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It seems like for a basic setup I need: - an intel-based PC (can be a minipc, doesn't need a powerful CPU) - a USB Coral TPU ($60) - some wired PoE cameras (

It seems like for a basic setup I need: - an intel-based PC (can be a minipc, doesn't need a powerful CPU) - a USB Coral TPU ($60) - some wired PoE cameras (from $60 each) My question: what do people typically use to power the cameras? A single PoE switch, or multiple PoE injectors? My Arlo Pro 2 cameras are apparently EOL and might stop receiving free cloud services in a couple of months. So this seems like a good time to upgrade to higher resolution cameras. (The Frigate docs advise against using Wi-Fi cameras, which would otherwise be my preference.)

syntaxing 3y ago
Doesn’t have to be PoE cameras. I use wifi cameras too, pretty much any camera with rtsp/onvif would work. Chances are, a single switch is more cost effective than multiple injectors. But you also need Ethernet routed throughout your house. One alternative is to have the G.hn (powerline) adapter with PoE. This way, you can be both network and power with one plug without wiring your house.
- rahimnathwani 3y ago
  If you're happy with your wifi cameras' performance with Frigate, I'd love a recommendation.
  - syntaxing 3y ago
    I have a mix of reolink and amcrest ones, I can grab the models later tonight when I’m at my computer
    - VTimofeenko 3y ago
      Please do, also looking for recommendations :)
- eddyg 3y ago
  Wi-Fi cameras are not a great idea. Sure, they are convenient, but Wi-Fi is a shared access medium (every device on, say, channel 11, has to “cooperate” with all the other devices about when it can transmit, including devices on neighboring SSIDs) and something that is constantly streaming video (or worse, multiple devices!) is going to quickly consume available bandwidth and offer a poor Wi-Fi experience. (But most people only care about convenience.) Plus, Wi-Fi is easily jammed, which is not great from a security perspective.
  - syntaxing 3y ago
    Ehh, I have a mix of 4K and 2K cameras, it hasn’t been much of an issue. I run OPNsense with a single EAP670 and there hasn’t been much performance degradation. PoE is definitely ideal but not an option for many, including me since I rent. I think the G.hn plugs are probably my best option for PoE if I really needed it. Edit: not sure why you’re being downvoted
social_quotient 3y ago
I have a single PoE switch for my ubiquiti cameras and polycom voip phones. My original need for the PoE switch was actually the access points and not the cameras but I slowly converted from nest to these.
pkulak 3y ago
I just have a PoE switch. It's actually easier to run ethernet than power, especially outside. Clogging up your WiFi spectrum with megabits of constant video seems like a terrible idea.
- rahimnathwani 3y ago
  > Clogging up your WiFi spectrum with megabits of constant video seems like a terrible idea. Yes, that's the thing I like about the Arlo system I have now: it has its own wifi network so, even if it's using spectrum, it's probably not affecting my LAN throughput. > It's actually easier to run ethernet than power, especially outside. This is true, but the house where I live already has power available everywhere I might need a camera. The thing I don't like about running new cables is the need to drill holes through exterior walls.
  - kiallmacinnes 3y ago
    Your LAN can handle it :) If the current setup can't, plugging the cameras and the NVR into a separate switch and none of that traffic will go near the rest of your LAN. Wifi on the other hand, there's really no (practical) segregation to speak of - the spectrum has limited bandwidth, it doesn't matter if it's a different SSID / wifi network, it'll affect your Wifi!
    - CrazyStat 3y ago
      If you live in a sufficiently low density area (rural or suburban with large lots) you can put the two networks on different channels and they won’t meaningfully interfere with each order.
      - kiallmacinnes 3y ago
        The chances are, if you live somewhere like that, somewhere that actually has a low noise floor for RF, then you likely also have a lot of space to cover with your wifi - and that means sacrificing range (via additional access points) for the second network.. For me: Wifi is great! But, whenever it's practical, I avoid it... Everything with it is a tradeoff!
acidburnNSA 3y ago
I have a variety of PoE power supplies based on where all my wires are running. I have one PoE switch near my main router that goes directly to a few cams. I have a second PoE switch in my living room that hooks into one in-house ethernet port and splits/powers two outdoor cams. Then I have a number of WiFi cams still where it wasn't convenient to get ethernet.
