Never thought I'd ever have to worry but I need outdoor security cameras!

[Wolfepack88]

It is addictive. I'm looking into this as my next upgrade. It's motion sensitive, and includes laser triggers. They're still working out the bugs for big ugly white gorillas, but should be adequate for deer and porch pirates.

Yes sentry guns! You ever see the motion detected water hose that sprays the deer. Wonder if they ever just get used to it. My wife yells at the deer through the ring cameras all the time. In NJ they are everywhere and basically give you the big middle finger unless you literally get right on top of them. We need wolves back in the ecosystem and nature would balance herself again. They effectively have no predators in our area to speak of as the bears are few and far between unless you are really in the sticks.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Yes sentry guns! You ever see the motion detected water hose that sprays the deer. Wonder if they ever just get used to it. My wife yells at the deer through the ring cameras all the time. In NJ they are everywhere and basically give you the big middle finger unless you literally get right on top of them. We need wolves back in the ecosystem and nature would balance herself again. They effectively have no predators in our area to speak of as the bears are few and far between unless you are really in the sticks.

Perhaps security cameras with facial recognition that shoot tear gas pellets at unfamiliar intruders …

New Talking Security Camera Has Robot Gun to Shoot People With Teargas

A Slovenian startup plans to make robotic home security cameras that can yell preset threats at intruders and shoot them with teargas.

futurism.com

 

[Dirk]

Wonder if they ever just get used to it.

Racoons do. Deer probably do, too. It's a free meal and they're all wearing raincoats! What do they care?!

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I would want the guns from Alien to deter anything, high powered and high rate of fire. Put one on each corner of the roof and I'd be all set.

I did some more "research" on the cameras and I think the Ring stuff is out. I've been watching some security camera videos and it seems that it may be better to go with a PTZ camera with a corresponding hard drive system. Depending on what the needs are, saw they can independently track and even possibly zoom in to capture close up images based on AI in the heads. But it looks as if this type of camera would be huge compared to some others, not sure if it's worth it to get something huge ... it certainly would deter some people. Still like the Alien gun system better even if it takes out some neighbors!

 

[Dirk]

You ever see the motion detected water hose that sprays the deer.

I didn't actually answer this question. I have. I researched them when I lived at a different house that had a bad raccoon problem. They would come each night and just lay around on my outdoor furniture! Walk around on the table with their muddy feed. There was no food source. I think this was just their rest stop when they were night cruisin' the neighborhood.

I gave up on the sprayer idea because all the reviews said the raccoons just ignored them. I would go to the window and yell at them, and they would just look at me like "Hey jerk, keep it down. We're trying to relax."

I solved the problem with electricity instead. Zap wire for horses and cattle. I even heard them screaming one night, from getting zapped. They never came back. After a while I could turn off the wire, they wouldn't go near it. And taught their littles to stay away, too.

I recreated the system at my new house. Doesn't work on squirrels, but does for larger animals. And it doesn't harm them, just scares 'em.

 

[Dirk]

better to go with a PTZ camera

That's what I use. You get so much better coverage. And the zoom is great. I can read my pool's pressure gauge. I can see a quarter on the bottom. I can swing it around to check the entire yard, and zoom in to make sure the gates are closed and locked. Depending on your house's footprint, you could cover most of the front and back yards with just four cams, one in each corner.

But they're not small and they're not cheap. Money wasn't an issue, and I'm OK with them being big. I want people to see them.

 

[Wolfepack88]

That's what I use. You get so much better coverage. And the zoom is great. I can read my pool's pressure gauge. I can see a quarter on the bottom. I can swing it around to check the entire yard, and zoom in to make sure the gates are closed and locked. Depending on your house's footprint, you could cover most of the front and back yards with just four cams, one in each corner.

But they're not small and they're not cheap. Money wasn't an issue, and I'm OK with them being big. I want people to see them.

Do you have any idea what it costs just to change the angle of the lens on a satellite orbiting 200 miles above the Earth? Our costs go up your costs go up!!​

 

[VinnyinNJ]

That's what I use. You get so much better coverage. And the zoom is great. I can read my pool's pressure gauge. I can see a quarter on the bottom. I can swing it around to check the entire yard, and zoom in to make sure the gates are closed and locked. Depending on your house's footprint, you could cover most of the front and back yards with just four cams, one in each corner.

But they're not small and they're not cheap. Money wasn't an issue, and I'm OK with them being big. I want people to see them.

I going to go with what my wife wants ... makes life so much easier because I get into the minutia of things. I saw a video of the Reolink PTZ camera that contains a wide view and zoom dual lens system. It was an 8x digital zoom that if I remember correctly was able to track and zoom in automatically. But it was a rather large piece of equipment and they also have a 16x optical zoom that was even larger. I figured something that large should deter people, apparently you can even hear it whirring as its moving. I'm sure she doesn't want that hanging on the side of the house, heck I would want a wide angle that can detect people that talks to another that has a great zoom and can get people's faces via AI and grab the license plate of a car that has stopped for a while.

 

[Dirk]

I just abandoned a ReoLink (too late to return it, so it's in my closet collecting dust). It was too slow and too loud and the resolution sucked. Maybe they have better models, but I won't use them again. I don't have any experience with the auto-tracking and AI that newer cams boast. I don't use mine in that way.

And yes, I'm pretending that a big ol' honkin' cam might provide some amount of deterrence. As I've written here many times: there is not much you can bolt on to your house to stop a criminal act. If they want in, they're coming in. You could make your door impregnable, for example, but I could get into your house with a DeWalt tool in a couple minutes, just by sawing through your siding and sheet rock. I could do that in broad daylight, and the racket wouldn't even pique a neighbor's curiosity. Cams can be foiled in seconds, quite easily, with a $5 can of spray paint, or even in less time with a $6 ski mask. Whaddayagonnodo!!??

