Modern Vespa

I have a 2000 square foot building on my property filled with lots of valuables so I need to get a surveillance system.

Should I get wired or wireless cameras? Should the cameras be be hidden or prominent and displayed. Maybe even get a sign that says something to the effect of "video surveillance system in operation". The building is too far away from my home router to use that unless I get some kind of extender. I would need to have a DVR in the building and any thieves could follow camera wires and steal that too.

Any other suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks

Perimeter presence sensors.

Do you have a sense of budget? For a relatively low cost option, I've played with free software called MotionEye OS that can be used on low cost mini computers (Raspberry Pi). An example is described here: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/cctv-raspberry-pi-based-system-storage-motioneyeos/

How far is it from the building to the house? I think you will have much better success if you bury an ethernet cable to give a hardwired connection. It's low voltage, so I don't think it would be a major trench, or anything like that. But would still be a lot of work if the shop is far away.

You probably want a mix of visible and hidden camera for deterrence and insurance, respectively.

That's a good idea. I'll check it out.

I saw a cheap 2 camera wires system for $70. I could get that and the sign plus a good wireless system that is hidden. Display the wired system cameras so they are disabled and still have the hidden wireless system.

It's about 200 feet from the house and it would have to cross the driveway so an ethernet cable would be difficult.

I saw one wireless system that said it would work up to 500 ft from the cameras so maybe that is the answer.

I would like to stay below $500. Some of them are half that price and get pretty good reviews but you never know for sure until you use it.

I recently picked up a couple of indoor wifi cameras, and an outdoor wifi camera for additional security at home. The two indoor cameras came with SD memory cards, while I had to order one for the outdoor camera. I can access their feeds through an app on my phone (the servers are US based). They have decent IR recording capabilities for night use, and the outdoor camera has software that allows it to follow motion that it senses. All three are USB powered.



The one drawback I've found is that I can't access the feed if WiFi or internet is down. They'll still record to the SD card, though, in that situation. I mounted the outdoor one high up above my garage door, and there is one inside the garage, in the rafters, aimed at the garage door (so I can see if the garage door is actually open, or if it's just a phantom notification from the sensor). The third one is in my living room to keep an eye on the cats, but now that it's there, they don't go in front of it.

Another drawback I just thought of with the indoor cameras: The USB wire is very obvious, and would be easily unplugged. The one in the living room is plugged in at knee level. The one in the garage is plugged into an outlet in the rafters, so one would need a ladder to access it. The outdoor one has its cable fed through the wall, then is plugged in to an outlet next to the garage door, so its wiring is less obvious.

I have them more as a deterrent. The neighborhood is fairly safe, I just wanted something more than my neighbor's Ring doorbell.

edit: added screen shots of the camera views.

I have been using Zmodo cameras bought cheap from Amazon. If you look into rigging an extender for your internet then you don't need extra hardware at your site. These cameras are independent, motion triggered and immediately upload video clips to your Zmodo account. You get a free account with 30 second duration clips saved for 36 hours or can pay for extended account. This is good because if my exterior cameras are stolen, chances are I get the video of the activity in my account. You can set the software up on your phone and have a text alert you if there is camera activity. Having cameras visible outside are definitely a deterrent as well as warning signs/ stickers. A friend caught a trespasser on his Zmodo camera who glanced up at the camera, turned and ran away.

The down side is finding 120v near your ideal camera mounting locations.

Bill

Yeah, my neighbor has footage of people coming up the walk to his porch when there's a package there, then doing an abrupt about-face when they spot the Ring doorbell camera.

We own a couple of vacation rentals and installed exterior cameras in case there was ever an incident where we would need video evidence. We installed a Zosi system that was hardwired to the HDR. The wireless units are easily hacked; Also my wife is in IT and hardwired is ALWAYS better than wireless. The HDR is also hardwired via Cat-5 to the router. They are 1080P cameras and have a high definition playback. You can also access the live video stream from a smartphone as well as re-play recorded video. The HDR has 1 terabyte of memory which hold hundreds of hours of video. If your cameras are placed correctly and someone does take them out with a baseball bat you will have a good image of them doing it. I just got in an 8 camera Zosi system that I will be installing at our primary residence this winter as I'm in Florida and I need cooler weather before I go climbing around in the attic. The 8 camera system was only about $300.00. If you do not have internet capabilities at that location then you would have to hook up a monitor to the HDR to review the video feed.

OK, I understand the advantages of hard wired cameras but, as I said couldn't someone follow the wires to the HDR and take that too? I have internet in the house but I'm pretty sure the wireless router signal will not reach to the building. Would a wireless router extender be OK?

I checked out Zosi systems on eBay and I can get one with 4 indoor and 4 outdoor cameras with a 1tb hard drive for $230. Sounds like a great deal to me.

