Car wash Security System

[Randy]

How many of you don’t have a working camera or alarm system at your car wash? I travel to a lot of car washes and you’d be surprised at the number business that don’t have a working camera or alarm system. I got a call this morning from a fellow car washer and he was broken into last night and his camera and alarm were both inoperative. They peeled the bill changer open like it was an onion, took everything that was loose, tools, spare parts and the air compressor. They must have been in the equipment room for hours.

 

[Greg Pack]

My camera system has been helpful. Just caught one of my attendants last week loaning out his cryptopay attendant card to his friends for free car washes. He's now unemployed. My Ring system with $100 annual service thwarted one break in last Year that could have cost me thousands in theft and damage.

 

[water guy]

What type of ring system do you have?

 

[Kimberly Berg]

I have 31 high-resolution cameras at my car wash. I lease them from Alert360 out of Oklahoma. Earlier this year we added their video monitoring service, with 2-way audio cameras, from 11pm - 5am. Their agents can actually speak with individuals who are loitering longer than 30 minutes, doing auto repairs or acting suspicious. The company offers high-quality equipment & customer service. I've learned the hard way that anyone can sell you cameras, but cant be reached when you're having technical difficulties!

 

[cbchevy4x4]

I have both a security system and cameras (which are on my phone and at times monitors at the house). It wasn't cheap but there is no way i would do it any other way now.

I started with 4 in 2019 with a local recorder focused on my IBA, Changers and Paystation. 2 years ago i went site wide, 2 per bay, multiples covering the parking lot out front with the vacs and out back and the pump room. I have motion detection zones on the cameras activated through the night that notifies me via text and email if somebody is on site. If they look sketchy either i can come out or make a phone call to the PD to do a drive through, my local pd loves coming buy. Since i have installed them they've come to me for video footage for several cases they have worked in the area and i have always come through with something to help them out so they kinda repay me the favor by helping keep an extra eye on the place.

To say the least i feel like they have more than paid for themselves, not only by helping catch the people we don't necessarily want as "customers," but it has dramatically helped with troubleshooting and preventing various issues that have arose since that time. Its not fun to look on the camera at 11pm and see water in the floor of the pump room but i caught it within 30 minutes of the line breaking instead of it flowing until i got here the next morning at 8am.

I honestly don't know how we did it before the cameras were installed, but my life is so much simpler now.

 

[traveler17]

I have 31 high-resolution cameras at my car wash. I lease them from Alert360 out of Oklahoma. Earlier this year we added their video monitoring service, with 2-way audio cameras, from 11pm - 5am. Their agents can actually speak with individuals who are loitering longer than 30 minutes, doing auto repairs or acting suspicious. The company offers high-quality equipment & customer service. I've learned the hard way that anyone can sell you cameras, but cant be reached when you're having technical difficulties!

Kim how long have you used alert 360? I have a good camera system but do they actually monitor your site for you? Would you mind sharing your cost ? DM me if that’s better, thx!!

 

[Kimberly Berg]

Kim how long have you used alert 360? I have a good camera system but do they actually monitor your site for you? Would you mind sharing your cost ? DM me if that’s better, thx!!

I'm happy to share!! I've been using Alert360 for almost 3 years now. They installed 8 cameras at my home in November 2019. Then, when I couldn't get ahold of my prior camera salesman, I had Alert360 install new cameras and alarm pad at my car wash in January 2021. They monitor 14 cameras at my car wash, and 8 have 2-way audio. I spend $300 a month for the "video shield" service. Works out to $10 a day. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than having a drive-through security service, which charges between $25 - $35 / per trip to drive through my car wash 3-5 times a night ($2250 - $5250 / month). I love this service because Alert360 has access to my video history, so they can see exactly how long someone has been loitering, where a security guard does not. My contact in Sacramento, CA is Andrew Kealaiki. Very helpful and professional. His direct line is 916-778-4298.

 

[traveler17]

I'm happy to share!! I've been using Alert360 for almost 3 years now. They installed 8 cameras at my home in November 2019. Then, when I couldn't get ahold of my prior camera salesman, I had Alert360 install new cameras and alarm pad at my car wash in January 2021. They monitor 14 cameras at my car wash, and 8 have 2-way audio. I spend $300 a month for the "video shield" service. Works out to $10 a day. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than having a drive-through security service, which charges between $25 - $35 / per trip to drive through my car wash 3-5 times a night ($2250 - $5250 / month). I love this service because Alert360 has access to my video history, so they can see exactly how long someone has been loitering, where a security guard does not. My contact in Sacramento, CA is Andrew Kealaiki. Very helpful and professional. His direct line is 916-778-4298.

That sounds great!! I like my camera system but for $10 a day I’m making a call today. Appreciate your sharing!!

 

[Kimberly Berg]

That sounds great!! I like my camera system but for $10 a day I’m making a call today. Appreciate your sharing!!

Happy to help!! They might be able to use your current camera system to monitor & notify you directly. $300 a month is for monitoring service. Leasing their cameras are additional. Good luck!

 

[STXCW]

At our tunnel sites, the entire camera system will pay itself off within the first month with the bogus claims that are denied. In bays take a couple months at most and with the self serves it is more to monitor people loitering and idiots trying to run their hand drying business in our vac area. We call the popo and they ride off into the sunset on their bikes.

