Home camera system options for while you are away

[Z3Dreamer]

What have you done and why?
1) Turnkey system by one of those companies you see on TV.
2) Have multiple cameras feeding to your NAS or flash drive on camera. Each camera has its own software that alerts you by cell phone. This provides no fire alert and bad guys can just snip your internet connection.
3) Similar to 2 above, except you buy a software such as Blue Iris to grab all the camera feeds and alert you. Same problems as 2 above. Further problem is that a PC must be on for this to work.

I currently have 4 cameras feeding my nas or flash drives and use 3 different apps on my cell phone to get alerts. Clearly it is the cheapest but most difficult to administer.

If you have 2 or 3 how do you overcome the problems?

 

[Ronstar]

I have #3. 3 ip cameras and computer on 24/7. I suppose bad guys could snip the wire. But they would be caught on camera and I would be emailed with stills before they got to my junction box.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

I have #3. 3 ip cameras and computer on 24/7. I suppose bad guys could snip the wire. But they would be caught on camera and I would be emailed with stills before they got to my junction box.

Do you use Blue Iris or ?

 

[Ronstar]

Do you use Blue Iris or ?

I use Security Spy by bensoftware. I think it’s only available for a Mac.

 

[Freedom56]

We use a Q-See 1080P eight camera system connected to a DVR that is connected to the router at our primary home. We can access the system using our phones, PCs, Tablets from anywhere in the world. For indoors we have FOSCAM pan tilt wireless cameras that we install before we leave our home for long trips.

 

[rpguy4]

Using 4 Amazon 'Outdoor' Blink Cameras w/Android Blink App. Relatively cheap. Purchased 7/2018. All cameras battery powered. Have not had any issues. Mainly arm the system at night, and while we are away. Cameras take a 15 second video if they detect motion. If the system is armed, and motion is detected, I get notified on my phone within seconds. You can also access any camera from the phone app 'real time' to see what's going on at the moment.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I have a Foscam FI9821W that I used with setup #2, but I retired it because the connection was very unreliable, and the interface was difficult to use. I replaced it with an Arlo Netgear base and camera in the same spot, and it works MUCH better. I would like to go back to setup #2, though, as I have a QNAP NAS that can serve as a surveillance station/DVR for recordings, and the app they have for that isn't bad.

 

[MichaelB]

We use Nest cams and the Nest app on the iPhone.

 

[Sojourner]

I settled on Arlo security cams, which are fully wireless (battery powered, WiFi connected). The upfront costs are a bit higher than some others, but once set up it's totally free. The cameras will capture any motion and instantly send an alert to your phone, and the captured videos (typically 30s in duration, but this is customizable) are saved to your personal Arlo cloud storage for free for seven days. A fully recharged battery typically lasts for at least two months, so I don't have to worry even when traveling for many weeks.

 

[Alan]

We use Nest cams and the Nest app on the iPhone.

Same here plus 2 Nest smoke & CO detectors that send alerts when they alarm.

 

[braumeister]

We use Nest cams and the Nest app on the iPhone.

Same here. It's easy, convenient, pretty foolproof, and affordable. My two indoor Nest cameras (originally Dropcam) are the early model, so they're probably even better now. I have one outdoor Nest camera, three years old now, and its quality is remarkably good.

 

[mabuhay]

Do any of these systems have water sensors to detect a leak?

 

[RobbieB]

Had Nest and didn't like it, switched to Ring.

 

[tb001]

We've had different systems over our last two homes.

The new outdoor nest cams are great from a quality perspective, but huge bandwidth hogs. We have two and they almost max out our usage, which I've never seen happen. They also won't integrate with other third party platforms like Blue Iris unless you open up your cam for all to see. The alerts also have a gap period, so if you have two movements within 30min, it doesn't alert.

Worse is that our nest app, with 3 inside drop cams and two outdoor ones, has become unusable. We constantly get the 'try again' error using the app.

IMO, the nest cams are great from a setup and ease of use, but aren't great for a real security option.

Our last house had dedicated NVR and $$ camera system. Overall, it was far better than nest without the ongoing subscription cost for storage. We added blue iris to this setup to be able to integrate with a diy automation system. So more flexible and no ongoing charge, but almost 5k to install. We experimented with foscams, but could never keep them stable.

I keep hoping nest will get better, since it's so easy to diy, but so far it's been disappointing.

 

[upupandaway]

I use option 3 (Blue Iris). Similar to what was said earlier the intruder would have to cross 2 cameras to get to my Comcast box and by that point I would have stills of them even if they located my server and took it. The only difference is I run a computer at home for other services so the electricity drain was not a factor for me. I like Blue Iris because its compatible with any onvif camera and it is extremely configurable. It's the only system I've used that I can have enough detail to setup motion zones and not get a ton of false alarms. It definitely is not the easiest way to go though.

Do any of these systems have water sensors to detect a leak?

My Samsung Smarthings water sensor saved my bacon this Saturday with all the rain in the midwest. Our sump pumps couldn't keep up with the rain coming in. The minute that water reached my sensor my wife and I both got a text message and it turned on all the lights in the house. That was actually a nice visual indicator and kept me from falling all over as I rushed down the stairs. This solution requires a samsung hub but you could add other smarthings around your house as well.

 

[Bir48die]

When I'm on vacation I take a few non camera related measures. Other than that I don't want to know if someone has broken into my house. If I come back and they ransacked my belongings they can all be replaced.

 

[Senator]

I have 12 cameras in my house. Two hardwired cameras at each corner, and three at one, two hard wired cameras inside, and one wifi cameras from Simplisafe.

All outside cameras and two of the inside are hard-wired with POE/Siamese wire. They go to an Amcrest DVR and 2TB hard drive. I can see them anywhere in the world (as long as I have internet at both ends.

They can send alerts, although that is a lot of emails. Maybe I should set the email alerts up as I leave, on the inside cameras.

 

[pb4uski]

Using 4 Amazon 'Outdoor' Blink Cameras w/Android Blink App. Relatively cheap. Purchased 7/2018. All cameras battery powered. Have not had any issues. Mainly arm the system at night, and while we are away. Cameras take a 15 second video if they detect motion. If the system is armed, and motion is detected, I get notified on my phone within seconds. You can also access any camera from the phone app 'real time' to see what's going on at the moment.

We have Blink at both of our properties. We only arm the system when we are away... there are lots of options for each camera in terms of motion sensitivity, clip length, retrigger time, etc. I also like it that I can look up the temperature in each camera location.

Clip length can be up to 30 seconds and can include both audio and video.

 

[capjak]

We have Blink at both of our properties. We only arm the system when we are away... there are lots of options for each camera in terms of motion sensitivity, clip length, retrigger time, etc. I also like it that I can look up the temperature in each camera location.

Clip length can be up to 30 seconds and can include both audio and video.

We use Blink and have a Ring both work great. Blink is supposed to have a battery life of 2 years we shall see.

Blink and Ring need local wifi to work so you may need an extender to get these to work well.

 

[capjak]

I use this at each toilet and water heater and basement sump for water leaks...it sends an email if there is a leak and sends an email per your set daily/weekly etc.... to let you know it still works....

Zircon Leak Alert WiFi - Smart Electronic Water Detector Alarm with Email, Audio and Visual Alerts - Battery Included

 

[pb4uski]

We use Blink and have a Ring both work great. Blink is supposed to have a battery life of 2 years we shall see. ...

Since I'm away for 6 months at at time I usually still replace my Blink camera batteries annually just before leave for the season.... with my luck the end of the two years would be just after I leave for the season.