Home Improvement Today?

Sounds similar at least. I hadn't thought of a planner. I'll have to see what's available in town tomorrow if I don't think of something else.

It's...different that's for sure. Guess it's somewhat common where this house was built back when they did it (70s). I'm much more used to the way you described or the joist being the whole size of the beam and it fitting just in the pocket.

 

what would it take to hard-wire some security cameras around a house that does not have wiring for lights or anything around the eaves?

I know there's some wiring in the attic, goes mostly to ceiling lights, and fans, etc. But haven't been up there myself to check it out.

Is this something someone who is mostly handy, and has *some* wiring experience can do? Or better left to a professional?

 

Access is going to be the hardest part.

 

This^
If you have basic knowledge it should be easy for you to do the physical labor, access is going to be your biggest problem.

 

it really depends on access and the type of cameras you’re wanting to install. You can just poke holes out through a soffit vent or some wave blocking and get the cables ran relatively easily. I would recommend leaving all connections inside the house/attic/crawl space or at least somehow making sure moisture won’t get to them.
The rest is just a matter of setting up a spot for the dvr

 

Thanks for the responses. I'm looking at getting the Ring cameras.

Access shouldn't really be an issue, I have a single story craftsman home, with a large attic and a high gable, so plenty of head room up there to run wires.

My issue is tapping into a circuit, and how to connect the cameras, i.e. if they should be in a series on one wire, or some other way. My experience with wiring is limited, and haven't really done any home wiring outside of connecting a few switches.

 

For Wired should have a basic diagram, it will be connected at a junction box, or outlet. Or could run an independant circuit if you have spaces in your panel boxes.

 

I think I do have a few empty spaces in my panel. I'll have to double check when I get home, If I do, that seems like the easiest route. Then I would just need to figure out how to wire the lights together.

 

You could skip the Ring cameras and go with POE cameras. Then you just need to run network cables from a hub that supports POE.

 

Im finding a decent amount of info on how to connect the lights to existing wiring, but not how to run new wiring for a series of lights.

If anyone has any good sources or info how to do that, I'd appreciate that!

 

^this^

I think you're making it too hard. If you want to run ring cameras get the solar powered ones and save the wiring headache. Ring cameras run on 5 volts so they don't need anything fancy. Or pull cat 6 cable and run POE converters for the Ring stuff. If you do this long term you will be upgrading to better cameras in the future, because Ring just ain't that great. The POE option is the most future proof. But, if you want to run 120 out to the camera locations, I'd still recommend you pull some cat 6 at the same time. Future you will thank you.

 

I cant really use the solar option in the front of my house because its blocked by a large tree, so it doesn't really get any sun at all. The backyard is definitely an option for solar, and probably what I'd end up doing back there.

I'd do the POE, but I want something that will alert me when I'm not home, instead of just recording what happens, basically having the "smart" home security, even if the cameras themselves aren't that great. If there's other options for this, besides Ring and Nest, I'm definitely open to them.

 

but you mention something about cat 6 and a PoE converter... I'm not familiar with that route, could I hookup the Ring floodlight to some kind of adapter? My router is in my living room, which is at the front of my house, so it would be relatively close to where the cameras are going to be set up. It would be pretty easy to just run cat 6 cable from the living room to the attic and then outside.

 

If you’re going to run a new circuit and have never messed with sparky stuff hire an electrician lol


Otherwise find a nearby light circuit and put a junction box in (AFTER turning breaker off lol) with a new run of the same gauge wire coming out of it to power new lights. If the lights are hardwired then you’ll need to tie them in inside some kind of junction/light box. If they plug in you’ll need to install receptacles. Like @jsi said go ahead and run some cat 6 while you’re in there lol https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-splice-wires/https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-splice-wires/

Definitely buy/test use one of these lol https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fluke-Fluk...VzsDACh3eMQV1EAQYAiABEgJN1fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

thanks for the links, I'm definitely aware of the risks and precautions to take when working with sparky stuff. I'm really looking for tips/advice on where to connect the wiring, i.e. at a particular junction, and if each light should be on its own line, or if I should wire them in a series, etc, stuff like that.

 

To run POE you're going to need a POE switch. This is literally the first switch that came up on Amazon, so do your own research before buying.

$42 TP-Link TL-SG1005P, 5 Port Gigabit PoE Switch, 4 PoE+ Ports @65W, Desktop, Plug & Play, Sturdy Metal w/ Shielded Ports, Fanless, QoS & IGMP Snooping,black

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Compliant-Shielded-Optimization-TL-SG1005P/dp/B076HZFY3F/ref=sr_1_3?crid=Q0J8H6V11T74&dchild=1&keywords=poe+switch&qid=1605137942&sprefix=poe%2Caps%2C206&sr=8-3


On the other end by the camera you plug in the splitter to provide power.

$20 ANVISION 2-Pack Gigabit PoE Splitter, 48V to 5V 2.4A Micro USB Ethernet Adapter, Compatible with Raspberry Pi 3B+, IP Camera and More

https://www.amazon.com/ANVISION-Gigabit-Splitter-Ethernet-Raspberry/dp/B07PYZQBK8/ref=sr_1_23?crid=3GVB2GC7DZ9TQ&dchild=1&keywords=poe+5v+adapter&qid=1605137802&sprefix=poe+5v%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-23

POE is 48 volts so it's a lot less likely to burn the house down. But, you still have to be careful because it will get your attention, if you know what I mean.

I have ring cameras for my home, and at work one of my teams does video for a very large operation, 2000+ cameras. The ring cameras drive me freaking crazy with their incessant motion alerts. Ring - oh the wind is blowing, let's send an alert. Ring - oh there's a bug on the lens, let's send an alert. Ring - Oh there's someone walking on the sidewalk, lets send an alert. Ring - let's drop the wifi connection and not tell anybody. Me - did my package arrive? Why didn't Ring alert me? Checks Ring, son-of-a-bitch it dropped again. To be fair all motion detection it going to behave the same way, but wifi connections have additional problems.

The enterprise stuff at work is spendy, and it just works. I'm saving my pennies till I can upgrade my home to the good stuff.

 

This is very helpful thank you! does this route work with the wired version? or is it for the battery one, and its just providing power to keep the battery charged while being used?

Also, what is the enterprise stuff that you have at work? Would like to consider all my available options. I'd like to have reliable stuff as well.

So far my Ring doorbell hasn't been a problem. I have it set to only notify when a person is detected.

 

Most lights are wired in parallel with short pigtails artfully crammed into some sort of light box with Romex connectors.
Got a pic/link for the lights?

 

I think Ring announced a recall today for like 350k doorbells. Something about risk of fire. Not sure I’d want to use their cameras after that.

 

this is the wired one I'm considering:

https://shop.ring.com/products/floodlight-cam