Topic: Weather Station Webcam Recommendations

[awsum140]

What's your frame rate, cospringswx?  I use 10fps for security cams and that looks a little slower, maybe eight?

The Dahua I use is at KNJSOUTH86.

[cospringswx]

Hi, I have it set to the highest FPS. Its streaming through WC7. Its smooth here.

[awsum140]

Hmm, it displays here like 8fps.  It may be network latency on my end, VPN.

[ocala]

Dam nice looking storm on the horizon Ryan

[cospringswx]

Dam nice looking storm on the horizon Ryan

I just saw that

[WSWeather]

For weather situation I would like a camera to capture that lighting flash better instead of just white out the screen. I'm probably asking for too much as that would probably require military level technology.

I have a cheap ($49) Foscam 720p camera pointed out my kitchen window in Florida.  It is certainly not a "security cam" and is almost blind at night since it has no IR or night vision capability.  However...as a weather cam it has really surprised me.  First photo is Hurricane Irma's outer bands and the other two are lightning over the Gulf of Mexico.  You might want to consider having a second cam like this one which does the "beauty shots" while the main does the night vision work.

[awsum140]

IR wouldn't help much with the camera being behind a window.  The glass would reflect the IR and blind the camera.

[WSWeather]

It's also 140 feet up so all any IR would shine on is the occasional bird flying by.

My point is (was?) for weather cam duty it might be more efficient to have one low-sensitivity camera to catch things like lightning instead of trying to do it all with one that is blinded by lightning at night.

[awsum140]

It works for you, and that's what's important.  I was just pointing out that windows reflect IR.  Mine are not blinded by lightning at all.  It just produces a well lit black and white image.  Results can vary based on exact camera settings, exposure time and dynamic range for example.

[imaduffus]

I have a cheap ($49) Foscam 720p camera pointed out my kitchen window in Florida.  It is certainly not a "security cam" and is almost blind at night since it has no IR or night vision capability.  However...as a weather cam it has really surprised me.  First photo is Hurricane Irma's outer bands and the other two are lightning over the Gulf of Mexico.  You might want to consider having a second cam like this one which does the "beauty shots" while the main does the night vision work.

Hi there, I am from Germany and I am looking for a new weather camera that is able of - PoE so LAN connected and able to upload easily via FTP to wunderground.
https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IHESSENZ2

Right now the cam is attached to the balcony railing pointing towards the horizon. Therefore I need s cam that could be attached that way.

Since the assortment is huge I would really like to see what kind of cameras you use esspecially with the correct type description.

Thanks alot for your support!

[awsum140]

I'm a Dahua fan and would suggest looking at the  IPC-HFW4231E.  It's a 2mp, Starlight, 3.6mm fixed lens, mini bullet with PoE.  I have an earlier, similar, model which serves as my weathercam, among other duties, and I can "force" a color picture at night because there is a street light about 200 feet behind it.  I don't run color at night, though, because I also use it for security purposes and the color picture is a little noisy for that.  Mounting it to a balcony railing shouldn't take much more than a couple of stainless steel hose clamps.

[56kz2slow]

Of the good cameras people recommended on this post, how many can I grab the image from my PC with wget, curl or other command line tool? 

I saw many online that upload to the cloud only.  No such thing as the cloud, it's someone else's computer, I want to store the captures on my computer.  I'll upload to WU myself in the same script.

[awsum140]

I don't know if you can use a script to "grab" a file off of a Dahua for sure, but it would probably need an SD card to store the image file and serve as a target for the "grab" function.  I imagine (guess) a script could be written to grab a frame of the RTSP stream off the camera as well.  The easiest way would be to use the FTP function and upload to what ever site you want to, or just write the file, directly, to the local machine for later upload by a script.

The Dahua model I mentioned is not a "cloud" camera and will only store locally or FTP and are PoE.  If you do buy a Dahua, or any other "name" brand quality camera be sure to by an International version and not one that has had Chinese firmware hacked to English. 

Another one to look at is the IPC2231RZ-TS which is a turret.  Again, a 2MP Starlight but with a variable focal length lens, ~12 mm max.  Keep in mind it's a varifocal and not a zoom, there is a difference, mechanically and price wise.  Both are under $150 from reputable sellers.

[56kz2slow]

Right now, I'm using my son's PS3 camera hooked up on a Raspberry Pi.  I take an image every minute, store it on my webserver, then do a timelpase out of those images.  Here's a sample:  https://weather.patenteux.page/img/cam/2019-12-08/daily.mp4  It's not an illusion, the flow of the river reverses with the tide.

Right now, the camera is indoors in front of a window.  I want to continue to be able to do capture every minute (or less) and do timelapse.

