Unlimited access >

Cameras- inexpensive and easy for dummy to install and use!

That’s such a good point. Yeah, it’s during recording that it really seems to lag.

I don’t think the Eufy writes to the cloud, it has some sort of local storage? Must be why it’s faster to pull up when something interesting is happening.

There’s a way to send Eufy to the cloud

Just a heads up for anyone who’s interested in adding cameras: Blink is on steep sale for Prime Day

Here are two cameras for thirty bucks:

https://a.co/d/azL1yzJ

These are indoor cams (probably do okay in a barn) and need to be plugged in. They connect via WiFi.

There’s also a deal in outdoor cams, three for $125, plus a free mini

https://a.co/d/6X41EUx

These run off a rechargable battery (or can be plugged in) and connect via WiFi, and the mini plugs in, inside.

There are a few more deals on doorbell cams or spotlight cams, too.

1 Like

we have CCTV cameras on the goats, wife’s Great Pyrenees pup who is to be the goat watch dog believes it best to watch the goats on the TV

2 Likes

I had to send the eufy security system back (not the cameras). It cannot be set up with wifi only, it has to have an ethernet cable to the router.

I am keeping the solo cam.

We finally got the barn wifi to work! Turns out the bridge was sending out such a strong signal that it was interfering with itself (?), and we had to turn it down. We never would have figured that out. We ended up paying a work friend who spent about 2 hours on 2 different Sundays dealing with it. In hindsight I think we should have just run an ethernet cable but oh well, I’m getting 60+ Mbps in the aisle now!

Next step is to finally buy cameras. I think I’m going with a Lorex NVR system because they do continuous recording with no subscription fees and the app gets decent reviews. They’re having a sale right now too.

2 Likes

The square foot coverage is for inside a building. They are assuming that you will have walls and floors and other wireless limiting factors. I can’t say how much a wireless router in the middle of an empty field could realistically cover but it will be more than inside a house.

Here is a good article that talks about how wireless signals are affected by trees.

One things to look for in mesh networks is tri-bands. You want to make sure that the units have a separate antenna just for communicating with each other. So the units will typically have the typical 2.4 and 5GHz band for clients to connect. Then have a third 5GHz band for the units to talk.

2.4GHz is good for distance and obstacles. 5GHz is good for speed.

2 Likes

Just want to say the Swann system I got is neither inexpensive nor easy :rofl: Gorgeous picture but we’re still not quite done, had to order a cord for the wifi antennae to get it outside the tack room, since I have zero signal (not wifi, not data) inside the tack room. It’s like a faraday box. We might have been done a little sooner but the original BNC connectors I ordered were complete trash, so we had to order new ones. Thankfully SO knows what he’s doing and was able to get that all soldered and sorted. Now to just get remote access by getting it on the wifi, but it’s currently recording to the DVR.

1 Like

Well after much money and troubleshooting we had to give up on WiFi and run Ethernet cable out to the barn. It works wonderfully and thankfully we were able to tack it onto a fence most of the way.

@TheJenners, how is your Swann system? I finally got my Lorex up and running, and I’m happy with the cameras/DVR but annoyed with the app/notifications.

Unlike our Arlo doorbell, which does a decent job of recognizing people vs. animals vs. vehicles, the Lorex thinks my horses are people so I get notifications all day for people in my stalls. The outdoor cameras either notify me all night about moths, or all day about vehicles on the neighboring farm’s driveway. By googling I figured out that although you can set up motion zones to exclude certain areas like the neighbor’s driveway, the zones don’t apply to person or vehicle detection. So I can either have motion detection alerts that exclude the driveway but generate a million moth notifications, or person/vehicle alerts that don’t exclude the driveway. And you won’t get animal alerts unless you have motion (aka moth) turned on, which sucks because we have had issues with the neighbors’ dogs trespassing and chasing horses.

The worst part is that my husband walked in front of one of the outdoor cameras one night, carrying a gun no less, and I did NOT get a notification for that. Moths yes, man with gun no! Wtf?

So, they are useful for recording everything but not so much for monitoring things in real-time, or knowing when something might have happened so you can look at the recording. Also when you look back through video on the app it doesn’t scrub, so you could easily miss something.

Well… Got it attached to the wifi for a couple days and since then it cant find any wifi signals period, whereas I can see about five on my phone standing next to it. Aggravating.

Get a Wi-Fi booster for it. That’s what we did

Argh!!! Okay, mine is annoying but at least I don’t have that particular problem.

I already have one :rofl: I actually unplugged the antenna and plugged it back, working now.

1 Like

Anyone use Barn Owl?

FWIW if you want to document movement a decent wildlife camera is a possible supplement to a Wi-Fi set up. Some of them are pretty good at capturing trespassers of the two or four legged type. The one we had used a chip that recorded the images that can be removed and reviewed.