For alarm system, I use Frontpoint I have had them for 6 years and really happy with it.

In my case I drilled holes in the stucco and ran the CAT5 out near the camera. The camera cord is not long enough to reach inside the wall from the facia. The camera locations are high enough that they could not be reached without a ladder. I then used cable tie down clips to hold the cable in place.

When finished I siliconed in the holes.

QSEE has both Android and Apple apps. I know it works well with the Android version.

I had asked this privately to a member (although the formating of my drawing was probably off...) but since you guys have been so great ill post here for suggestions. I am not sure of the coverage of these cameras - dome vs straight, blind spots, etc. My house is a 2 story cape illustrated poorly below. My front door is at 4 inside the cove, the backdoor is at ***, and the basement door is at 3 chimney side. ||| at **** is the chimney. Would you put a camera in the middle of each wall at the asterisks or basically two cameras each at the corners of the house at the numbers? I'm thinking double at the corners???? Thanks

PS the house is the thing with the ### and the '''' is grass.


'''''2''''''''''''(***)'''''''''''3
'''''''''''___________''''''
''''''''''|########|''''''
''''''''''|########|''''''
''(**)|########||| (****)
''''''''''|######__|'''''''
''''''''''|_______|__|''''''''

''''''''''1'''''''''(*)'''''''''''''''4

It is tough to be exact from the schematic but I never put cams at the mid point of a side. I like the domes because you can't see which way they are ''pointed'' and deterrence is at least half the battle. I would put a cam in the entry cove for sure, then spot some where they look down a side toward the next cam and so on. Try to cover the obvious points of entry where the perp feel ''comfortable that he is hidden from public view as that is where they go first. Rarely do they kick the front door in! The 6 cam system should give you plenty of coverage with the simple shape of the house. Good luck!

I got abode last year, really nice system auto arms disarms based on phone location, can use it to program lights, switches full smart home hub etc.. add as many sensors as you want, it has back up battery and cell connection backup, you can self monitor for free or pay subscription. I would buy it again over the big names any day

Are you using that on the exterior or solely interior? The start package seems light but would add up quick with sensors no? Interesting. I'm trying to sort out a singular hub solution if possible...

I bought a black friday bundle so it was a lot cheaper but i’m running window shock sensors, motion sensors , acoustic glass, 4-5 door sensors integrated with some porch lights and nest cameras and thermostats. It is all interior but You can get outdoor sirens and program it to start flashing your outdoor smart lights when alarm is triggered.

I just had a hard drive die and it is putting my system in a continuous boot loop. I can replace the drive but I find this as a good opportunity to upgrade it with a 4K system. The current CAT5E cables, HDMI(50') and mouse cable (50' with repeater) should work. I have a 4K monitor sitting in a box.

I ordered a QSEE 4K 12 camera system from Costco since it's now $200 off. ($1600)



Hopefully it isn't the 4TB hard drive that died. That way I can move it to the new one and double it instantly. The other drives I should be able to reformat and get them working again. I can resell the old system to recoup some of the cost.

Now I have to figure out which cameras I have added wide angle and zoom lenses that I can use in the new system.


As for where to mount cameras I would install one toward the front entry and one behind. This is most likely where anyone would enter. You get views in and out.

Next is your vehicles. I have two on the driveway one on the right looking left another on the left looking right. I will increase this with the new system.

An overview of the front yard. This is mounted high and can see everything.

Other access points. One above the back door and another above the Bedroom door.

Overhead of back yard. I can see what my dogs are up to from my phone (new system)

Freeway view. I can see how traffic is in the morning before I leave for work (new system).

Most cameras come with a 3.6mm lens. They can be replaced with 1.8mm to 12mm if you need wider angles or a zoom depending on your needs.

Cheap lenses can be bought online. He is a few in my collection.

Hard to give exact advice on placement. We have no idea on land elevation vs the street. Big plants/trees. I prefer large sweeping views. Do use one of the cameras for a tight shot on the front door. Point at least one camera to the vehicle parking.

I've had Arlo cameras at my house for about a year and they have been great for me

I bought 3 Arlo Q, 1 arrived bad, the other failed within the month. I sent all 3 back and bought nest cams. The first thing I noticed is there is way less lag with the nest cams than with Arlo. I absolutely hate using nest cams because I hate google, but In my experience over the past few months Nest is far above the arlo Q. I cannot speak to the Arlo Pro 2 but that it is just too expensive.

If you are going to be in your home for a long time I would suggest going with a wired setup as it is much better than any wifi/cloud cams.

I have to agree with the advice from @83Mule on camera placement. On a more serious note, I’m impressed with your drawing skills. That must have taken a good while.

I also agree that ADT is a terrible company. We originally went with them years ago but their components are terrible as well. The cellular service wasn’t very good around here back then and sometimes at 2am the cell service would completely disappear which would set off the alarm. ADT was completely lost on how to fix it and was actually rude about it. It took a lot of work but we finally got our money back and shitcanned that system. We have Vivint now. They are ok, at least everything works. I’ve been thinking of getting a stand-alone camera system as well since the Vivint cameras aren’t the best and use up a lot of bandwidth.

I just helped a buddy set up a 8 camera Samsung system from Costco. We ran cable to every camera which was a ton of work in a tight attic but the cameras are very clear.

I will add more to think about when ordering a security system. Many times the claims of the recording do not match the bandwidth the NVR can record at. You can get a 16 channel NVR that claims 1080p recording but when you look at the specifics it can only record up to 4 cameras at that frame rate. If you add more cameras you have to drop the recording to 720p or less. This is pretty common.

The system I just ordered has a recording bandwidth of
820 mbps or 40 MBPS
With 12 8MP cameras recording at 30fps H265 medium compression it will use 17.7 MBPS.
That is more than enough room for recording all cameras and playback.

With all that data you will need a gigabyte POE (power over Ethernet) switch if you want to control your cameras independent of your NVR. Like set them to be color 24/7, set static IP addresses so you can remote into each camera separately.

This is advanced and might be over your heads but I am just putting it out there for your education.

I was able to fix all three of my hard drives late tonight. I used a Linux System Rescue bootable CD and used GPARTED to re-partition each drive. It was a slight PITA but it got each drive working again. I will put both 3TB drives in my old system and the 4TB drive in the new one when it arrives. 3am, who needs sleep?