Quick answer: Three zones decide a warehouse spec: long, tall racking aisles (varifocal lens, impact-rated housing, one camera per aisle end), dock doors with daylight behind them (true WDR, mounted at a side angle), and the yard (180° units on the corners, a PTZ for the truck court). A six-aisle, six-door 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m²) building lands at about 28 cameras on a 40-channel NVR, with longer retention on the dock cameras than on the aisles.
Inside: how do you cover racking aisles, picking and the dock interior?
The aisle is the hard part: 150 ft (46 m) long, 10–12 ft (3–3.7 m) wide, under a 28–32 ft (8.5–9.8 m) clear height, with high-bay lighting that leaves the lower levels dim. A 2.8 mm fixed lens at the end sees the first 30 ft (9 m) well and the rest as a strip, so aisles get a varifocal camera, lens set so the far end still fills the frame, mounted on the end frame or the wall rather than a rack upright that flexes under every pallet.
| Zone | Example CASE SKU | Lens and mount | What it must show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Racking aisle, each end | CS-I8MS SD-2.7-13.5mm (8MP dome, IP67, IK10) | 2.7–13.5 mm set to the aisle; end frame or wall, 18–22 ft (5.5–6.7 m) | Who entered the aisle, which bay they stopped at |
| Pack-out and picking stations | CS-I5XS SD-2.8mm (5MP turret, IP67, IR 98 ft (30 m)) | 2.8 mm fixed; ceiling or truss, 10–12 ft (3–3.7 m), looking down the bench | Parcel, label and the person packing it |
| Staging floor behind the docks | CS-I86V I-180 (stitched 180°) | 2.8 mm, two lenses; wall opposite the doors, 14–16 ft (4.3–4.9 m) | Every staging lane in one image |
| Dock door, interior | CS-I8TS I-2.7-13.5mm (8MP bullet, TWDR) | 2.7–13.5 mm; beside the door, 12–14 ft (3.7–4.3 m), 30–45° across it | Dock plate, trailer interior, forklift path |
Two ceiling rules. Keep every camera out of the sprinkler spray pattern; NFPA 13 obstruction rules apply on both sides of the border, so clear positions with the fire protection contractor (verify the local code). Mount below the high-bay fixtures, never beside them. The IK10 rating on the CS-I8MS SD-2.7-13.5mm matters at aisle ends where pallet corners and lift masts pass within reach; see IP66 vs IP67 vs IK10 for what the ratings mean on site.
IR 164 ft (50 m) is a printed maximum, not a promise of detail at the far bay. On a 150 ft (46 m) aisle plan one camera per end so each half is covered at a useful pixel density, and ask the customer to keep aisle lights on motion sensors so they stay lit while someone is inside.
Dock doors: why do WDR and camera angle decide the image?
An open dock door is the worst lighting ratio in the building: midday sun on a white trailer outside, a dim interior inside. A camera facing the door squarely exposes for one and loses the other.
- True WDR. Specify a camera that prints true wide dynamic range. The CS-I8TS I-2.7-13.5mm and CS-I8US I-2.7-13.5mm print 120dB True WDR (TWDR); the CS-I8MS SD-2.7-13.5mm prints 120dB without the TWDR label, so keep it for the aisles.
- Side angle. Mount beside the door at 12–14 ft (3.7–4.3 m) and turn the camera 30–45° across the door line, so the frame holds the dock plate, the trailer floor and the forklift path with the bright opening at the edge of the image. Set the varifocal to one door for load evidence, or two or three doors for overview.
Outside, the dock face needs a camera looking along the doors so trailer numbers and tractor colors are recorded at night. The CS-I8US I-2.7-13.5mm prints white light 98 ft (30 m) alongside IR 262 ft (80 m), so it takes the exterior positions; the CS-I8TS I-2.7-13.5mm prints no white light. Seal-number verification is a dedicated camera per door at seal height, quoted as its own line.
Yard and perimeter: what covers the truck court, trailer parking and the gate?
The truck court is typically 130 ft (40 m) deep with trailers along the fence. Put a CS-I86V I-180 on each building corner at 16–20 ft (4.9–6 m): the stitched 180° image covers the apron and the fence line without a seam, and the camera prints IR and white light at 98 ft (30 m).
One PTZ earns its place over a court this size: the CS-P44S 25XA (4MP, 4.8–120 mm 25x, IR 492 ft (150 m), Auto Tracking, PoE+ (IEEE802.3 at)) at the roof corner, 30 ft (9 m) up, with presets on the gate, the trailer row and the docks. The gate gets a fixed CS-I8US I-2.7-13.5mm at 12 ft (3.7 m); plate reading, if required, is a separate LPR camera confirmed per project.
Printed operating conditions outside: −31 °F to 149 °F (−35 °C to 65 °C) on the CS-I86V I-180, CS-I8TS I-2.7-13.5mm and CS-I8US I-2.7-13.5mm; −22 °F to 149 °F (−30 °C to 65 °C) on the CS-P44S 25XA. Gate runs usually pass the 328 ft (100 m) limit, so plan fiber or an extender early (see PoE Max Distance and PoE Extenders), and give every exterior drop surge protection and bonding per NEC (CEC in Canada).
