Please recommend an affordable Security Camera setup

[awemawson]

I think the time has come to retire my Tenvis security cameras that cover the farm. Main issue is that their app for setting up only works with Internet Explorer but not much else does as it is no longer supported. I have got them 'sort of' set up on I-Spy but they don't really happily live togetter.

I need about eight genuinely waterproof (IP66 at least) cameras - I've had several fail over the years due to water ingress even though they claimed to be IP66.

I have wired (Cat5e) and mains power to all locations bar one and cannot run POE due to other equipment on the same network. The one powerless location will probbably have to be solar and WiFi.

My latest issue has been mice eating my CAT5 cables - fortunately I replaced two chewed cable ends this afternoon as I've just spotted (and seen off) an intruder who I would not have spotted without the fix !

So sugesstions please for an affordable system remotely monitorable - I have a 100 mbs network running all over the farm and have fibre internet (85 mbs download and 31 mbs upload) so that should be more than adequate.

 

[roofman]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/sannce-cctv-camera/s?k=sannce+cctv+camera got 6 of these all over my place, faultless and very reliable for the money. Very usable phone app too so straight to your phone when your away from property.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Hick Vision, wireless, IP or radio will do your needs.

 

[Ruffian]

Most farms are going hikvision or annace cameras.
But usually poe or wireless bridge back to dvr at a central location.

I'm using a hikvision 16ch 4tb dvr and 6x 4k cameras at the moment with another 3 to install which have nightmode as well as motion detection and alerts. And these are still a relatively basic camera system.

If wanting a cheaper option lounge are a half decent system. Which use a similar app based system.

I have a second backup kit here with nvr and 8 cameras which was less than £250 with poe and wireless switch.


(Was getting all my kit through Doris cctv)

 

[skotl]

Check Reolink, too. Very affordable, wired or wireless, IP65 or 66

 

[sako243]

Contrary to people's recommendations above I personally would avoid Hikvision. Bought one of their systems and set it up to retry it. Dismantled it and promptly forgot the password. Managed to reset the NVR and get that back to factory but the cameras had had their encryption turned on to their old password. The factory reset button o the cameras didn't work and on contacted Hikvision they basically said give us remote access to your system and we'll reset things. Will you ****.

I replaced it with a Reolink NVR and been mightily impressed with it - simple to set up and use, the motion detection isn't awful although a little sensitive when it's raining and trees are blowing in the wind.

@awemawson with respect to PoE you do realise it doesn't matter whether it's no PoE or PoE the two will reside quite happily on the same network. Each RJ45 connector has a transformer in it which means if you plug in a "powered" cable it just sends the data through and does nothing with the powered side of things. It doesn't harm it in anyway provided it is genuinely PoE not some bastardised version of it (extremely unlikely). There's a negotiation phase anyway (low power is based on pull ups on resistors, higher power is negotiated digitally) before power even gets switched on down the line and it's all backwards compatible.

If you have a non PoE device between the supply and the camera then the non PoE device will basically cause the supply to disable putting out power (but the data link is still active) and you won't get power downstream to the camera. If you have a direct run from the PoE supply then you could ditch the mains side. I know Reolink cameras can have seperate power feeds in or PoE.

 

[arther dailey]

know the feeling.. alarm went bing bing , walked out to find a character walking out with a welder taken from the back of my truck down the driveway , shouted oy oy , he said Oh have it back then plonked it down, he and his mate got in their tranny van and drove off... ffs. you cant turn your back/relax for a second.

 

[knighty]

For POE... You can plug normal non poe things into a poe switch and it'll work just fine

poe devices talk to the switch and request power, so non poe devices don't get power and work just fine


EDIT: oops didn't notice post above explaining this already

 

[Chippie]

Andrew,
How about something from the Verisure range?

I’ll get me coat…

 

[RWD3M]

There's not too much wrong with Swann is there?

Mine is about 12 years opld now and still works a treat and pretty cheap too.

 

[Chippie]

I dont know if it’s worth mentioning,

but if you declare you have a security system installed to your insurers, make sure it is to the accepted standards, (NACOSS? etc.) otherwise in the event of a claim it may be declined.., but you already know that.

