Thank you Grant, another well made, well explained video. I have to say, I have a similar home setup, just moved in a little more than a month ago, and security cameras are something I have been looking into. All that said, I have to say, i'm going to have to probably watch this video in slow mo and study it like a Bar Exam, because as much as I want to do everything myself, I also know I have little to no experience doing anything like this, but at least you break things down for me to get the confidence to give it a try ...
Thanks again for the feedback! Let me know if you have any questions in the process or questions on equipment. A good home security system is nice to have but needs to be done the right way. Stay away from the wireless motion only recording devices. I did those for a while and its better to spend a little more time and money and get a NvR and PoE system. Im working on a full home networking video as well which will be more robust in pulling cords and getting ethernet in the rooms in your home.
Great How to.. Just keep in mind for the people that might be watching and going to do the same thing. #1 and you ended up not using it but you should know for future INFO and others need to know if they take time to read the Comments. The Weather boot you had one of the largest mistakes made. That is the little rubber band part that you didn't show putting on.(But you had it on there in the video) It don't go on the threaded side it goes on the camera part of the Twist Lock Side.. Next Anyone that is working on any type of metal siding or soffit, Please use some type of grommet to keep the cables from rubbing and damaging the cables. Also in theory you should use more then 2 screws to mount your bracket. Mainly because wind will (Or Can) make your footage very unstable. Seeing you said you are in a High Weather area if you would have done 1 more screw at least even if a metal screw taking care not to strip the metal it will keep it more stable in high winds. Also your camera is a Turret camera. The other camera you were talking about is called a Bullet camera. Then there is a Done camera and the Dome camera has a dome you have to screw onto the cameras mounting area.. Also not sure if your Rod has the extra part with Magnet, if it does it would have been better to use the Noodle to pass up into the cavity and use the other 10 or more feet on the inside to fish the noodle out. On the other end you could have the string attached and pull the String in to attach the cable to pull back out. Also to be honest if someone has a POE NVR then a home run from camera to NVR would be best or make sure to use a Gigabit switch from outside switch to inside switch for best data of a multi stream camera system to your NVR.. If you have large area there can be data drops where the footage misses frames. Like if your camera is 25fps and running a slow speed switch between garage and house it might be you end up only getting 17 to 20fps and others are dropped. Also anyone that has read this far. Also keep in mind that closer you put your IR or White led to your home the worse the night image can be using built in IR or Leds. So make sure to point the camera away from the house so you don't have blacked out spots in your footage from the cameras adjustment from light splash..
Thank you for your comment, it will help a lot of viewers. With regards to some of your comments: I thought of using a rubber grommet for the cords going through the soffit, but the mounts are flat and a rubber grommet would make a lip causing the mounting to be wobbly or pushed out. Once the cord is in, it doesnt move around. I dont think its necessary. As for the rubber seal for the cord connection, reolink’s new cams come with one on the side you are speaking of and one where the threads are you saw in the video. My hand covered the other side where the camera is. The old ones only had the one which had to be put on the camera side. New ones come with it as there is a cap on the connection from factory that I removed. But it is something for viewers to watch for. As for mounting, I installed other cameras this way and have had no shaking or issues as the toggled tighten down well and dont move. I did do three for my cameras that have the smaller base (they only have three mounting holes). Adding a third certainly wouldn’t hurt and something I would do if I had issues. Great point on placement for Ir cameras from the house. For the NvR and Switch and home run comment, it is definitely always better to do a home run, but not always possible. I would not do a switch if that switch were to also be running high bandwidth items where speed is an issue. There was almost no way to do home runs from my garage cams to NVR without doing several direct burial cables. And its just my garage so the only other usage out there is tv for when im working on things and want to watch a ball game. Gigabit switch could have 8 cameras and 2 roku’s going and still work completely normal. But yes to your point, home runs are always best practice. For pulling cords, many ways to skin a cat. Im sure there are better ways, thanks for providing some options.
Thanks, Grant. I've seen a few similar videos. Yours is nicely paced. Plenty of time (not too much) to take in what you're doing before moving to the next step. I am wondering, however, if it would also work to push the fishing rod up through the hole in the soffit, then snag it from attic with something else--possibly another fishing rod? Like you, I'm trying to not have to crawl over/through the blow-in insulation in my garage attic to get to the soffit.
Great question! So it all really depends on location and build style of your soffits. I have not had very good luck doing it on my home because the soffits are much lower than the actual ceilings inside. So you have to really get a good angle up and tuck against the roofing. My insulation has gotten in the way and the actual framing so ive found it much easier to push from the inside with the magnetic noodle and metal line. More room for error. I think those metal coiled up wire pullers/pushers work much better from the outside. So that may work better.