Sample layout and camera schedule: a 40,000 sq ft building
The sample is a 200 ft × 200 ft (61 m × 61 m) warehouse: six racking aisles running north to south, six dock doors on the south wall with a shipping office at the corner, four pack-out stations on the east wall, an employee entrance, and a fenced truck court with one gate.
| ID | Position | CASE SKU | Mount and height | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W01–W06 | Aisle 1–6, north end | CS-I8MS SD-2.7-13.5mm | End frame, 20 ft (6 m) | Lens set to the aisle length |
| W07–W12 | Aisle 1–6, south end | CS-I8MS SD-2.7-13.5mm | End frame, 20 ft (6 m) | Covers the dock-side half |
| W13–W16 | Pack-out stations 1–4 | CS-I5XS SD-2.8mm | Truss, 11 ft (3.4 m) | Label and parcel in frame |
| W17 | Staging floor | CS-I86V I-180 | North wall of the dock bay, 15 ft (4.6 m) | All six staging lanes |
| W18–W20 | Dock doors 1–2, 3–4, 5–6 interior | CS-I8TS I-2.7-13.5mm | Beside the door, 13 ft (4 m), 40° across | TWDR, two doors each |
| W21–W22 | Shipping office window, employee entrance | CS-I5XS SD-2.8mm | Soffit, 9 ft (2.7 m) | Person detail at the door |
| W23–W24 | Dock face, exterior | CS-I8US I-2.7-13.5mm | Wall above the doors, 18 ft (5.5 m) | White light for trailer color |
| W25–W26 | Yard, south-west and south-east corners | CS-I86V I-180 | Building corner, 18 ft (5.5 m) | 180° over the court and fence |
| W27 | Gate | CS-I8US I-2.7-13.5mm | Post, 12 ft (3.7 m) | Truck context; LPR per project |
| W28 | Truck court overwatch | CS-P44S 25XA | Roof corner, 30 ft (9 m) | Presets on gate, trailers, docks |
Housing follows Turret vs Dome vs Bullet Cameras: IK10 domes where equipment passes close, bullets at the docks, turrets at doors and benches.
NVR, bandwidth and retention: what does a 28-camera warehouse need?
Record on a CS-N440 M-AI: 40 channels, 400Mbps / 400Mbps bandwidth (AI on: 200Mbps / 200Mbps), 4x10TB HDD, 2×RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps ports and no PoE ports, so cameras hang off switches. Two CS-POE33024PF switches (24×10/100/1000M PoE ports, 30W per port, 400W / 600W budget, 2×1000M SFP fiber uplinks) cover it: one in the shipping office for the dock, yard and pack-out drops, one in the main room for the aisles, linked by fiber.
Check bandwidth before you promise analytics. At an assumed 4–6 Mbps per 8MP stream (confirm against real bitrates), 28 cameras sit at 112–168 Mbps, under the 200Mbps printed for the recorder with AI on. Enable AI by NVR functions only on the channels that need them.
Retention by camera group
- Dock interior, dock face, staging and pack-out: 60–90 days, because claims arrive weeks after shipment.
- Aisles, entrances and yard: 30 days.
- Gate: match the dock group if trailer disputes are the driver.
Confirm against the customer’s 3PL or carrier contracts, size the drives with the NVR storage calculator, and set the schedules per group so the aisles do not shorten the dock retention when the drives fill.
Safety vs security: why keep the two claims separate?
The operations manager will ask whether the cameras help with forklift safety. Answer in two parts and write the proposal the same way. The security scope records who was where and what happened to the goods. The CS-I8TS I-2.7-13.5mm and CS-I8US I-2.7-13.5mm print Safety Helmet Detection and On Duty Detection in their AI list, confirmed per model, firmware, software version and project configuration; they produce events for a supervisor to review. They are not a safety system, they do not stop a lift truck, and the proposal must not claim fewer incidents or quote a statistic without a named source. Forklift training stays with OSHA (the provincial occupational health and safety authority in Canada) and the customer’s program.
Hand over with these items written down:
- Camera schedule with final lens settings, mounting heights and drawing references.
- Recording schedule and retention per camera group.
- Which analytics run on which channels, and who receives the events.
- Employee notice: workplace video falls under state laws (provincial laws and PIPEDA in Canada); the customer posts it, you record that you said so.
- Admin credentials sealed to the owner, with a note that warranty and service go through you.
What to tell your customer
“We spec the warehouse as three zones. The aisles get a camera at each end so every bay is covered; the dock doors get true wide dynamic range cameras mounted at an angle so the trailer interior is readable against daylight; the yard gets 180° cameras on the corners and a PTZ over the truck court. Dock video is kept longer than the aisles because claims arrive late. CASE cameras and CASE NVRs carry a 6-year warranty and CASE PTZ cameras carry a 3-year warranty; support comes through us.”
FAQ
How many cameras does a 40,000 sq ft warehouse need?
For a six-aisle, six-door building with a truck court, plan on about 28: two per racking aisle, one per pack-out station, one 180° unit over the staging floor, one camera per two dock doors inside, two white-light cameras on the dock face, two 180° units on the yard corners, one at the gate and a PTZ.
Which camera works facing a loading dock door?
One with true wide dynamic range and a varifocal lens, mounted to the side of the door rather than square to it. The CS-I8TS I-2.7-13.5mm prints 120dB True WDR (TWDR) with a 2.7–13.5 mm lens; the CS-I8US I-2.7-13.5mm adds white light 98 ft (30 m) for the exterior dock face at night.
Can warehouse cameras detect forklift accidents or missing helmets?
Safety Helmet Detection and On Duty Detection are printed in the AI list of the CS-I8TS I-2.7-13.5mm and CS-I8US I-2.7-13.5mm, and are confirmed per model, firmware, software version and project configuration. They are analytics for review, not a safety system; the camera records what happened and makes no accident-prevention claim.
What retention does a warehouse need for cargo claims?
Carrier and customer claims often arrive 30 to 60 days after shipment, so dock, staging and pack-out cameras usually need 60 to 90 days while aisle cameras can run 30. Confirm the figure against the customer’s 3PL or carrier contracts, then set a recording schedule per camera group instead of one site-wide number.
