Ask HN: Solar+WiFi IP Security Cameras?
Need three or four security cams on my property and power and connectivity are an issue that is not resolved without significant costs thus solar and wifi are musts.
The use case is good triggered image capture and occasional brief streaming, both locally and remote. Pan/tilt is nice but not essential if fixed wide angle.
Having a hard time trying to figure out what is garbage and what is actually worth considering. Just too much SEO/AI/fake reviews.
I doubt I'm the first on HN with these requirements so asking what the community has found to work well. Be gentle,
Ideally like to keep in the $150 per cam range and not be tied to vendor clouds or phone apps. Because I'll need the ability to view remote, security very is important too. I do have a remote server that can act as image repository.
I have used ZoneMinder (https://zoneminder.com/, an open source security cam software) previously for an apartment setup using webcams, but i believe it can work with ip cams, etc. and allows you to save to an external hard drive/ssd/etc...
Wifi im not too sure on, you could try a new cell service but they upcharge on hotspotting... so maybe just regular internet provider or satellite (ex, starlink)
As far as solar, that would likely be your biggest issue... specifically robustness. Solar provides constant energy during the daytime with no obstructions (ex. clouds, shade) but at night time til early morning, power output will be zero (or close to it).
You will need either some type of battery storage or power generator to allow you to have power during solar outages. That is a lot more costly, a couple $1000 at least (inverter or microinverters, charge controllers, batteries, installation costs).
The bright side is you wouldn't need very many panels as the setup shouldn't run you more than 2kW per day (high estimate imo) I'm ballparking that you would need a central computer to run zoneminder (raspberry pi 4/5 or a cheap windows desktop) and the ip cams, wifi router/modem). Those should be able to run on less than 2kWh per day but depends. 6 panels at 350-400W (~200 per, so around $1500 for solar panels but doesn't include install)
I think you could do it all for under 5k (USD), but the internet/wifi most likely will be your biggest fee going forward.
My need is simpler yet. I have a well pump some distance away from the home. It's out of wifi range, so a dumb camera that will interface to a TV transmitter board (I recall having one in my parts bin) will do nicely.
I only need to monitor two indicator lights on pump protection boxes. Green is fine. Anything else, I make the trip down there to check stuff. Reason is that in addition to the protection boxes and breakers, there are (ta-da) slow-blow fuses in the mix. Once, the fuse on the submersible pump blew, but since the tank is 2000 gallons, I didn't notice it until it went empty. Restarting was easy. Replace the fuse. Pump. But I had to re-prime the lines, and the city boy in me failed.
Alternatives:
check once a month or so. I do that.
a photocell on each green indicator with relay to a light in the line of sight.
a water depth gauge, duhhh. [0]
a mirror so that I can actually see the indicators with binoculars. They are inconveniently 90 degrees to my line of sight, behind the tank. But adjusting the mirror will require two people, and it's just me and myself up here.
Any outage of the booster pump is immediately obvious. No need to monitor.
[0] Some of the mechanical designs are quite interesting. I just don't plan to climb to the top of the tank to install stuff. (using a ladder, of course)
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