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This will be one for Dave, but all comments/experience welcome.👍
Just had a door-knocker who offered to trim the conifers in my back garden and who knew, too much and too accurately, about the state they were in. As per my common practise, told him I wasn’t interested and pointed to the No Cold Caller sign on my porch door. He then said that he saw that after he’d rung and that he didn’t want to be rude and just leave!!! Yeah, right!! Once he knew that that was a no-go he then went on to ask whether the wife’s KA was for sale ” as it hasn’t moved for a while”. My radar at that point was well and truly on high alert, so I told him “no to everything that he might want to do” and walked over to get the reg no of his van. At this point the driver started to move off, his mate jumped in and their parting shot was “We’ve got your numbers too!!”
Well that settled any doubts in my mind and I called 101 and reported it to them. They were very interested, possibly because there had been similar activity reported to them previously, and they’re sending a PCSO to follow up. I’ve updated our local Neighbourhood Watch, who will broadcast it over his email chain of local contacts and chatted to a few of our immediate neighbours.
My camera problem is how to cover both cars either side of the drive, plus, if he’s sneaking down the side to look into our garden, I also need to cover that.
This is the front drive with the cars I’ll need to cover,
…so I’m not sure how many cameras would do the trick, one each focused across the front door on the cars, ( giving me full front door coverage ) plus one down the side?? What else would I need as well as the cameras?? Wiring shouldn’t be a problem as the attic can be used to feed cabling through the soffits.
All comments/advice appreciated.
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Can’t comment about the cameras but had a similar experience today with some sketchy people.
They knocked my door, clear signs essentially telling everyone to get lost, I ignored it as I usually do.
Then they were up and down the cul-de-sac knocking on doors, now with Cardiff Council high vis jackets on. Their vehicle was an ancient Ford Focus Estate. Don’t think the council run those.
Called the local rozzers and they confirmed they’d had some calls from different areas about the same 2 blokes. Van dispatched.
There is no way for them to get into my house without making a lot of noise and drawing a lot of attention, front door could stand in for a small bank vault, one of the previous owners was a female nurse and had all the locks and hinges upgraded.
Back garden is it’s own ecosystem, probably have some Pygmies and unique species living there.
OK, you want a dome or (preferably) a turret camera. A 2.8mm lens gives a coverage of 114° which would be great if you didn’t have those bay windows!
If you had two either side of the door, to cover the door you’d need to tilt them down so much you’d lose the horizontal coverage. Best things is PM me your address so I can look it up on google maps to get a vertical view which I can then put into my 3D planning software.
That will show us the view that can be had from various camera placements and orientation. I can stick a couple of cars and people in there too. On the side I’d probably go for a white light camera (rather than infra-red) so it can act as a security light too. White light on the front would probably drive you nuts.
Wiring is pretty simple, just Ethernet and crimped ends, I’d go back to a 4 port PoE switch in the loft. The question then is how to get it to the internet, wireless is an option if an Ethernet cable can’t be used. Plus of course you need power in the loft, but the demands are so low (max 7.w per camera) that we often take them off the lighting circuit.
Recording would be by an internal SD card accessed through a mobile app and / or a PC / Mac.
You may want to stick a dummy camera around the back somewhere. Unfortunately a hoodie+mask makes any identification fairly moot. A pea-shingle path is something burglars hate, as they do anti=climb wall spikes or trellis on your fence panels.
As you know, the art is not to catch intruders but to persuade them that there may be softer targets elsewhere.
As ed says gravel is the best deterrent being impossibleto get across it silently. Along with fence top trellis that can’t be climbed without it collapsing.
Dave is defo the guy to sort this out for you. He set my pub system up for me. 3 cameras with SD cards and a hikvison app, would be a cheap and robust system.
The simplest way, would be something like 3 Google nest cameras, there quality is fantastic, but comes with, a not class leading, subscription for anything other than a few day of online recordings.
Or you could tinker with raspberry pi cameras and a server. But then it’s managing it , and God forbid if you had to use it in anger, hoping it actually worked. So I’d not go that route.
I’d go a managed route.
Cheers all, unfortunately we’ve made all our pathways with block pavers, the only pea ( 10mm ) gravel is on the flower beds to protect them from the dogs, we now hardly ever have ( atm ).
The side drive already has a PIR LED security spotlight on it, but I’m looking for after the fact detail/evidence. Ed is right about making it more complex than the average burglar/oik wants to deal with. A Home Beat Officer from the Met called it the F**k It Factor – if you can make it look like it would take longer than 2 minutes for them to gain entry, they’ll think F**k It and move on!!!
Dave, I’ve had a look and while we do have corner soffits on either side of the bays, the angles and window openings cause problems. I’ve got a four port hub by the TV which is near pipework that is boxed in up to the loft, so I can get the internet up there – bonus will be that I can finally fit the Ubiquiti with the wife’s approval – she’s the one driving the camera project and thus far didn’t see the need to mess about with the wifi when it was working ( sort of ) OK. Women!!
I’m sending you a link to the outside Street View on Google Maps, plus my address.
I’ve got some Cat5 cable plus a crimping kit, plus power is up there already. There was an aerial amplifier up there, that was never used after the digital switchover and a socket or two for the essential fan!!
I’m just wiping a couple of 1TB drives from my son’s PC one of which can go into an external USB case or as I have two monitors, one of which displays emails, so could be purposed as a security monitor display/playback. My PC is in the lounge and permanently on.
Are the cameras powered individually ( off mains ) or can they be PoE’d through a different type of switch?? Just guessing here.
Thanks all for the info so far.
Prominent CCTV signs are a useful addition in persuading the burglar to go elsewhere. You need one anyway if you accidentally capture images of people walking past (see link).
Setting up a PTZ auto-tracking camera is the bees-knees as it is always a bit disconcerting to have a piece of equipment ‘look’ at you. (Warning – the tracking motors only last a couple of years on cheaper systems.)
As you know, the art is not to catch intruders but to persuade them that there may be softer targets elsewhere.
Would putting a sign up saying ‘Number 17 is away until the end of the month’ be considered unethical?
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