Dahua Ethernet ip camera convert to wireless

Pete_Repeat

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At work I have a number of Dahua ip cameras to record some laboratory testing. I am now looking at changing one of the cameras to a mobile unit. I would look at a wireless camera (yes I know wifi is frowned apon here as it's not reliable, but I have a reason to go wireless) but our wifi uses wpa2 enterprise so nearly all wifi cameras won't connect. I'm not prepared go pay close to $1k here is Australia for a low res axis camera and prefer to stick with the cameras I have if possible.

I was looking at a point to point bridge like the Ubiquito devices and this would work well at the wall connection as our network carries POE. But I'm not sure if it's possible to power the other end. Perhaps an injector of some sort but even then both the bridge and the camera need the POE injected.. I think a POE switch for both the camera and bridge would mess with our it system with ip's wouldn't it? I can't use my own router with a wifi and put it in bridge mode as I believe our network will shut the port down..

Networking isn't my strength so I'm a little lost. The point to point devices Ubiquito looked good until I couldn't work out how to power both it and the camera, especially by battery (to make it truly wireless). Any thoughts other than run Ethernet cables carrying POE to wherever I push the camera to?
 

Pete_Repeat

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So in summary, I hoped to power the camera from battery ( I have a few portable batteries with 5V, 12V and laptop voltages) and use wireless of some sort (keeping in mind our wpa2 is enterprise so most cameras won't connect through wifi) like the point to point bridges.
 

catcamstar

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Hi,

interesting use case, so I turned on my google skills :p IPC with wifi is indeed troublesome. However I found this gem: Hot Selling Pocket Wireless Hotspot Mini Usb 3g Wireless Access Point - Buy 3g Wireless Access Point,Mini Usb Wireless Access Point,Long Range Wireless Access Point Product on Alibaba.com (<!> not sure about quality / performance / !!! no experience with this thingy). But it looks promising! Powerbank with 3g/wifi access point/repeater etc. Not sure if the wifi is reliable, but this already eliminates the "networking" part. Then you're up for some calculations on how to hook up the batteries to power the cam.

Good luck!
CC
 

Pete_Repeat

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Thanks for the link. I'm not sure I see how that'll work though. My understandimg is that it's a router with a 3g modem in it. So it won't out my camera on the same network as the other fixed wired cameras I have already.

I was looking at these but as mentioned above, getting the power into the device could be a challenge. This affectively just removes the Ethernet cable with no ip or Mac problems so I'm pretty sure out network won't care with these devices. Maybe run the camera on it's own external power port and use an injector to give power to this bridging device plus plug the camera into the Lan plug.

Wireless PtP & PtMP Ubiquiti - Long Range Point to Point Wireless airMAX - Long Range Wireless
 

fenderman

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TonyR

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+1^^.

I've used close to a dozen of those (and it's older cousin the TP-LINK TL-WN702N) to boost wireless reception to PC's in another room, turn older xBox 360's into wireless, turn a wired network laser printer into wireless and created a closed-system wireless access point from my truck so I can view an iPhone pointed down to the trailer hitch ball and view it from the truck cab on an iPad while backing up. They can be powered by a USB port or the included 5VDC wall wart.

Great little devices.
 

Pete_Repeat

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So this would plug into my camera with the Ethernet port, put the device into bridge mode and then connect it to my work wifi?

Is that how it works? It seems that way from my reading about bridges and access points.

I can't see if it supports wpa2 enterprise however but might keep looking for bridges that support wpa2 enterprise which wasn't obvious at first search.
 

TonyR

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So this would plug into my camera with the Ethernet port, put the device into bridge mode and then connect it to my work wifi?

Is that how it works? It seems that way from my reading about bridges and access points.

I can't see if it supports wpa2 enterprise however but might keep looking for bridges that support wpa2 enterprise which wasn't obvious at first search.
Actually it's set up to use it's "client" mode but I won't go on with the specifics of setup, wasting your time and mine, as it appears not to support IEEE 802.1X (WPA2 Enterprise) wireless.
 
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I think the simple move is to stay off the official company WIFI network and start a new private WIFI network between your camera and your DVR, assuming the camera and DVR will be within WIFI range of each other.

Walta
 

Pete_Repeat

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I think the simple move is to stay off the official company WIFI network and start a new private WIFI network between your camera and your DVR, assuming the camera and DVR will be within WIFI range of each other.

Walta
They will be within 20m of each however I wanted to keep this on the same network as the other wired ip cameras that on my work network.

I have a blue iris setup for multiple wired ip cameras that I plan on streaming internally on our network using the Webserver. I'm not sure if it's possible to have a seperate network and have the single blue iris Webserver to stream all cameras at once is it?

Originally I wondered if I could bridge a router and connect it my work network through Ethernet and create my own wifi with wpa only (buying a wifi ip camera) but I believe this won't be favoured (and likely have the port shut down) by our system (due to security reasons).

I have a bit of learning to do or shopping around still it seems.
 
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