DIY Calving Camera?

Quick question for some of the more tech savvy members than myself. Thinking of setting up calving camera here due to work etc. House is roughly 150m from shed and have broadband in the house. Is there a way to run a cable to the house direct from camera and broadcast from there? so there is only a setup cost and no monthly data charges etc as phone coverage can be an issue at times. Can the normal household wifi router do this or is a different setup needed to transmit to a website/app. Or is this alot more work than it is worth and a dongle and sim setup is a better option?

You can get a wifi sender that will it that far. Can't recommend any brand, but if you google it, you will find it. You should be able to pick something up off ebay for a right price. Or you can get one that will send it through your household plugs. Again, google is your friend on this one as I have never used them.
 
Quick question for some of the more tech savvy members than myself. Thinking of setting up calving camera here due to work etc. House is roughly 150m from shed and have broadband in the house. Is there a way to run a cable to the house direct from camera and broadcast from there? so there is only a setup cost and no monthly data charges etc as phone coverage can be an issue at times. Can the normal household wifi router do this or is a different setup needed to transmit to a website/app. Or is this alot more work than it is worth and a dongle and sim setup is a better option?
We have a CAT5 cable running to the sheds linking the cameras to the DVR recorder in the house. Brother, a sparky, set it up. DVR links to the WiFi in the house. Can watch what's happening on an App on the phone when away. DVR connected to the tv for the old fella too. Get a DVR with a good few channels as you can add cameras to watch the house, gate etc while you're at it. Always comply with GDPR though:whistle:
 
We have magnets on the back of a couple of the cameras in the shed. That way we can move them around when required without too much hassle, just stick them to the girders. Handy if you want a couple of angles. It doesnt affect the picture. We robbed the magnets from the emergency magnetic lights you put on trailers.
 
I've a couple of ubiquiti nanostations that bounce wi-fi over to my parlour,I then have engenius acces point that bounces wi-fi around my buildings in a 100m or so radius one of my cameras is connected direct to this,I also have another engenius that bounces wi-fi out the other side of the house,this means I can get wi-fi around most of my yard,also means wi-fi cameras will work.
 
Thanks for the replies. Looks like a wifi sender and reciever may be the handiest rather than running a cable. Is there much of configuration to be done to get camera setup with router? From a bit of googling it seems to be relatively simple.
 
Thanks for the replies. Looks like a wifi sender and reciever may be the handiest rather than running a cable. Is there much of configuration to be done to get camera setup with router? From a bit of googling it seems to be relatively simple.

Depends on your camera,the Sricam type off eBay are simple to set up,took me a while to sort my £1000 axis camera,2nd one was much faster.
 
I’ve a tp link Cpe nano station and it’ll bounce a WiFi signal around 2/300ft no problem, once you’ve clear line of sight to it. You can also set them up as a pair over a far greater distance, I think up to 5km with rough line of sight. Had a cheap eBay cam was working ok I’d say a little slow due to the range it was working at. But the camera has since given up.
 
I’ve a tp link Cpe nano station and it’ll bounce a WiFi signal around 2/300ft no problem, once you’ve clear line of sight to it. You can also set them up as a pair over a far greater distance, I think up to 5km with rough line of sight. Had a cheap eBay cam was working ok I’d say a little slow due to the range it was working at. But the camera has since given up.

How does a nano station work? Does it pick up wifi and then send it or do you have to use a cable to plug it into a modem?
Problem is in our house that all wifi connections are wifi.
 
How does a nano station work? Does it pick up wifi and then send it or do you have to use a cable to plug it into a modem?
Problem is in our house that all wifi connections are wifi.
Not sure on the specifics of the nano station but there are different types. Some can be set up as a wireless bridge, they pick up the wifi and send send it out again effectively extending the range of the original. Others you set up as pairs with line of sight to link buildings that are too far apart to link with wires, plug one into the modem and the other would have your camera/computer (other wifi emitter or what ever) plugged in at the other building.
 