Verisure is not an accepted installer…. There is a utube vid with the BBC investigating them and their practises…

 

[RWD3M]

....but if you declare you have a security system installed to your insurers, make sure it is to the accepted standards, (NACOSS? etc.) otherwise in the event of a claim it may be declined.., but you already know that.

I didn't, thanks!

 

[sickpup]

I'm upgrading from a 1080p system to 4K Annke DVR and cameras which are POE.
POE and non-POE on the same network is possible but only if the switch supports it. There are some POE switches both cheap and expensive that will only do POE so be careful there. You can also use POE injectors, I've tested tp-link TL-POE180S injectors which work fine or the cameras do have a 12 volt input so can be powered by a wall wart PSU.
Each 4K camera sends around 5-10mbps so multiple cameras will need a fast switch. If you have a comms cabinet, Goalake switches available via Amazon are under £100 for a 1000mbps 16 port POE switch on special.

Amazon has the best prices on most of the Annke cameras. C500 3K cameras are normally £40 or 2 for £60 and the 4K C800's are normally around £60.
I've just ordered an NC800 4K NightChroma for £160 from Sannceonline Ebay shop, These are normally over £200.
The Annke cameras also support an internal 256GB Micro SD Card.

The Annke 4K cameras can be set up with variable sensitivity movement alerts, people alerts and vehicle alerts.

You don't necessarily need a DVR with the Annke cameras. They can be set to upload to a NAS if you have one.

The Annke vision app works nicely. It can see individual cameras or can be set to access via an NVR or even both at the same time

NACOSS which now seems to be NSI is, as far as I know, approval for fitment companies not for cameras or systems so I would be amazed if an insurance company refused payment for not being approved, especially if the system worked fine. Afterall, most systems won't be approved.

With a 4K system you will need a good computer with a large 4K monitor to oversee everything and to pull video off the system and display it. You will also need to advise the Police if you have to hand over any footage that it is 4K and needs to be viewed at 4K or they view at 1K and lose a lot of detail.

 

[sickpup]

I should add, Annke is part of Hikvision.

 

[awemawson]

Having evolved over many year my network is rather higgly piggly but fundementally tends to have a CATe bourne 100 mbs link into a building with a dumb hub giving connection to whatever is in that building - pcs - cameras - wifi access points etc. In several intances due to history there are dumb hubs feeding other dumb hubs certainly not how you would plan it from the get go. I have a slightly brighter hub (Netgear Prosafe VLAN) that separates one branch of the network so that (hopefully) my cottage guests (who have a separate wifi access point) cannot browse my private PC's but I bet that a bright school kid could defeat it!

 

[sickpup]

As you have Cat5E cable which can potentially run at 1000mbps it sounds like you could do with an update to 1000mbps switches just to speed everything up.

 

[AdventuresInMetal]

Cat5e can actually do 2.5 gigabit to the full 100m and 10 gigabit to about 40 meters assuming its terminated properly and not CCA Sh*te.

Edit. I should add this: that 10 gig distance is not an official spec, but based on experiance of certain installations i've got out there.

 

[awemawson]

"As you have Cat5E cable which can potentially run at 1000mbps it sounds like you could do with an update to 1000mbps switches just to speed everything up."

I'm not a business just a retired hobbyist, and other than the cottage guests and the wife browsing there's little traffic - !

 

[sickpup]

I've just had a thought. It is possible to force Microsoft edge to open pages in Internet Explorer so the Active X plug in works, have you tried this?

If you are running older style non-poe analog cameras using BNC type cables you will be shocked at the difference in picture quality modern POE cameras give. I can fully understand not upgrading, what you have works but if you go for the POE cameras you will by the sounds of it be near saturating your networks abilities especially with the hubs repeating everything in to every port out which a switch wouldn't do.

 

[jsf55]

On a much smaller scale I've just updated my sricam set up to TP Link ones, the quality difference is amazing, come with alarm with light and app so I didn't have to use the PC running all the time