Had our little metal trailer stolen last week and it's made me have a serious think about external security around the house.
We live facing onto a street, with a shared driveway going up the side of our house to 3 others and our garage at the back of our garden. Along the same side of our house we have a bit of land that originally had plants and grass but we're converting to gravel for parking. The trailer was propped up at the very back of that against our garden wall, and it seems the thieves just walked up and took it at 5:30pm and wheeled it away in broad daylight. They were spotted by several people and the trailer has been located, though not yet repatriated!
Assuming I get it back, first I'm going to put a proper chain and padlock on it. But I also think that a CCTV camera covering the driveway would be a good deterrent. I doubt that cumbersome objects like trailers, cars, garden furniture etc could be stolen via any other route.
I'm going to talk to all the neighbours to get their views, but I wanted to know if anyone has setup their own system at home on a tight budget (<£100) and could offer some pointers?
I've seen systems on ebay for £60 or thereabouts. Biggest concern is how to wire it in for power (regulations) and how to get the pictures transmitted to our TV/laptop/Hard Disk recorder - how to run the cables etc.
Comments
"...But I also think that a CCTV camera covering the driveway would be a good deterrent."
OP doesn't necessarily have to DO anything apart from perhaps send give the images to the Police if anything were to happen again.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
That's the right answer. I knew a bloke a few years ago who put in a CCTV system and his wife made him take it out after a month. Had it showing on a screen in the kitchen and the wife kept thinking she'd seen something on it. Drove her nuts and made her more scared! Plenty of lights and dummy camera did the trick.
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My current stores have dummy cameras mixed in with real units to make it seem like we have better coverage than we do you cant tell the difference between them unless you remove the covers.
I got an Aldi camera for under £60. It's pretty good, with infra red night vision, wireless, waterproof and decent range. You get free software with it, and there's a smartphone app.
You don't need a DVR if you have a PC that you keep on at night. Download iSpy for free, and you can set it up to record on motion detect.
I mounted the camera and junction box on an external wall, near an upstairs window. Drilled a hole in the bedroom window frame, USB/power cable through to a mains socket, connected to PC wirelessly.
It works well, and the infra red lighting LEDs can be seen clearly at night, so it must have a decent deterrent factor, which in my mind is it's main function. You're deterring morons after all; any intelligent person will just cover their face and get on with it.
EDIT: BTW when I had a motorbike trailer, I used a wall anchor with a long, plastic-covered wire rope about 3/4" diameter and padlock.
A neighbour had CCTV which he fitted himself (own company) but the restriction is you cannot film anyone on public propery so the footpath outside your door will feature no more than feet until the venture up to your door.