Video surveillance systems provide important security to our our commercial and residential customers alike. Cameras offer customers both live and recorded video of their property. This can provide a tremendous amount of peace of mind and security. Furthermore, cameras can provide a deterrent for potential criminals. Thieves on the prowl always remain more likely to attempt breaking into buildings and homes that do not have cameras installed. When we work with customers to design surveillance systems, we go through a multi-step process. Obviously, we want to make sure we choose the right cameras to cover the areas they want to secure. Furthermore, a good surveillance system installation also involves installing the right technology as well as the proper complementary security equipment to enhance the security you experience. Today, we share some valuable tips for powering up your surveillance system!
First, we’ll dive into one of the latest additions to surveillance technology. Artificial intelligence has allowed our customers to track access to their property extremely efficiently. Therefore, we’ll start our discussion with this recent security breakthrough. From there, we’ll show you how we can add more storage to your cameras’ recorder. Hard drive additions create an easy means of creating a larger volume of stored recordings. Then, we’ll show you how you can also add security against power failures. These events can both harm your recorder and stop your cameras from working. Taking a proactive approach can negate both of these security threats. Finally, we’ll share a product that can increase your cameras’ nighttime performance. We cannot overstate the importance of this technology, as people especially want to have eyes on their property when it’s dark out! Now, let’s dive in with a look at artificial intelligence-based surveillance innovations!
Artificial Intelligence-Based Camera Innovations
Artificial intelligence (or “A.I.”) technology has made its way into a variety of technological products over the last several years. In this case, surveillance cameras prove no exception! Cameras equipped with A.I. technology present many exciting features, allowing you to track access to your property with more options than ever. Adding A.I.-enabled cameras to your security repertoire represents one of the top tips for powering up your surveillance system.
We can add storage capacity to your recorder by installing an additional hard drive, such as this one by Seagate.
For example, these cameras allow you to search for video based on specific features. You may want to search for every instance of a red car driving into your lot. Or, you might want to see if you can find video of an individual wearing a blue hat. Now you can search for these specific instances to streamline your security experience. Furthermore, advanced A.I.-enabled cameras can even recognize a face and show you each time a specific person has entered your property! This technology represents one of our most effective exterior security measures for your business. Now, let’s turn our attention to creating additional storage space for your cameras.
Hard Drive Additions for More Storage
Occasionally, customers wish to add more storage to their surveillance system well after we install their equipment. Luckily, we can make this happen without changing out any of their existing recorders. Our video recorders contain a hard drive that stores surveillance footage. The larger the drive’s capacity, the more recorded video it will store. We measure the storage space for these recorders in terabytes. Those familiar with computer or smartphone storage usually see storage space measured in megabytes, often designated as “MB,” or gigabytes, shortened to “GB.” One terabyte equals one thousand gigabytes, or one million megabytes.
So what does this mean in terms of video storage? Simply put, the more video you wish to maintain, the more terabytes of storage your recorder should hold. Over time, customers often ask for more recorded footage than their existing recorder provides. In these cases, we simply install another hard drive to the existing recorder to boost its storage capacity. In some cases, such as when we add a 4TB hard drive to a recorder that began with a 2TB drive, we can easily double the existing recorder’s capacity at a very reasonable price point! The ease with which we can perform this task and the tremendous recording capacity it can add to your recorder make installing an additional hard drive one of most popular tips for powering up your surveillance system. Next up, we’ll detail a way to ensure your cameras keep working for you during routine power outages.
Backup Power to Secure Against Power Outages
Quite a while back, we created a post entitled Preparing for the Worst: Emergency Preparation Tips for Alarm Customers. In that post, we discuss the importance of keeping your alarm system up and running during power outages. Alarms generally have backup batteries that we install to achieve this result. Unfortunately, we cannot install these batteries in surveillance systems. However, we still do offer a way to keep your cameras up and running for as long as possible when the power goes out.
We recommend installing an Uninterruptible Power Supply (or “UPS”) to accomplish this goal. A UPS can help out in a couple ways. For starters, plugging your recorder into a UPS can avoid a “hard” shut down due to the power going out if you have an advanced recorder model. A hard shut down is the equivalent of ripping the power cord of your computer out of the wall rather than allowing it to shut down properly. As you likely know, doing so can damage your computer. Likewise, a hard shut down can harm your surveillance system’s recorder. The UPS will power the cameras on its own for a few hours, and then provide a “soft” shut down if the power stays out.
Furthermore, connecting your UPS to a backup generator adds even more security. Generally, a generator will take a few minutes to activate following an outage. Your UPS will ensure that your cameras stay powered up during this transition. Moreover, if you do not have a generator, these devices can provide multiple hours of power to keep your cameras working throughout a short power outage. Next, let’s look at an important tip to make your cameras more effective overnight!
Many cameras, such as this one by Everfocus, have infrared LEDs that help it capture video at night. The LEDs are visible, circling the camera’s lens.
Extra Lighting for More Powerful Nighttime Surveillance
More often than not, modern cameras have infrared lights on them to help cameras “see” at night. You will notice these lights in the pictured camera. Infrared lights help quite a bit with a camera’s night vision in situations with very little or even no light present. However, in very dark environments, an extra boost of infrared illumination can help. For this reason, we sometimes install infrared illuminators (or “IR illuminators”) to create effective video surveillance at night.
These illuminators contain several dozen infrared lights. In turn, these lights help any cameras installed in the vicinity record clearer video of their surroundings. Many customers settle for inferior nighttime video footage because they do not know about IR illuminators. However, we recommend them for anyone wishing to monitor areas with very small amounts of ambient light. After all, nighttime capturing nighttime footage represents one of the top reasons to install surveillance. Making this feature as effective as possible adds tremendous overall security to any surveillance system.
Putting it All Together and Powering Up Your Surveillance System
We hope that this post provides you with useful tips for powering up your surveillance system. As always, we encourage you to contact us with any questions this post may raise for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security-related inquiries. Additionally, we also invite you to take advantage of our free site survey program. We’ve long offered complimentary security audits and equipment quotes to both new and existing customers alike. During our visit, we can address any and all of your security-related inquiries. Moreover, we can also make suggestions of our own based on our observations of your property. No matter what you wish to secure, we can help you create a system of cameras that gives you the security and peace of mind that you desire. Together, we can work to keep your property, and everyone on it, as safe and secure as possible!