Smile – you’re on….
I’m having a good time messing with my security camera.
Messing is required as I don’t have a manual and I can’t look the camera up on the Interweb as it doesn’t have a name or manufacturer. Well, there was a manual which was a concertinaed scrap of paper with printing fit to be read by a flea. It was almost unreadable, but I have “mislaid” it anyway.
There are some problems that I have nearly solved, but it ain’t quite ready for installation yet.
First of all, there is the bunch of cables. From left to right they are Power, Ethernet and a button that does something but I’m not sure what [reset?]. The more observant of you may have noted that the bunch is only about a foot long which means all those connectors will have to be waterproofed [unless I drill a huge hole in the concrete wall – no chance]. Also the power unit is the type that has a transformer in the plug so the power socket has to be near the camera. I have yet to buy a 12V power extension lead, but at least such a thing exists. I still have the waterproof problem.
Anyhows, I set it up in the house so it’s looking out the window. They did give instructions on how to connect to my laptop and mobile phone so it does work. I even discovered what al those lenses are for. The camera lens is actually in the middle, the ones on each side are infra-red and the top and bottom four are LEDs that provide enough light to illuminate the entire parish and the hills beyond.
The next problem was that it insisted that if I wanted to actually record anything I had to sign up to some web site I had never heard of and to hand over my credit card. Fuck that for a game of soldiers! Do they think I came down with the last shower?
I cracked the camera open and admired all the wiring and circuit boards. There was a space that looked like it was expecting a memory card to be slotted in though there was no indication that this wasn’t a coincidence. Anyways, I robbed a micro-card out of Herself’s phone [which is dead since she drenched it]. It fitted nicely so I reassembled and powered up. Wow! I was right. It is a slot and I now have internal memory which works and records any movement which the camera sees.
As I said, I can access the camera either on my laptop or my phone. For some strange reason they give completely different functions. Depending on the device, I can replay recorded movement alerts [phone] set alarms [laptop] and various other tweaks. The only one I can’t find is sensitivity. Is it going to alert me every time the dog walks over to the gate, or does a burglar have to stick his face within three feet of the camera?
My next phase is to buy that power extension lead and then place the camera out on the roof to see how it reacts to the postman. If it works, I’ll mount it permanently.
I suppose I had better send myself a postcard to be sure the postman calls?
What, he doesn't deliver tons of junk mail anyways?
No. He's well behaved. He saves all the junk until there is something that is actually addressed to me whereupon I seem to get everything all at once. I then have to sort through it all to find the one item that is for me [usually something I bin anyway].
You need some of this stuff: Linky
Follow the instructions and it will be 100% water proof.
Looks good, thanks. The current situation is that I have ordered a power lead extender and as soon as that arrives I'll set up a temporary outdoor test. I can fabricate a temporary rainproof shelter. If I'm happy with that I'll go for the tape to make it more permanent.
There are a few interesting cameras around that connect to WiFi but the manufacturers always seem to want it on their servers and you need a smart phone. It is a pain where everything is forced into the cloud whether you want it or not..
There are quite a few things now where you need a phone to use. I used Cahoot for banking. it was brilliant and did everything I wanted. Superb service and no issues for nearly two decades moving from telephone banking to online. Then they wanted you to use a smart phone interface for 2 factor authentication and they slowly reduced what you could do till it was only low value transactions that you have previously set up. Everything else now needed a phone call to their service desk. A step backwards but apparently progress. It appears that everyone now is assumed to have a mobile phone and as such can't even do online banking without it.
I suppose the cloud storage is to allow the system to work remotely. Currently I can view the camera remotely but can't view any recordings.
As for mobile phones, I confess I have grown fond of mine, having struggled for a long time with crap versions. In fact my smart phone is more efficient than the laptop in a of of instances and has applications that are far more efficient. I use it a lot now, though I'm not exactly glued to it!
Have you tried putting the cameras IP address in your browser ?
A lot of these cameras have a webserver running.
If the camera supports the onvif standard, you can use any number of free software packages to record the video.
I am using :- https://www.ispyconnect.com/
Since the camera has antennas the “button” you speak of is probably for pairing with any WiFi device (or Bluetooth? Hard to tell without a manual). Our security cameras are wireless, no Ethernet cable and that’s what the button is for–pairing the the included wireless base.
Just sayin’.