 

[Roz]

16 - 4K cameras with an extra large hard drive to archive 2 weeks of continuous recording plus Wyze cameras everywhere inside the equipment rooms to be able to view people, equipment, and chemical levels remotely. Thinking of adding Ring doorbell cameras on the paystations for added customer service.

 

[Greg_T]

9 cameras and alarm on the equipment room at our 3 SS wash. The best improvement from a security perspective has been really bright LED lighting on all night.

 

[mjwalsh]

16 - 4K cameras with an extra large hard drive to archive 2 weeks of continuous recording plus Wyze cameras everywhere inside the equipment rooms to be able to view people, equipment, and chemical levels remotely. Thinking of adding Ring doorbell cameras on the paystations for added customer service.

Roz,

Have you experienced where the Wyze cameras need to be reset by cutting power & restarting them? If so, what was your remedy other than have other cameras that never stop working. I am pretty sure that the SD card will still record (for more difficult retrieval) if there is power to the camera though. I like the Wyze v3s because there is no need for any kind of infrared in low light situations.

 

[OurTown]

16 - 4K cameras with an extra large hard drive to archive 2 weeks of continuous recording

What size hard drive and what type of compression does it use to get those two weeks?

 

[Roz]

Roz,

Have you experienced where the Wyze cameras need to be reset by cutting power & restarting them? If so, what was your remedy other than have other cameras that never stop working. I am pretty sure that the SD card will still record (for more difficult retrieval) if there is power to the camera though. I like the Wyze v3s because there is no need for any kind of infrared in low light situations.

Yes. Wyze cameras are a good cheap and quick solution but have technology limitations. I have been using them since they were founded. Have discarded and replaced several as new generation cameras become available and the older ones fail. But at leas than $20 a camera you can afford to do so all day and still be ahead.

I do find my 4K cameras better quality than the 1080 from Wyze so I use lorex and Avertx 4K for the important places and the Wyze for things I just want to monitor so I can have eyes on a device, chemical levels, spot free water level or the changer led remotely. The Wyze are fine just not great. And I do need to reset the wireless ones way too often as the wireless repeater from Wyze is flawed. Hope this helps.

 

[Roz]

What size hard drive and what type of compression does it use to get those two weeks?

10TB. I need to look at the compression setting. I think it is H268 or something like that. I had Lorex install the larger drive when I ordered the system. I think now you can get up to 24TB. I would recommend installing largest HD possible. If it saves your bacon once by having the longer recording it pays for itself. Some brands allow you to add an external usb HD. I think my Avertx has a huge usb HD I purchased from Costco. I find the Avertx system to be better than Lorex. Lorex is a bit lower in cost but when I had issues that required video review I found the necessary video much faster and easier with the Avertx system. Lorex is having some technological challenges which is apparent with all the discontinued models. Lorex system looks nice but is not always user friendly and has too many glitches for my taste. I want one and done not something I constantly need to check if working flawlessly.

 

[MEP001]

What size hard drive and what type of compression does it use to get those two weeks?

You can affect storage a lot by adjusting the record quality when it's not doing motion record. The one at my wash was left at default settings and it only held about four days of video. I left motion record at high but reduced framerate and quality on the rest and could get up to a month on the same drive.

You should use a "purple" drive for recording. They're built to last under the demand of constant rewriting. You also want to check your device for the maximum storage it can take. It may not work at all with a larger drive than what it says is its maximum.

 

[OurTown]

10GB. I need to look at the compression setting. I think it is H268 or something like that. I had Lorex install the larger drive when I ordered the system. I think now you can get up to 24GB. I would recommend installing largest HD possible. If it saves your bacon once by having the longer recording it pays for itself. Some brands allow you to add an external usb HD. I think my Avertx has a huge usb HD I purchased from Costco. I find the Avertx system to be better than Lorex. Lorex is a bit lower in cost but when I had issues that required video review I found the necessary video much faster and easier with the Avertx system. Lorex is having some technological challenges which is apparent with all the discontinued models. Lorex system looks nice but is not always user friendly and has too many glitches for my taste. I want one and done not something I constantly need to check if working flawlessly.

I assume you meant 10TB. H.264 is what most use for compression but I think Lorex is now using the newer H.265 to get about twice the footage at the same quality. I was trying to get a feel for what size drive to order. Our system is a 5 year old Lorex 2K system with an 8TB hard drive and is showing its age. It has been fairly decent to work with but agree with you on the Lorex issues.

 

[OurTown]

You can affect storage a lot by adjusting the record quality when it's not doing motion record. The one at my wash was left at default settings and it only held about four days of video. I left motion record at high but reduced framerate and quality on the rest and could get up to a month on the same drive.

You should use a "purple" drive for recording. They're built to last under the demand of constant rewriting. You also want to check your device for the maximum storage it can take. It may not work at all with a larger drive than what it says is its maximum.

I'm 95% sure we have a Western Digital Purple drive in ours. I think a setting accidently got changed at one point because we used to have a month's worth of footage at the highest quality and now we only have two weeks. The Lorex settings interface is not very easy to navigate and is hard to understand what you are changing.

 

[MEP001]

I think a setting accidently got changed at one point because we used to have a month's worth of footage at the highest quality and now we only have two weeks.

A cobweb dangling in front of a camera can really eat up storage.