chromakode 3y ago
Single PoE switch with cameras on a VLAN (so they don't have internet access). I use my old framework main board (yay for reuse!). Started with a USB Coral but switched to NVMe, which is more reliable passing through to a VM. Frigate links some Dahua camera recommendations in their documentation: https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/hardware/ https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/hardware/ I installed them and they've been rock solid. Low light performance is excellent. The turret form factor is nice and unobtrusive.
- jaktet 3y ago
  Last time I looked at this the Coral devices were out of stock and price gouged. Looks like I can at least order now with a lead time of 22 weeks from mouser. https://coral.ai/products/m2-accelerator-dual-edgetpu/ https://coral.ai/products/m2-accelerator-dual-edgetpu/
  - rainbowzootsuit 3y ago
    Depends on the version. They have thousands of m.2 in stock. https://www.mouser.com/c/?q=coral https://www.mouser.com/c/?q=coral
    - jaktet 3y ago
      Whoops I misread the factory lead time as the estimate time :)
      - rainbowzootsuit 3y ago
        No worries. I picked up some nvme to make a low power frigate box when I saw the USB is often unobtainium. Figuring out the whole m.2 keying scheme vs the ports I have took the longest of it. I found that one key type is for wifi daughter cards so I was able to save a pcie slot or nvme slot using that in the small form factor host.
dementik 3y ago
I am using it all: PoE switch, then couple injectors where it is needed for some specific reason and then also PoE splitters (one cable leaving from PoE switch, going to splitter and then to 4 different PoE cameras, powering everything with one PoE output from switch). I would not use WiFi cameras. Standard RTSP PoE h264 is the way to go.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
graphe 3y ago
Check out the Nvidia Tesla P4. It's basically an uncooled low profile 1080 8GB.
ThatPlayer 3y ago
If you have a newer intel-based PC, you might not even need the Coral. Frigate added support for Intel's OpenVINO. They're also adding support for the RK3588's rockchip npu, but it's still newer so I wouldn't recommend unless you like tinkering. For PoE, I'd just do whatever is convenient. I've done setups with 2 PoE switches before so I could just run one cable between the front/back and then branch out from there.
j45 3y ago
Single PoE switch works well, they are inexpensive. If you have Poe injectors that can work too. Wifi cameras are more for convenience than reliability or dependancy.
adamsb6 3y ago
PoE switch with a big UPS so that recording does not stop in case of power outages.
giobox 3y ago
> what do people typically use to power the cameras? A single PoE switch, or multiple PoE injectors? It basically doesn't matter at all - I have a mixture of both in my home, multiple PoE switches and multiple PoE injectors for things like cameras, wireless APs etc. Use whatever fits needs/budget/location, you don't have to go nuts buying a single high end PoE switch. There's often good deals to be had on used PoE switches on ebay etc too if really budget conscious. The only real advantage of going with a single or fewer PoE switches is you have less things to put on a UPS, if you require the system to still work when power goes down. A UPS that can run say 4 cameras, the PoE switch and a system running Frigate for more than a few hours can get pretty expensive too, in my experience - most cheap UPSes are designed to get you enough power to save some files and shutdown a PC in a matter of minutes, not hours. Cheap intel box with a Coral runs Frigate fantastically, and if a tower build plenty of room for internal storage drives.
- myself248 3y ago
  Yeah, consumer UPSs tend to scale their inverter capacity along with their battery capacity, which means if you're shopping for huge capacity for long runtime, you end up paying extra for a huge inverter you don't need. I've gone the other route, with a simple power supply that charges an ever-evolving fleet of whatever cheap 12-volt batteries aren't doing anything else, which then feeds DC-DC converters for the various loads. For stuff that's natively 12-volt like my wifi router and cable modem, I just run those directly off the battery rail. This setup is quiet, efficient, and presently runs the modem, router, service pi, and my RIPE Atlas probe, for somewhere upwards of 20 hours, for something like $150. If I added a 12v-to-48v converter and a small PoE switch feeding a few cameras, it would probably cut the runtime in half, but I could just throw more battery at it for pennies on the watt-hour.