I really like the pass-through RJ45 connectors. I can't count how many times I crimped an end of with the traditional ones only to find that the connectors didn't stay in the right order. It's nice to be able to check before crimping. I wish I had that tool with the wire chain and the magnet. I just ran a doorbell camera the other day using the existing doorbell wire to pull the ethernet cable through, but it got snagged and came undone. It was a huge pain to get it fished down after that.
Oh man! I have a wifi doorbell cam using the power from existing doorbell wire because I didnt want to deal with trying to get ethernet to that spot. Seems hard to do and wasn’t willing to wreck my wiring to end up failing. Good for you for being a better man than me. The magnet wet noodle is awesome!!!! Yes I will only use pass through rj45. Dont want to deal with testing and find out the hard way they dont work right.
Thank you - the video is well done! I am having an installer put in the cameras. I already have the PoE wiring in place. One installer said that I needed back boxes for each camera. Reolink and Amazon both sell them - but you didn't install those and wonder if I actually need them? Thank you!
How much are they charging you? The only reason I would use a box is if the area is open to the elements and not protected at all. Then it adds protection to the cords and connections. Some people do them on all cameras as it is technically better to do in case of pressure washing and all that but not necessary. But if the locations are very exposed, its not a bad idea.
Great question. So using a switch vs just running to NVR can help with added features depending on your brand of cameras. Some brands dont even allow it an has to be direct to NvR. With reolink, you get more features doing poe network switch vs direct to NVR. Also helps to not have to make one run to one location. I have my four garage cameras on one poe switch which has one cat6 run back to my modem/router and NvR. So didnt have to do 4 extra runs back to the nvr. Id do some research on your cameras on if they support poe network switch or have to be on nvr and if there is a benefit to doing switch if allowed.
Thanks! Thats a tough one. If the other side of the wall is attic then yeah can just pup it through. But then you would want a junction box so the cable connections are in that for safety and not touching the walls. Im not sure what to say with an attic. If you want to go straight through to inside the building then yes thats fine but will be a hole in the wall. Need junction box for that too
@@wick-jw5kq outside. Idk what brand camera you have but most make a type of junction box that fits their cameras or you can check online for ones that are pretty much universal. Its low voltage so I dont think you technically need conduit but its not a bad idea due to insulation and everything. Do an electrical conduit through the wall is what id do. But I have ethernet with poe going through walls without it. I usually do a larger hole and use those cable pass through bristle style wall plates.
Specs say about 1.12 pounds. If you have aluminum soffits like mine you should be fine with using the toggles. If you are concerned about it, you could drill a but bigger hole, and fit a long piece of narrow wood that would go from one edge to the other of the soffit, and put a screw in each side into it and then get one or two mounting screws into the wood. Bit more work. If you have vinyl then you should be able to remove the vinyl soffit section easily and put a support piece of wood in and then reinstall the soffit.
Great question. Yes. You probably can get away with using self tapping Screws. But the problem is the aluminum is so thin and there is vent holes in a lot of the mounting locations that its not as secure and risk them being easily pulled out. Also if you accidentally over tighten and strip, it wont hold. I did use screws on one camera and was very careful and it seems to be holding but this location was more protected and the mounting base was a three hole mount that is much smaller so was harder to do the toggles there. I also did it where there are no vent holes in the soffit. That I would not trust.
I plan to use Threaded Inserts ie. Rivnuts (a brand name). These use a tool to compresses the threaded insert locking it into the sheet metal similar to how a pop-rivet works.
@@electronron1 I’ve never heard of those so looked it yo. Very cool product! I like you can reuse the location so pulling on and off is easy. Only downside im seeing is you cant remove it. Not a huge deal as you have to plug a hole either way.
@AllHomeDIYDad we used them in aircraft mods, and you can drill them out. But like you said, you'll still have a hole to deal with. If I were moving the camera I would make a blank off plate, pick up the screw holes, and then your wire hole would be covered/ hidden too.
@@d.graham3832 for sure. Always ways around it and ways to cover. I attempted some cordage runs under my soffit in one spot on my house to learn there was something weird. About the soot and couldn’t do it and had a 3/4 hole drilled. Used a blank plate to cover it all up. No one will ever see it except me.
WOW ..WRONG way to drill a hole through soffit material...Look closely at hole, the spade bit just tears the hole on the edges..(potential to scrape camera wiring when installing) I think a forstner bit, wound have given a much smoother hole..Just my opnion..
Definatley could do a smoother hole in metal with a specialty bit. I try to use what normal homeowners would have vs a bit you may use for one application. I appreciate the feedback. Can always clean up the hole with a file if needed as well. I just try to be careful when pulling the wire.