Any camera that does FTP though, I could FTP to my own server at a frequency of my choice, so no need to grab the image from the camera.  More research necessary.

[Lighty269]

Right now, I'm using my son's PS3 camera hooked up on a Raspberry Pi.  I take an image every minute, store it on my webserver, then do a timelpase out of those images.  Here's a sample:  https://weather.patenteux.page/img/cam/2019-12-08/daily.mp4  It's not an illusion, the flow of the river reverses with the tide.

Right now, the camera is indoors in front of a window.  I want to continue to be able to do capture every minute (or less) and do timelapse.

Any camera that does FTP though, I could FTP to my own server at a frequency of my choice, so no need to grab the image from the camera.  More research necessary.

Page will not load for me, I was looking forward to seeing it.

[galfert]

Dahua cameras and other IP camera brands pretty much all have URL APIs. It depends on the model as the to exact one (format) to use. You can pull images.

You can use this reference to try them out.
https://www.ispyconnect.com/man.aspx?n=Dahua

[56kz2slow]

Page will not load for me, I was looking forward to seeing it.

My DDNS update was down, should be good now.

[56kz2slow]

Dahua cameras and other IP camera brands pretty much all have URL APIs. It depends on the model as the to exact one (format) to use. You can pull images.

You can use this reference to try them out.
https://www.ispyconnect.com/man.aspx?n=Dahua

I can adapt to format, as long as I can script it, I'm happy.  I'll research those cameras further.  Thanks.

[galfert]

Here is better documentation that will probably work with most recent Dahua cameras. This documentation is from Amcrest. But once you realize that Amcrest is just rebadged Dahua you realize it's all the same stuff.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/amcrest-files/AMCREST_CGI_SDK_API.pdf

Dahua is one of the largest manufacturers of cameras. There are a lot of brands out there of company names you know that are really using Dahua as a supplier.
https://ipvm.com/reports/dahua-oem

Of course this may all start to change now with the government ban on Dahua and Hikvision (the second largest manufacturer also from China, also banned and was my favorite).

[awsum140]

That ban covers use by the government, not consumers.  Whether or not it will be extended to consumer use is a good question for the, alleged, experts we tend to elect.  As with any network aware device just be sure not to port forward, block it from accessing the internet in your router and give it bogus DNS addresses in its' configuration.  Safest way is to have it on a VLAN that has no internet access.  Of course, change the admin login and password right out of the box.

[konz]

DON'T use this Amcrest model: Amcrest 4MP UltraHD POE Security Camera, Outdoor IP Camera Eyeball Dome - IP67 Weatherproof, 98ft Night Vision, 118° FO V, Remote Live Viewing, 4-Megapixel (2688 TVL), IP4M-1055E (White)

In fact, think about whether or not you want to go through what amounts to a customer service nightmare with Amcrest if you have a warranty issue.  You have to open the camera, clean it, put it back up, and see if it leaks again.  If it does, they require you to perform a hard reset using a push-button inside the camera, only then will they think about sending you an RMA number.

The picture was great until this problem.  I was flabbergasted when I heard all the hoops  I had to jump through to get a new unit.  THERE'S WATER IN IT!!!  SMDH

Also, it's not an IP67 camera if this happens.
http://www.dsmt.com/resources/ip-rating-chart/

[galfert]

I've seen that water condensation problem on many Dahua camearas (including several OEM brands). In my experience this is common when you first get them and install them. It may take a few days and you might get this problem. I think something happens in shipment or at the factory where the air is humid. Upon mounting as the temperature changes and probably the pressure equalizes for the new environment the condensation issue shows up. But the good news is that there is a silica pack inside of the camera. If you let it be after a few days it clears up. I've seen this issue a lot. At one location I had a couple cameras that would not clear up. I opened them up and I replaced the silica pack for a fresh one. I don't know if that did it or perhaps opening it up and letting new dryer air in helped. If you don't have extra silica packs you can bake them and rejuvenate them.

[awsum140]

The only cameras I've had that have had water ingress were a couple of SV3Cs.  I think the model number was POS (piece of ....).  The Dahuas have remained pristine since installation and I even had a non weather rated Hikivision sitting in an open shed for about a year, and operating, with no water or condensation problems.  In fact that camera is still working inside the house as an overview camera for the kitchen and dining room.

[Wingfat]

Nice video shot... Could you share what software you use to display the video?
Thanks

[clowg]

Could anyone of you guys using a Dahua camera and uploading via FTP to Weather Underground pls let me know you on-camera config?  I have followed the WU instructions but my camera has not come online with them.

Cheers,
G.