling bin, my wife's car has been ransacked, and two neighbors have been burgled in the past few years.