This job came through a recommendation. The owner of an automotive workshop in Cockburn Central hired me to replace both the alarm and the cameras. The result is a new eight-camera Dahua CCTV system and an Ajax Superior alarm, with the six PIR detectors already in the building carried across instead of replaced. The business is not named here, in line with how I write up all my commercial jobs.

What was already there

The workshop had an old Ness alarm panel and a set of Swann cameras. Those Swann cameras run on coaxial cable rather than network cable, so they cannot simply be swapped for modern IP cameras. The cabling had to change as well.

The alarm: keeping the six PIRs

The six PIR detectors on the old system were still reusable. Rather than pay for six new detectors, I used an Ajax Superior Fibra MultiTransmitter, which lets existing wired detectors report to an Ajax hub. That kept the cost down without giving anything up on the security side.

The Ajax app is set up on several phones, and every employee has their own keypad code. That means each person arms and disarms with their own code, and the system records who did it.

Ajax Superior Fibra KeyPad alarm installation on a Cockburn Central workshop wall, Perth, used to arm and disarm the system Ajax alarm installation in Cockburn Central, Perth: black MotionProtect detector in a corner and black HomeSiren on the ceiling

CCTV: eight Dahua cameras

All eight cameras record to one Dahua 8-channel NVR with a 4TB drive.

Between them they cover the perimeter as well as the inside of the building.

One camera for a wide view

The 180 degree camera is two lenses in one housing, stitched into a single wide picture. From one mounting point it takes in a wide sweep of the property, which is more than an ordinary camera can cover. It is the same model as the one on my Dahua cameras and recorders page, where the datasheet is available.

Daytime live view from the Dahua 180 degree dual-lens camera at a Cockburn Central workshop, Perth, showing the wide stitched picture across the yard

Viewing and recording

How long it took

Three visits. The cameras took a day: about six hours to pull out the coax and re-wire in Ethernet, then about two hours to fit off, set the angles and program the recorder. The alarm took another full day. I came back a third time to run the Ethernet to the TV in the boss's office for the HDMI over Ethernet feed, and to tidy the camera cables down into the data cabinet.

The result

The workshop now has full coverage of the perimeter and the inside of the building, and an alarm each employee can use with their own code. The footage in low light is very good, which is what I expected from these cameras. For why, see why sensor size matters more than megapixels.

Night footage from a Dahua TiOC 3 Pro camera at a Cockburn Central workshop, Perth, showing colour detail in low light

Running a workshop or commercial site?

If your business has an older wired alarm or a coax camera system that is not doing its job, I will look at what you have on site and tell you plainly what is worth keeping. For how the alarm side works, see retrofitting an old wired alarm panel to Ajax, or the similar commercial job in Bibra Lake. The CCTV installation and Ajax alarm pages cover the rest.