Moral-Flexibility.Net

We are (with some debate) on the third incarnation of our home surveillance system. The first was an entirely amateur affair, utilizing extremely inexpensive (actually “cheap”) cameras, vulnerable wiring and a recorder capable of only eight hours recording each night (basically turned on as we went to bed). The cost was about $240 for the entire system and we certainly got what we paid for (don’t get me wrong, you can spend $999 and still get a system no better than the one we had, but you’d be hard pressed to get a less effective system).

The Cameras:

We started with low res CMOS (complementary metal oxide substrate) cameras, which generally have poor image resolution and Lux ratings (meaning that the pictures appear more grainy and the camera is unable to see in low-light or nightime conditions without external light sources).

While an improvement over NO cameras this system was extremely limited, and without the assistance of the front porch light and perimeter (motion detection) lighting the cameras were effectively blind once the sun went down.

As you can see from the screencaps the visibility was not fantastic even when the perimeter lighting was activated, without it the cameras showed a black screen. This, while far from perfect, was adequate for our initial needs and provided some peace of mind. Two specific shortcomings had been noted (field of vision and low-light capacity).

One additional problem was expected to assert itself, in that the custom housing I had made for these cameras (using small project boxes) were becoming home to a number of insects and provided little in the way of protection for the cameras themselves from either the elements or from outdoor temperatures.

The good news was that the cameras were well sited, and coverage included almost all of the exterior openings of the house itself. There was room for improvement, but the system was functioning as it was.

I spent some of my on-duty and off-duty time hunting around ebay for surplused cameras going for cheap. I found a few and using the existing wiring I upgraded each camera in turn. These cameras were CCD (charge coupled device) cameras and generally speaking had better low-light capacity, the acquision of a series of different lenses allowed me to adjust the field of vision for each camera as needed.

As a preference surplused commercial grade cameras were always my first choice, but their availability is irregular and I would often end up abuse testing cheap Hong Kong cameras using a bench in the basement before adding them to the existing system.

Generally speaking I preferred low-lux Black and White cameras to IR LED equipped ones simply because those glowing LEDs tend to give the location of the cameras away fairly rapidly at night. That said they do provide an excellent cost effective option, and at present approximately 50% of my cameras utilize IR LEDs.

More trial and error followed, but for the most part the cameras in use (both quality commercial and cheap HK stuff) have proven adequate to the task, and little further fine tuning is expected. Visibility is good both in daylight and at night, all entry/exit points to the house are covered and barring equipment failures I think we’re good at this point.

Next up, recording systems and technology headaches.

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