billunger
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« on: December 31, 2011, 09:18:21 AM » |
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Very new to the weather watching world, but am quickly thinking about "next" steps!  It would be very cool to run an outdoor weather cam ( possibly attached to the mast holding my sensors ), but I don't have power available at the location and don't want to run a long ethernet cable ( for power-over-ethernet ). Does a decent solar-powered, wireless camera exist without busting the bank? tia, Bill |
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Axelvold
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« Reply #1 on: December 31, 2011, 10:24:21 AM » |
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Very new to the weather watching world, but am quickly thinking about "next" steps! It would be very cool to run an outdoor weather cam ( possibly attached to the mast holding my sensors ), but I don't have power available at the location and don't want to run a long ethernet cable ( for power-over-ethernet ). Does a decent solar-powered, wireless camera exist without busting the bank? tia, Bill You could buy a standard out door cam. Most of them runs on 12V through a 110V - 220v power adapter. So all you have to do is connect a solar panel instead of the power adapter. |
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Lars Magnusson Axelvold / Sweden 55° 57' 41" N / 13° 6' 1" E WX Station: Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus   |
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xykotik
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« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2011, 11:08:55 AM » |
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You might give some thought to these considerations for your solar power supplied camera...
- How far from your wireless router will your cam be located? Can it reach (reception)?
- What is the power draw of the cam? Use the rated number on the unit. This will help you size the panel.
- Do you want to run it 24x7 or just when the sun is shining?
- If only when the sun is shining, can it handle constant power-drops and reboots?
- If 24x7 will you be able to facilitate storage (battery) and regulator near the panel/post?
- If 24x7 you will need to increase the wattage output of your panel (ergo larger), to charge the battery for night use
- Considering the above, does a buryable cat-5 cable for POE sound more attractive?
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 Facit solem suum oriri super bonos et malos et pluit super iustos et iniustos.Springtime in Seattle... March comes in like a lion and out like a wet lion. |
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billunger
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« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2011, 02:47:51 PM » |
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Creating my own solar-powered cam sounds a bit too involved for me.  Was hoping that lots of people might already be using one.... What is the most "common" implementation for a weather cam? - a camera inside a house looking out a window? - an outdoor "wired" camera ( poe ) - other? Thanks Bill |
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WeatherHost
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« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2011, 02:56:18 PM » |
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From what I've seen on this board, most people either have them mounted inside or under an overhang of some kind.
If I can get it all worked out, mine will be outside, 40' up, inside a clear housing, wired LAN with separate 5v power. Pan/Tilt control by web browser.
I have a plan for a second camera that might use a solar cell charging a battery running the camera, but that might be a ways down the road yet.
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Axelvold
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« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2011, 03:05:22 PM » |
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At the moment I have 6 usb cams mounted inside and 2 waterproof wireless IP cams outside.
And I have 4 more on the way, 2 waterproof wireless IP cams and 2 indoor wireless IP cams.
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Lars Magnusson Axelvold / Sweden 55° 57' 41" N / 13° 6' 1" E WX Station: Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus |
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billunger
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« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2011, 05:02:13 PM » |
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At the moment I have 6 usb cams mounted inside and 2 waterproof wireless IP cams outside.
And I have 4 more on the way, 2 waterproof wireless IP cams and 2 indoor wireless IP cams.
I just checked out your website - EXTREMELY impressive!!! What are you using for the tilt/pan/zoom camera? Bill |
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Axelvold
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« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2011, 05:17:18 PM » |
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At the moment I have 6 usb cams mounted inside and 2 waterproof wireless IP cams outside.
And I have 4 more on the way, 2 waterproof wireless IP cams and 2 indoor wireless IP cams.
I just checked out your website - EXTREMELY impressive!!! What are you using for the tilt/pan/zoom camera? Bill Thanks Bill At the moment I don't have any tilt/pan/zoom camera, but I expect they will arrive next week. It's this cam, http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/ip-surveillance-camera-with-angle-control-and-motion-detection/ |
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Lars Magnusson Axelvold / Sweden 55° 57' 41" N / 13° 6' 1" E WX Station: Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus |
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Axelvold
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« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2011, 06:52:49 PM » |
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I could live with that, allmost half the price. |
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Lars Magnusson Axelvold / Sweden 55° 57' 41" N / 13° 6' 1" E WX Station: Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus |
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billunger
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« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2012, 12:31:31 PM » |
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Are you using the Foscam? |
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WeatherHost
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« Reply #11 on: January 01, 2012, 12:55:37 PM » |
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So far.
