Outdoor wireless (yes, I know the limitations :) )

J

JackBauer

Young grasshopper
Dec 14, 2014
88
3
Hey everyone :)

I'm looking to add an IP camera to my detached garage to monitor the status of the garage door. (I could live with a garage door monitor device but the one I have SUCKS and none of them actually rate better than it on Amazon)

So the resolution is unimportant - actually a lower resolution is better for a number of reasons. (Router performance and therefor crashing)

I do not want to use powerline adapters because to be honest I don't want to expose my wired network outside the walls of my house. (Yes I know I'm paranoid) Aside from that, another item to fail due to the temperature swings my state sees... (NY)

I'm open to other ideas on how to get the job done (aside from a video camera)... But assuming no other good solution exists, I'd appreciate advice on a wireless outdoor rated camera that I can stick in my garage.

I did see the other recent thread - but my desire is really to go wireless.

Thanks!
 
JackBauer said:
Hey everyone :)

I'm looking to add an IP camera to my detached garage to monitor the status of the garage door. (I could live with a garage door monitor device but the one I have SUCKS and none of them actually rate better than it on Amazon)

So the resolution is unimportant - actually a lower resolution is better for a number of reasons. (Router performance and therefor crashing)

I do not want to use powerline adapters because to be honest I don't want to expose my wired network outside the walls of my house. (Yes I know I'm paranoid) Aside from that, another item to fail due to the temperature swings my state sees... (NY)

I'm open to other ideas on how to get the job done (aside from a video camera)... But assuming no other good solution exists, I'd appreciate advice on a wireless outdoor rated camera that I can stick in my garage.

I did see the other recent thread - but my desire is really to go wireless.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Amazon.com: Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW 3MP Indoor IR Wifi Cube Camera 2.8mm: Camera & Photo

Amazon.com : New Hikvision V5.2.5 Wireless Camera 2.8mm Lens Wifi 3MP Full HD 1080P Mini Dome Camera DS-2CD2132F-IWS CCTV Home Security Camera : Camera & Photo

Use the above two as model reference, you can find cheaper in other locations.
 
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JackBauer said:
Hey everyone :)

I'm looking to add an IP camera to my detached garage to monitor the status of the garage door. (I could live with a garage door monitor device but the one I have SUCKS and none of them actually rate better than it on Amazon)

So the resolution is unimportant - actually a lower resolution is better for a number of reasons. (Router performance and therefor crashing)

I do not want to use powerline adapters because to be honest I don't want to expose my wired network outside the walls of my house. (Yes I know I'm paranoid) Aside from that, another item to fail due to the temperature swings my state sees... (NY)

I'm open to other ideas on how to get the job done (aside from a video camera)... But assuming no other good solution exists, I'd appreciate advice on a wireless outdoor rated camera that I can stick in my garage.

I did see the other recent thread - but my desire is really to go wireless.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

If you were a bit DIY in electronic you could make such Wifi door open detector for less than 15$ using ESP8266 and Magnetic contactor, really not dofficult to build.
 
Yeah I could easily do a lot of the hack projects out there - I'd more likely buy one of the chamberlin products though in that it would be a nice, fully designed system... Reliable, wouldn't have problems with one of my wires coming loose, etc... The cost difference is significant ($100) but for the reliability it would be worth it.

(I have spent the morning researching different options)

Any thoughts on the Hikvision (DS-2CD2135F-IWS) versus Dahau (IPC-HDBW1320e-w)?

They are similar in features and price. (My plan would to be to likely use the lower bandwidth substream as in my primary application I don't need quality and want to preserve my router's happiness... But longer term I like the 3MP for the ability to re-purpose it in the future when I move.)

Thanks :)
 
That is just the newer release of the dome HIK I posted above. I would look for a 2mp though instead of 3 if you plan to repurpose it to something else later on since the 2mp will provide cleaner nightime images (less noise) than the 3mp since that is one of the noisest image sensors.

