Estimate how many days of continuous security camera footage fit in your available backup storage. Enter the average bitrate per camera and the percentage of storage available for footage. Actual retention varies with motion, compression, and recording settings.
Estimate the total cost of replacing batteries in security cameras using your own battery and installation prices. Defaults are illustrative; check battery compatibility and local prices. The estimate assumes one battery per camera and one shared shipping or service fee, and excludes taxes.
Estimate the monthly cost of local recording storage using camera bitrate, recording hours, retention period, drive price, and drive service life. This assumes continuous recording during the specified hours, a constant bitrate, decimal terabytes, and full use of drive capacity. Actual storage needs can vary with compression, motion, formatting, redundancy, and system overhead. The calculation uses fractional drive capacity; round up to a suitable whole drive or drives when purchasing. Defaults are illustrative assumptions.
Estimate the upload bandwidth needed to stream cameras to simultaneous viewers. Enter the average bitrate per camera and an allowance for network overhead. This estimate assumes each viewer receives a separate stream from every camera; actual usage varies with bitrate, network conditions, and how streams are distributed.
Estimate data used to view security camera streams remotely. Enter the average bitrate for each stream, the number of streams viewed at the same time, and your viewing time. The estimate uses decimal gigabytes and assumes a constant bitrate; actual usage can vary with video settings, scene activity, and network overhead. Defaults are illustrative.
Estimate the cost per advertised gigabyte of a security camera memory card, including any shipping or other purchase costs. Enter the card’s listed capacity and prices in the same currency. Defaults are illustrative; usable capacity may differ from the advertised capacity.
Estimate cable, termination materials, and installation labor for camera cable runs. Enter the average one-way cable length per camera and allow extra cable for routing and slack. Defaults are illustrative. Round the total cable length up to the available spool or package size when purchasing; this estimate does not include spool rounding, cameras, recorders, conduit, or other materials.
Estimate the percentage of a 24-hour day that a security camera is actively recording. Enter scheduled recording hours and the average number and duration of additional motion-triggered recordings. Defaults are illustrative. The estimate assumes events do not overlap each other or scheduled recording, and caps the result at 100%.
Estimate the battery capacity needed for a security camera using its active and standby power, daily active time, desired runtime, battery voltage, and usable capacity. Enter manufacturer specifications where available. The calculation assumes a repeating 24-hour cycle and constant power in each mode; actual runtime varies with temperature, signal strength, recording activity, and battery aging. Defaults are illustrative. Choose a battery with at least the calculated capacity, rounding up to an available size.
Estimate charging time from battery capacity, starting and target charge levels, charger current, and charging efficiency. The estimate assumes a constant average charging current; actual time can be longer as charging slows near full capacity.
Estimate the daily cost of storing surveillance recordings using camera bitrate, recording hours, retention period, and a monthly storage rate. Assumes a constant average bitrate, decimal terabytes, and a 30-day billing month. The storage multiplier accounts for additional copies or redundancy; enter a storage rate that excludes costs already included in that multiplier. Defaults are illustrative and exclude equipment, network, and other fees.
Estimate the minimum continuous output current for cameras sharing a power supply. Enter each camera’s maximum power draw, any additional load, the required supply voltage, and a capacity margin. Select a compatible supply rated at or above the result. Defaults are illustrative; check camera specifications, voltage compatibility, startup loads, and cable voltage drop.
Estimate backup runtime from the UPS battery’s nominal voltage and amp-hour capacity, the camera system’s total power draw, usable battery capacity, and UPS efficiency. Include cameras, recorder, network equipment, and other devices powered by the UPS in the load. Defaults are illustrative; actual runtime varies with battery condition, load, and UPS characteristics.
Estimate recording storage for cameras with the same average bitrate and daily recording schedule. Storage is shown in decimal TB, where 1 TB equals 1,000,000 MB. Defaults are illustrative. Actual needs vary with compression, scene activity, audio, and system overhead; allow extra capacity when purchasing drives.