syntaxing 3y ago

Doesn’t have to be PoE cameras. I use wifi cameras too, pretty much any camera with rtsp/onvif would work. Chances are, a single switch is more cost effective than multiple injectors. But you also need Ethernet routed throughout your house. One alternative is to have the G.hn (powerline) adapter with PoE. This way, you can be both network and power with one plug without wiring your house.

rahimnathwani 3y ago
If you're happy with your wifi cameras' performance with Frigate, I'd love a recommendation.
- syntaxing 3y ago
  I have a mix of reolink and amcrest ones, I can grab the models later tonight when I’m at my computer
  - VTimofeenko 3y ago
    Please do, also looking for recommendations :)
eddyg 3y ago
Wi-Fi cameras are not a great idea. Sure, they are convenient, but Wi-Fi is a shared access medium (every device on, say, channel 11, has to “cooperate” with all the other devices about when it can transmit, including devices on neighboring SSIDs) and something that is constantly streaming video (or worse, multiple devices!) is going to quickly consume available bandwidth and offer a poor Wi-Fi experience. (But most people only care about convenience.) Plus, Wi-Fi is easily jammed, which is not great from a security perspective.
- syntaxing 3y ago
  Ehh, I have a mix of 4K and 2K cameras, it hasn’t been much of an issue. I run OPNsense with a single EAP670 and there hasn’t been much performance degradation. PoE is definitely ideal but not an option for many, including me since I rent. I think the G.hn plugs are probably my best option for PoE if I really needed it. Edit: not sure why you’re being downvoted

social_quotient 3y ago

I have a single PoE switch for my ubiquiti cameras and polycom voip phones. My original need for the PoE switch was actually the access points and not the cameras but I slowly converted from nest to these.

pkulak 3y ago

I just have a PoE switch. It's actually easier to run ethernet than power, especially outside. Clogging up your WiFi spectrum with megabits of constant video seems like a terrible idea.

rahimnathwani 3y ago
> Clogging up your WiFi spectrum with megabits of constant video seems like a terrible idea. Yes, that's the thing I like about the Arlo system I have now: it has its own wifi network so, even if it's using spectrum, it's probably not affecting my LAN throughput. > It's actually easier to run ethernet than power, especially outside. This is true, but the house where I live already has power available everywhere I might need a camera. The thing I don't like about running new cables is the need to drill holes through exterior walls.
- kiallmacinnes 3y ago
  Your LAN can handle it :) If the current setup can't, plugging the cameras and the NVR into a separate switch and none of that traffic will go near the rest of your LAN. Wifi on the other hand, there's really no (practical) segregation to speak of - the spectrum has limited bandwidth, it doesn't matter if it's a different SSID / wifi network, it'll affect your Wifi!
  - CrazyStat 3y ago
    If you live in a sufficiently low density area (rural or suburban with large lots) you can put the two networks on different channels and they won’t meaningfully interfere with each order.
    - kiallmacinnes 3y ago
      The chances are, if you live somewhere like that, somewhere that actually has a low noise floor for RF, then you likely also have a lot of space to cover with your wifi - and that means sacrificing range (via additional access points) for the second network.. For me: Wifi is great! But, whenever it's practical, I avoid it... Everything with it is a tradeoff!

acidburnNSA 3y ago

I have a variety of PoE power supplies based on where all my wires are running. I have one PoE switch near my main router that goes directly to a few cams. I have a second PoE switch in my living room that hooks into one in-house ethernet port and splits/powers two outdoor cams. Then I have a number of WiFi cams still where it wasn't convenient to get ethernet.