How does a nano station work? Does it pick up wifi and then send it or do you have to use a cable to plug it into a modem?
Problem is in our house that all wifi connections are wifi.
Pretty much as paw said, in my case the tp link cpe(cant remember if it’s a 210 or 510) is connected with an ether net(cat5) cable o your router then you set it up to do which ever function you require. I had it set to broadcast WiFi using the normal network name and password which meant my phone would auto connect to it in the yard. You can set the network to what ever you want and it also gives you the option of open or hidden, open basically means if you take out a phone in the yard that’s not connected to it it will show up in the available networks list but on hidden you have to manually enter the details (network name and password) and then it will find it. Naturally the open is less secure than hidden as anybody in the yard will be able to find it.

Alternatively you can set it as a bridge link where the signal just goes from one, set up as the sender to the other which is set up as a receiver. The receiver then needs to be hooked either direct, to a network switch if multiple computers/ cameras or to a WiFi router if wanting to connect via WiFi. The advantage of the bridge is the range the tp link I have I think will do up to 5k line of sight once you get the 2 looking fairly square at each other
 
..... The advantage of the bridge is the range the tp link I have I think will do up to 5k line of sight once you get the 2 looking fairly square at each other
That's pretty much how I get broadband (don't have a landline here, broadband on the landline was utter shite if it was even connected). Little dish on the end of the house aimed at a transmitter 9 miles away. Wire from the dish into my router in the house.
 
That's pretty much how I get broadband (don't have a landline here, broadband on the landline was utter shite if it was even connected). Little dish on the end of the house aimed at a transmitter 9 miles away. Wire from the dish into my router in the house.
Brother installs these systems, he has had major problems with the ubiquiti units this year and wont use them again, now he uses totlinks which he says are unbeatable, 300mbps, think he gets all his calving cameras from https://www.equicom.ie in cork, says he cant fault the product and that they give the customers support so he does not have to deal with any issues after installation.
 
Hard to believe that it's 12 months on since I started this thread. I have to say that the camera was a great investment. It saved lives. It saved journeys. It kept an old man happy and content being able to watch them every day on an ipad which saved my ear. We are going to be housing cows in the next week or 2 so I got the camera running yesterday again with a top up of the dongle. It's working perfect and so far I can look at the tractor or the slatted pen of turf.

Hoping to make some changes at home. We have 3 cameras in 3 different sheds. I had them working off old android phones last year (tesco mobile costing about €5 a month on data). It worked fine, but you had to be constantly topping up or checking that there was credit. So the parents are planning on getting new broadband in the house in the coming weeks and there's some lad supposed to come to test for signal. I'm going to get him to set up something that will bounce the broadband to the sheds - 2 are 30 meters away and the third is 300m away. They'll be able to view them over the wifi signal without using any data and I'll be able to view it online. It should work out ok.

GetAttachmentThumbnail
 
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.

This is a v informative thread, in the process of doing similar to Mucky myself............. @ranger if u dont mind me asking, have you made anything electronic that is useful, Im self taught on electronics and electricity and always looking for a good project.
 
This is a v informative thread, in the process of doing similar to Mucky myself............. @ranger if u dont mind me asking, have you made anything electronic that is useful, Im self taught on electronics and electricity and always looking for a good project.

no, perhaps electronics is not 100% truthful, more on the lines of communications and propogation, I have built a couple of crystal radio receivers in the past,
but they were bought in kit form so fairly easy to do.

after many years of putting it on the long finger I eventually sat the radio experimenter's exam some years ago and became
a licensed ham radio operator, not vey active lately but still meet up with fellow ops. every now and then for a chat.
 
no, perhaps electronics is not 100% truthful, more on the lines of communications and propogation, I have built a couple of crystal radio receivers in the past,
but they were bought in kit form so fairly easy to do.

after many years of putting it on the long finger I eventually sat the radio experimenter's exam some years ago and became
a licensed ham radio operator, not vey active lately but still meet up with fellow ops. every now and then for a chat.