Estimate how long camera footage will take to download using its file size, connection speed, and an assumed transfer efficiency. The calculation uses decimal gigabytes and assumes a steady transfer rate; actual times can vary with network congestion, camera limits, and other overhead.
Estimate how long a memory card may last under continuous or scheduled camera recording. Enter the card capacity, assumed write-cycle rating, recording bitrate, daily recording time, and write amplification. Defaults are illustrative; actual endurance varies with the card, camera, and recording conditions.
Estimate how many days a fully charged camera battery can run with average daily solar charging. The result is capped at 365 days when solar energy meets or exceeds consumption. Daily averages simplify weather, charging timing, and changing camera activity; defaults are illustrative.
Estimate the solar panel wattage needed to supply a security camera’s daily energy use. Enter its average power draw, daily operating time, local peak sun hours, and estimated system efficiency. The reserve adds a sizing margin. Peak sun hours and efficiency vary with weather, season, panel placement, and equipment; defaults are illustrative. This estimate assumes daily energy balance and does not size the battery. Round up to an available panel rating.
Estimate cable needed from the measured horizontal route, vertical runs, and a slack allowance. Measure along the planned cable path, including bends and obstacles. The result is an estimate; round up to a suitable available cable length. For standard twisted-pair Ethernet, the usual maximum channel length is 100 m including patch cords, though equipment and cabling standards can impose different limits.
Estimate the voltage lost along a PoE cable using cable length, total current, conductor resistance, and the number of pairs sharing power. Resistance values are nominal copper conductor values at 20°C; actual cable construction, temperature, and connections affect the result.
Estimate electricity cost for a 30-day month using the average power draw of each camera and the recorder. Cameras run for the specified hours per day; the recorder runs continuously. Enter your electricity rate and measured or manufacturer-specified average wattage. Defaults are illustrative and exclude other equipment and taxes.
Estimate recurring monthly cloud storage costs from camera bitrate, recording time, retention, and your storage provider’s rates. Defaults are illustrative. The estimate assumes constant bitrate, continuous recording during the selected hours, decimal terabytes, and a flat per-terabyte monthly rate. It excludes upload, download, and other charges. For plans sold in whole storage blocks, round the required capacity up before estimating the bill.
Estimate data transferred by security cameras using their average stream bitrate and recording or streaming schedule. Defaults are illustrative. Use the average bitrate during active periods; actual usage varies with video settings, scene activity, compression, and network overhead. This estimate uses decimal gigabytes and excludes protocol overhead.
Calculate the total image resolution in megapixels from the camera’s image width and height. Enter the actual pixel dimensions of the image or video frame; defaults are an illustrative Full HD example. This calculates pixel count, not image quality or effective sensor resolution.
Estimate video storage from the average encoded frame size, frame rate, recording time, and number of cameras. Use a representative average frame size for your camera and compression settings; actual storage varies with scene activity, compression, and recording settings. Storage is expressed in decimal GB (1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes).
Estimate the horizontal width covered by a camera at a given distance using its sensor width and focal length. This pinhole-camera approximation assumes a level camera facing a flat plane perpendicular to its optical axis; lens distortion and obstructions are ignored. Defaults are illustrative.
Estimate the horizontal real-world size represented by one image pixel at a given distance. This uses a pinhole camera model and assumes the sensor width and horizontal resolution refer to the active image area. Defaults are illustrative; lens distortion and image processing can affect actual results.
Calculate a camera sensor’s diagonal crop factor relative to a 36 × 24 mm full-frame sensor. Enter the sensor’s active imaging dimensions in millimeters; defaults illustrate a full-frame sensor.
Estimate horizontal pixel density at a given distance using camera resolution, sensor width, and focal length. The calculation assumes a rectilinear lens, a level camera, and a flat subject perpendicular to the viewing direction. Defaults are illustrative; lens distortion, cropping, and image processing can change actual results.
Calculate horizontal pixel density at a subject’s distance by dividing the camera’s horizontal image resolution by the horizontal width of the scene in feet. Enter the scene width at the distance you want to evaluate. This estimate assumes the full image width is used and does not account for lens distortion or image quality.