Last week I bit the bullet and bought a budget CCTV system (4 channel, came with 2 720p cameras, only £56 without HDD) off amazon, it works great and gives great picture but to get the most of it I had to get the necessary DIY tools to fit/install it properly.... this is where the fun started, and the stuff I wanted to avoid (because I'm rubbish at DIY)!!!
Due to the nature of where I live I can't have a camera at the front without it encroaching any neighbour's boundaries (and a public walkway). Even if I had their permission I'm breaching the data protection act. BUT the cam I have at the rear actually covers everywhere I need it to from one fixed position.
I installed a 500gb 2.5" hard drive I had lying around (I can do that but can't do DIY?!), because I only had an 80gb 3.5" spare which probably wouldn't give me more than a day's worth of continuous recording before overwrite. If the 2.5" fails I'll get the "correct" hard drive (with big enough memory) to replace it (some are made specifically for surveillance systems as they tolerate 24/7 use).
I had to go buy a drill because I didn't have one, I then had to buy a masonry bit because I didn't have one, then I had to learn how to use a drill! The bit was officially too big for the drill because drills have a specific "maximum drill capacity" for different materials (I literally know nothing!)... However, I still successfully managed to use this bit in the drill (the drill was £23 and would have been £50 if I'd bought the correct one
).
THEN I hit a problem, I tried to get the hole as far out of the way as possible in the top corner of the room as close to the ceiling where the wire would be fed because it was a large hole (20mm bit, hole ended up about 25+mm), but half way through I still hit the steel lintel above the window (I was sure I could have cleared it but it must go right to the end of the room).... And obviously the masonry bit wouldn't go through it and I couldn't find a HSS bit long or wide enough anywhere. I had to abandon that hole for cable feeding, and I'll fill it in tomorrow with mortar and instead I've had to run the wire down the outside of the house and into the old hole at the bottom (near the skirting board) where there used to be a security light cable fed through.... Had to drill that one out wider because it was too narrow!
As a result, due to the wire now being external, I've had to go buy a weatherproof box to cover the connectors of the camera. DIY made me so angry at the little things that didn't go as smoothly as they logically should have. Is that what happens to everyone who does DIY?!
On the bright side, I have an app that lets me view live footage on my phone from anywhere (I imagine it uses a LOT of data if away from wifi) and I can review recorded footage too, and I can record short clips with my phone from the live stream AND take phone-recorded samples from the original recordings. Because the camera is a fixed external one, I'm not concerned about privacy, there's nothing to be gained by someone who may manage to hack into the video feed, other than a poorly kept rear yard and a completely empty shed that'll fall down if the wind hits hard enough
And it has motion detection. All in all it appears to do literally everything I need from it, and it wasn't expensive. Hopefully it'll last a couple of years at least!
Any questions?