Outdoor Security Camera Ideas

Jebus35745

Jebus35745

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Want to put 2 cameras up in the back corner of the house that monitor the rear door, garage , driveway and another for rear porch/door and house. Slowly accepting the idea of battery powered although wired would be easy to do and in the consideration. No Solar.

Would like to not pay a fee either but some products seem to want a monthly payment to show previously what happened for the police. Last week the screen door to the back porch was half open.

Seems like a lot of options out there, looking for recommendations from people with experience. Only need a 2 camera setup. Thanks, Larry

Added, our security company wants 350.00 per camera to install. That’s hardwired and 10.00 per month for the app.
 
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I use SimpliSafe outdoor (and indoor) cameras here in Oregon, and Amazon Blink cameras, indoor and outdoor, in Japan. The Simplisafe are much better, and they cost more. I run them off the regular house electricity, but you can use batteries instead.

The Amazon Blink cameras are inexpensive, and the batteries actually do last a couple of years. I pay nothing monthly for the Blinks, and use them now and then to just see what is going at my Japan house while I am here in the US. You can pay for storing recordings in the cloud, as I recall, or you can just put a USB thumb drive in the "sync module" which is a gizmo that coordinates between your WiFi system an the cameras. (I don't bother with storage with the Blinks. I have a separate, professionally monitored security system in place.)
 
I have been very happy with the Blink cameras. You can store clips on an on-site SD card, so you are not dependent on cloud storage, and no subscription is required. The picture quality is certainly acceptable for the price point.
 
I have the Ring doorbell and a Ring spotlight camera. Both battery powered. The camera has solar charging it’s mounted in tree by my driveway (it’s available in black or white - the black blends into the tree). The doorbell I swap out batteries one a month / month and a half. It’s $40 per year for basic subscription per device which gives you video storage in the cloud.
 
For the BLINK cameras , if they are recording to an SD card is there a need for WI-FI ? I’ve been considering them for my cabin but there is no Wi-Fi available. Even cell service is not available as it’s in a valley.
 
To elaborate, the Blink cameras network through your Wi-Fi and use internet to connect to your phone for alerts.

It may be possible to set up a system on a wi-fi router without an internet connection, and still record to the SD card, but I don't know for sure, and it probably needs the internet for the initial setup. If it did work without internet, you obviously wouldn't have alerts, so a hard wired DVR system would probably make more sense anyway.
 
I have several Blink and Arlo cameras. Both have their pros and cons. The Blinks run a long time on AA lithium batteries. I'm 3000 miles away from the property for long stretches so I swap the batteries every 6 months.

Arlo cameras use a proprietary battery and are power hungry. You have to be able to swap in a re-charged battery as often as monthly or connect them to power, so I only use Arlo cams where I can access power. For both systems my primary use is outside and some are simply to see what critters are coming around in the winter. The Arlo's have better definition. All cameras have various settings to help with false alerts but regardless you will experience false alerts.
 
I run 3 Blink cameras - one for the front entryway, one for the whole back of the house, and one for the barn. They need to run off the WiFi to connect to my phone. I don’t have experience with any others but have been very happy with these.

I think I paid about $125 for the cameras and believe it’s about $20/month.
 
Faulkner said:
I use Wyze cameras at my place and have been quite pleased with them.
Click to expand...

paplinker said:
I am getting ready to do a 4 camera setup with this company.
My computer guy swears buy them and says its a 100 bucks a year for 24 hour recorded video.I think I do need a camera card. Sound right?
Click to expand...

I have one in mounted inside every window of my house, 2 in the garage, one facing the garage door and another facing the side garage door. I have 3 inside my house, but only plug them in when I go out of town.

I have memory cards in all of them. I think they hold 2 or 3 days of video before they record over them. I've never felt the need to pay for the WYZE cloud service.

I doubt you can beat them for the price, and what you get.
 
we are looking for a camera for our electric gate to our property which is 400' from the house. There is 120V power there on the tree that overlooks the gate and package delivery box. It would not need to transmit to my phone, just record on a sd card and that would be fine. I guess good image quality is the most important feature. It seems there are so many options available it is confusing to me. Not intending to hijack this thread but thought our situation was a bit different and we are interested in a possible solution.
 
At our lake cabin, our only security system is a dozen Blink cameras.

Six are USB-powered indoor cameras with three of them aimed out through the windows and two giving views of the inside of the house and one giving a view of the inside of the shop.

Every one of them is plugged into a cheap "power bank" battery that is then plugged into a wall outlet, and our Wi-Fi is plugged into a UPS backup battery unit. When power goes out at the lake (not too unusual) the Wi-Fi and cameras stay online running on the backup batteries.

The other six are outdoor battery-operated cameras giving a full 360 degree view around the outside of the house. I'm thinking about adding another out by the driveway entrance so I can see how much snow the plows are piling up. That way I would know when I need to go up there and clear it - before the driveway gets so plowed under that we can't get in.

We also have a Blink doorbell at the front door of our main residence that gives us a view of the front porch, front yard, and driveway. The doorbell is just "supplemental" to our ADT home security system - but it is good for seeing who is at the door before opening it as well as alerting us to anyone in the driveway or yard.

I set up the Wi-Fi at both locations to have the same network name and password - so we don't have to fiddle with switching back and forth when we go from one to the other.

We pay the $10 per month for cloud storage so that even if someone broke in and took the SD card out of the sync modules, we'll still have them on camera.

One of the things I like about this setup is that the system at the lake AND the doorbell at the house are visible in the phone app - even though they are on separate physical Wi-Fi networks. I can view them both on my phone as if they were all one system. Another benefit of having the Wi-Fi network names and passwords the same at both locations.
 
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Not electronically capable but how do you view what’s on the SD card?? I take the SD out of my Vpap and they disappear somewhere, then print some data for my sleep doctor to read. Couple brands look interesting, you guys are helping. Larry
 
With the Blink cameras, you can access the clips via your phone. Or you can take out the SD card and upload them to a computer for storage.
 
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