A wireless router repeater would work to extend the range if running a data line to the building is prohibitive. In my case I was able to run the cameras wiring within the attic and walls concealed; they run to a secured climate controlled utility closet where the DVR and router are. If your building is not climate controlled an on site DVR may not be the best option as extreme cold and even mild heat will destroy them. You might want to consider a cloud based system so all you have to worry about is getting internet to the building. https://www.amazon.com/Zmodo-Wireless-Security-Outdoor-Recording/dp/B017SD8RWO/ref=sr_1_31?crid=3B2ZK58D0BDO1&dchild=1&keywords=cloud+based+security+camera+system&qid=1605411613&sprefix=cloud+based+%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-31

A comment about wireless / wired and cyper security:

the bad reputation of wireless systems is typically a combo of lack of knowhow from the users and a system/components that as a default allow too many security risks. The cheaper/older systems may also have limitations in configuration, making them more vulnerable no matter how they are set up.

Just to get the idea what to require, discussing with a representative of a 'higher-end' solution might be beneficial...I have no idea of US markets, but say, a global brand like Panasonic has pretty much all the latest safety concerns covered within their products - just an example, I would guess so do any large, well known brands. Like, secure communication protocols, no default passwords allowed, communication limited with authorized devices only etc...

For many places, e.g. a wireless 'IP camera' system is a very convenient and secure way to set up a system for outdoors/ larger areas.

A friend of mine just did a combo of wired 'PoE', Power over Ethernet cameras for indoor use (very handy, if you'll have the full house ethernet cabled) and wireless cameras with build in motion detectors to outdoors & garage area. Can't remember the brand, but he is a bit of nerd so likely to use something else than the easiest ready-made packages.

If you are actually concerned about keeping your stuff, what's the response time of the local police? If it takes them 10 minutes to respond (if at all) then your stuff is gone, and assuming the burglers are bright enough to wear masks, you are probably not going to get your stuff back. Cameras just deter the amateurs.

Around here, on a Friday or Saturday night, the response time is 'tomorrow'.

Camera quality is probably more important than wired or wireless. Wired is much cheaper for the same quality, but if the cameras can't distinguish a license plate at night, probably useless, except as a deterrent.

I bought an 8 camera wired system for less than $300. HD quality cameras, decent but not great night vision, motion detection. The IR illumination for the night vision is bright enough to be seen, so helps the deterrence. Problem is, you put the cameras high enough so they can't be easily messed with, the angles aren't ideal, and there are blind spots.

If you are thinking of having real-time alerts to your phone, might want to include a couple PTZ cameras that can be directed and zoomed to attempt to get better detail for later identification.

Or you could buy fake cameras for cheap, and spend the money you save on hardening the building.

Probably worthwhile, if you go the camera route, to include a remote-triggering, extremely loud alarm. That way, if you see someone, you can trigger the alarm, perhaps getting attention from nearby people. At the very least, put the alarm and camera system on a UPS, so pulling the power meter won't kill everything.

But if your stuff is valuable enough to attract a professional thief, it'll be gone.

edit: Forgot to mention that Ring and some others are collaborating with police without permission from the owners. So your video may not be yours, at least not exclusively. I'm guessing any system that records to the 'cloud', likewise. Probably means hackers wouldn't have a real tough time tapping in, just in case they want to know when no one is around. My wired system has a local DVR, air-gapped from the Internet.

The building has electricity but is not climate controlled. I hadn't considered that hard drives are temperature sensitive. Looks like I might need to go with a wireless system. If my router won't reach that far I could either get an extender or run a phone line to the upstairs bedroom. I'm pretty sure it would reach from there and it could not be stolen or tampered with.

I live in a town with about 1000 people and one cop. He obviously can't be on duty 24/7/365.

I'm liking the idea of having signs and two systems. One cheap and obvious to be found and another of good quality with cameras hidden as well as possible.

Hardening the building is a good idea. I could run a chain across the drive through door about two feet off the floor with a padlock. A bolt cutter could easily defeat that but it's better than nothing, which is what I have now.

I'll vote for a POE wired system.
Try to conceal the cables as much as possible so they don't know where to look for the DVR.
Your weather might present some difficulties, though.
Is there maybe a closet that you could mount a window unit (with heat and cool) through the wall?
It doesn't have to be perfectly comfortable just not too hot and kept from freezing.
Heat is more damaging than cold.
I've worked in some Server Rooms kept at 60 degrees F.

You could use a WiFi bridge to get the signal from one building to the other.
Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-LocoM2-2-PACK-PRE-CONFIGURED-Nanostation/dp/B06XH4Z9SK/ref=sr_1_21?dchild=1&keywords=wireless+bridge&qid=1605667863&sr=8-21
I've used similar ones to get a network connection across a city street.

If you can, get a system that allows you to individually upgrade the cameras to higher resolution in the future as you can afford them.
I hate seeing those fuzzy enlarged pictures of a perpetrator's face.
It could be my mother, but I cant tell.

Whatever you choose to do, the hardening is the best idea.
Noise and time are the biggest deterrents to burglars.
The noisier, the better.

My friend use this after longer researching of other options. Highly secure system.

https://ajax.systems/

The Ajax system looks really good. It's quite a bit more expensive so I need to do some research to see if would be worth it to me.

I sent a question to Zosi asking what the temperature operating range is and they said -10 to 55C, 14 to 131F so I would be likely to go past both of those. I don't know if you get out of that rang it stops working or if it actually damages it. The machine operating will raise the temperature some.