Quick Answer

A sealed 12V deep cycle battery is the right choice for CCTV backup. For a 4 camera home system drawing around 40 to 60 watts, a 65 Ah battery like the Daewoo DS 100 at PKR 15,340 gives roughly 8 hours of backup. An 8 camera system with a DVR needs 85 to 100 Ah, and a 16 camera commercial setup should run 100 Ah or more. Security cameras that go dark during load shedding are exactly when you need them most, which is the entire point of sizing this properly.

There is a bitter irony in how most CCTV systems are installed in Pakistan. Thousands of rupees on cameras, and then the whole system goes blind the moment load shedding starts, which is precisely when break ins happen. A correctly sized battery from the deep cycle UPS and solar range closes that gap for less than the cost of one decent camera.

The load itself is small, which is what makes this problem cheap to solve. A typical dome or bullet camera draws 4 to 7 watts, a DVR or NVR draws 15 to 30 watts, and the internet router you need for remote viewing adds another 10. Even a full 8 camera system rarely exceeds 90 watts, a fraction of what home UPS systems carry. The entry point for this duty is the DS 100 at 65 Ah, a sealed deep cycle unit built for exactly this kind of long shallow discharge.

Sizing Table by Camera Count

Note what the table quietly tells you. The 16 camera commercial system gets fewer hours from a bigger battery than the 4 camera home system gets from a smaller one, because backup is a ratio of capacity to load, not a property of the battery alone. The step up to the DIB 110 for 8 camera systems is the sweet spot for most shops and larger homes, covering a full working day of outages with margin for battery aging.

Why a Deep Cycle Battery and Not a Car Battery

CCTV backup is the textbook deep cycle duty profile, a modest load drawn steadily for hours, repeated every day. A car battery is engineered for the opposite, one massive burst for two seconds and immediate recharge. Put a car battery on CCTV duty and its thin plates degrade within months of daily cycling. The full explanation lives in our guide on deep cycle vs normal battery for UPS, and it applies to security systems word for word.

Installation Notes Installers Skip

Put the battery on a small dedicated UPS or a solar hybrid input rather than wiring it raw, so charging is controlled and cutover is instant. Keep it ventilated and away from direct heat, because a battery cabinet on a sun facing wall in June cooks capacity out of any battery. And test the backup quarterly by pulling the breaker for ten minutes, because a security system whose backup has silently died is a false sense of safety. To convert your exact camera count into precise hours, run the numbers through our backup time calculation guide, and for bulk or commercial requirements the team at the contact page handles multi site quotes directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What battery is best for CCTV backup at home in Pakistan?

A sealed 12V deep cycle battery. The 65 Ah DS 100 covers a typical 4 camera home system for a full working day of outages.

Q2. How long will a 65 Ah battery run my CCTV system?

Around 7 to 9 hours for a 4 camera system with a router at 40 to 60 watts. Heavier systems need proportionally larger batteries.

Q3. Can I use my main home UPS for CCTV instead?

Yes, but during long outages your cameras then compete with fans and lights. A dedicated small battery keeps security independent of household load decisions.

Q4. Do CCTV cameras need a pure sine wave supply?

Camera power adapters are tolerant, but DVRs and NVRs with hard drives are safer on pure sine wave. Most modern small UPS units provide it.

Q5. How often should I replace a CCTV backup battery?

Expect 3 to 4 years from a sealed deep cycle unit with proper charging. Test quarterly and replace when backup time drops noticeably.