residential CCTV security system

[rjj04]

In the early days of Ethernet it used coaxial cable, but after switched Ethernet came along it moved to Cat X cable.

If you have some coax cable installed for CCTV cameras, and you don't want to change it out and put in Cat 5/6 cable, but you want to install IP Cameras, then there is an option to buy something like these EoC (Ethernet over Coaxial) adapters
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/EoC-Eth ... 308948ca27

At $32 for one (and you would need two for each link) it is quite expensive.

If your coax also has a power line (or power is coming from a source local to the camera) then you are set, if it doesn't then you can buy something like this to also deliver power
EoC (Ethernet over Coaxial) and PoC (Power over Coaxial) devices....
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Slave-P ... 308948ca27

Note, I have zero hands on experience with this sort of equipment... so do your due diligence

Apparently there is a new standard called MOCA (multimedia over Coax) that will allow standard TV, HDMI, and Ethernet to share a single coax cable. I just learned this, so I guess Coax isn't so out of date as I had once thought.

Of course there is always "wireless" IP cameras (which still need a power wire of course).

[bigsnake]

Had mine for years love it. Have connect to my Ipad/mobile can monitor the place whenever I travel, no need to line the pockets of the 191 folks, nuff said! Many dealers can be found around major shopping area, Big C, Tesco Lotus, extra, etc

[DoctorFix]

Analog cameras can just as well be connected via UTP (Cat 5/6) cable. I have more than a dozen that were done that way and it works perfectly well. You just need to buy a BNC to terminal or BNC to RJ45 converter/balun... very cheap. Remember, if you use Coax you will need to have another separate 12V supply line to the cameras. With Cat5/6 POE you can use one cable for power and signal/data, and use one central 12V supply for many cameras. Balun example...

Very interesting.... House we are in now once had a significant analog setup with cable run all over the place, cameras gone and cable remained, but I didn't know you could convert from BNC to RJ45. I gather you'd still need to keep the power supplies connected and not able to use the POE of the Cat cable?

Sorry, I'm a bit confused, your house has coaxial cable installed?

Yes, it does have coax running all over the place but based on your mentioning the cost fact for the coax to ethernet converters it doesn't make sense to convert. Better to invest in a newer setup with matching cameras as this nightmare appears to have used multiple different cameras but I did find a watashi box packed away along with another German system and with the five or six cameras that were left behind I guess I could kludge something together.

[rjj04]

Another option is, if you want to use wireless IP cameras, but you think the distance is too far to be reliable, you can use an old wireless router to extend your houses wireless range. I've done this before. It seems, every time you change a service here (TOT, 3BB, etc) they throw in a new wireless router, so I'm sure a lot of people have old ones sitting around. They are great for getting a good signal out tens of meters more. I think most new-ish wireless routers have a menu item to allow you to easily set it into wireless repeater mode. Just another option to think about if you hadn't already.

[DoctorFix]

Depends on the router, yeah. There are quite a few orphaned routers lying around but they don't all appear to be easily configurable as either a repeater or access point. Another one of my projects I guess

[Ray.Charles]

My wife owns a rental building monitored by 14 cameras (wireless). Until recently, it was possible to monitor activities through a smartphone with access to internet; now that can not be done. Everything else, local monitoring, recording, can still be done. The original installer can not be contacted. Can you recommend a technician to fix the system to allow remote monitoring. The building is in NongSamRong.
Thanks in advance.

[LingKyle]

Is this still the case? I could maybe take a look

[Ray.Charles]

Thanks for your prompt response.
Please connect with me by e-mail: ray.charles2020@hotmail.com or call 089 843 7158.
Ray

[Ray.Charles]

bump

[glalt]

I have a confession to make. I bought a D-Link kit with a single WiFi camera. I bought D-Link because they said that if everything is D-Link, the system is very simple to install. I paid about 7,400 baht for the system. Apparently I am not smart enough to get the system working. I was able to get the camera to work and can see the camera on my computer and cell phone. The problem is with the modem and the NVR. I cannot record. Apparently the software is out of date and I am not able to update from the Internet. I get a message from my computer that something is corrupted. I thought it was my computer but I tried it on my wife's computer and still get the same message. D-Link was absolutely no help. Never will I buy anything D-Link again. I should mention the the camera also sucks. The picture is not good at all.

