Cheap Security for your house/shop/business .

[April]

I've been looking at cameras for security purposes.
The quality of the cheapies is astounding these days .
You can go for the IP wifi versions and jump through the sellers hoops to put it them on your phone snad give the world your changing address all the time .
Alternatively you can use these cheap ,battery operated ,Trail Cams .

They are $34 AUD on ebay free postage and the 32Gig SD card is another $8 so $42 each.
$31 when you buy 4.
They were $25 when I bought them but they have put them up for the last of their stock I think.

I bought 4 just to try and the picture is magic. The functionality is magic . They just work !
You can set them to record just pictures , just video or pics and video.
You can set them to record 1 ,2 or 3 pics.
You can set the length of video to 5s,10s,20s or 30s
You can set if the date is displayed or not and you can set the date and time .
All the above with a simple text file on the SD card.
Best of all they appear waterproof and are camoflaged.

I'm just taking the cards out to check them atm but it might be easier to just unhitch them and plug a usb lead into them. I can't say as yet how long the batteries last ,4 AA's, but I had one take 2000 pics and 700 videos over 4 days and the batteries are still in use.

We will see how long they last in this wet environment . The wettest place in Australia ..Cairns. 80% humidity all the time.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/193719665786

Heres a cheaper one that uses 18650 batteries ,even better but I just bought the last 2 .Sorry Check around.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/37356806973 ... 1195.m1851

[rockedge]

@April Interesting! Definitly considering your geographical location and the humidity challenges for cameras. You might know I am involved with the ZoneMinder development project. Have you considered something like ZM for your application? This of course is not the direct questions concerning camera hardware but I think I'll mention it on the Zoneminder dev's Slack channel and see what advice I can glean about some inexpensive cameras (IP network) that might survive and function decently at your place on the planet.

Update: I have asked over on the Zoneminder Slack channel if anyone might have a tip.

[April]

Well thanks for that . I use Digiwatch and have done for years . My clients are mostly shops that have windows on their laptops or desktops and some in the NT and Paupa. So digiwatch works well .

I want to get something similar going on Linux for the two others that use linux preferably like myself and must run two machines to do both. It does not work through wine .

I'd spend time with zoneminder but have always followed the if it aint broke rule .
Ill have a look at yours though first chance I get.

The above is more a quick cheap answer for security jobs.Throw them up quick and dirty for the immediate responders.

[rockedge]

@April I got some responses already to my inquiry over at ZM, one example is :

My amcrest get that kind of WX for weeks on end during the winter here, plus ice etc, and they seem to have held up. I have one outdoor PTZ thats got 4 years or so on it. "Inexpensive" is relative. My employer has some Bosch cameras....THOSE are expensive.

I tried out some HooToo cameras.....cheap Chinese Foscam knock-offs. No PTZ outdoor with night vision. Around $40 (US) they did not survive one (1) Connecticut summer so strike those right now

[JASpup]

field cams huh

i use d-link

problem is mostly inconsistent e-mail notifications. i can't green-light an address and somehow they stop notifying. i fixed it once and been procrastinating/distracted since.

i can still see camera on my phone and it records to sd, but when working it fires off a bunch of pics when triggered and sends a half dozen of them in e-mail.

i've caught unauthorized maintenance entering a couple times.

there are false triggers which might be why it stops notifying.

i'd never use a nest. google is evil.

give the world your changing address all the time

[rockedge]

I have a few dLink also. Hanging in there for 6 years now, but indoor. With Zoneminder the camera's need to stream that is it. ZM and it's components do all the rest. All email, and push notifications, motion detection, object / face / license plate recognition also done by ZM and it's partner zmeventnotification server and zmNinja for mobile devices (or desktop)

[JASpup]

I have a few dLink also. Hanging in there for 6 years now, but indoor. With Zoneminder the camera's need to stream that is it. ZM and it's components do all the rest. All email, and push notifications, motion detection, object / face / license plate recognition also done by ZM and it's partner zmeventnotification server and zmNinja for mobile devices (or desktop)

You're stating we can ditch the proprietary maker software and control D-Link cameras with Zoneminder?

[rockedge]

@JASpup yes it does to an extent. I only use the camera's software to set the frame rates and resolution and if it send can a sub-stream I set that up. Zoneminder does all the rest.

The main stream may be HD 1080p or better and a sub stream with 720p or less to do motion detection on, if triggered the main stream is recorded and analyzed. But that is on systems with 1000+ cameras. My home thing has 4 cameras so no problem with HD streams doing the detection/recognition.

