Home CCTV Setup

[jims-terrano]

Quite a few DVR systems offer Cloud Storage some free capacity & extra for a fee. No need to have it in the loft then. My Lorex system gives me a weeks f.o.c. in the cloud if I want it.

That said if you have an external meter box the determined can just switch off the mains!

Now you’ll have Banshee reaching for a UPS :lol

 

[Banshee]

Progress has been made

After fighting with the NHBC to get boards in our loft replaced that have now been stained by mould. This was due to builder negligence, it appears the sub contractors had made a crappy attempt at attaching the ducting for the bathroom extraction fans to the vents in the roof :banghead

With that now "resolved" I've decided I'm going to sand and paint the boards and beams myself. That in mind I decided it was time to finish the CCTV install!!!

I climbed back into the loft and realised the mammoth task ahead

I moved everything around and started to unbox all of the LofTZone InstaLoft beams and supports and get them lined out where they were going and then made sure they were all straight.

I then got them all screwed down tight and re-laid all of the insulation between the beams, you'll notice that due to the way I'd built around the loft hatch, I'll need to modify 2 cross beams and cut them shorter to get them to fit to the edge correctly

I also had to re-locate the TV aerial as it was in the way of the main walkway.

That pitiful 30W Energy Saver bulb had to go! New 5600k LED Batten :naughty

Boards near completion

Just the cabinet to build tonight hopefully :naughty

Then I can make a start at moving the DVR and all of it's cabling up from the living room, that will really make the girlfriend happy

 

[solarman216]

Do be very careful what you put up there Zac, trusses are designed to only support the roof and inside ceiling, even if you have stud walls below the joists they are sat on will have shrunk and so the stud will not be in contact with the floor or ceiling, just a word of caution, Rick

 

[Banshee]

Do be very careful what you put up there Zac, trusses are designed to only support the roof and inside ceiling, even if you have stud walls below the joists they are sat on will have shrunk and so the stud will not be in contact with the floor or ceiling, just a word of caution, Rick

Thanks Rick :thumb2

It's mainly going to be suitcases, xmas decorations, sentimental DVD's and VHS tapes and most importantly the cabinet with the CCTV kit in it

 

[macabethiel]

Roof Insulation

The one real bonus we had after our house fire was that the contractors had to comply with current building regulations for the new upstairs walls and roof insulation.

They used plaster board for the upstairs bedrooms that had Kingspan (2") Insulation attached on all walls except the outside end ones - due to house design being dormer style.

Also same insulation to rafters, as a result the loft does not get quite as furnace like in the summer - noticeable increased heat retention in both bedrooms in winter. In summer we have to have upstairs windows open.

Loft was re-boarded as before with lighting - florescent not LED though.

 

[macabethiel]

Never thought of UPS ?

Sounds expensive is it ??

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Sounds expensive is it ??

The problem with UPS's, is they are really only designed to run for a few mins after a power cut, to give you time to do a structured shut down of a system, and obviously to cover brown outs, short off/on's of power and surges.

The longer you need them to run for, or for higher current loads, the price shoots up. The batteries only really last 2 years or 3 at a stretch, but then could well fail before the calculated cover time, regardless of how many power cuts you have in their life, and as they tend to be specific sized Sealed Lead Acid, can be quite expensive to replace. A lot of the more affordable UPS's use a cluster of NiCads and those can be practically impossible to source for a price that makes them worth replacing.

I have never done the calculations, but I think you would probably save money getting a smart battery charger, a couple of deep discharge batteries, and an inverter.


By the way Zac, you keep talking about the potential security issues of Cat5/6, but when I worked at the University, we had a whole RJ59 network taken down with a well placed pin through the cable... It also became the preferred way to silence nuisance CB'ers in the 80's as well, as it would short the output, and blow their CB output transistor...

 

[macabethiel]

Cheaper Option has come to mnd!

Our Meter Box is not accessible unless you have scaled our 6ft Side Gates, might be a lot cheaper to put a steel cover over the meter housing with a padlock?

Electric Supplier might think I am meter tampering & it would be harder to access by emergency services.

 

[Banshee]

The problem with UPS's, is they are really only designed to run for a few mins after a power cut, to give you time to do a structured shut down of a system, and obviously to cover brown outs, short off/on's of power and surges.