It may not be the best one on the market, but for $80, I had to try it. Resolution is fair, not high-def by any means. Has a weird issue of re-booting for no reason and going back to a home position. Not a problem for me, since I'm not using it for security. Others are complaining about it though.
Wireless works fine for me, but I'll be running a LAN cable to it when I place it on the mast later.
No Zoom, but the Pan/Tilt works well. There's a bit of a color issue, not sure how to describe it. Colors seem washed out unless you play with the Brightness and Contrast. If you hit an area that is part bright sun, part shadows, the image gets overdriven to just a dark and light area, with little detail. Move to either the sun or shadows and the image corrects.
On a limited budget, it's worth the $80 easily. I'd go with a $500 camera if I could afford it.
One thing this does that I haven't seen on the more expensive units is that it tilts above or below 90° depending on how you have it mounted. Mine is upside down and I can look above the horizon towards the sky at clouds and approaching storms. I mounted it that way so I could look straight down around my property also. On a previous system where I worked, the $1100 camera could only tilt up to about 80° or so and you couldn't even look straight out to the horizon.
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WeatherHost
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« Reply #12 on: January 01, 2012, 01:03:05 PM » |
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Ideally, I'd like to see a camera inside a weatherproof orb mounted on some sort of rotating yoke system where you could pan/tilt nearly 360° in any direction. I'm not sure that's physically possible though.
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wmcatty
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« Reply #13 on: January 03, 2012, 11:24:58 AM » |
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After considering these options, could someone tell me how much power a solar panel could generate and what the power consumption would be on a camera. It seems that any camera mounted with p/t/z would also have to be IP (and what is the range of the wireless signal on average) and even POE does not provide adequate power for alot of the larger cameras that do not even have p/t/z capabilities. I guess I am looking for energy production/supply/consumption analysis. Thanks
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« Last Edit: January 03, 2012, 11:28:49 AM by wmcatty »
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Davis Wireless Pro2 with Solar Sensor; Weatherlink 5.9.3; VWS; WLIP; CWOP DW8373; Wunderground KTXGATES4; CoCoRaHS=TX-CRL-4
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mickopla
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« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2012, 11:16:03 PM » |
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So far.
It may not be the best one on the market, but for $80, I had to try it. Resolution is fair, not high-def by any means. Has a weird issue of re-booting for no reason and going back to a home position. Not a problem for me, since I'm not using it for security. Others are complaining about it though.
Wireless works fine for me, but I'll be running a LAN cable to it when I place it on the mast later.
No Zoom, but the Pan/Tilt works well. There's a bit of a color issue, not sure how to describe it. Colors seem washed out unless you play with the Brightness and Contrast. If you hit an area that is part bright sun, part shadows, the image gets overdriven to just a dark and light area, with little detail. Move to either the sun or shadows and the image corrects.
On a limited budget, it's worth the $80 easily. I'd go with a $500 camera if I could afford it.
One thing this does that I haven't seen on the more expensive units is that it tilts above or below 90° depending on how you have it mounted. Mine is upside down and I can look above the horizon towards the sky at clouds and approaching storms. I mounted it that way so I could look straight down around my property also. On a previous system where I worked, the $1100 camera could only tilt up to about 80° or so and you couldn't even look straight out to the horizon.
I have this cam too and you have described it very well in your post. The major drawback for me is the Color issue you mentioned. Dirt cheap cams can get the color right so its disappointing that this one is so poor. I wonder is there anyway to improve the color issue through software or firmware updates? Mick |
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dogdad
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« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2012, 06:49:22 AM » |
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Could anyone provide actual experience with transmit-distance with these? I saw somewhere in the literature that 600 ft was mentioned, but that's probably optimistic under real-world conditions.
TIA
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xykotik
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« Reply #18 on: January 15, 2012, 06:35:05 PM » |
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The total cost for the project was $564.60 That's awesome. They ran the numbers and found the components. Nice DIY build description too. |
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Facit solem suum oriri super bonos et malos et pluit super iustos et iniustos.Springtime in Seattle... March comes in like a lion and out like a wet lion.
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