What is the best way to connect a security camera that is 70 feet from my house?

[snoopdon]

We purchased our current home in 2015 and it was completed in March of 2016. The builder's electrician also installed security systems and security cameras. We have six exterior IP cameras by Alibi Witness/Hikvision which are recorded on an Alibi Witness NVR. I believe the cameras are 1020P. Unfortunately, the image from the camera aimed at our driveway does not allow us to read a license plate of a car unless it is within 25 feet or so of the camera. However, we have what I call "stone monument" lights on either side of our driveway, within a few feet of the road. Please see photo. At our request the electrician for the developer installed AC outlets on them. I would like to get an all-weather security camera that can plug in to the AC outlet for power and aim it down the road to the left to see approaching cars in the hope we would be able to read the license plate of any car captured by this camera. The reason is that recently we have had some suspicious vehicles driving into the development and I would like to be able to capture not just an image of the vehicle, which the original cameras can do, but also the license plate. We have Comcast xFinity Wi-Fi provided by the router but it is very weak at the end of the house nearest this light. I know we won't be able to record the video from this camera on the existing system so is there a system that will record the video in the cloud? I don't want to have to go out to the camera to get an SD card out to access the captured v video. Thanks, Don

 

[Chester]

There are several solutions that might fit. Personally I would probably utilise a nearby tree (if available) to place out of reach and inside a bird hide style box. This way you can box in any mains to operating voltage transformers, provide weather protection and it should make it more discreet. Disable any IR on the camera or it will be attracting a lot of wildlife! I wouldn't use the 'monument' as that's in a very easily accessed area.

You could run conduit with CAT 6 cabling out to the edge of the property, but of course that means digging. With power in the area, this would shorten the length of cable required and you could use WiFi with an external directional antenna at the house to reach the edge. On a more technical level, either way, I would configure this connection to be in a different VLAN just in case someone tries to connect to your normal house network.

As for which camera, I'd stay with Hikvision, but from there it depends on the features you need. PTZ with IR triggers will get expensive, but if you require coverage of a large area, that might be the way to go. You'll also not be able to place this in a box! But it could be placed on its own post, depending on whether you also want the camera to be a major deterrent itself as they often can be.

Hope these thoughts are useful.

 

[Munzz]

Power is fine to the camera as you can tap into your existing supply.

To get them on the network your best off using wireless links, one will go close to the camera and the other at the house. This allows the camera to talk to the link at the house which is plugged into a switch/router. These are also known at point to point links.

 

[RobinDB]

A WiFi based camera could do this if your router is a decent one.
access to video would be via app on phone or compute.
I use the Reolink Argus 2 with solar panel to charge but if you have mains there then it could go on power adapte.