Blog
Practical guides for low-voltage and security professionals. Floor plan markup, site surveys, takeoffs, device symbols, and field workflows.
Guides
Camera Field of View Cones, Explained
What a camera field-of-view cone represents, how lens millimetres translate to degrees, and why the length of the cone matters more than the angle.
How Much Storage Does a CCTV System Need? Sizing a Recorder Properly
What really drives CCTV storage: resolution, frame rate, codec and retention. Worked examples, the TB vs TiB trap, and why motion recording saves little.
Camera Mounting Height and the Blind Spot Underneath It
How high to mount a security camera, what the blind spot beneath it costs you, and the tilt trade-off. With the vertical field-of-view maths worked out.
How to Measure Wire and Conduit Runs from a Plan
Measure cable off a drawing without a tape measure: set the scale, route the way cable is really pulled, and add the right allowance before you order.
How to Do a Low-Voltage Takeoff Without Bluebeam
A step-by-step low-voltage security takeoff without Bluebeam: drop trade icons, auto-count devices, and export a clean PDF from an iPad in the field.
How to Do a CCTV Site Survey (Step-by-Step Checklist)
A practical CCTV site survey checklist for integrators: what to bring, how to walk the building, what to note per camera, and how to turn it into a bid.
Security Camera Types Explained: Dome, Bullet, PTZ, Multisensor & Fisheye
A plain-English guide to security camera types (dome, bullet, PTZ, multisensor, and fisheye) and how to choose the right one for each location on a job.
What Is a Device Schedule? (And Why Every Security Install Needs One)
A device schedule lists every device on a security job: type, label, location, model, status. What goes on one and how to build it from a floor plan.
How to Track a Retrofit Camera Install on a Customer's Existing PDF
For low-voltage techs on retrofit installs: mark up the customer's existing floor plan with a status circle per device, without redrawing a thing.
How to Estimate Cable Footage from a Floor Plan
Calibrate a floor plan to a known distance, then tap out cable routes that roll up into a per-type cable schedule on your BOM. No tape measure, no whiteboard.
How to Set Up Your Team in FieldMarkup
Build your roster, assign people to projects with the right position, track skills and certs, and add subcontractors as guests without cluttering the team.