Home Security Ideas

[kannon]

Afternoon.

I would like to place some wireless outdoor intruder sensors around parts of our house. I would like the sensor to be able to detect intruders and then connect to my iPhone. My iphone can then alert me and also turn on lights via an Alexa controlled light.

I have not been able to find an outdoor sensor that can hook directly to my wifi system. I found the Phillip Hue outdoor sensor but that needs a hub to connect to our wifi.

Any ideas be appreciated.

 

[COZICAN]

Ring makes some nice wireless infrared cameras with motion sensor. I have a Ring Spotlight wired camera that I really like.

 

[MichaelB]

The thread was moved to the new technology forum.



Nest makes an outdoor cam that connects via wifi and messages when there is movement.

 

[Jerry1]

In general, I like my Ring camera, but it has two flaws that make it less than ideal for a real security camera. First, I have trouble connecting with it when away from WiFi. I’ve called them and they blame Sprint. Either way, just be advised that it works better on WiFi than with cell service. YMMV

Second is the real problem. There is about a minute lag before you can see what motion was captured. For example, DW pulls up the driveway and the phone buzzes. By the time you get logged on and can live view the camera, DW is already in the garage. This is not the problem. The connection is pretty quick, but it is typical. The problem is that now, you don’t know what just happened. So, you want to go back and look at the recording. There’s about a full minute of lag before you can view the video. It records for a minute and then it takes a few seconds to process and then you can view it. A minute may not sound like much but when you want to know what just happened outside, it’s a very long time. Also, it’s long enough for someone to do harm or be in your house before you can verify what’s going on.

IMHO, once you request to see the video, it should stop recording and process immediately. The time lag needs to be corrected for me to rate it a good/viable security system. As for catching deer and other critters walking around our house at night, it works pretty well for that.

 

[kannon]

Not so much a camera I am looking for as just an intruder detector that could send alert to my iPhone which can turn on the lights via Alexa controlled outlets. Ring looks a possibility but overkill for what I need.

 

[COZICAN]

In general, I like my Ring camera, but it has two flaws that make it less than ideal for a real security camera. First, I have trouble connecting with it when away from WiFi. I’ve called them and they blame Sprint. Either way, just be advised that it works better on WiFi than with cell service. YMMV

Second is the real problem. There is about a minute lag before you can see what motion was captured. For example, DW pulls up the driveway and the phone buzzes. By the time you get logged on and can live view the camera, DW is already in the garage. This is not the problem. The connection is pretty quick, but it is typical. The problem is that now, you don’t know what just happened. So, you want to go back and look at the recording. There’s about a full minute of lag before you can view the video. It records for a minute and then it takes a few seconds to process and then you can view it. A minute may not sound like much but when you want to know what just happened outside, it’s a very long time. Also, it’s long enough for someone to do harm or be in your house before you can verify what’s going on.

IMHO, once you request to see the video, it should stop recording and process immediately. The time lag needs to be corrected for me to rate it a good/viable security system. As for catching deer and other critters walking around our house at night, it works pretty well for that.

Is yours wired or wireless? I do not have that lag on my phone but do on my computer at w$#k. I can be "live" on my phone in seconds.

 

[Jerry1]

I want something that detects the deer and send an electric signal that I can use to do something like set off a firecracker.

That’s probably a different thread. Sorry, please continue.

 

[Jerry1]

Is yours wired or wireless? I do not have that lag on my phone but do on my computer at w$#k. I can be "live" on my phone in seconds.

I can be live on my phone if I’m on WiFi, pretty quickly, but a few seconds of delay to get the alert and a few seconds to get on the phone and DW is up the driveway and in the garage. And, often if an animal just runs through the alert area, it’s gone way before I could get on my phone and see it live. I could set the alert area further away from the house (down the driveway), but then I’d get even more animal alerts.

 

[tb001]

It depends on what type of sensor you’re looking for. Most of the cameras and motion detectors will have so many false alerts that you’ll quickly abandon them if the light you want turned on wakes you up. The simplest solution is one of the motion sensing flood lights, if that’s all you’re looking to accomplish.

