Camera for Remote Location No Internet

kencoo

Hi all. I need a bit of direction here. I have a shed in a remote location with no internet or phone line connection. I need to set up a camera to monitor the entrance and notify me if there is activity outside. There is power in the shed. One option be a mobile wifi (if that works) and connect a nest but that works out pricy with wifi monthly subscription. What other options do I have? Is there a sim card option. Ie. I recieve a picture? Or a security monitor company? Im not tech savvy. Thanks

kencoo

Ok so I ve done a little research. I guess im looking for a 3g/4g lte security camera. There is a company called nubo who sell an eagle eye nubo cam which uses sim and allows but has a monthly subscription of 6 euros or so.

so would that be a good option?

Apiarist

kencoo wrote: »

Ok so I ve done a little research. I guess im looking for a 3g/4g lte security camera. There is a company called nubo who sell an eagle eye nubo cam which uses sim and allows but has a monthly subscription of 6 euros or so. Www.nubocam.com so would that be a good option?

The price (€349.00) for the camera is a bit high, but it is a fair price for a good piece of equipment. The €13/month subscription with the included SIM is probably better than the €6/month fee with having to supply your own SIM (and pay for a data plan).

The cheapest alternative is actually an Android phone with a monitoring app (usually subscription based too), an older usable phone can cost €30-€50. But will it work long outside? Probably not.

Poco90

Have couple of friends that uses a 4g modem connected to a tp-link router, see below. He has the router in a dribox plugged into an extension lead as well as the PoE injector for the IP camera.

If you have decent mobile reception in the area, this should work for you.

https://www.tp-link.com/il/products/details/cat-14_TL-MR3020.html

listermint

There are many 4g cameras available on Ali express for this. Pic the one with the best reviews and most purchases. All you have to do then is add your own SIM to it. Simple low cost monthly SIM from any provider.

Wildlife cameras usually are grand. These are also used for illegal dumpers.

Apiarist

listermint wrote: »

There are many 4g cameras available on Ali express for this. Pic the one with the best reviews and most purchases.

Yes, and they are much cheaper (€90-€200 range). The problem is that they use a 3rd party app (CamHi) which may work just fine one day and stop working the next.

Apiarist

victor8600 wrote: »

Yes, and they are much cheaper (€90-€200 range). The problem is that they use a 3rd party app (CamHi) which may work just fine one day and stop working the next.

Since I like to live dangerously , I have ordered a "4G SIM WiFi Camera" from Aliexpress for €75 (may need to pay the customs when it arrives). Hopefully it works good enough to at least play with the remove monitoring. I am planning to connect it to a 12V battery and see how long it lasts outside.

Apiarist

Here is the camera that I've got


It works outside, there is a rubber seal between the body and the back cover, so it should be waterproof. Picture quality is very good.

The camera works with the CamHI app on your smartphone and the HiP2P client program for PC. The PC program allows for better control. You also should use the browser-based control on this camera (http://192.168.100.1/) to setup it because the camera itself is a WiFi AP which can can use your broadband WiFi and bridge it. The browser control can also be set to monitor data usage, send and receive SMS messages, and much more. You can also login into the camera's operating system by "telnet 192.168.100.1 4719" and see what it runs from the inside

As I said, the hardware, for this price, is of the outstanding value. The software (CamHI) and the internal camera software is not so great. It seems that the camera could do much more than the software allows.

The camera is also quite power hungry. A 7AH 12V battery lasts slightly more than a day.

Camera outside on a rainy day


Pic from the camera (left corner is smudged in photoeditor)


Pics with cover taken off:

Apiarist

My goal with remote monitoring is mainly to check a site once a day, so I have connected the camera to a 7AH 12V battery through a timer which switches on the camera for 1/2 hour a day. If your goal is to have a constant monitoring, you would either need a much larger battery (say a car battery with 50AH capacity which would give you a week of power), or a connection to another power source.

Apiarist

kencoo wrote: »

...Is there a sim card option. Ie. I recieve a picture? Or a security monitor company? Im not tech savvy. Thanks

Since you have the power in the shed, the camera that I have would work for you just fine. You need to put a normal phone SIM and get a data plan. CamHi (the app to control the camera) has an option to detect motion either in the whole camera view or only in the defined part of the view. If motion is detected, the camera can send you pictures or a video by e-mail, or upload same to an FTP server.

Markcheese

If you can get a couple of dummy cameras put them in obvious places up high.. And then stick your real camera somewhere discrete with as good a view as possible.. (probably not possible to be at head height but that'd kind of be ideal..You'd be surprised at how much a baseball cap and a hoody hides from a camera looking down..