I have backyard drainage system that feeds into a 20 inch diameter bucket in ground, with pump at bottom. I want to be able to watch water pouring into this bucket from drains. Requirements as I see it, Wifi, waterproof, IR, very wide angle, ONVIF. Any recommendations. It would have to focus in 1 foot. I would mount this high in the bucket on one wall opposite drains coming into bucket.
Camera for sump pump
- Thread starter jmcgee
- Start date
Flintstone61
Known around here
you might "see" good enough to get an idea of whats flowing with any 2.8 mm camera. those are kind of standard fare. you might also try a 4x varifocal to sharpen it, but thats a narrower field of view. stop in a Sam's or Costco and put your head one foot away from a display camera. thats what your gonna see. pretty much.
Amcrest 1080p WiFi Camera Outdoor Smart Home 2mp Bullet IP Security Camera for sale online | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Amcrest 1080p WiFi Camera Outdoor Smart Home 2mp Bullet IP Security Camera at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
As an eBay Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.
Flintstone61
Known around here
Amazon.com : Amcrest 1080P WiFi Camera Outdoor, Smart Home 2MP Bullet IP Security Camera Outdoor Wireless, 98ft Nightvision, Built-in Mic, 102° FOV, 256GB MicroSD Storage (Sold Separately), ASH22-W (Wired Power) : Electronics
Amazon.com : Amcrest 1080P WiFi Camera Outdoor, Smart Home 2MP Bullet IP Security Camera Outdoor Wireless, 98ft Nightvision, Built-in Mic, 102° FOV, 256GB MicroSD Storage (Sold Separately), ASH22-W (Wired Power) : Electronics
www.amazon.com
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.
Jessie.slimer
BIT Beta Team
Is this more for curiosity or because there was a problem in the past?!?
I Monitor the sump in other ways. More specifically I track the start up current, low, mid, high power, frequency, and duration. 
The system than calculates the total power consumption and spits out a nightly email report. All of this is obviously graphed so I can recall historical events to better understand if there’s a potential issue on the horizon!
I’ve never considered installing a camera inside but now this topic came up.
I just might - damn you guys!
Jessie.slimer
BIT Beta Team
Yeah, when we moved here years ago, I had every intention of replacing the crappy old pump that was in there. The area has a very high water table and we quickly learned that the sump pump runs almost constantly during spring months. We got sidetracked with other projects and never got around to the pump. A couple months later, one night after getting home from work, I noticed that I hadn't heard the faint hum from the old pump turning on and off. I opened the access panel to the crawlspace and found about 3 feet of water. I quickly shut power off since there is some wiring down there and sped off to the hardware store to grab a pump. Ever see the movie Titanic where Leo has to unlock the gate underwater? Well that was me in the crawlspace on the opposite side of the house from the access door replacing this pump in the dark with only a waterproof flashlight. I only had about a foot of airspace between the top of the water and the floor joists.
I got it emptied but that experience made me go absolutely nuts in making sure it would never happen again. I put dual Liberty pumps (each on a different circuit) with contactless level sensors, 2 105ah batteries into an inverter as a backup, water leak sensors next to the pit connected to my home automation, and finally a camera so I don't have to get down there to see the (now silent) pumps running or the led indicators on the inverter or level sensor plugs. It's way overkill, I know, but I had a really bad experience.
I figured the $50 cheapo camera was worth it.
I got it emptied but that experience made me go absolutely nuts in making sure it would never happen again. I put dual Liberty pumps (each on a different circuit) with contactless level sensors, 2 105ah batteries into an inverter as a backup, water leak sensors next to the pit connected to my home automation, and finally a camera so I don't have to get down there to see the (now silent) pumps running or the led indicators on the inverter or level sensor plugs. It's way overkill, I know, but I had a really bad experience.
I figured the $50 cheapo camera was worth it.
Jessie.slimer
BIT Beta Team
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.
The core energy monitoring system is made by Brultech which is called the Green Eye Monitor (GEM): Energy Monitors | Brultech Research Inc The energy data is captured and stored primarily on the Brultech Dash Box (DB). Energy Management is controlled by the ISY-994 Series Controller which is over seen by my Guardian Watch Monitor (GWM) which manages all of the active / reactive security force protection elements within the home and property.
Below you can see on this specific day the sump pump activated four times. The maximum (RMS) power was 431.48 watts.
Zooming in on one of the activations shows the duration of that cycle began at 7:46 PM and stopped at 7:48 PM or two minutes.
Knowing how large of a backup battery during a grid down event isn't guessing for me. I know exactly how much power or in this case VA (Volt Amps) are needed. You'll notice that during the four cycles several activations required less power. This high lights the importance of being able to track, recall historic events as different conditions will make a piece of equipment operate differently as seen below.
