Need help putting together a home CCTV package for my home

I can hear my 8ch in my comms cab, if I stick my head in, but I wouldnt call it a racket. I have installed plenty and never had anyone complain about the noise.
 
Looks like the fanless 4ch is a new model, "B", maybe they'll do the 8ch fanless too in time.

 
Too high. I fitted mine up there when we first moved in as it was quick and easy, but you can only get an overview of the area or the tops of peoples heads. I moved them down to 2.5-3.0m and it’s a much more appropriate height. I ran the cables up the cavity of the house to the loft so you can’t see them.
I've cavity walls but with insulation. Do you know if it's possible to run cables up insulated cavities? It's the small bobbly insulation. Id have thought that it would be difficult enough to run cables up a wall even without insulation. How did you manage that? I was originally thinking of just using powerline adapters where the cat 5 cables enter the house but cables would be good if I could get them up the inside of the walls.
 
Looks like the fanless 4ch is a new model, "B", maybe they'll do the 8ch fanless too in time.

I was reading the reviews on ip's website of the Hikvision DS-7604NI-K1-4P(B) | 4 Channel Network Video Recorder. A couple mention noise and one guy seems to think it has a fan.

- it can be really noisy due to vibration of HDD (4TB WD Purple) as the case seems to act as a resonator.

-Slight irritation is that the unit has a fan which is a bit noisy so bear that in mind when considering where to site the unit(Posted on 4 January 2018)
 
-Slight irritation is that the unit has a fan which is a bit noisy so bear that in mind when considering where to site the unit(Posted on 4 January 2018)

They're probably talking about the old model, not the 'B'
 
I've cavity walls but with insulation. Do you know if it's possible to run cables up insulated cavities? It's the small bobbly insulation. Id have thought that it would be difficult enough to run cables up a wall even without insulation. How did you manage that? I was originally thinking of just using powerline adapters where the cat 5 cables enter the house but cables would be good if I could get them up the inside of the walls.

Our house is a new build so it also has insulation. White fluffy stuff. What I did was drill a hole at an angle going up where I wanted the camera, then using electricians rods (C.K Mighty Rod Cable Rod Set 3.3m 15 Pieces) I fed them through the hole and into the loft. It's a bit tricky but with some wiggling and the flexible end attachment it doesn't take long. Then attached the Ethernet cable in the loft and pull the rods back through. I used one of these to attached the cable (Super Rod Super Grip Cable Connectors Pack 4-15mm 4 Pack). The harder you pull, the harder it grips.
 
Be very careful dragging Cat 5 / 6 cables. They are not overly robust and it is quite easy to snap the conductors. Never try and drag a cable if it feels stuck or is not moving. Try and gently ease it back and try drawing it again. It is a rookie error to try and jerk or snatch a cable that wont move, you will most likely damage or snap it - this is especially important when trying to pull cables through cavities or dry liners. The cable should always be moving relatively freely. I often try and draw a pair of cables together as it improves the overall tensile strength of the cable (but also increases it resistance too). I tend to bond them together with tape at 20cm intervals for the first metre or so.

Its always good practice to check the cable continuity as soon as you have dragged it rather than waiting 2 weeks to find out that you have damaged the cable during install.

With regard drawing up cavities - you may find obstructions, depending on where you are drawing your cables. Things like cavity trays, snot, strapping, half blocks / bricks etc can sometimes foul parts of the cavity.

Final advice - drawing cables is ideally a 2 man job, 1 to feed and one to draw. Most of all, be patient.
 
Our house is a new build so it also has insulation. White fluffy stuff. What I did was drill a hole at an angle going up where I wanted the camera, then using electricians rods (C.K Mighty Rod Cable Rod Set 3.3m 15 Pieces) I fed them through the hole and into the loft. It's a bit tricky but with some wiggling and the flexible end attachment it doesn't take long. Then attached the Ethernet cable in the loft and pull the rods back through. I used one of these to attached the cable (Super Rod Super Grip Cable Connectors Pack 4-15mm 4 Pack). The harder you pull, the harder it grips.

Thanks, that looks good gear. The installer I asked to quote had only suggested running cables outside of walls so he doesnt seem to be aware of this method. I'll put this to him.
 
Be very careful dragging Cat 5 / 6 cables. They are not overly robust and it is quite easy to snap the conductors. Never try and drag a cable if it feels stuck or is not moving. Try and gently ease it back and try drawing it again. It is a rookie error to try and jerk or snatch a cable that wont move, you will most likely damage or snap it - this is especially important when trying to pull cables through cavities or dry liners. The cable should always be moving relatively freely. I often try and draw a pair of cables together as it improves the overall tensile strength of the cable (but also increases it resistance too). I tend to bond them together with tape at 20cm intervals for the first metre or so.

Its always good practice to check the cable continuity as soon as you have dragged it rather than waiting 2 weeks to find out that you have damaged the cable during install.

With regard drawing up cavities - you may find obstructions, depending on where you are drawing your cables. Things like cavity trays, snot, strapping, half blocks / bricks etc can sometimes foul parts of the cavity.

