DIY Calving Camera?

muckymanor

muckymanor

Well-Known Member
Anyone got any experience of putting in their own calving camera?

I have been told that it is a relatively easy diy install?

Sricam are the brand of choice as they have the best app that makes for the easiest install.

Our plan is to get a vodafone prepaid wifi modem and put it into a waterproof box in the shed. Then mount 1 ptz camers off one of the pillars near the front centre of the shed which should be able to view all corners. we will do the plugs with waterproof boxes too and cable tie all cables to the pillars.

According to the sellers of this camers it is a very easy set up over the app.
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/272826462496?ul_noapp=true

We can then add extra cameras to the system. We have vodafone 4g with a very strong signal at the shed, so no issues on signal strength.

Am I missing something?

Can it be this easy?
 
We ended up buying the camera linked above over the weekend after seeing a demo of it working in a neighbour's shed.
€100 for the camera.
€15 for an extension lead to bring it out from the shed socket.
€10 for a waterproof box which will hold the modem and the plugs on top of one of the H irons in the shed.

The prepaid modem is likely to come in somewhere around €40 and it will be €20 per month for the 5 months that we will use it.

€175 in total plus a few cable ties and a mount for the camera. (Maybe €190 all in).

There's a lad on DD selling a full DIY calving kit with the same camera and a 3 modem for €440.

The trick might be in me getting what i bought to work.
 
I installed 2 a couple of years ago. No signal in the yard so had to bring WiFi from the home about 400 metres.

Working very well.
 
I use Foscam cam, very good zoom in can see a ewe lambing in detail at over 40feet away, not as vital for cows

you camera probably has a static ip pre loaded, but if needed you can create up to 3 free host names here just by verifying once a month
https://www.noip.com/
 

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ranger said:
I use Foscam cam, very good zoom in can see a ewe lambing in detail at over 40feet away, not as vital for cows

you camera probably has a static ip pre loaded, but if needed you can create up to 3 free host names here just by verifying once a month
https://www.noip.com/
Click to expand...
I too hadd a foscam and wouldnt wish the pos on anyone..my experience of the diy route was you needto be very i.t. savvy to make it work..i got the pro,s in after 2 yrs of foscam frustration..chucked it out and fitted the pro,s stuff..now if theres a prob, help is a pjone call away, worth a lot..
 
oldsmokey said:
I too hadd a foscam and wouldnt wish the pos on anyone..my experience of the diy route was you needto be very i.t. savvy to make it work..i got the pro,s in after 2 yrs of foscam frustration..chucked it out and fitted the pro,s stuff..now if theres a prob, help is a pjone call away, worth a lot..
Click to expand...

Messing about with electronics is my hobby. Anything I know (very little actually) was self taught. Answers to most problems is available online in some form or another.
 
ranger said:
Messing about with electronics is my hobby. Anything I know (very little actually) was self taught. Answers to most problems is available online in some form or another.
Click to expand...

Well I have my camera working perfectly at home in the kitchen this week. So hopefully it's just a case of screwing it up in the shed and plugging it all in. Need to find the time just. Like you I like to mess with electronics too and am often called on to fix or install a printer. As you say, all the answers are online.

Cameras have seriously improved in the last 2 years. Up to recently you had to have a network to plug the camera into in order to set it up. Now you can do it over WiFi on the app on your phone.
 
Delighted with myself this morning. A few free hours and I got my camera all set up and working in the kitchen on the vodafone mifi. Its just a case of bringing it to the shed now and plugging it in.
 
muckymanor said:
It's set up in my kitchen. I can access it on my phone or on a tablet. Had to just download an app on both.

It rotates and zooms using the app. I just have to plug it into the shed and screw up the camera. Hope to put it up over the weekend and I'll post some pics here
Click to expand...
Would it be possible to get it on to a tv or a laptop do u think? Auld lad doesnt have smartphone.

Might give it a try if auld lad can see it
 
Charolais0153 said:
Would it be possible to get it on to a tv or a laptop do u think? Auld lad doesnt have smartphone.

Might give it a try if auld lad can see it
Click to expand...

There is an app that you can download to a laptop for it.

We bought a cheap tablet for it - €50 in argos. It was very simple to set it up onto it.

I think I can give you a guest log in for it when I have it set up and you can go into it and see what it's like.
 
Running a camera using a 4G network such as Vodafone requires a static IP SIM card which costs a fortune a month and Vodafone don't offer it themselves. A Dynamic IP service like NO-IP will not work. Unless you pay for a static IP Sim, you will not be able to access the camera remotely. One other way is to purchase a camera that offerers a cloud service like Hikvision.

What are you using that lets you find your camera on the internet remotely?
 
Mikey said:
Running a camera using a 4G network such as Vodafone requires a static IP SIM card which costs a fortune a month and Vodafone don't offer it themselves. A Dynamic IP service like NO-IP will not work. Unless you pay for a static IP Sim, you will not be able to access the camera remotely. One other way is to purchase a camera that offerers a cloud service like Hikvision.

What are you using that lets you find your camera on the internet remotely?
Click to expand...

I acces my cameras remotely using teamviewer ,I do have a computer in my office that's switched on 24/7 running my parlour and oopfs though.
 
I think these pics answer all the posts above. Set it up in the shed today. It works perfectly on the Vodafone prepaid dongle. Very happy with it. Love the fact that I was able to figure it out and set it all up myself.

Works class at night too as shown in the last pics
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I remember an uncle installed a very high end philips system in the early nineties the daytime picture wasn't half the quality of the night view you have there.

His cabling probably cost more than your full setup. It's amazing how things have progressed
 
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