Topic: Brief introduction Ecowitt HP10

[olicat]

Hi!

Today my Ecowitt HP10, ordered on 30.08.2022, arrived here. 14 days from order to delivery is not bad - especially because the HP10 is a new device. I had actually expected a longer waiting time until delivery.
I paid $34.99 plus shipping of $6.55 and tax of $7.89 - together $49.43 - currently about 50EUR.
The delivery was done by 4PX - on the German side the package was delivered by Hermes.

As a reminder, the HP10 is a waterproof (IP66) weatherCAM that takes a JPG at adjustable intervals and sends it to the cloud service Ecowitt.net.
There, the images are merged into a Timelaps movie, but can also be viewed there as individual images.
Like the other weather data, these images can be declared as public (for all users) or private (then you only see the images yourself).
The camera is an absolutely independent device that does not use any resources from weather stations and also communicates exclusively via WLAN (2.4GHz only). Therefore, there is no question about the transmission frequency or compatibility here. This is probably also the reason why the thing was so quickly available for Europe - there is exactly ONE model and no variants.

I bought the camera to see what is possible with it (programming-wise).

The scope of delivery includes the quite small camera, a 5m long outdoor cable with a special waterproof 2pin plug for the camera and a USB plug at the other end.
Additionally, a pair of screws to fix the camera was included.
So, a power supply is missing and the user has to figure out how to install it waterproof by himself. Unfortunately, Ecowitt missed the chance to make the camera compatible with the power supply known from the WS80/WS90.
The USB connector suggests 5V (which is how I currently run it). I don't assume that a stepdown from 12V is built in. Also, the plug is actually slightly smaller than the WS80/WS90.

The installation is straight forward. Power up, start WSView Plus app, add new device, select camera icon and follow the instructions.
There was no need to disable the 5GHz WLAN beforehand.
I don't think it took me 3 minutes to do that.
Then on ecowitt.net site I had to add the camera as well.
Done.

As shipped, firmware v1.0.2 is installed (current) and the camera uses the same update mechanism as GW1100 and GW2000. So an update is possible via the app as well as via the web interface. And of course automatically via auto-update, which I personally do not recommend.
Speaking of firmware: according to the firmware, the MCU installed in the camera is an ESP32. The MAC address also refers to Espressif Inc.

The web interface for configuration is quite clear. There are currently only the two items Local Network and Video.
On the network side, only the interval for uploading images to Ecowitt.net (off, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25min) and the SSID as well as the WIFI password (WLAN key) can be configured.
Otherwise, you can set the usual checkmark for the automatic deactivation of the AP mode, the activation of the automatic firmware update and a password for the web interface as well as reset the device and set it to defaults.
Fixed IP address or configuration of the NTP server etc. are not available.

In the Video menu item, you can adjust resolution, brightness, contrast and saturation. And there are buttons for H-Mirror and V-Flip - so the camera can also be installed upside down.
Additionally, there are two buttons to display a snapshot on this page or to start a kind of live stream (which is very jerky at 1600x1200). Only at a resolution of 320x240 you can see an almost undelayed stream.
By the way, the settings made here are also valid for the images to be transmitted and are not only for display on the page!

There is no custom server (yet) and also no FTP upload possibility.
But at least there is the possibility to get the current image via http/GET using a script (pull).
A push - e.g. via FTP - is planned by Ecowitt for a future firmware version. But I fear that only a few users will be able to use this. FTP without SSL is no longer supported by many hosters.
In the internal network you can easily build a wrapper, which fetches a time-controlled image from the camera and then sends it via FTP/file system.
Like this:

Code: [Select]

curl -o `date +%y%m%d%H%M%S`-snapshot.jpg "http://192.168.15.182/capture"

or like this:

Code: [Select]

wget -O snapshot.jpg http://192.168.15.182/capture

In the examples here, 192.168.15.182 is the IP address of the camera.

Like the other devices with web interface, the HP10 camera also provides some http commands to communicate with the camera. I assume that Ecowitt will provide an API description soon.
I assume that the resolution of the taken pictures can be influenced by parameters in the URL, as well as brightness, saturation etc. But so far I haven't found the correct parameters.
Analog to the API of the GW1100/GW2000 the following commands are supported: get_version, get_ws_settings, get_device_info, get_network_info. Additionally there is at least get_video_info.
Also commands to set settings (like set_ws_settings and set_video_info) are available. But I have not dealt with that yet.