chromakode 3y ago

Single PoE switch with cameras on a VLAN (so they don't have internet access). I use my old framework main board (yay for reuse!). Started with a USB Coral but switched to NVMe, which is more reliable passing through to a VM. Frigate links some Dahua camera recommendations in their documentation: https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/hardware/ https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/hardware/ I installed them and they've been rock solid. Low light performance is excellent. The turret form factor is nice and unobtrusive.

jaktet 3y ago
Last time I looked at this the Coral devices were out of stock and price gouged. Looks like I can at least order now with a lead time of 22 weeks from mouser. https://coral.ai/products/m2-accelerator-dual-edgetpu/ https://coral.ai/products/m2-accelerator-dual-edgetpu/
- rainbowzootsuit 3y ago
  Depends on the version. They have thousands of m.2 in stock. https://www.mouser.com/c/?q=coral https://www.mouser.com/c/?q=coral
  - jaktet 3y ago
    Whoops I misread the factory lead time as the estimate time :)
    - rainbowzootsuit 3y ago
      No worries. I picked up some nvme to make a low power frigate box when I saw the USB is often unobtainium. Figuring out the whole m.2 keying scheme vs the ports I have took the longest of it. I found that one key type is for wifi daughter cards so I was able to save a pcie slot or nvme slot using that in the small form factor host.

dementik 3y ago

I am using it all: PoE switch, then couple injectors where it is needed for some specific reason and then also PoE splitters (one cable leaving from PoE switch, going to splitter and then to 4 different PoE cameras, powering everything with one PoE output from switch). I would not use WiFi cameras. Standard RTSP PoE h264 is the way to go.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

graphe 3y ago

Check out the Nvidia Tesla P4. It's basically an uncooled low profile 1080 8GB.

ThatPlayer 3y ago

If you have a newer intel-based PC, you might not even need the Coral. Frigate added support for Intel's OpenVINO. They're also adding support for the RK3588's rockchip npu, but it's still newer so I wouldn't recommend unless you like tinkering. For PoE, I'd just do whatever is convenient. I've done setups with 2 PoE switches before so I could just run one cable between the front/back and then branch out from there.

j45 3y ago

Single PoE switch works well, they are inexpensive. If you have Poe injectors that can work too. Wifi cameras are more for convenience than reliability or dependancy.

adamsb6 3y ago

PoE switch with a big UPS so that recording does not stop in case of power outages.

giobox 3y ago

> what do people typically use to power the cameras? A single PoE switch, or multiple PoE injectors? It basically doesn't matter at all - I have a mixture of both in my home, multiple PoE switches and multiple PoE injectors for things like cameras, wireless APs etc. Use whatever fits needs/budget/location, you don't have to go nuts buying a single high end PoE switch. There's often good deals to be had on used PoE switches on ebay etc too if really budget conscious. The only real advantage of going with a single or fewer PoE switches is you have less things to put on a UPS, if you require the system to still work when power goes down. A UPS that can run say 4 cameras, the PoE switch and a system running Frigate for more than a few hours can get pretty expensive too, in my experience - most cheap UPSes are designed to get you enough power to save some files and shutdown a PC in a matter of minutes, not hours. Cheap intel box with a Coral runs Frigate fantastically, and if a tower build plenty of room for internal storage drives.

myself248 3y ago
Yeah, consumer UPSs tend to scale their inverter capacity along with their battery capacity, which means if you're shopping for huge capacity for long runtime, you end up paying extra for a huge inverter you don't need. I've gone the other route, with a simple power supply that charges an ever-evolving fleet of whatever cheap 12-volt batteries aren't doing anything else, which then feeds DC-DC converters for the various loads. For stuff that's natively 12-volt like my wifi router and cable modem, I just run those directly off the battery rail. This setup is quiet, efficient, and presently runs the modem, router, service pi, and my RIPE Atlas probe, for somewhere upwards of 20 hours, for something like $150. If I added a 12v-to-48v converter and a small PoE switch feeding a few cameras, it would probably cut the runtime in half, but I could just throw more battery at it for pennies on the watt-hour.