Long range security camera

[RobA]

I want to set up a wireless security camera system from my tractor barn to my house to monitor who is coming down my driveway. The kind of system where I can look at a screen/iPhone at the house and see a live picture. I already have Dakota wireless driveway alarms. The total distance from the barn to the house is about 1,200 feet. It is not a direct line of sight but I can setup a relay (WiFi repeater?) 500 feet along the way and then again at our horse barn. I cannot and do not want to trench that distance. There is power at the tractor barn as well as at the horse barn 300 feet from the house.

Another thing is my internet is limited. I can't get cable internet at my house and have to use a Verizon 4G hot spot with limited data (technically unlimited but it throttles down after a certain amount of data usage).

Any thoughts on how to approach this without spending a fortune?

 

[KTurner]

I've been experimenting with something similar but only have one part setup currently. I took a retired wireless router and installed dd-wrt on it, then set it up as a repeater bridge. This has extended the range of my wireless network without much effort and no cost since I already had a wireless router. Maybe with some aftermarket/diy antennas you can get that range? Not sure about daisy chaining them together though, haven't looked into that.

Repeater Bridge - DD-WRT Wiki

Keith

 

[IRISHBOOMER]

I have a wired system am also installing 2 more cameras at the barn tomorrow. I might do wireless the next go around. Technology is improving so much.

 

[oosik]

I have a very similar situation to RobA. House to carport - - 200 feet. Carport to beginning of driveway - - 300 feet. Camera with power could be located at carport. Carport back to house would need to be wireless. I do not have land line phone - wireless cell phone operates at the very minimum reception.

I will be monitoring this post.

 

[MarkE]

I have the $99 Ubquity Outdoor Wifi to do this. It works great. I have two Amcrest WiFi cameras on it now that are more than 500' away. A side benefit is when I am out with the animals in that area it allows me to make WiFi phone calls which is good since the area doesn't have good mobile reception. The camera app is free for mobile devices and it doesn't require your internet to be up. You do have the ability to use it offsite through your internet connection. Amazon.com: Ubiquiti Networks gets you to the WiFi. Amcrest is here Amcrest ProHD Outdoor 3MP WiFi Wireless IP Security Bullet Camera - IP67 Weatherproof, 3MP (248x1536), IP3M-943W (White)

 

[TCJatko]

I have a wired system am also installing 2 more cameras at the barn tomorrow. I might do wireless the next go around. Technology is improving so much.

View attachment 528200View attachment 528201View attachment 528202

That a Chevelle SS in the garage? Nice.

 

[EarPlug]

If you have AC power at the camera location you can use Powerline Ethernet. Easy to set up, doesn't rob your wireless bandwith, and is a little more secure.

Powerline networking: what you need to know | TechRadar

 

[IRISHBOOMER]

That a Chevelle SS in the garage? Nice.

Yes 1970. Point I was trying to make with my post is they make wire you can bury my system will allow 1000 yards cable reach to a camera. So I just bury cable from my house to shop.

 

[TractorGuy]

Here is something that you may be interested in for the first leg of the distance. I purchased a GL-AR300M EXT mini travel router that gets a solid wi-fi signal out to my front gate. I have it sitting in a window sill that faces N/NW and I get a good signal at the gate which is 450' West.

I have been looking for a good camera that will work from that distance. I have tried a couple of game cameras and been less than impressed. My latest attempt was a Zmodo 720P outdoor camera. The app they supply makes it useless as a security camera. I got no motion detection events with any movement. When I walked in front of it did not trigger an event. It didn't send any of the events it did trigger to the cloud which isn't that important to me. The other problem was the notification was only a silent message in the android popup so I wasn't alerted when an even occurred unless I was looking at my phone. The app did allow me to access the camera's live image from on or off my property. I was able to figure out how to save and transfer photos and videos but it was not easy and took several steps.

My needs will be a camera I can power with a battery and solar panel that has as good of a wifi range as my phones or tablets. I would like an app that can record or transfer images and video to the SD card in my phone and has an audible alert when an event is triggered by motion dependably. Of course I would love to have all of this with a 4K, 30FPS video capability. :cool2:

I have considered the Amcrest camera but they don't really give any specs on wifi distance and the app rating of 3.4 doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy.

 

[aczlan]

I would look at Ubiquity Nanostation outdoor wireless access points to create a wireless bridge. They can be run on 12 to 24 volts DC so they could run off of a battery if needed. They will give you a reliable long range high speed link and are very reasonably priced ($50 each).

Aaron Z

 

[cqaigy2]

A buddy of mine turned me onto Reolink cameras. He's had his for a couple years now. I just bought a RLC-410, 4MP/1440p, POE, Mic, IP66 housing and motion detection . Decent picture and pretty good pricing $55. They have a couple wifi battery operated ones, one for indoors and another for outdoors, but i have no personal experience.

 

[TractorGuy]

A buddy of mine turned me onto Reolink cameras. He's had his for a couple years now. I just bought a RLC-410, 4MP/1440p, POE, Mic, IP66 housing and motion detection . Decent picture and pretty good pricing $55. They have a couple wifi battery operated ones, one for indoors and another for outdoors, but i have no personal experience.