The camera communicates with Ecowitt via http/POST. For this a multipart consisting of mac, PASSKEY, stationtype, dateutc, battery, md5 and the actual image (JPG) is sent via http/POST to rtpmedia.ecowitt.net.
The interval can be set in the camera via app/website. However, the camera gets the time zone and sunrise and sunset times from the profile stored at Ecowitt.net.
Sunrise and sunset times are helpful to let the camera take pictures automatically only during daylight hours. Timelaps videos with a longer black frame are not very respectable.
To determine these times, the geo-coordinates are needed. Currently, these cannot be configured in the camera itself, but only at Ecowitt.net. This also applies to the time zone.
Perhaps there is a local configuration option for time zone and coordinates, which has simply not been activated yet.

Oh yes, Ecowitt.net displays the device name and the time of the image at the bottom of the image. On the original images that are fetched via http/GET this information is not included.
The JPGs also do not have any usable EXIF data.

The quality of the camera images is mediocre but probably commensurate with the price. The object is quite wide-angled - if the camera is on the window sill you can see a pronounced fisheye.
See picture.

By the way, the camera supports several resolutions:

13 UXGA 1600x1200
12 SXGA 1280x1024
10 XGA 1024x768
9 SVGA 800x600
8 VGA 640x480
6 CIF 400x296
5 QVGA 320x240
3 HQVGA 240x176
1 QQVGA 160x120

So you should be able to load the appropriate image into your own web page.

I'll have to take some more pictures in better light. So far I am rather disappointed by the quality.
But what can you expect for 50EUR? It shows a picture. Even in color!
And you probably only want to show the weather situation with a weather cam - you do not need extreme sharpness or color fidelity.
So I understand the purpose at least ...
But I could be wrong.

Oliver

[BoDuke]

Thanks for sharing so many details.  When I saw it for sale, I immediately figured it was just a commercial, enclosed version of an ESP32-CAM.  They're sold for approximately 7-10 USD with no case and are programmable via Arduino with the CameraWebServer example.  The image quality is not the best but it's expected given the cost and power of the ESP32 microcontroller.

Ecowitt has built an enclosure with a power connection+cable and added code to offer the more-polished functionality listed along with ecowitt.net integration.  I think those value-added improvements are probably worth around 35 USD (tax and shipping not included).  I'll probably wait and see if they are ever discounted since it's not something I'm actively or anxiously looking for.

Thanks again, Oliver!

[giusCB]

can we see some photos of the camera ?

[olicat]

Hi!

ESP32-CAM was a good hint.
If you look at the settings of the camera obtained via http://HP10ipaddress/get_video_info:

Code: [Select]

{
	"resolution":	"13",
	"quality":	"9",
	"brightness":	"0",
	"contrast":	"0",
	"saturation":	"0",
	"sharpness":	"0",
	"special_effect":	"0",
	"wb_mode":	"0",
	"awb":	"1",
	"awb_gain":	"1",
	"aec_sensor":	"1",
	"aec_dsp":	"0",
	"ae_level":	"0",
	"exposure":	"168",
	"agc":	"1",
	"gain":	"1",
	"gain_ceiling":	"0",
	"bpc":	"0",
	"wpc":	"1",
	"raw_gma":	"1",
	"lens_correction":	"1",
	"v_flip":	"0",
	"h_mirror":	"0",
	"dcw_downsize":	"1",
	"color_bar":	"0",
	"scale":	"0",
	"binning":	"0",
	"denoise":	"0"
}

one will find similarities to the usual ESP32-CAM settings:

https://github.com/easytarget/esp32-cam-webserver/blob/master/API.md#settings

Maybe I can find some settings that improve the quality of the images ...
At least I know in the meantime how to pass the set-commands - via http/POST:

Code: [Select]

curl -v -d "{\"quality\":\"10\"}" -X POST "http://192.168.15.182/set_video_info"

Enclosed are a few more pictures.

Oliver

[Rover1822]

Wow, the curvature is quite bad. But not uncommon with that quality camera.

My security cam that I use is not much better , about the same price, with more functions.

https://rovr1.com/wind/images/Tower1.jpg


But I get it, the HP10 is for those that want a fairly simple solution, and for that, looks fine.