[April]

@April I got some responses already to my inquiry over at ZM, one example is :

My amcrest get that kind of WX for weeks on end during the winter here, plus ice etc, and they seem to have held up. I have one outdoor PTZ thats got 4 years or so on it. "Inexpensive" is relative. My employer has some Bosch cameras....THOSE are expensive.

I tried out some HooToo cameras.....cheap Chinese Foscam knock-offs. No PTZ outdoor with night vision. Around $40 (US) they did not survive one (1) Connecticut summer so strike those right now

PTZ had me stumped but I've got it now Pan.Tilt,Zoom.
Got a chuckle from this
"Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) drug can cause seizure and results in cognitive disorders,2 changes in emotional behavior3 and neuronal loss.4 PTZ exposure cause brain damage and induce epileptic seizures by affecting specific receptors and the magnitudes of seizure differ in the developing brain as compared to the mature brain.5 A large number of signaling pathways are involved that results in seizure-induced neuronal cell damage, change in behavior, intellectual dysfunction and apoptosis.6"

[JASpup]

@rockedge reads like an option to look at. I'm still at VGA resolution with the prime goal capture/notifications and clarity. I'm not sure if notifications are working.

I was surprised today standing in my shadowy entryway with my back to the camera looking at my phone. My phone was clear and lit while real life before me was dark.

Part of my resolution logic: the higher it is, the more bandwidth and storage it will take, possibly making it less effective, even though I theoretically have 100 Mbps service.

Night vision and SD storage which is probably ubiquitous now are great features. I thought I was going to have to leave a light on. Even with e-mail/ftp not working, images are saved on SD. So long as the camera isn't taken or card removed, I have triggers saved.

I need a newer phone for My D-Link Lite (still on KitKat) and to fix the e-mail notifications, but otherwise it still seems good.

I don't use video but a series of shots in succession via triggers. Maybe I can use ZoneMinder as a backup for notifications, tandem app control.

[April]

Been using these trail cams for a couple of months now in the rain and continually high humidity we have here . 100% often when raining and 80 % most of the dry time.

Another camera used 2 sets of 4 AAA batteries because it triggered and recorded 1300 files /a quarter were big video files . Fluttering leaf in front was the problem.

Most are still on the first set of batteries . Got 6 up now. Recorded dingoes and cats and cattle and even a person ,but he was supposed to be there.

Great night vision.

[April]

Got some individual red, blue and white LED spotlights recently about $6 each . ($18 for 3) 48 watt but they are 9v to 30v and max 2 amps . At 20 volts though they only draw about 1.5 amps so 30 watts is more the true power.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000801 ... 4c4dO62IXJ

They seem to be pretty bright for security work and they have a flashing mode .About 5 quick flashes and a break at about 1 hertz , 1 per second. Looks like it needs a quick pulse on the sense wire to move into flashing mode.

Gonna work them into my sensor lights 28 volt systems.(not the trail cams above)

[rockedge]

@April interesting! I'm following how you are progressing with the project. Also how it is working on a day to day basis.

Here today the relative humidity is hitting around 80% but that is for 1 or 2 days....tough going on outside cams never mind for the rest of us!

[April]

@rockedge
All good mate . None have gone down yet anyway and we've had a few days raining on them. They are out in the open mostly. No failures yet but they are quite sensitive to waving branches and the like . Excellent night vision though . Never had as good.

[April]

I've got 6 of these trail cams out working continuous now for about 6 months. Some in open rain situations . None have gone down yet except one I dropped a couple of meters a few times and I thought I had a problem with it. They are well sealed with 8 screws pulling down into a neoprene type gasket. Front does not seem to leak at all.

The batteries are cheap overflow cells but they seem to last a reasonable time depending of course on how many times they are triggered . 3 trigger photos (adjustable) are made each time and a 30 second video. After about 1500 triggers it starts to give up battery wise.

So I changed the batteries in the dropped one and it refused to turn on so I took it apart to see why. Pics below.
Turned out the fault was mine and a bit of the plastic wrapper remained on the battery end when I put them in .

Forgive bad photos I took them and forgot them when I pulled it apart.

SmallerIMG_20211207_155028.jpg (59.2 KiB) Viewed 629 times

[April]

SmallerIMG_20211207_154713.jpg (69.67 KiB) Viewed 628 times