Suggestions on wireless home security cameras

[TheDan]

I've had Foscam cameras for about 5 years now. They aren't amazing, but do what I want them to. The night vision is inadequate outdoors, but I have exterior lighting so it's not really an issue. The new ones are probably better.

My mom got a chinesium one and has had nothing but problems with it...

 

[TheDan]

Arlo by Netgear. Completely wire free.

I like the wire free design, but don't like cloud storage. Do the email alerts include pictures or video as attachments? Is there an option to store locally?

 

[BigBoss0311]

If you want wireless, make sure it is really wireless. Alot of manufacturers advertise as wireless but then still require you to run a power cable. If you find one that is truly wireless, then take a look at the battery life. I think you will be less than impressed. If you find one with excellent battery life, then take a look at what definition it records in and at what frame rate. I cannot emphasize enough how much a wireless system is not worth it. Take the few hours it takes to run a CAT5 or 6 cable and do it right. You will be much happier in the long run, I promise.

 

[ussoldier1984]

nvm

 

[ussoldier1984]

If you want wireless, make sure it is really wireless. Alot of manufacturers advertise as wireless but then still require you to run a power cable. If you find one that is truly wireless, then take a look at the battery life. I think you will be less than impressed. If you find one with excellent battery life, then take a look at what definition it records in and at what frame rate. I cannot emphasize enough how much a wireless system is not worth it. Take the few hours it takes to run a CAT5 or 6 cable and do it right. You will be much happier in the long run, I promise.

I can not run cables for it in my apt. If I had a house I would not go wireless and it uses a plug not batteries

 

[txinvestigator]

I like the wire free design, but don't like cloud storage. Do the email alerts include pictures or video as attachments? Is there an option to store locally?

The email alert does include a snapshot. You can save a video locally anytime before the 7 days is up. And I think the Pro 2 allows direct local recording, but I have not looked that closely yet.

 

[txinvestigator]

If you want wireless, make sure it is really wireless. Alot of manufacturers advertise as wireless but then still require you to run a power cable. If you find one that is truly wireless, then take a look at the battery life. I think you will be less than impressed. If you find one with excellent battery life, then take a look at what definition it records in and at what frame rate. I cannot emphasize enough how much a wireless system is not worth it. Take the few hours it takes to run a CAT5 or 6 cable and do it right. You will be much happier in the long run, I promise.

You really have to set up a wireless system differently than a wired one, for sure. I get 3 to 5 months out of my batteries, but before I turned one camera away from pointing at the street I was only getting abut 45 days.

Arlo now has the pro 2 where you can run power to it and record continually. One could set up a hybrid system where you can run power to cameras where it is easy enough to get power to.

But, if I could get cable run I'd prefer wired, for sure.

And FWIW, I haven't experienced any of the downfalls mentioned for wireless cameras.

 

[txinvestigator]

I can not run cables for it in my apt. If I had a house I would not go wireless and it uses a plug not batteries

Where do you plan to put the Cameras? You still have to run power wires to the "plugs"

Dude, the Arlo is simple.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

The wireless camera in my backyard has a solar panel to keep it's battery charged.

 

[Davetex]

The wireless camera in my backyard has a solar panel to keep it's battery charged.

Link please? I'd like to check that one out, thanks cam.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Link please? I'd like to check that one out, thanks cam.

It's actually one of the "Ring" camera options.
I'm sure there are better ones out there.
I have just the camera at my front door and the rechargeable battery lasts a long time.
Extremely simple to set up.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ring-Wi...-Cam-with-Solar-Panel-885111NCUSAHD/301441740

 

[Davetex]

It's actually one of the "Ring" camera options.
I'm sure there are better ones out there.
I have just the camera at my front door and the rechargeable battery lasts a long time.
Extremely simple to set up.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ring-Wi...-Cam-with-Solar-Panel-885111NCUSAHD/301441740

Thanks, never seen one like that, pretty cool.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Thanks, never seen one like that, pretty cool.

Their original camera was the Ring doorbell.
Then they came out with other options.
I found the solar camera at WM, it was marked $150, so I got it. I believe it was mismarked, lol.

 

[NavyVet1959]

If it uses solar to charge the batteries, check out what the batteries are. If it uses NiCd batteries, I would definitely avoid it. The solar landscape lights used those and they never seemed to survive that long for me.

One advantage of a wired system is that you can use relays in combination with a micro-controller board (e.g. Arduino) and a bit of code to allow the system to handle more cameras than it was originally designed for. For example, let's say that the system you choose only supports 4 cameras, but you want to place more than that around your property. You could even have an IR some other type of motion / perimeter warning sensor installed near the camera to tell you that you needed to pay attention to that particular zone / start recording it. You would need to run wires from all the cameras and motion sensors to your Arduino device and the code would be constantly polling each of the motion sensors to see if something "interesting" was occurring. If so, then it would activate the relay associated with that camera so that it could be fed into the DVR.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Lithium-ion battery....

 

[NavyVet1959]

Lithium-ion battery....

Considering the incidents of fires from those types of batteries, I would be hesitant to put it near any potentially flammable surface.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Considering the incidents of fires from those types of batteries, I would be hesitant to put it near any potentially flammable surface.

Well, at least the flames will activate the motion sensor....

 

[rman]

I thought lithium polymer were the fire starters.

Sent from my SIG Sauer

 

[NavyVet1959]

I thought lithium polymer were the fire starters.

Both can do it... Most people do not have the batteries causing fires, but every once in awhile, you end up with a case of someone charging their cell phone with it sitting on a bed and it causing a major house fire.

I recently read an article that was about making a neater living area and one of their suggestions was to take a drawer in your dresser, install a power strip in it, and put all your devices and chargers in there so that they could recharge out of sight. From a possible fire prevention standpoint, I'm not so certain that would be a good idea. Normally, my cell phones or tablets are charged on a granite surface, so that even if there is a fire, it should not catch the surrounding surface on fire.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

And your house could get struck by lightning...