All you can do is make your house look a bit more challenging to pilfer than your neighbors' houses. Maybe crooks will choose someone else's. So I installed a bunch of obvious cams and hope for the best. Ironically, the expensive cams I use are some of my more valuable possessions, which I've made conveniently available on the outside of my house!!

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I just abandoned a ReoLink (too late to return it, so it's in my closet collecting dust). It was too slow and too loud and the resolution sucked. Maybe they have better models, but I won't use them again. I don't have any experience with the auto-tracking and AI that newer cams boast. I don't use mine in that way.

And yes, I'm pretending that a big ol' honkin' cam might provide some amount of deterrence. As I've written here many times: there is not much you can bolt on to your house to stop a criminal act. If they want in, they're coming in. You could make your door impregnable, for example, but I could get into your house with a DeWalt tool in a couple minutes, just by sawing through your siding and sheet rock. I could do that in broad daylight, and the racket wouldn't even pique a neighbor's curiosity. Cams can be foiled in seconds, quite easily, with a $5 can of spray paint, or even in less time with a $6 ski mask. Whaddayagonnodo!!??

All you can do is make your house look a bit more challenging to pilfer than your neighbors' houses. Maybe crooks will choose someone else's. So I installed a bunch of obvious cams and hope for the best. Ironically, the expensive cams I use are some of my more valuable possessions, which I've made conveniently available on the outside of my house!!

My half hearted "research" just brought me to the Reolink, more than likely we would get a professionally installed system. POE seems the way to go as my house has mature trees in the backyard so battery with solar recharge isn't really an option. The front could be but the "ugliness" of that equipment probably won't fly with my wife. The back of the house doesn't really have access to run cables unless they open up the walls, something I dread but if it's needs to be done it needs to be done. Since I am going into retirement, repairing inside walls would be a project once retired. Our attic is 2 stories tall so that is a no go, probably need to use the eves on the 1st floor in the back. Nothing has happened since the original incident.

My house is not secure at all - big front picture window, front door with a large window, sliding glass doors in the back and garage doors with the standard key locks and no openers. If you get into the garage the door into the house has no lock on it so easy access ... nobody needs a Sawzall to get into my house. So it's all about deterrent vs security, there's nothing about our lifestyle/house that screams "we got money" which is good because we don't! I look at this kind of like locking a car door, it may deter a person from going into your car but if they really want the car they'll get it.

 

[Dirk]

If it makes you feel better...

I inquired of a local door shop about the window in one of my exterior doors. I was considering replacing the door, or otherwise securing the window. They said that breaking windows is not a thing thieves like to do. Too noisy. Unlike a whirring DeWalt motor, which most people don't think twice about, the sound of breaking glass, especially the size windows you're talking about, is like an alarm going off. So maybe your windows are not as bad as you think.

They say locks are for keeping honest people honest. Crooks... not so much.

 

[Dirk]

POE seems the way to go

I really like POE. Way more reliable than WiFi. And no wiring 120V or batteries. If you go with PTZ, you gotta go POE, too. You can tolerate viewing a fixed angle cam if it drops a few frames, you'll hardly notice it. But when you're panning and zooming, if the signal isn't fast enough, starting and stopping pan and zoom will be frustrating. It'll start moving late, and stop late, too, overshooting your target. Zoom too far in, or too far out. POE ensures the best PTZ performance.

Be sure your PTZ cam offers presets. Probably most do. It's a great workaround when you don't have optimal control of the PTZ, like when you're remote. Trying to aim a cam while you're out of town can be near impossible. But with presets, you just click a button and the cam will pan, tilt, zoom (some even focus) right where you want it to go. Most of my cams have between 10 and 20 presets. So while I'm away, I can view all the different areas quickly without trying to manually aim the turret.

RE: better half. I built housings for some of my exterior cams. You can tell they're there, so still a deterrent, but way better looking than a naked cam hanging off the wall. That might be a negotiable compromise.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

We will probably go to a security camera store, if there is such a thing. I don't feel any way about getting a camera, although I will research it up the wazoo when the time comes to think seriously about it. I'll let professionals run cable and such ... let them crawl abound in attics and whatnot!

As far as glass breaking, it sounds about right. I have always thought about how easy it is to cut into a house.

 

[ajw22]

As far as glass breaking, it sounds about right. I have always thought about how easy it is to cut into a house.

That is why my house alarm system has sensors on all doors and windows, glass break sensors, and motion sensors should anyone cut through the stucco walls. Then they have 5 to 10 minutes before Police arrive if they work with the sirens blaring inside and outside the house.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Glass-Break sensors are pretty common on most security systems.

Do you subscribe to ADT or something similar?

We’ve had ADT for years with window stickers and yard signs. Gives us 10% off our H/O insurance. I’ve accidentally trip the alarms over the years and I usually get a call within minutes verifying the situation is ok. Sheriffs station is 3 miles down the road and they’ll be here within minutes if called. For us, anyway, perimeter video cameras are a waste of time and money. Then again, I’m also in a gated subdivision so that’s an additional deterrent.

 

[Dirk]

video cameras are a waste of time and money

Money can be better spent on alarm/security systems, for sure. Other than the slight deterrent mine might provide, I didn't really install cams for security. I use them to monitor my pool and pad. I can check that all my doors and gates are closed and locked. I can see if I left the stove on. Or when my house guests are up and ready for breakfast. Or what the kids are up to. I can see if I've left any lights on. Or if the TV is still on. If there's someone or a package at the door. Like that.

Now that I list their uses, I realize they pretty much just facilitate me not having to get out of bed any more or sooner than I have to!! Priceless.