Solar Powered, outdoor camera with streaming

[raniemi]

Hi All,

I've been looking for an outdoor video camera on-and-off for the last several years. My problem is that I haven't found the best system for my needs. Or I wait long enough and better cameras come out and I decide to wait longer.

What I'm trying to do is:

* Find an outdoor video camera with great low lighting support that can stream the data across the internet.
* I may only be on-site every 1/2 years to do maintenance. With that said, I'm willing to pay more for quality/piece of mind.
* I already have an LTE Gateway (i.e. cellular data) running on it's own solar solution and I will build a separate solar solution for whatever camera I get.
* Since power will ultimately be the limiting factor, I'm fine with giving up whiz-bang features (ie PTZ) and instead of multiple cameras, just running one.
* I don't need the camera to constantly stream beautiful high resolution video across the internet. Instead, I'm fine with low quality stills (preview) and will go high res only on demand (live or limited archival on site).
* I would like to also upload the video to the cloud (ie HTTPS, SFTP, etc), but for the right offering I might consider paying for a service.
* Ideally I should just be able to plug the camera in via CAT 5/6 and configure the camera over a TCP port. I'm indifferent on whether the camera is PoE or not.
* The field of view is over great distances and the sun will be in frame at some point during the day
* The environment is very dry (high desert), windy, rains rarely, and the temperature extremes is low 60s to high 80s

So yeah. What do people think? I'll probably head back over to the wiki now to refresh my memory on certain details. I can't recall if there was much discussion on camera/service pairings.

In terms of time frame, I'm thinking about doing the install in April. For those in the know, if there are some new cameras coming out before then that I should look into, then please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[crw030]

Cool project, I can't offer any insights but will check back to see what others think. It seems like inquiries about "remote site, solar powered" are coming up a lot lately.

I would say check your provider and any monthly limits or "traffic prioritization" rules they might have. Not sure what you use the cellular data for at this time, but streaming video even at a couple frames per second, might put you over monthly data caps as they tend to be pretty low once you read the fine print.

 

[raniemi]

Thanks @crw030. I'm currently streaming weather data through my cellular gateway and I'm well below the limits set by my provider. However, once I start streaming video...

I'm hoping that whatever camera I pick up I can do a selective push (i.e. timed, continuous low res uploads OR low res upload on an event). If I see something of interest then (and only then) I can choose to upload the higher resolution video to another location (assuming some local storage exists that holds the last X units of time) . Due to my limited "free time", I'm hoping for a buy solution instead of a build solution.

 

[Mike]

Sounds like a cool project, definitely post some pictures when you start. Good luck.

Some others will jump in and offer some support.

 

[crw030]

I see both the power and data being big hurdles, will be interesting to see what people here come up with for you. What are your biggest risks you are monitoring for (bear tearing the place up, trespassers, cabin burning down, or simple peace of mind)?

 

[raniemi]

(Edit: @crw030) I'll be monitoring for wild boar, free range cattle, trespassers, and (perhaps) owls. Assuming the camera's WDR is amazing: beautiful sunsets.

 

[myipcam]

Silly but, Search online for solar powered cameras (I haven't but..)? In this case, a custom build might the best option. Data limitation is something that you need to think about and possibly, upgrade for unlimited or more data.

 

[raniemi]

Thanks @myipcam. I'll give that search a whirl -- admittedly I haven't tried that before because I didn't want to find/buy a camera and solar solution together.

If memory serves me correctly, I think some of the Hikvision cameras have a concept of "streams" that allow the user to specify a desired resolution and have the recording be activated on a schedule/event. I've been leaning towards their products for a while, but their sales/support team hasn't been very responsive to answer my technical questions.

Just so everyone knows, my knowledge is based primarily on user guides and specification docs. I don't have any hands on experience with any vendor's cameras to say "yeah, the product is solid" or "You think the product feature can do X, but it actually does Y". My lack of operational experience also prevents me from answering questions like: in a windy area where dust can get kicked up, should one even bother to get an IR feature if the glass can't be cleaned often?

Looking forward to hearing more feedback!

 

[crw030]

I know you said you were looking to buy, but there are a lot of DIYers here, as well as some pro's. I'm surprised no one has any ideas yet, so I'll toss one out.

I think your challenges are:

• Solar Power, if you have a computer onsite to record video it just adds to the overall power requirements from your solar system (and therefore cost?)
• Cellular Link, streaming video at all may be a challenges with data plan/speed, or really highlight the cellular link lack of bandwidth. Streaming constantly will burn through any monthly data budget pretty quickly.

Since you won't see anything without cameras start there: How about solar powering 1-2 Dahua Starlights, with recording set to 256GB SD cards, and configured to email in the event of motion detection over your cellular data link?

That way video can be recorded locally (limited only by how much space you have on your SD cards and the resolution and frame rates you selected for the camera). Unless there is motion the cellular data link won't have much being sent/received, but if there IS MOTION then you'll get notified and you can connect to look at the streams. I'm guessing watching the video from SD over cellular would probably be awful. I don't have SD cards in mine, but I guess I'm assuming there is a way to download video if you need it. So a 2 hour (1080/2fps) video (1.3GB) might take 3-4 hours to download if your upload speed is only 1Mbps, so definitely work with small files.

 

[raniemi]

Thanks @crw030. I'll take a look at the Dahua Starlights.

 

[looney2ns]

If you don't need audio, then this use's about 4 watt's with the IR off.
Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
I'm still not sure what it is you are wanting to accomplish, but if nighttime is important.
See this: IPC-HFW4239T-ASE (Full Color Starlight) as a weather cam
Should also use 3-4 watts, it has no IR.