I have been looking at those. I think I am going to try the RLC-411WS. It is more expensive and doesn't have a mic but I like the idea of a 4X optical zoom. I wish it supported sound but that's not a deal killer.

 

[cqaigy2]

I have been looking at those. I think I am going to try the RLC-411WS. It is more expensive and doesn't have a mic but I like the idea of a 4X optical zoom. I wish it supported sound but that's not a deal killer.

I looked at that one too, it also has SD on-board, which is a nice addition.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Years ago, I bought some cool surplus video equipment that some out of the NSA. The lenses are about six inches in diameter. Old technology now, designed to go on a box camera. It is supposed to be on a 27 foot pole looking down six hundred feet of driveway, but I never got a man lift (yet) and the post is too high, and equipment too heavy to get it up there with a ladder.

 

[NorTracNY]

A six inch diameter lens is not necessarily "old technology." That may have some serious resolution at a good distance!

I'm in a similar situation. I tried an extender, but they cut the bandwidth down and didn't have the range. Someone pointed out the directional outdoor wifi antennas. That sounds like it might work for you also.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Any wireless video technology would be my absolute last option being in the security industry with lots of bad experience. That applies to security systems as well. Always a last option and then only the most expensive you can afford.

 

[TractorGuy]

A buddy of mine turned me onto Reolink cameras. He's had his for a couple years now. I just bought a RLC-410, 4MP/1440p, POE, Mic, IP66 housing and motion detection . Decent picture and pretty good pricing $55. They have a couple wifi battery operated ones, one for indoors and another for outdoors, but i have no personal experience.

I have been looking at those. I think I am going to try the RLC-411WS. It is more expensive and doesn't have a mic but I like the idea of a 4X optical zoom. I wish it supported sound but that's not a deal killer.

I thought I would follow up with my experience on these cameras so far. I originally attempted to purchase a single camera from USA stock. They had it advertised at $97.49 with free shipping or "make offer". Usually the make offer option indicates they are willing to negotiate. Not so much! I offered $80 and they raised the buy it now price to $129.99 and countered at $95. I figured I would play along and countered at $90 and they countered at $128. At the same time they had lowered the buy it now to $113. This almost made me mad enough not to do business with them but I could not find any cameras at this price point that exceeded a couple of reviews I found on the Tube.

I ended up purchasing a two pack for $175.70 from China stock. They actually got them here in 8 days which is exceptional for coming cross the pond. Note: DHL tracking is messed up. They showed they attempted delivery in the nearest hub city 170 miles away then put the delivery on hold. I had to call them to get them resent but I think they were in my town all along.

My original 1 star review: Installed the android app. It reads the QR code but won't connect to my wifi. Connected cameras by cat5 and set wifi password and they still will not connect wirelessly. I was doing this sitting right beside a wireless router that I have connected to from 500 feet away so I know the signal is good. Software also would not install or work on either of my Win 7 machines. The two cameras received are different shades of white but that is a minor deal compared to them just not being usable.

Updated 3 star review: Reolink support was fairly quick to respond considering the time difference. Early on they sent me to a drop box where I had to create an account to get semi functional software. After several back and forth emails I had to download a program to allow remote access to get support to get these working wireless. In the end they used a browser interface to make the same settings I had attempted with the software they provided. Had they explained the browser interface I could have done it by myself but the important part is they are now working. Fact still remains these did not work easy out of the box.

I have spent a good part of today fine tuning to get a decent image. I found the default settings to be blurry and not the quality I was wanting. Setting video encoding to 1080P @ 30 fps has resulted in an acceptable quality. It is NOT 1080P quality but the best I've come up with so far.

Here are a couple of screen shots from the browser interface. I have the cameras powered by and inverter and sitting on the dash of my truck approximately 360 ft from my AR-GL300 EXT router in a pretty much direct line of site. I have connected to this router with other devices from 450 ft and not a direct line of site. My next move is to make a stand and connect them to a 12v battery with a solar panel to keep it charged. This way I can move it around on the property as long as it stays in range.

 

[TractorGuy]

Here is what I threw together to place them for now.

 

[bunyip]

I have had similar problems and around the house I have used powerlinks (TP Link V200) but, always a but, they only work on the same circuit, they 'may' work on another circuit if you are lucky.
I tried Wifi range extenders but found they halve the speeds as they work both ways.
Finished up ripping a small trench about 6" deep and burying CAT5 in a flexible conduit.
It won't last forever but it was a cheap option and didn't take long to fix.
Used the same trench for burying low voltage cable for LED driveway lighting so we don't find tigers when we step out of the cars to open the gates at night, unfortunately where we are there are quite a few as we are close to a creek and drain and our driveway seems to attract them.
(I forget where we are, Tigers are a particularly nasty snake, Tiger Snake, very nasty venom and they blend in very well, have stepped on a few but to date not been bitten but have had some character building moments)