No, my wind turbine is not on a curved tower, neither is the antenna mast



edit: I had posted a link to the main site as opposed to just the cam image

[giusCB]

I think your objective is defective, the images are out of the focus at the edge [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[olicat]

Hi!

I took a photo with the HP10 every minute today locally via cron and then saved it as a time lapse video.
I could now use ffmpeg to add overlays with logo, time or weather data, change the resolution of the video or probably also adjust the display time per image.
So one can also do exciting things locally with the HP10 without necessarily sending the images to the cloud.
Even though the picture quality is unfortunately not great. But maybe it's really just my device that's defective.

Oliver

[Rover1822]

Even though the picture quality is unfortunately not great. But maybe it's really just my device that's defective.

No, I don't think the image quality is bad, the curvature is normal. Most security cams have a fixed focus (optimum) for 15 o 20 ft out, with closer being bad , and infinity being decent. I see that in your shots , don't think there is anything wrong with your images, it is to be expected. I doubt Ecowitt messed with the fixed focus of the cam (which they sourced from somewhere else) .

I run a time lapse site that is based on a certain number of images and then FIFO, the maintenance of the #of images is done client / upload side, with JS handling the presentation of the time lapse. Unfortunately that cam has been down for a while, however the time lapse stuff I put in place still works, although the images are old.

http://club-ov.com/WebCam.html.

reminds me I need to go over there, it just needs new FTP pwd and yeah a cleaning. This is not on my property, LOL, and importance of it has waned

[weatherdoc]

I have a Reolink RLC-510A that is $55 on Amazon in the US and I can't really see any curvature or distortion. Maybe because there are no objects close to the camera? Here's my live view https://novawx.dscloud.me/wxcamlive.php and my timelapse https://novawx.dscloud.me/wxcam-lapse.php. Here's a description of my setup and costs: https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=43546.msg444552.

[Daali]

Oliver,

do you think you will add support for custom pulls in FOSHKplugin?

[olicat]

Hi!

add support for custom pulls in FOSHKplugin?

Yes, but I'm still thinking about how to realise it.

Oliver

[PNCATTE]

Hi!


But at least there is the possibility to get the current image via http/GET using a script (pull).
A push - e.g. via FTP - is planned by Ecowitt for a future firmware version. But I fear that only a few users will be able to use this. FTP without SSL is no longer supported by many hosters.
In the internal network you can easily build a wrapper, which fetches a time-controlled image from the camera and then sends it via FTP/file system.
Like this:

Code: [Select]

curl -o `date +%y%m%d%H%M%S`-snapshot.jpg "http://192.168.15.182/capture"

or like this:

Code: [Select]

wget -O snapshot.jpg http://192.168.15.182/capture

In the examples here, 192.168.15.182 is the IP address of the camera.

Like the other devices with web interface, the HP10 camera also provides some http commands to communicate with the camera. I assume that Ecowitt will provide an API description soon.
I assume that the resolution of the taken pictures can be influenced by parameters in the URL, as well as brightness, saturation etc. But so far I haven't found the correct parameters.
Analog to the API of the GW1100/GW2000 the following commands are supported: get_version, get_ws_settings, get_device_info, get_network_info. Additionally there is at least get_video_info.
Also commands to set settings (like set_ws_settings and set_video_info) are available. But I have not dealt with that yet.

The camera communicates with Ecowitt via http/POST. For this a multipart consisting of mac, PASSKEY, stationtype, dateutc, battery, md5 and the actual image (JPG) is sent via http/POST to rtpmedia.ecowitt.net.


Oliver

Hello ,

Thanks for the link but I'm a beginner and I can't find the solution to set up the curl
either by the address of my HP10 192.168.1.133 or another means


curl -o `date +%y%m%d%H%M%S`-snapshot.jpg "http://192.168.1.133/capture"

Thanks in advance for the help

Sincerely

[olicat]

Hi!

What does your web browser show when you click on this link?
If the camera is accessible at 192.168.1.133, it should simply show you the current image in the browser with http://192.168.1.133/capture.
With curl you can simplify this a bit and save the output as an image file with a predefined name.
But you may have to install curl first. On which operating system are you trying to get the image?