 

[raniemi]

Thanks for the links @looney2ns.

I would like to be notified (i.e email (link or attachment), https, or sftp) of movement in the view area, day or night (favoring low resolution for low bandwidth communication), and have the ability of doing a remote take over to view the environment (live) and in a higher resolution. I'd love it if there was some sort of SD of local storage that is constantly being written to (with overwrite) so that I can choose to download portions of the archive (i.e. preview at low resolution, download at high resolution).

The view area spans acres, and the horizon is miles. The lighting can drastically change over the course of the day and the sun could be directly in frame for parts of it.

I'm willing to compromise on audio and any feature for that matter. As others have said, it's going to be a balancing act on data and power consumption. However, if the video quality is crappy at 2W (just as an example) then I'm cool with building a 20W solar power solution. Camera build quality is important to me since a hardware failure means that the camera may be offline for a year+ before I can fix it.

 

[myipcam]

Still a bit vague on details here. How is the cellular link powered? Solar or regular 120v power from utility company? If you already have power there, why bother with solar? If not, and you want night time video/photos, you'd need a rechargable battery and it has to charge during the day. Depending on camera's power requirement, and how long you want it to run at night, the solar+battery will have to be sized to meet those requirements.

For example:
A camera drawing 10 Watts with a 50ah 12v deep cycle battery would easily run for 32 hours (runtime varies based on battery type, temp, charge level etc., but above math pitches lower end. In reality, it might go to 40h+ with a good quality new battery).

Add to this a 50 watt 12v solar panel, you would need about 12h sunlight to fully charge the battery. Again, the numbers here are padded to give more than enough juice to make sure battery is charged and take into account for rainy/cloudy or less than ideal sunlight conditions. You may opt for even higher to avoid any doubts.

Lastly, assuming the data plan is revised, you'd probably need to replace the battery every 2 or 3 years depending on the quality you buy.

 

[looney2ns]

Most all of the Dahua Starlight cams have SD card slots, and video can be obtained from them via the cams web GUI.
They can also be configured to send an email upon alert.
I highly recommend that you purchase something like this: Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
To experiment with and see if it fits your needs. Not much problem in reselling it if it doesn't work out for you.

 

[raniemi]

Still a bit vague on details here. How is the cellular link powered? Solar or regular 120v power from utility company? If you already have power there, why bother with solar? If not, and you want night time video/photos, you'd need a rechargable battery and it has to charge during the day. Depending on camera's power requirement, and how long you want it to run at night, the solar+battery will have to be sized to meet those requirements.

Hi @myipcam. I have an existing solar panel with several 12V deep cycle, rechargeable batteries that power an LTE Gateway (Sierra Wireless RV50) and a data logger (Meteobridge PRO) for my weather station (Davis Vantage Pro2). This system has been running pretty solid for the last 3 years, 24*7 and my peak sun is approximately 5.7 kWh/m2/day.

My current solar system doesn't have enough capacity or physical space to install another device or add a new panel or battery. With that said, I will have to build a separate solar system in order to support a camera. Sadly I don't have any power going to my property (rural). There are no light sources at this location as well.

 

[raniemi]

As long as you aren't overly concerned with the size and possible intrusiveness, it won't cost much to provide reliable solar power unless your site lacks good light. Figure out the power demands and start filling in the blanks. I'd be conservative and only count on getting 1/3 of a panel's maximum output.

If you plan to have a computer on-site, and only want one camera, it may be worth finding something with just enough processing power to get the job done, possibly a low end notebook with a 12VDC charger.

Hi @dark current! I replied to myipcam above with more details about the install site. I think solar is going to be the least of my concerns... well, I probably would NOT buy a 60W camera that will run 24*7... the physical footprint of the solar system would be larger than I would like.

If I had more time, I would build something custom with Raspberry Pi. Your suggestion about using a low-end notebook would be a good alternative, but then I have to stop and remind myself about "buy vs build". If the camera features/quality I'm looking for pushes me into a higher price bracket and power requirements then I'm fine with settling with 1 camera.

 

[raniemi]

Most all of the Dahua Starlight cams have SD card slots, and video can be obtained from them via the cams web GUI.
They can also be configured to send an email upon alert.
I highly recommend that you purchase something like this: Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
To experiment with and see if it fits your needs. Not much problem in reselling it if it doesn't work out for you.

I forgot to mention before, but thanks @looney2ns for the detailed review! I might just need to buy a camera soon, play with it for a bit (i.e. sitting in the basement, lights out), and then ship it to install site if my at home tests work well. Hard to argue with the price of a Dahua

 

[pal251]

What you plan on using for a solar panel , controller and battery

 

[raniemi]

What you plan on using for a solar panel , controller and battery

I'll decide on that (and post it) once I know which camera(s) I'll be going with.

 

[myipcam]

Hi @dark current! ...well, I probably would NOT buy a 60W camera that will run 24*7... the physical footprint of the solar system would be larger than I would like.

If I had more time, I would build something custom with Raspberry Pi. Your suggestion about using a low-end notebook would be a good alternative, but then I have to stop and remind myself about "buy vs build". If the camera features/quality I'm looking for pushes me into a higher price bracket and power requirements then I'm fine with settling with 1 camera.

Not sure how you got an idea of a 60w camera... while I am sure one may exist, I don't think that IP cameras require that much power. Please read my post again.

Note that a pc/raspberry solutions adds more to your power requirements but does provide greater flexibility. First, select and get a camera, play with it and see if you can do with built in options. Expand from there.

I get your buy vs. build issue but if you can't find one that suits your requirements and fits in your budget (monetary or otherwise),... scrap the idea or build.