Can we have a discussion on security cameras?

[SecondAttempt]

My understanding is putting one under an eve or roof overhang is sufficient protection and the V3 has IP65 weather resistance.

Of course they are not true security cameras, but a person can get a lot of coverage easily and if they are out of reach it seems like a good thing.

I also have an eufy camera, I like it as it has a 2K sensor, but it doesn't have any free cloud storage. Does store to the SD card.

It probably depends where you live. At my house in Hawaii under an eve is much like indoors. But even here in areas where there could be wind-driven rain you might want to be careful. You know your area and are in teh best position to decide.

The IP65 rating seems good for any home application probably even with direct rain exposure.

 

[meleana]

We don't have them and don't want them.Our neighbors go nuts every time their phones ping if a dog runs by or a package is delivered. Who needs to be bothered with that?


We are retired so we are mostly home- or at least around- and we do have a monitored security system. The houses in our neighborhood are right on top of each other so that is a good deterrent also. We have some stickers and a small sign outside stating the house is protected. Good enough.


I will say for a few years at our other home, which was secluded in the woods, my husband also put up a deer cam for a couple of years that could show any cars that came up our 700 foot driveway when we were at work. But we thankfully never had any issues.

 

[KenZ71]

Considering cameras as well just not sure how far down the rabbit hole I want to go.

Currently using a couple old cell phones connected to WiFi, no cellular, and the Free App Alfred. It gives email alerts as well.

One phone did not like being plugged in 24 x 7 so a smart plug with a scheduled on 4 hours / off 4 hours solved that.

 

[KarenF]

We have used Blink cameras, and Ring cameras - both battery operated. The batteries last a long time. Both are good but I like the Ring a little better.

 

[Sunset]

We don't have them and don't want them.Our neighbors go nuts every time their phones ping if a dog runs by or a package is delivered. Who needs to be bothered with that?


We are retired so we are mostly home- or at least around- and we do have a monitored security system. The houses in our neighborhood are right on top of each other so that is a good deterrent also. We have some stickers and a small sign outside stating the house is protected. Good enough.


I will say for a few years at our other home, which was secluded in the woods, my husband also put up a deer cam for a couple of years that could show any cars that came up our 700 foot driveway when we were at work. But we thankfully never had any issues.

Our retired neighbors were broken into last year. Nobody saw anything because we aren't constantly staring out the windows. This happened even though out of 10 houses on the street , 7 houses are retired.

A person can set the camera's to NOT alert you. A break-in, can happen even with an alarm, as they run in grab stuff and are gone in the 15 minutes it takes (if lucky) for cops to show up. With a camera even set to NOT alert, it will possibly have a view as to who did it or what they drove, depending on what camera is set to view.

Cops came and asked me to check my camera but the neighbors were broken via the back door so no luck.
Our neighbor that was broken into, now has an expensive alarm system.

 

[ychuck46]

Good choice

I’m happy with my Wyze cameras. Email motion alerts. No storage. Wireless. I’ve had them for a few years and added a couple here and there.

Wyze is a great choice for a low cost setup. Their new cameras are even better than the older models, both the indoor and outdoor version.

 

[conversationalphrase]

Wyze is a great choice for a low cost setup. Their new cameras are even better than the older models, both the indoor and outdoor version.

100%

 

[frances]

Eufy

I use Eufy to monitor my 90 Y-O mom in her condo.
I have the choice to pay for monitoring by them or not (I don't).
I have motion sensors that trigger camera clips (mom has caregivers so I like to keep an eye on who's where when. and YES, caregivers are aware of the cameras but not the details). I can pop in and look, there is two-way audio, and night vision. I have one of the cameras pointed out onto the driveway and a motion sensor paired with it for that. Also have some door sensors so I know who's tugging on what doors.
Eufy has some built-in storage or I can attach a NAS (haven't done that yet).
Cameras I use are battery powered, but I can plug them in and have them powered all the time. Batteries have not given out yet (been about 6 months) and they are heavily used (lots of motion in the house so lots of clips recorded).
I have put the homebase for the system on a UPS for power outages to keep from having to go and touch the system when there's a power flick.

 

[67walkon]

Wal-Mart sells a "geeni" WiFi camera for about $30. I ordered 2 more of them for about $55 for the pair. The app is simple, it has sound, motion alerts, 1080 video. Its cheap and simple.

 

[NewEnglander]

check out the forums at Ipcamtalk.com. The consensus is all wifi cams are junk especially for outdoor night coverage although they may be fine for the indoor coverage your looking at. I setup an excellent system using blue iris software running on a couple of year old PC that I purchased used. You can also record to a NAS instead of a PC.
All cams are directly wired using POE. The entire system cost was under $600. Multiple cams recording 24/7 with over a month of recordings. Everything on site, nothing in the cloud, but with secure remote access I can view from any remote PC or phone.

 

[Kalm]

Security cameras

The blink cams have live view and still shot functions. They use non rechargeable batteries that are projected to last 2 yrs. No way to know about that but they are pretty cheap and it’s very easy to change batteries.