The most reliable way to manage this and actually have real alerts, imo, is to set up a beam break sensor/perimeter. We’ve used a Vera control unit to integrate these. Then you can have the system take an ‘action’ when the beam is broken. But if ring is overkill for you, this may be a smidge beyond that!

 

[tb001]

I want something that detects the deer and send an electric signal that I can use to do something like set off a firecracker.

That’s probably a different thread. Sorry, please continue.

This is totally doable! (If you want to go down crazy automation rabbit hole like I have!)

 

[kannon]

We have motion detector lights under our deck. This is for further out at a fence line. Like the idea that interior lights can turned on vice the outdoor security lights.

I see a lot of driveway sensors that could detect a person movement but cannot find one with wifi connectivity.

 

[RobbieB]

I love my Ring system. Doorbell and chine/wi-fi extender and 2 powered stick up cams, 1 inside and 1 outside. Doorbell is also powered with battery backup. All installed easy, all worked perfect when we were visiting Texas and all will never need battery replacement. Maybe the doorbell but not for a long time.

 

[Scrapr]

I can be live on my phone if I’m on WiFi, pretty quickly, but a few seconds of delay to get the alert and a few seconds to get on the phone and DW is up the driveway and in the garage. And, often if an animal just runs through the alert area, it’s gone way before I could get on my phone and see it live. I could set the alert area further away from the house (down the driveway), but then I’d get even more animal alerts.

That is my one gripe about the Ring. The lag time. If I want to talk to the person at the door by the time I'm logged in they are walking away. Sometimes I will just go to Live View and talk that way

 

[Cobra9777]

I use this $25 Wyze cam. It's for indoor use. But I've had it outside under a covered porch for the last 9-10 months and it works fine. They recently updated the software so that I only get notified on my smartphone if the camera detects a person, instead of just any motion or sound. Before that update, I was getting notifications for leaves blowing across the porch, and everyday at dusk and dawn when the porch lights come on. That gets old. The update works quite well.

It works with Alexa. It has 2-way audio to communicate with people at the door when I'm not there. Night vision works well. When I get notified that the camera has detected a person, I can watch a 12-second video on my phone and there's also 14-day rolling cloud storage with no subscription fee. I also installed a 32GB microSD that stores about 3-4 days HD video locally that can be viewed on the app.

I'm going to get a few more of the cameras for our side porch and back patio. I've got a few other areas under eaves that I'd like to mount one as well. But I'm quite sure they would get a little wet from time to time. So I might wait for their outdoor version.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I have been using the Yi indoor cameras (about $25 a piece on Amazon) to monitor the pool/front of house/living room. They are also for outdoor use but the pool one is outside under the covered porch and works just fine. They have a subscription of sorts, but I don't have one and still get alerts on my phone when there is movement. The alerts are pretty quick and has worked well for our needs.

I have also used the Amazon Blink system and it worked pretty well, too...but a bit more expensive than the Yi cameras were. I haven't looked recently, but I would think that there *might* be compatibility to use the Blink cameras with other home automation to accomplish what you are trying to do. If that capability isn't there now, it probably won't be too much longer.

Edit: Yep, Blink cameras will integrate with home automation systems.

IFTTT is a free service that allows you to automate interactions between your Blink camera and other devices and services. For instance, you can arm your Blink when you leave the house, receive an email when there's a motion alert, or even integrate with other smart-home devices to turn on your lights or play music when someone comes to the door. With IFTTT, Blink Security Systems now work with Philips Hue, Amazon Alexa, August Locks, and many more. New Brands added daily!

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I have a Netgear Arlo camera and base station, and I like it so far. It works fine over wifi, and the battery lasts a month or two before it needs to recharge, so if you want to use it completely wirelessly you'll need to install it where it can be easily reached so you can take it down and charge it once in a while. The biggest drawback is that there is no option for local storage -- if you don't pay Netgear extra for their cloud storage, it only stores recordings for a week. I'm spoiled, I had my NAS set up as a video server, but the camera I was using (Foscam) wasn't as good as the Arlo, so I've stopped using it.

