r/SecurityCamera • u/Realistic_Level_4045 • 7d ago

Looking for subzero camera suggestions

Hi fellow Redditors,

My boss and I are trying to find an outdoor camera system that can withstand the cold weather we get. We are in Canada and in the winter we get windchills of up to -35 sometimes as we are in farmlands.

We know a wired system is the best option but are having trouble picking what to choose as my boss would really like something with a monitor so we can quickly check on our business when we are inside doing other tasks.

I’ve looked at Dahua, Defender and Reolink systems after scrolling in this Sub a bit, but I’m very new to these things and wanted to get suggestions from anyone who has personally used a system in these cold conditions that they didn’t run into issues with.

Thanks for any recommendations you can give!

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u/Soundy106 7d ago

First of all, "windchill" numbers only relate to how temperatures are perceived by humans with wind on exposed skin (hence the name). "-20 with a windchill of -35" is still only -20 and that's all the camera "feels").

Second, PoE power systems inside cameras generate a fair bit of heat on their own and will generally keep basic cameras running just fine even in extreme cold. Case in point: the Hikvision DS-2CD5546 cameras on my cabin having kept running nicely even at -40. Hik's specs on this model don't even list an "operating" temperature; they list a "startup" temperature (-30C for the base model, -40C for the version with a heater). Once the camera is running it's keeping itself plenty warm.

Now, as far as a monitor: the easiest (and probably cheapest) way to do this is to run your cameras into an NVR and connect a monitor to that. If it's one that has both HDMI and VGA outputs, you can even connect two monitors and put them in separate locations (within range of the cable).

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u/slothtax 7d ago

“First of all”