outdoor solar camera system recommendation

romano1234

n3wb
Sep 23, 2023
4
1
16681 Blue marlin Ct.
Hello, I have no knowledge in this area. I am looking for a few solar powered cameras 4-6 to monitor a farm without wifi. I don't need to see a dimple on a man's chin from 50 meters but decent quality. I am also looking for a setup with no subscription. Pretty simple and easy to use. I'm getting overwhelmed, so I thought I would ask the experts. It looks like we can get 4 cameras for around $600 or a bit more. I read some reviews which suggested Reolink and Solium, but I have no idea and would appreciate your recommendations.
thank you
Roman
 
Is it simply to observe or do you want to be able to identify a perp at night?
 
Do you have any power where the cams are located?
How far are the cams?

"All right comrade spill your guts". ;)
 
Do you have any power where the cams are located?
How far are the cams?

"All right comrade spill your guts". ;)
No power. Phone reception is fine there. It’s a 60 acre plot with roads cut through it. A gun range with is 100 yards. A center open plot which is 6 open acres. I realize that it would take high powered cameras to see 100 yards clearly. I’ll take what I can get. 20-30 yards? The best camera or two should be at the range. That would enable me to see the particulars if someone is shooting but most importantly it would give me eyes on a storage container at the range.
I hope that helps.
 
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Big thing is power budget or batteries and solar panel.
do a search for "Ethernet wireless transmitter"
Put an omni-directional antenna at the base (router).
Power budget on a good 5442 cam from Andy is about 5 Watts day, 6.5 Watts night
with IR on.
 
So what it sounds like is that there's not really that big of a positive regard for things like LTE / Solar cameras? Even Dahua doesn't appear to have any available state side.

I'm looking for a similar setup for Goat rental, where PTZ would be ideal to 'look around'. I'd be willing to even invest in a waterproof battery terminal sort of setup for additional power; which might mean that it could come down to buying a powered LTE and a stand alone Solar + Li battery pack in a sort of 'package'.

Not ideal, that's for sure.
 
Roman - You need to learn about DORI. This is the distances that you can use a camera to "Detect" the presence of someone, "Observe" what they are doing, "Recognize" someone you know, and "Identify" a stranger. These numbers vary based on the camera's resolution and focal length. Good manufactures will print the DORI distances in the spec sheet of each camera model.

Long story short, a person typically has to be very close to a camera (generally within 15-25') to be able to identify a stranger. If that person walks 20 yards away from the camera, you will be lucky if you can "observe" what they are doing. The only way to be able to "identify" a person that far away is to zoom in on them This means using either a single purpose camera with a lot of zoom capability pointed at a specific "target of interest" (ie an access gate, etc), or a PTZ camera that you can move and control. Just keep in mind that PTZ cameras are not the "do everything/perfect" solution either. They work well when someone is monitoring them 24/7, but are less effective when they are not monitored because they tend to be pointed in the wrong direction when something of interest happens. Unless you can find a camera with tremendous resolution (MUCH more than 8k), there is no way you can get both a "wide view" and enough clarity to identify people 50-100' away.

Just keep that in mind when you start planning on where you want to put cameras and what you expect to be able to capture with them.
 
Last edited:
Roman - You need to learn about DORI. This is the distances that you can use a camera to "Detect" the presence of someone, "Observe" what they are doing, "Recognize" someone you know, and "Identify" a stranger. These numbers vary based on the camera's resolution and focal length. Good manufactures will print the DORI distances in the spec sheet of each camera model.

Long story short, a person typically has to be very close to a camera (generally within 15-25') to be able to identify a stranger. If that person walks 20 yards away from the camera, you will be lucky if you can "observe" what they are doing. The only way to be able to "identify" a person that far away is to zoom in on them This means using either a single purpose camera with a lot of zoom capability pointed at a specific "target of interest" (ie an access gate, etc), or a PTZ camera that you can move and control. Just keep in mind that PTZ cameras are not the "do everything/perfect" solution either. They work well when someone is monitoring them 24/7, but are less effective when they are not monitored because they tend to be pointed in the wrong direction when something of interest happens. Unless you can find a camera with tremendous resolution (MUCH more than 8k), there is no way you can get both a "wide view" and enough clarity to identify people 50-100' away.

Just keep that in mind when you start planning on where you want to put cameras and what you expect to be able to capture with them.
Roman, to piggy back on this, you might take a look at my thread below. It has various shots of a location but with different camera mounting heights and zoom levels. The difference made in lowering a camera 24" and increasing focal length from 3.6mm to 12mm is very surprising.


Also, you have your address listed as your location. You may want to remove or change that.
 
This thread further demonstrates what is mentioned above by looking at a subject at 90 feet away using two different cameras:

  • The typical 3.6mm focal length common on many cameras
  • A camera set up to a 54mm focal length to IDENTIFY based on that distance
As you will see, the focal length plays a big part in what you can IDENTIFY. 5 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards, 100 yards would all need different cameras.