Windows: https://curl.se/windows/
Linux:

Code: [Select]

sudo apt install curl

And of course you can't easily access the camera on the local network from a web server on the Internet.

(and please refrain from full quotes and double postings here in the forum)

Oliver

[PNCATTE]

Hello,
 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Sorry for the duplicate posting.
at the address 192.168.1.133 I see the image of the camera
I have WINDOWS I installed curl and I run the BIN/curl file in administrator mode the software does not install the same as under DOS
I run from the browser:
curl -o `date +%y%m%d%H%M%S`-snapshot.jpg "http://192.168.1.133/capture" and address is not recognized
I can't find my mistake
Thanks again for the help
Cordially

[olicat]

Hi!

curl -o `date +%y%m%d%H%M%S`-snapshot.jpg "http://192.168.1.133/capture" and address is not recognized

Windows probably can't handle the creation of the file name YYMMDDHHMMSS.jpg via the date command.
Just try this command with always the same name for the output file snapshot.jpg:

Code: [Select]

curl -s -o snapshot.jpg http://192.168.1.133/capture

If you prefer unique names:
At least in my German version of Windows 10 the automatic naming with YYMMDDHHMMSS-snapshot.jpg works with the following command:

Code: [Select]

curl -s -o %date:~-2%%date:~-7,2%%date:~-10,2%%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%-snapshot.jpg http://192.168.1.133/capture

Oliver

[PNCATTE]

I advance
By launching from the command prompt
curl -o `date +%y%m%d%H%M%S`-snapshot.jpg "http://192.168.15.182/capture"
I have the attached photo screen which is displayed but how to recover the snapshot.jpg file
The command: curl -s -o snapshot.jpg http://192.168.1.133/capture

A black frame appears and goes out immediately
Thank you again for your help
Sincerely

[olicat]

Hi!

I have the attached photo screen which is displayed

Again:
On Windows, creating a unique name using date/time works differently than on Linux.
The example from post #1 is for Linux systems.

For Windows use the assembling of the filename according to this post:

Code: [Select]

curl -s -o %date:~-2%%date:~-7,2%%date:~-10,2%%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%-snapshot.jpg http://192.168.1.133/capture

Depending on the configured date format and Windows version, adjustments may still be necessary when gathering the components such as day, month, year, hour, minute and second.

A black frame appears and goes out immediately

There is no transcription (it is suppressed by -s) on the screen. A Dos window that may open is closed automatically.
However, you should find the corresponding image snapshot.jpg in the directory in which you started the command.
To find the captured photo more easily, you can also specify the target dircetory within the command:

Code: [Select]

curl -s -o c:\path\to\store\snapshot.jpg http://192.168.1.133/capture

This example would save the snapshot.jpg in c:\path\to\store\.

Oliver

[PNCATTE]

Hello,

I can't find the image in the directories even by putting the path in the command

MY PC IS IN WINDOWS 10 FRENCH


With command :
 curl -s -o %date:~-2%%date:~-7,2%%date:~-10,2%%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2% -snapshot.jpg http://192.168.1.133/capture

I get the following image



thank you again for your help very useful for me

Cordialy

[Rover1822]

You may want to show the lines above what you have shown, starting with the command issued.

A screen capture also be easier to read, or even better selecting all the text in the command window, copy it (alt a to select, just hit enter and it will copy it (windows 10), and pasting it into your reply.

Edit: also try it without the -s , which is the silent switch to see what happens
Edit: the language version of doze does not matter

[olicat]

Hi!

It is always a good approach to start with the simple and move slowly and step by step towards the final goal.
So please leave the unique naming (and the silencing) for now and just test this at the prompt:

Code: [Select]

curl -o snapshot.jpg http://192.168.1.133/capture

Please note that Windows prevents writing to different directories (e.g. c:\windows\system32\)!
So it is not a bad idea to create an extra directory for these experiments.

If this works for you, you may go a step further and try with unique file naming:

Code: [Select]

curl -o %date:~-2%%date:~-7,2%%date:~-10,2%%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%-snapshot.jpg http://192.168.1.133/capture

Oliver

[PNCATTE]

Indeed the DIR under C posed concerns now the image is indeed sent in the DIR
On the other hand send this image in FTP to feed my site


curl -o C:\Weatherlink\snapshot.jpg http://192.168.1.133/capture

Thanks in advance

[HaraldS]

Got mine. Setup was ok. Wide angle fish eye lens is extreme. Also tends to show water drops in rain on the lense

[olicat]

Hi!