After wasting a LOT of time I bought a four camera system including installation from a local guy for 14,000 baht. It works great. I had to furnish the monitor. The only problem is that I cannot add more cameras. The system can only handle four. If I had it to do over again, I'd buy a larger system. My wife has several tons of rice stored and I am using the piece of crap D-Link WiFi camera to monitor the rice. Probably mostly useless because of no recording capability.

[rjj04]

Sorry to harp on about all this, but it seems like a lot of people are wasting money on some of this hardware. As I said before, a standalone NVR (box) should not be required if using an IP camera. Also, some people will recall that a year or so ago there was a major DDOS attack by "Anonymous" or a group like that. They used backdoors into IP camera systems all over the world. Apparently these companies leave backdoors into their IP cameras and NVRs that are highly vulnerable to hackers. So that is another reason to avoid them.

Until recently I was using a lot of analog cameras, with Cat5 and POE (passive), into PCI capture cards on a couple of desktop PCs. The old $6 PCI cards have a few flaws, one that with 4 cameras into the board (BNC) you get about 1FPS, and two they are very touchy... that is sometimes don't boot properly (at least in my Linux boxes). So, I decided to still use the analog cameras (some outside in garage/carport/etc) but do the analog to digital conversion near to the unit. You can buy single board computers with quad core CPUs probably more powerful than your smartphone, for as little as $8US ($11 with shipping from AliExpress). Together with a USB analog capture dongle, you can capture the analog camera output at or near the camera (less noise captured) and it will be the same as an IP camera, only cheaper, and more secure.

Two Options for cameras
1) Analog camera 300 Baht
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/BigSale ... eLevelAB=0

USB Capture Dongle 150 Baht
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/UVC-USB ... eLevelAB=0

These USB dongles are UVC (plug-and-play) they show up as /dev/videoX to use... no setup required.

2) USB webcam (with infra-red is better)
If you have a lot of light in an area (or have a IR webcam) you can use and old webcam.. a lot of us have
them lying around.
A USB webcam will just plug-and-play connect as /dev/videoX so, no setup involved.

OrangePI Zero 300 Baht
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Ora ... eLevelAB=0

P.S. The Orange PI Zero is a wireless board as well, so you could set it up to wirelessly connect to your LAN that way... I used an old wireless router as a repeater to get the signal out to garage (5 cameras there).

MicroSD card (4GB or more, but should be C10) 140
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-sp ... eLevelAB=0

Cat 5 (12 Baht/meter) 120 Baht (or FREE if using wireless)

Two power options
---------------------------
1) If you have AC outlets near the camera
Use a AC/DC 12V wall-wart for the analog camera
Use a AC/DC 5V wall-wart for the Orange PI (USB OTG cable/charger for smartphones can be used)
AC/DC 12V wall-wart 100 Baht
AC/DC 5V wall-wart 100 Baht

2) No AC outlet near the camera, or you want to use a centralized 12V supply and feed many cameras
(a lot cheaper that way and more reliable). Buy a PC power supply and feed the 12V to the
camera through a POE dongle(s)
PC desktop PSU 250 Baht
12V to 5V step-down module 20THB
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/new-1pc ... eLevelAB=0

Note: 12V to 5V (these are usually preset to 5V output but you should check (voltmeter) before connecting to Orange PI)


For software you load Armbian Linux OS on the MicroSD card
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Download Armbian Server from Armbian website (FREE)
https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-plus/

Install Armbian on MicroSD and boot on Orange Pi Zero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVgamH2Sm-Y

Install and configure "motion" (FREE) (capture video from webcam/USB dongle and feed to server)
---------------------------------
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwDLkMPLTw0

Install "zoneminder" (FREE) will aggregate all the cameras and present (like a DVR/NVR s/w)
allows you to send email on motion events, send SMS, etc. etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx-xXo0qN1E

For around 1,200 THB (or 700 THB if using an old webcam) you have an IP camera with ability to stick many many more cameras up as you desire.

Anybody wanting to go this route can PM me for help. It really isn't as difficult as it seems. Cheers!

[Ray.Charles]

Appreciate all the responses.
We did not know the details of the system installed. Please give me a day or two to understand the installed system before moving to correct what we need to.

[glalt]

As for my squabble with D-Link, I have repeatedly told them I am unable to install the latest software. My last email to them, I complained that their devices are supposed to work out of the box and the user should not have to be a rocket scientist to update software in any way that cannot be done with a simple download. I asked them for an address to send the device so THEY can do the update. No answer yet.