The longer you need them to run for, or for higher current loads, the price shoots up. The batteries only really last 2 years or 3 at a stretch, but then could well fail before the calculated cover time, regardless of how many power cuts you have in their life, and as they tend to be specific sized Sealed Lead Acid, can be quite expensive to replace. A lot of the more affordable UPS's use a cluster of NiCads and those can be practically impossible to source for a price that makes them worth replacing.

I have never done the calculations, but I think you would probably save money getting a smart battery charger, a couple of deep discharge batteries, and an inverter.


By the way Zac, you keep talking about the potential security issues of Cat5/6, but when I worked at the University, we had a whole RJ59 network taken down with a well placed pin through the cable... It also became the preferred way to silence nuisance CB'ers in the 80's as well, as it would short the output, and blow their CB output transistor...

I was keeping my UPS a secret but since you've all been mentioning them you've forced my hand.

I've grabbed an old APC RS-1500 UPS that was in the WEEE skip at work;
https://community.spiceworks.com/products/43470-apc-back-ups-rs-1500

I asked why it was in there and they said that the batteries had gone and were too expensive to replace so they ordered a bigger unit to replace. I took it home and was able to replace the batteries inside with Lucas replacements of the same spec; 12v 9aH

https://www.gobatteries.co.uk/product/manufacturers/lucas/lsla9-12-lucas-agm-battery-12v-9ah/

The UPS is now working again as it should, I'm not 100% how long I'll get out of a fully charged unit in the event of a power cut but I will be expecting it to run the DVR and the Power Supply for the cameras minimum, I'm going to dry run it when I have the cabinet built and all of the cables and power at my disposal in the loft.

Will certainly be nice to know I'm still rolling when the power goes out :naughty

 

[elty001]

Should have said something mate.
Had this sat in my office gathering dust for a while.
Battery is goosed but here if you want it:thumb2

 

[Banshee]

Should have said something mate.
Had this sat in my office gathering dust for a while.
Battery is goosed but here if you want it:thumb2
View attachment 10921

That's the exact one I've got!!!! Now complete with a fresh set of batteries :naughty

 

[solarman216]

What is the Ah rating of the batteries Zac, guess you are to use it for your CCTV system, how long do you think it will run in a power cut, Rick

 

[Banshee]

What is the Ah rating of the batteries Zac, guess you are to use it for your CCTV system, how long do you think it will run in a power cut, Rick

The batteries are 9ah x2, will just be a DVR and 4 cameras which are all powered by one brick anyway on a splitter.

I have no idea how long it will last for but as soon as I'm up and running in the loft I intend to do a real world test so I'll report back. If I get 30mins to an hour I'll be happy :naughty

 

[solarman216]

Be interesting to see the results, I have DVR and 4 cameras, so must do a power usage check to make a comparison, pretty sure the DVR runs on 12v dc, if so I have a 24v to 12v converter which will be better than running on 240ac which comes from an inverter on 24v dc, certainly the other way round I use half the fuel charging from the 24v gen set than I do with the 240v via chargers, Rick

 

[solarman216]

Re Jonela, this forum is not just about 4 x 4, Rick

 

[Banshee]

In the loft again last night as it was way way too cold to be messing about with the truck outside which really needs the most attention to be honest :doh Anywho.......

Managed to get the cab half rebuilt, just need to clean it with some degreasing wipes and then I can start populating it with goodies :naughty

Here's the UPS I have :thumb2

Flat Cab

Built Cab

 

[elty001]

Looking good mate:thumb2

 

[Banshee]

Loft Finished!!!!!

Managed to finish all of the hard work in the loft the weekend :thumb2

Only real issue I had was pairing my PowerLine adaptors for some reason, they just did not want to pair, did a quick Google and none of the clever ideas on the forums etc worked until I came across the official troubleshooting video for my adaptors, a few seconds in, it mentions to have the PowerLine adaptor plugged directly into a wall outlet and no a gang, moved it and hey presto

I fitted an LED strip inside the cabinet that has 2 modes, blue and white, I think I'll leave it Blue for showing off and then switch to white when I need to do work inside :naughty

I'm just waiting on x3 300mm Shelves to be delivered this week and then I'm going to make the cabling inside PERFECT :naughty

That's another job I can tick off the list and extra brownie points for Banshee for finally moving the DVR from the living room floor with all the cables intertwined up the banister and then into the loft hatch :doh

Ah, wait, now I've made room for the Xmas tree :doh

 

[Jay666d]

The blue looks very professional! :thumb2:thumb2

 

[Banshee]

The blue looks very professional! :thumb2:thumb2

Cheers Pal

I might invest in a green one too :naughty