How do you think it performs at that specific task relative to a random repurposed outdoor security camera?

Personally, I don't have the means of comparison. Above you can see a few pictures taken with the HP10.
Of course there will be cameras with a much better image.
But I doubt whether these will be available at such a low price. And the simple integration into Ecowitt.net is of course also a big advantage of the HP10.

Has the power supply solution been an issue? I have no power at my panned site but looking at the specs I think I can power it from an outdoor power bank via the usb cable

It would then be a problem if you do not have a USB socket available or want to use a conventional power supply unit. Or the distance to the power source is greater than 5m.
Unfortunately, the plug for the connection is not known (yet). At least I don't know the type designation or the source of supply.
When I asked, Ecowitt wanted to offer a cable as an accessory. Then one can cut it and don't have to destroy the camera itself.
By the way, the power supply of the camera is simple - the camera is quite frugal and consumes max. 390mA during a snapshot.

Eventually I would want to feed a website, that does not yet exist but would be hosted by my NAS. Do you think in its current configuration that it is ready to perform that task?

Yes, that is possible without any problems. You can use a cron job to retrieve a photo at intervals, which you then reference in your HTML.

Finally the spec says 30 metre range in WiFi is that realistic? Again for my planned site I will need to get a WiFi extender sorted out if it's 30 metres

Unfortunately, I can't answer that - in my case, the structural conditions are much simpler. The 30m is always an estimate and depends on the walls and their materials. However, it is much easier to extend the WIFI than the normal radio communication at 868 MHz, for example.

Regards, Oliver

[box]

Hi!

How do you think it performs at that specific task relative to a random repurposed outdoor security camera?

Personally, I don't have the means of comparison. Above you can see a few pictures taken with the HP10.
Of course there will be cameras with a much better image.
But I doubt whether these will be available at such a low price. And the simple integration into Ecowitt.net is of course also a big advantage of the HP10.

Has the power supply solution been an issue? I have no power at my panned site but looking at the specs I think I can power it from an outdoor power bank via the usb cable

It would then be a problem if you do not have a USB socket available or want to use a conventional power supply unit. Or the distance to the power source is greater than 5m.
Unfortunately, the plug for the connection is not known (yet). At least I don't know the type designation or the source of supply.
When I asked, Ecowitt wanted to offer a cable as an accessory. Then one can cut it and don't have to destroy the camera itself.
By the way, the power supply of the camera is simple - the camera is quite frugal and consumes max. 390mA during a snapshot.

Eventually I would want to feed a website, that does not yet exist but would be hosted by my NAS. Do you think in its current configuration that it is ready to perform that task?

Yes, that is possible without any problems. You can use a cron job to retrieve a photo at intervals, which you then reference in your HTML.

Finally the spec says 30 metre range in WiFi is that realistic? Again for my planned site I will need to get a WiFi extender sorted out if it's 30 metres

Unfortunately, I can't answer that - in my case, the structural conditions are much simpler. The 30m is always an estimate and depends on the walls and their materials. However, it is much easier to extend the WIFI than the normal radio communication at 868 MHz, for example.

Regards, Oliver

As always many thanks for an informative answer!

[Bashy]

I have a Reolink RLC-510A that is $55 on Amazon in the US and I can't really see any curvature or distortion. Maybe because there are no objects close to the camera? Here's my live view https://novawx.dscloud.me/wxcamlive.php and my timelapse https://novawx.dscloud.me/wxcam-lapse.php. Here's a description of my setup and costs: https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=43546.msg444552.

You can see the curvature when you look at the house on the right hand side.
I use 1 reolink for my drive only, i can't fault it, it's an inside camera though but i really like the low light capabilities and i have been toying with the idea of one for the weather cam purely for the low light and able to see the clouds at night and the stars

From what i have seen so far from this Ecowit camera, it looks like a reasonable budget camera and due to the FOV, you will get the curvature, even my Ring doorbell has it and that was £180 when new lol You should be able to reduce it if you can digitally zoom in a little but then you start to lose some quality and FOV.