New to BI and Have Questions

[WNCEric]

I currently have the wire hanging through a 3/4" hole. It sounds to me like I need to increase that to 1" or 1 1/4" for the pigtail to fit through. Is that correct?

[Matts1984]

I think 3/4" would do it but I can't be sure (my pigtails are currently far out of reach!). I believe you're close enough that you could fudge it when installing. I wouldn't want to bore it bigger to find you're hole is way bigger than needed. Just my opinion.

[terk]

It all depends on your cameras. many of the pigtails on Dahua cameras will require a slightly bigger hole than 3/4 so I have used the mounting boxes like https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Junctio ... B01LYYKLRP so I only have to drill a 1/4" hole to run the RJ45 cable into the box and curl the wires up in there.

[WNCEric]

I opened the hole up to 1.5" so that there would be no future issues with any pigtail combo.

[WNCEric]

It all depends on your cameras. many of the pigtails on Dahua cameras will require a slightly bigger hole than 3/4 so I have used the mounting boxes like https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Junctio ... B01LYYKLRP so I only have to drill a 1/4" hole to run the RJ45 cable into the box and curl the wires up in there.

That looks like it would be a very clean install. I presume it would only work on that brand camera, correct?

[WNCEric]

Thanks to everyone for the help with the rough wiring. I certainly could not have done it without your assistance.

I've never done a camera system before, so help me out if I'm wrong on the next step-buying cameras. My system will have four total cameras (all dome cameras)-2 on the front porch and two on the covered back patio. One camera on the porch and deck will be aimed at their respective doors. The other two will be general views of the yard/driveway. I placed the rough wiring for the door cameras close to the wall and about 6-7' away to try to get at least a side-view of the visitor's face. I'm not sure though if that particular position will frame the visitor well though. I know they make PTZ cameras, so I could change the zoom that way, but it seems like once I get the zoom set correctly, it will be static from then on. Do they make a manual-zoom camera so that you don't have to spend the extra $$$ for a true PTZ?

What brand of BI-friendly cams would you suggest for this limited application? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[Thixotropic]

What brand of BI-friendly cams would you suggest for this limited application? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

There are so many different cameras and so many variables that it's hard to say. In general I can say I've had good luck with Reolink and Foscam- they're reasonably capable cameras that are wallet-friendly. Others swear by Dahua or Hikvision.

I prefer dome or turret style cameras because they have a lower profile and are often more vandal resistant, but your needs will vary based on what you wrote above.

[terk]

It all depends on your cameras. many of the pigtails on Dahua cameras will require a slightly bigger hole than 3/4 so I have used the mounting boxes like https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Junctio ... B01LYYKLRP so I only have to drill a 1/4" hole to run the RJ45 cable into the box and curl the wires up in there.

That looks like it would be a very clean install. I presume it would only work on that brand camera, correct?

There are generic mounting plates but it would depend on the camera and footprint as to how clean it would look, the Dahua boxes fit their cameras perfectly so it looks pretty seamless.

[TimG]

Do they make a manual-zoom camera so that you don't have to spend the extra $$$ for a true PTZ?

Yes they do. My Ertech camera is one of them. It is a turret camera, which is like a movable ball in a mounting socket so that it can be manually aimed where you want, and it has screws on the front for zoom and focus. I think you need to search for Manual zoom (Or varifocal), rather than motorised zoom. I think even my Dahua is only supposed to use its motorised zoom during set up, so it's not designed for full ptz style regular movement of the zoom lens.

Keep clear of "digital zoom", as that doesn't have an optical moving lens; it just magnifies part of the existing image = lower resolution.

[WNCEric]

In general I can say I've had good luck with Reolink and Foscam- they're reasonably capable cameras that are wallet-friendly. Others swear by Dahua or Hikvision.

I prefer dome or turret style cameras because they have a lower profile and are often more vandal resistant, but your needs will vary based on what you wrote above.

I did a search on "manual zoom dome cameras" and ran across the following Reolink model:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B4BKJHW/re ... NrPXRydWU=

The description says it has a 4X optical zoom, but it doesn't say whether or not it's manual. I like the fact that it's waterproof (although it will be underneath a porch roof). Any thoughts on this camera?