I have no experience of first hand knowledge of the Dahua domes, only what I've seen posted and people seem happy with them.
 
I would be setting up a wifi point to point link using some Ubiquiti Nanos.

We do this all the time for customers and it works great! no need to worry about bandwidth issues we run multiple 4MP cameras off a single link.
 
Carcus said:
I would be setting up a wifi point to point link using some Ubiquiti Nanos.

We do this all the time for customers and it works great! no need to worry about bandwidth issues we run multiple 4MP cameras off a single link.
Click to expand...

OP has a detached garage he wants to see if the door is open... I think a P2P Ubiquiti is a bit of an overkill.... Sorry, it's great hardware but not appropriate for this setup from the sounds of it
 
I certainly wouldn't be using a wifi camera. Maybe Mikrotik if you're on a budget?

Or if its not that far some toughcable between the buildings would be ok.
 
With my router transmit power set to medium, I do have signal inside my garage. My plan is to try to do wifi, and if that doesn't work I can get a bridge.

Forgive me - while I'm a pretty competent person in technology overall, I've been paying absolutely no attention to airmax stuff, etc... What's the real difference between using a Nano vs Microtik? I assume I'd just need two nano's, and that could be done for about $100 it seems...?

Thanks for taking the time to give me advice :)
 
Mikrotik is just another brand that does the same think like TP-Link has P2P hardware as well.

What the real differences are between brands specs and reliability wise i haven't gotten into that much detail.

I have used multiple Ubiquiti products at multiple sites and have minimal issues and will continue to use their products.

Why I don't like wifi cameras is because most of the houses in Western Australia are brick and wifi doesn't really make the distance so for me the thought of putting one in a shed would be impossible.

We always use P2P links to remote zones to get a good result!
 
The Nanostation bridge is the same as a wire if you're paranoid about someone unplugging a cam in your garage and plugging a laptop in and hacking your network. Run a wire and keep the cameras on a separate subnet or completely separate machine from your mian network, which is a good idea regardless of concerns about data thieves with laptops. If trenching etc isn't convenient, then use the Nano bridge but you'll still have to separate the traffic somehow for security. Hell, the wifi from your router itself is vulnerable to someone with the right skills and a laptop when parked out on the road. Go into your router and institute MAC address level security to prevent most of that stuff, but then you'll have to manually add each and every new device to the "allowed" list to keep them off your network. Running a wire assumes that the garage has a common ground with the house (wired and grounded in the same panel and entrance). If it has its own meter then go with the wireless bridge or you'll be breaking electrical code and be in danger of burning stuff up.
 
two loco M5's with direct line of sight would be nearly as reliable as a wired connection.. really the only time I had issues with wireless bridges were on 2.4GHz and when there were industrial or military operations going on nearby that raised the noise floor above all reason.. one site had a weather radar station very close by that proved to be a bastard.

links installed in the fall winter would often fail in the following spring because they didnt have a good line of sight and then the vegetation blocked it off.. but those were pretty distant links a few miles apart.
 
Good advice on the ground plane... At this point I'm going to try to just go straight to wireless. The distance is about 50 feet... I can't run a wire (I rent and won't be here that much longer)

(I do MAC level security on my router - although from what I learned later, that's relatively easy to bypass by a hacker just MAC spoofing)

Thanks guys.
 
You can't keep a pro out of your network without extraordinary measures. You're basically just raising the bar so some dumbass neighbourhood wannabe script kiddie can't.
 
just randomly generate a sufficiently long WPA2 password, and setup so the 2 directional access points can only talk to each-other and nobody else.. anyone who breaks through that would have just have tapped into a wired connection with the help of a shovel if they are this determined.

no reason to even advertise this network, and with as directional as the beams are and as poor as 5GHz penetrates through vegitation/buildings I doubt anyone will ever be in a position to see it.. you can run it at the lowest power settings with the distance your covering.
 
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