 

[rk911]

Not so much a camera I am looking for as just an intruder detector that could send alert to my iPhone which can turn on the lights via Alexa controlled outlets. Ring looks a possibility but overkill for what I need.

an issue with any detector are false positives. we have a series of 9 indoor and outdoor cams plus a ring doorbell cam. trying to find a motion detection setting that recognizes a human but ignores a dog is nearly impossible. you ARE going to get false alarms. about the best you can do is try to minimize them.

 

[firemediceric]

I have two exterior Nest cameras. They suffer from the lag as mentioned about other cameras. By the time I receive notification on my phone the person is either already walking away or the family member has already come inside of the house.

False positives are also irritating. Not just animals but shadows. As the shadow of a palm frond in the wind dances across the lawn the camera registers the motion as an alert.

 

[pb4uski]

I use Blink cameras.... it will send an alert to your phone when motion has been detected if the cameras are armed... it will also take a video clip of what caused the motion and send it to the cloud. You can then view the video clip.

More that what you were looking for but will do the job.

 

[imoldernu]

Honest to goodness... had no idea...

We haven't had a burglary or any kind of crime here since we moved in, in 2004. Worst thing that happened was 10 years ago when the police came up to investigate the supposed theft of a diamond ring from the jewel chest of the lady 7 houses up the street. That was all that was missing, and she collected from her insurance company. I think she might have found it or bought a new one, 'cuz she's wearing a diamond now. Crime in our town is pretty much limited to a few Walmart shoplifts, some DUI's, and a case or two of arson.

The most protection I see is a few fake ADT signs.

 

[calmloki]

Real ADT sign but no ADT service. Two real obvious and hard to reach fake cameras. That's what we have down south. Up north we got nothing. Did have some excitement Thursday afternoon - the gal saw someone run through our back yard and went out to investigate. Heard crunching on the alley and saw a cop with drawn gun. He answered her "what's up?" with single white male and she pointed him in the right direction. Real quick we had about 5 cop cars and 8 or so officers and they caught the guy - and tazed him repeatedly - in our druggy next door neighbor's yard. Asked if we wanted to file criminal trespass charges - I didn't, as it looked like he had plenty to deal with. Meth and theft charges, Bail was $7500 and he bailed out before the next day. He'd been living in a motorhome in front of the neighbor's place for a week or so and this morning the motorhome was gone. Okeedokee. 'Druther have it peaceful. Normally is.

 

[Senator]

I use simplisafe. It can send a text. My camera system can also send emails.

 

[JDARNELL]

I use simplisafe. It can send a text. My camera system can also send emails.

SimpliSafe for us also.

 

[firemediceric]

I use Blink cameras.... it will send an alert to your phone when motion has been detected if the cameras are armed... it will also take a video clip of what caused the motion and send it to the cloud. You can then view the video clip

I did not have good success with the Blink cameras outside of my house. Seemed like the range for picking up motion was very limited. They were very late to trigger even with someone being close. Very limited in their outside ability in my experience.

I do have three Blink cameras inside my house and they work great for the interior application however a bright light activates which is a dead giveaway that recording is taking place. With the nest cameras the recording is not obvious.

 

[pb4uski]

I did not have good success with the Blink cameras outside of my house. Seemed like the range for picking up motion was very limited. They were very late to trigger even with someone being close. Very limited in their outside ability in my experience.

I do have three Blink cameras inside my house and they work great for the interior application however a bright light activates which is a dead giveaway that recording is taking place. With the nest cameras the recording is not obvious.

I've had good luck with my outside camera... it captures when our plow guy snowplows, when the propane truck makes a delivery, when our neighbor walks the dogs down or up my driveway. I presume that you know that you can adjust the motion sensitivity and activity zones.

I actually like the fact that a bright light activates that a recording is taking place as it may incentivize a perp to bug out knowing that they are being recorded.... my cameras are high enough that they can't be reached easily. I guess the perp could rip the camera off the wall but by then the video has been sent to the cloud.

BTW, if you don't want the light you can turn it off in the IR Illuminator settings, but you won't get good video in low light situations. I just ran my video and in daylight there is no bright light... just the little blue light activates.