@ranger and @towbar and probably missing lots of others who are also electrically inclined, are there any good farm related projects that could be taken on that you are aware of, would love to have a craack at something useful and learn a few new things along the way
 
Hard to believe that it's 12 months on since I started this thread. I have to say that the camera was a great investment. It saved lives. It saved journeys. It kept an old man happy and content being able to watch them every day on an ipad which saved my ear. We are going to be housing cows in the next week or 2 so I got the camera running yesterday again with a top up of the dongle. It's working perfect and so far I can look at the tractor or the slatted pen of turf.

Hoping to make some changes at home. We have 3 cameras in 3 different sheds. I had them working off old android phones last year (tesco mobile costing about €5 a month on data). It worked fine, but you had to be constantly topping up or checking that there was credit. So the parents are planning on getting new broadband in the house in the coming weeks and there's some lad supposed to come to test for signal. I'm going to get him to set up something that will bounce the broadband to the sheds - 2 are 30 meters away and the third is 300m away. They'll be able to view them over the wifi signal without using any data and I'll be able to view it online. It should work out ok.

GetAttachmentThumbnail

hi Mucky, very useful thread.
Did you get the wifi system setup and working?
I have 2 sheds one 100m from the house and one 50m the other side.
I have a camera set up in one with a basic wifi booster temporarily positioned between the house and shed. the picture is jumpy though as connection is weak.
I'm looking to set something more permanent up. Any info on the system you are using would be much appreciated.
 
@ranger and @towbar and probably missing lots of others who are also electrically inclined, are there any good farm related projects that could be taken on that you are aware of, would love to have a craack at something useful and learn a few new things along the way
Sorry for delayed response. Projects I have done here include cameras, temperature sensors in grain store, remote control for aeration fans and electronics to automate tasks on headlands when drilling.
 
hi Mucky, very useful thread.
Did you get the wifi system setup and working?
I have 2 sheds one 100m from the house and one 50m the other side.
I have a camera set up in one with a basic wifi booster temporarily positioned between the house and shed. the picture is jumpy though as connection is weak.
I'm looking to set something more permanent up. Any info on the system you are using would be much appreciated.

Eddie86,
Our system is as follows
2 no. P2P PTZ cameras (120 quid each on Ebay)
2 no. Ubiquiti M2 Loco Nanostations (40 quid each)
a switch (10)

See attached diagram

P2P will mean you wont have to go messing with DVR's and buying IP address's (fine if you just want them to Monitor calvings)
Camera's are also wi-fi enabled so if you had a strong enough router in the shed the camera's could be put through this
View them through APCam app on Iphone or Android
1 nano station is programmed as a bridge and the other is programmed as a station
 

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I am getting a problem with moisure on the inside of the lens on my IP camera, left it in the car for a few days, brought it into the house last night to set about streamlining IP addresses, and lens was all fogged up. When house was cooler this morning seemed to be much improved, however its back again now.

The funny thing is opened it up and cleaned it during christmas, no water anywhere near it, stored indoor since, so no water is getting in.

Confused............

Anyone ever seen that before ?
 
Eddie86,
Our system is as follows
2 no. P2P PTZ cameras (120 quid each on Ebay)
2 no. Ubiquiti M2 Loco Nanostations (40 quid each)
a switch (10)

See attached diagram

P2P will mean you wont have to go messing with DVR's and buying IP address's (fine if you just want them to Monitor calvings)
Camera's are also wi-fi enabled so if you had a strong enough router in the shed the camera's could be put through this
View them through APCam app on Iphone or Android
1 nano station is programmed as a bridge and the other is programmed as a station

What type of switch are you using ? Sounds cheap at 10

Mind if I ask what Ptz you have

@WestClare
 
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hi Mucky, very useful thread.
Did you get the wifi system setup and working?
I have 2 sheds one 100m from the house and one 50m the other side.
I have a camera set up in one with a basic wifi booster temporarily positioned between the house and shed. the picture is jumpy though as connection is weak.
I'm looking to set something more permanent up. Any info on the system you are using would be much appreciated.

I'm planning on going with this. Its probably strong enough to supply wifi to the whole townland.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wireless...m=264081846766&_trksid=p2045573.c100505.m3226
 
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