I'm planning to install an external CCTV camera which will be mounted insid e my garage looking out through a hole in the wall of the garage at the bac k of my house and I need some way to disguise and protect it as it'll only be about five feet from the ground.
The camera will be pointing to one side at an angle of about 45 degrees.
So far I've thought of a bird nesting box - I wonder if anyone can think of anything else that might do the job better and wouldn't draw attention.
Could you start with a Spycam which has a very small sensor and the rest of the electronics in a box on a tail? You could hide the sensor in a plank of wood in a knot hole - they are that small.
Or are you committed to a particular camera?
In which case, look at your neighbours houses and note what features there are on the walls that most people pay no attention to?
False extract fan flue, light fitting, your bird box even.
I would have thought for a 5' height, the fan extract had some potential
- big enough to get a small box-cam in, and no one would notice a 10mm hole lined up with the lens (assuming you do not need IR led apertures too)?
- Fake drainpipe
- Trellis
- Electrical junction box
- Security light (which can be bought with an integrated covert camera)
- Roofed bird table
- Plant basket
If you're going to fabricate an enclosure for the camera, it might be worth designing it so that it's impossible for the camera to see any part of your neighbours' properties.
stick one of those cheap and obviousely fake dummy camera's in another place looking over the same area, so the scrotes will go for that cam, or laugh thinking they are not being watched as the cam is fake (a flashing led on it helps scream fake camera... if it were real then at night the flashing led would be buggering up the auto iris function)
'bullet' camera inside a length of 'overflow' pipe.
Owain
This ^
Yes, I'll turn the infrared LEDs off at night as I have heard they just attract insects which in turn set off the motion detection facility!
What's the purpose of the camera - don't you need it to see things at night?
So you are happy to disable IR all the time (being not much use in the day)?
Tricky - think you'll have to use a birdbox.
If you have the chance to return it, I would consider:
which is what I have. Technically an indoor camera, but if you are hiding it in an enclosure, it would probably be OK.
Again the IR LEDs can be disabled. And it can be got for £70-75 on AliExpress for a 3 week wait posting from China (I have 2 ordered this way and can recommend a supplier). It would be a lot easier to conceal.
Needs a 12V PSU - unless you can supply PoE.
A very obvious dummy camera up high out of reach? Brian
IR floodlight just out of reach, its how far can go with anti tamper device s before it might be interprted as a trap.
Observation of scrotes on CCTV has shown them to be attracted to dim red ri ngs in the dark, they will try and attack them, mains volatge present on a
12V camera might be hard to explain, thought of camera flash `accidentally` wired to an otherwise isolated case....For the O.P. start with a bullet or board cam , not a hulking great scrote magnet.
You can have a separate infra red light away from the camera.
/AliExpress for a 3 week wait posting from China (I have 2 ordered this way and can recommend a supplier)./q
I'd be interested Tim, email is valid if rqd.
TIA
Jim K
Here you go:
You need to state in the order description whether you want 2.8mm (nearly 90 degrees horizontal field), 4mm (75 degrees ish)
If you send a message to Julia, she's pretty good at confirming stock levels fairly quickly.
I just upgraded the firmware on my original Hikvision (bought from the UK) using the Hikvision US site and it went without a hitch.
Be warned that you *might* get stung for VAT and an admin fee during import if customs happen to be bored enough to pick your package - I was not. Even so, it's still way cheaper than UK purchase. So you should do your calcs on the basis of VAT plus £15 or whatever the Royal Mail admin fee is now and view lack of VAT as a bonus if it happens.
Nor was I on quite a few items, till they 'tightened up' on such things. The guy in our local PO said before the change he would get 4 such items per week, now it's more like 40. ;-(
I think the RM handling fee was 8 quid (fixed) on my one a few months back. Quite a bit on a 16 pound item (£1 over the threshold for VAT). ;-(
I've bought off some Far East sellers who seem to import in bulk then ship from the UK (even though all their details seem to suggested they would be sending them from the far East).
Cheers, T i m
Besides having 4 cctv cameras which are live 24/7,which are at the back and side of the house, I also have 1 dummy camera at the front of the house, which has a blinking red led going all the time.
I also have a yellow sign in the front room window saying 'Beware CCTV in Operation'
Every little bit helps, so they say
A customer has just installed a 32 camera HikVision system. On the first afternoon, as light levels dropped, there was a strange effect that multiple small dark shaded rectangles with lighter borders and rounded corners appeared on several of the cameras, they increased over time, but had gone the following day.
They looked deliberate rather than an artefact, the installer couldn't explain them, they didn't appear to relate to any feature of the cameras such as motion detection areas, privacy rectangles etc, I don't suppose you've ever had similar?
Hmmm... I'd prefer to find a less crime ridden environment. Each to his own.
Not that I've noticed...
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