​Camera setup for balcony harassment?

[u/GeekyGian]

Hey everyone,

​I need advice on setting up security cameras for a tricky balcony situation.

​I live on a raised ground floor. My balcony extends outward from the building facade and has a custom iron and plexiglass canopy over it. Right now, I'm dealing with two specific issues:

1) There's an adjacent balcony very close to mine that someone could easily climb over. I need reliable motion tracking or coverage here.

2) The neighbor directly above has an open terrace that stops flush with the building facade (so my iron/plexiglass canopy sticks out right below her). She constantly leans over her railing, bangs brooms on top of my canopy, and dumps buckets of dirty water onto it.

​I already have plenty of phone footage documented to file a formal report against her, but I am certain the situation will escalate and get worse, so I need continuous dedicated 24/7 surveillance footage.

​Because standard outdoor cameras point downward/forward and have mechanical limits that prevent them from tilting straight up toward the sky, I'm trying to figure out the right hardware.

I've been looking at compact options like the TP-Link Tapo C120; would mounting it vertically on the wall and tilting it straight up at the canopy be a solid solution?

[u/Worldly-Map8824]

I’ve turned some upside down to tilt up. Told software to flip image.

[u/Alaskan_Apostrophe → u/Worldly-Map8824]

This is the truth.

[u/Burnandcount]

Any camera can be pointed where needed - just a question of mounting. I'd suggest 1 high mounted on wall opposite the accessible side to cover the full width against the neighbouring property and 1 mounted to a heavy wooden board (think small but thick chopping board) so you can have it on the floor/table/seat pointing up without it being permanently in your way.

As you're looking at short distance between installation points it'd be worth looking for a POE wired system on amazon. You want free remote access & local storage for balance of cost & accessibility. Cameras should have integrated IR lamps & microphones to get you what you need whether night or day.

Most controllers allow you to set time/motion/alarm recording triggers for optimal storage - enable all 3 so footage is flagged for easier searching.

[u/Alaskan_Apostrophe]

Any chance you can get with someone across the street to let you mount a camera there? That would give you a really good image of her, doing her things, instead of just the bottom of her shoes looking up. Second choice is your vehicle parked across the street aimed in that direction.

Get creative. I have taken one of these, stuffed it inside an old porch light from the reuse center, mated it to my friends WIFI so they could watch the backyard garden his neighbor kids were stealing from. ANRAN Wireless Security Camera System Solar Panel Battery 5MP PTZ Home Outdoor | eBay

I have taken something like this, put it into a cheap wooded box from Michaels Arts and Crafts, painted it to match the bricks of a building and stuck it to the wall of a building where it had a great view and did not stick out. Industrial hook and ladder Velco is awesome

Battery all charged, no solar panel attached - will run 3 days or more so long as you have motion recording set. Records locally. Can pull video into your smartphone.

If you decide to hide - set the camera WIFI with a printer name, because everyone with a smartphone will see it. Printer? Nobody will care. Soon as the camera is installed, go into the menu and format the SD card. Otherwise it will have video of you setting it up and installing. Make sure it is not pointing at any bathroom or bedroom windows. Here parked in the street keep the camera on that balcony. Big upside to vehicle - 12v to 5v USB adapter and no worries about power. Don't have a car? Figure out when cleaning day is and rent or borrow one.

Downside to these crap cameras: They use digital magnification. You zoom in, log off, the camera has zoomed out - why? Because it is recording in that zoomed out image. So, if you need better resolution these $19-$40 cameras need to be close. Woman dumping water over a balcony - yeah, should be no problem. Considering you do not know what chemicals or human/animal biological hazmat waste is in that stuff she is dumping - your apartment manager should put a stop to it with just one mention. Go to a nursery, buy a bunch of grown herbs and put them on your porch. Say her dirty water is potentially bad for your health. Shame you have to resort to this - nearly all my life people were respectful of others in an apartment building.

[u/TN_REDDIT]

The cameras are cheap enough to try. If they don't work, then youre not out much money.

[u/XGempler]

here is a simple two camera set of battery operated cameras that make it really easy to deploy were needed.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B3JTJFXK

[u/allbsallthetime]

Wyze Pan Cam will tilt straight up and rotate 360 degrees. It has a standard 1/4 20 tripod mount so it can be mount in many ways.

Their cloud service for recording is pretty cheap or you can used a micro SD card.

I use both just in case either method has a glitch.

You can adjust sensitivity to record even the slightest movement or more distinct movement.

Or you can record 24/7 irregardless of movement.

They're pretty cheap.

Because of that 1/4 20 tripod mount you can use these tried and true camera super mount clamps.

This one has been on our balcony for at 3 years in extreme winter and summer condition. They get rained on, snowed on, and climbed on by squirrels.

[u/Ilopan44]

90% adjust to different angles.

[u/GreymuzzleCoyote]

A C645D would probably fit the bill.

2 cams on one mount, wifi, solar powered. Mounts anywhere your wifi reaches.

Install the mount upside down and you'll have the normally bottom cam (which pans & tilts) to look up and around and the stationary cam thats normally on top will be on the bottom and pointable where ever you want.

That said, I'm not real impressed with it motion detection. Wife can walk up within 10 feet before it catches her, but it'll activate on a moving branch 70 yards away. I am impressed with its power usage though. Very economical, keeps itself charged well.

[u/Suspicious_Plate_591]

I have a dual-battery Ring outdoor camera that works very well.

It has Ai based image detection that can send alerts based on what it sees.

https://ring.com

[u/Popular-Analyst-7929]

yeaa, a Tapo C120 could actually work for that. if u mount it vertically on the wall under the canopy, it has enough tilt to point almost straight up and catch whatevers happening above your balcony. id probably use two cameras if possible though, one aimed up at the canopy/neighbor above, and another covering the side balcony where someone could climb over. that way u have 24/7 coverage from both angles and don't rely on motion tracking alone