Final advice - drawing cables is ideally a 2 man job, 1 to feed and one to draw. Most of all, be patient.
Thanks for this sound advice. Yes, definitely worth checking integrity of cables after pulled through.
 
When I spoke to my installer about this method he did say it would add a lot to the price as it is more time-consuming.

If I did decide to stick to cameras on soffits, what is the zoom like on the 8mp hikvision cameras? Enough to make out a face? Or not? can't find comparison videos showing that on these cameras. Just older ones.
 
When I spoke to my installer about this method he did say it would add a lot to the price as it is more time consuming.

It really doesn't. you're still drilling a hole in the wall for the cable to pass through, you save time from having to pin the cable to the wall as it's inside the cavity, but yes it can be a bit tricky to get it into the loft. I did the first one and that took a bit longer than the other 2 I ran because I picked up the "knack". it's the difference between 5 minutes and 10 minutes per cable.
 
It really doesn't. you're still drilling a hole in the wall for the cable to pass through, you save time from having to pin the cable to the wall as it's inside the cavity, but yes it can be a bit tricky to get it into the loft. I did the first one and that took a bit longer than the other 2 I ran because I picked up the "knack". it's the difference between 5 minutes and 10 minutes per cable.
Im trying to picture how you got it out at the loft. Did you drill a fairly large hole at the loft above where the camera hole is to aim for? I'm amazed that anyone could catch that loft hole themselves feeding up from the camera hole.
 
Im trying to picture how you got it out at the loft. Did you drill a fairly large hole at the loft above where the camera hole is to aim for? I'm amazed that anyone could catch that loft hole themselves feeding up from the camera hole.

In the loft there is a gap (in my house at least). You get to the top of the cavity so there isn't anything blocking it except for a small green flat bag of insulation. Just pull this out in advance.

full


This photo shows a black bag instead for example.
 
This photo shows something similar. The top of these two walls is where your roof sits across, but doesn't block the top of the cavity.

stop-socks.jpg
 
In the loft there is a gap (in my house at least). You get to the top of the cavity so there isn't anything blocking it except for a small green flat bag of insulation. Just pull this out in advance.

full


This photo shows a black bag instead for example.
That looks very neat. Our house is 1930's -I'll get up and remove the insulation later on to have a look, but I dont think it'll have that broad escape route for a cable.
 
That looks very neat. Our house is 1930's -I'll get up and remove the insulation later on to have a look, but I dont think it'll have that broad escape route for a cable.

Wow 1930's, I'll be surprised if it even has a cavity. You may now no choice but to pin direct to the outer wall.
 
First storey soffit installs are not a good location for facial identification, the angle is way to high and at night IR range is not ideal. I have a single camera at this height that I use to 'overvue' my front of house. I have 3 other cameras (at the front of my house), 2 at ground floor ceiling height and one mini dome at face height by my front door.

Camera heights need to be chosen based on task not ease of install. If you are interested in seeing faces, I would recommend no more than 3m (or height of your first floor joists - that is where I tend to feed cables if I can. It is often easier to fish them up a dry liner and into an attic. You may need to make an odd hole to get around the dabs, but I have a 100% success rate so far. I know that they wont be in-cap using this method, but sometimes the client (often wife) does not want a whole wall chasing, for CCTV cables.
 
This photo shows something similar. The top of these two walls is where your roof sits across, but doesn't block the top of the cavity.

stop-socks.jpg
I guess as these photos show the cavity must come out at the attic so maybe it will be ok.
 
Where are you based? I follow a lot of good installers on Instagram and I could likely point you in the direction of a reputable installer.
 
It would be good to find out the hardware details and total cost. For comparison. I've found all the companies I've been in touch with to be very slow communicating and getting information.

I have to keep chasing them. It's the same with most tradesmen etc I've needed. Long gone are the days when they worked hard to get your custom. At least in my area.

Had my install yesterday. Camera's and NVR are UNV (uniview) which seems to be a trade only product.

Ended up with 5 camera's instead of 4. The guys arrived at 8.15am and left at 5.30pm. They did a really tidy job, but after the installation they weren't happy with the position of 1 of the camera's so will be back next week to move it to a better location.

Everything working well, except 1 camera seems to be permanently recording so I'll bring that up when he's back next week.
The app, EZView is simple to use.

So far so good.
 
Glad you got it sorted. I'm booked for January. I haven't heard of UNV cameras before. Wonder how they compare to my chosen Hikvision cameras.
 
Hi all. My install is next Thursday so not long to wait.

1 thing my installer said that I didn't understand, was that using the newer H265 codec would lead to reduced functionality with some of the new camera features. Is this right? Is there any downside to using H265 with the Hikvision NVR?

Thank you :)
 
1 thing my installer said that I didn't understand, was that using the newer H265 codec would lead to reduced functionality with some of the new camera features. Is this right? Is there any downside to using H265 with the Hikvision NVR?

I though H265 was just a better compression than H264. I've always used H265 on mine, let us know if he gives you any more info.
 
Thats what I thought. But he said some of the features didn't work correctly etc when it was used. I will need to ask for more info.
 

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