We have tried various systems. We have the blink the xt2 at the home and vacation residences which don’t require a subscription. The cameras use lithium batteries and depending on how often one accesses the camera, the ambient temperature, the batteries last around 12-18 months based on our experience. We replace the batteries every year just to make sure. We also have the mini blinks which require a subscription or a thumb drive on a separate module to save videos. The mini blinks have to be plugged into an AC outlet. If the power and internet goes out, the mini blinks can be powered cycle and does not need to be reset to work. Other systems like the abode cam 2 work the same way. The abode cam 2 needs to be plugged in and work with the abode module. This system does not require a subscription but abode offers an option for professional monitoring for about $20/ month. Ooma use to offer a camera system called the Butterfleye but is no longer being supported. We like the Eufy indoor camera which offers 360 viewing via streaming. It has a slot for an SD card if one needed to save the video. It uses an ap on your smart phone. Hope this helps!

 

[gooddog]

We use YI Home camera system. 4 pack of them can be bought on Amazon for less than $100. With the right SD in them, they will record 1080P. Easy to connect to the WiFi. Send alerts to phone base off criteria you set. Have night vision. 2 Way talk on them. There is an app for Windows for them too. Mounting brackets cost about $10 for a 4 pack also.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

If they are not connected to someone/something that will summon the police quickly, cameras won't keep you from being burglarized; they will only perhaps help in getting an arrest and conviction.

 

[2177V]

I like my $249.99 Ring system with dual floodlights and motion sensors. I have two of them. I think you can get them at Costco for $199 when they go on sale.

Any motion will trigger both the camera recording and dual floodlights which light up my front yard at night. Anyone who comes close to my property at night will be lit up by the floodlights and then they will see the Ring camera recording their every move.

I have one positioned to protect my van that is parked outside.

 

[2cheap2eat]

I’m happy with my Wyze cameras. Email motion alerts. No storage. Wireless. I’ve had them for a few years and added a couple here and there.

I have several Wyze wired and wireless cameras. Seems like perfect for your needs.

 

[Sunset]

check out the forums at Ipcamtalk.com. The consensus is all wifi cams are junk especially for outdoor night coverage although they may be fine for the indoor coverage your looking at. I setup an excellent system using blue iris software running on a couple of year old PC that I purchased used. You can also record to a NAS instead of a PC.
All cams are directly wired using POE. The entire system cost was under $600. Multiple cams recording 24/7 with over a month of recordings. Everything on site, nothing in the cloud, but with secure remote access I can view from any remote PC or phone.

A person can buy the Wyze V3 camera for $36 delivered.
It makes nighttime look nearly like the day without distance limit ie can see across the street.
Sounds like the folks on the Ipcamtalk.com forum haven't tried the wyze v3 cam. And are stuck on wired solutions.

https://wyze.com/wyze-cam.html?bundle=1

I have no relationship with wyze, except as a customer for a few years, having first their v2 camera, and then a v3.

I also have bought some Eufy cameras (wireless) as they are 2K , but not as good night vision, they were $30 each delivered.

 

[5Miler]

Security Camera systems can prove to be a slippery slope. It all depends on the level of service you want. I'm not one to incur regular monthly fees as they have a way of adding up to real money in short order. I use a Windows based piece of software for my security camera application called Blue Iris which can handle more cameras than I'll ever need (in excess of 64 if I remember correctly). I use generic cameras from Hikvision and 6 I had from a proprietary system in which the DVR died on me after they went out of business. All run on POE including my EUFY doorbell camera which is tied into Blue Iris and my Alexa Show. It all runs on an older HP business class desktop acquired via EBAY which is run headless through a web interface to control everything and can be accessed from any computer/laptop in my home or on a smartphone. The system also has remote access if you want to enable it. A POE switch powers everything and it all runs on a UPS with all components bolted to a wall under my basement staircase. Even with power disrupted it provides over 30 minutes of runtime before it does an orderly shutdown and automatically powers back up when AC power is restored. I slapped a couple of old 3 TB drives in it from when I upgraded one of my NAS systems so it retains almost a month of video as it records all cameras 24 hours a day.

Some of the cameras and the doorbell also have onboard storage with SD Cards for redundancy if needed. It was interesting to get doorbell notifications while in Rome last week as the mosquito service techs and others tripped the system.

 

[Kwirk]

Recently, a neighbor posted that a Wi-Fi security camera was briefly disabled by a jamming device while their car was vandalized. I haven't made a camera choice yet but I'll certainly be leaning toward a wired system.

It seems that available jamming devices can also block cellular signals.

 

[pacific]

I have been using the Alfred app, with the cameras being my FREE old cell phones. I have 3 set up around my house, inside, pointing through windows. Powered directly to the wall charger or on a timer that allows 1 hour charging every 3 hours. View real time, from any phone or computer on the net.

It's not perfect, but cheap! Alfred stores the motion sensor videos in the cloud for a few days, or if you pay about $35/year, storage is for a month. https://alfred.camera/

 

[habelsgtb]

ARLO seems to work for us as low cost solution (no monthly fee) and includes 30 days of cloud storage (need to download if you want to keep the recordings before they individually expire). It does sound and motion but does get a few false alerts (shadows from car lights or sun/trees) and normal house settling. They offer a more robust monthly subscription for less false alarms. I got the cameras that require power instead of dealing with batteries.

 

[skyking1]

I have been using the Alfred app, with the cameras being my FREE old cell phones. I have 3 set up around my house, inside, pointing through windows. Powered directly to the wall charger or on a timer that allows 1 hour charging every 3 hours. View real time, from any phone or computer on the net.

It's not perfect, but cheap! Alfred stores the motion sensor videos in the cloud for a few days, or if you pay about $35/year, storage is for a month. https://alfred.camera/

Here is a free app that does the live streaming portion, and I use open source Zoneminder to do the management, motion detection and storage.
https://camonlivestreaming.jimdofree.com/