r/homesecurity • u/kruzer70 • Nov 07 '20

Can't identify camera

We moved into a home earlier this year and I'm trying to identify the front door camera, or more importantly the function of the cable running to the front door camera, so that I can replace it. I honestly can't tell whether it's a power cable, or network, or what. I've tried to post here with a link to Imgur with images of it, but the post keeps getting banned. Any suggestions on how best to figure out what the cable is? (I don't want to just cut it & leave the spot open — would rather figure it out first)

TIA

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u/jackd90 Nov 09 '20

Oh yeah, definitely a photocell. If the lights at the front door turn on with the switch in the daytime then there's three possibilities:

  • The photocell is dead; Photocells produce a high resistance when no light is detected, a dead or burned out photocell would most likely show as high resistance making it think it's always dark out.
  • The photocell isn't connected at all; The previous owner may have bypassed it completely due to being annoyed that the light doesn't turn on during the day. Alternatively, if the photocell being dead broke the circuit, then the light wasn't turning on at all.
  • The photocell is connected to something completely different if the previous owner was a tinkerer and did janky contraptions which isn't uncommon.

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u/kruzer70 Nov 12 '20

Thanks! This seems to be the consensus...so hopefully I don't break anything when I disable it.