If you were just some random Joe Average and decided to place a clamp on meter at one single moment and it was at the green high lighted time span. You would have mistakingly thought and assumed the most the device required was 400 VA instead of 782 VA!
As seen here the actual current drawn at those intervals when cycled. There's a huge difference between 3.XX amps vs 6.35 amps.
Putting it all into perspective a sump consumes very little energy as seen here.
Now if we take everything we know now we can see if there is a trend or a pending issue about to arise. As you kindly noted the A Typical hum you normally hear wasn't there. It's only because you went and checked that you found the pump had failed. Imagine you weren't present and the famous:
If a tree falls down in the forest does it still make a sound??
Whelps, we all know if you weren't there to hear the hum of the sump. Upon your return your beautiful home would have been damaged by water!
I don't ever have to worry about if something is on, off, running too long, too short, consuming too much power, voltage is too high / low, in temp, out of temp, I know! The system has been designed to inform me and the family from basic to more advanced whether it be email, sms, voice alert, strobe / siren, to reader board.
Every circuit and individual load is known as to its current state (On - Off) how long its been running, energy consumed, power to start up, if current is within spec, the total costs that second, minute, hour, day, month, year, etc. If the GWM believes there is a out of band problem it will alert me using all of the above and depending upon if I am away / home.
The system will react and activate / terminate the power, water, temperature, fire control, etc.
Jessie.slimer
BIT Beta Team
Very cool setup. Do you have anything to alert you if the level switch doesn't work and never commands the pump on?
Sorry to the OP as @Jessie.slimer take this whole thread off topic and off the rails!
Like you there were lots of things that happen to me and friends that drove me to do a lot of Excess to insure a level of backup / redundancy. What I've done probably doesn't address your question per say so here's a over view. There are two sump pumps a primary and secondary both of which are powered independently of one another.The secondary pump is mounted higher and (IF) it goes off I know the primary has failed.
To bolster these two systems are some sensors one of which is a Insteon leak sensor that has been placed at a set level to let me know water is present. Another is a ultra sonic water depth sensor which sends me updates as to the current level of water inside of the sump pit. Lastly, there is a very old school ladder sensor that has a LED reader board to by Eye can know the current level of water present / not present.
Again, all of this is monitored by the GWM which manages the entire home to maintain over all comfort, safety, and security to my family.
A camera would be a whole lot easier in terms of visuals so I'm going to grab a throw away camera! I'll probably have to pick up a broom handle and mark it off with increments / depth I believe is important to know. So when I log into the camera I'll know right away what the current depth is in the sump!
Great idea using a camera. Im going try this for my sump pump. I Might even try using ivs tripwire and throw a hockey ball or something in the water.
Here is my Amcrest camera in action
20210531153322850_Z163B6ECF2307_L_32_L070531153322.mp4.mpeg - Shared with pCloud
Store videos in pCloud. Share them with just the right people. Access them on any device. Create a free account now!
Very happy with it. The float got stuck with a stick and the camera went underwater with no ill effects
Jessie.slimer
BIT Beta Team
Jessie.slimer
BIT Beta Team
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
That's a quiet pump!Here is my Amcrest camera in action
20210531153322850_Z163B6ECF2307_L_32_L070531153322.mp4.mpeg - Shared with pCloud
Store videos in pCloud. Share them with just the right people. Access them on any device. Create a free account now!u.pcloud.link
Very happy with it. The float got stuck with a stick and the camera went underwater with no ill effects
sebastiantombs
Known around here
Here is my Amcrest camera in action
20210531153322850_Z163B6ECF2307_L_32_L070531153322.mp4.mpeg - Shared with pCloud
Store videos in pCloud. Share them with just the right people. Access them on any device. Create a free account now!
Very happy with it. The float got stuck with a stick and the camera went underwater with no ill effects
Jesus, do you live at the bottom of a hill of a fast moving river?!?
I've seen lots of water (So I thought) in a sump pit but not at the rate and volume seen in this video. That is truly a WTF moment if that was seen here in the cold ass north! 
Not a huge backyard but it all flows downhill to my workshop door. I have 4 nds grates there, two catch basins, capturing rain coming off gutters. It all gets pumped uphill to drain cut into street curb. The pump is second I have had. This one is great will run continuously.
boy, I don't blame you for wanting to monitor your setup. It wouldn't take a long for a pump failure to really cause a problem. That water is wild!... but that also makes it fun to design a nice failsafe solution.Here is my Amcrest camera in action
20210531153322850_Z163B6ECF2307_L_32_L070531153322.mp4.mpeg - Shared with pCloud
Store videos in pCloud. Share them with just the right people. Access them on any device. Create a free account now!
Very happy with it. The float got stuck with a stick and the camera went underwater with no ill effects