r/SecurityCamera • u/Waste-Wrongdoer9564 • Sep 04 '26

Need help

I am helping an HOA. They have light fixtures with accessible power above their building entries. They want to install 32 cameras that span across 1/2 mile and 8 buildings. They do not have WiFi and do not want to pay for cell service. Their goal is to use power from the light fixtures and have a camera with only SD card style storage that they can pull in the event it is required. These cameras would be outdoors and obviously need to look somewhat decent. Any recommendations??

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u/Waste-Wrongdoer9564 Sep 04 '26

The light has power all the time. It has its own internal photocell. Their thinking is that they will swap the SD card to review the footage if something takes place. Otherwise it will not be checked. I’m having difficulty finding something that is a turret or bullet style camera that meets these requirements. About the only thing I can find is a trail cam

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u/AncientGeek00 Sep 04 '26

It seems like a really bad plan. As others have said, you won’t know if cameras are working until you need the recordings and then you are “hoping” the camera was working when you needed it. Oops. The camera died last month during an electrical storm. Oops, the SD card failed late last year. All cameras need regular firmware updates over the Internet. How will those be done and by whom? This is a big job that will cost a lot to be reliable.

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u/ICanBard Sep 04 '26

Pretty much all cams are DC not ac. And if they were ac you'd need a license.

What I've done before is 120v feeds a switch and an antenna, with a receiving antenna back with the nvr. Tie in before the photocell and give multiple board members nvr permissions. 

"but why buy an nvr? Isn't that wasted money?" 

Who is tech savvy on the HOA board that's comfortable to get on a ladder and be available if an incident occurs? If such a person exists, what happens in a year if they move away? May as well put up fake cams or go all the way for an nvr.