Camera suggestion slim and shallow like a doorbell camera

BORIStheBLADE

Getting comfortable
Joined
Feb 14, 2016
Messages
739
Reaction score
2,066
Location
North Texas
I have seen these doorbell cameras become popular and I like the idea of a camera by the doorbell, but I don't want a all in one set up. Is there anything small I can put above my regular doorbell?
 

mat200

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
13,668
Reaction score
22,771
I have seen these doorbell cameras become popular and I like the idea of a camera by the doorbell, but I don't want a all in one set up. Is there anything small I can put above my regular doorbell?
Hi @BORIStheBLADE

The best I found to put next to the door was the mini-dome wedge, and if you have room for the pigtail under the wall then it works well enough if you paint it to match your wall / trim.

This was the smallest good camera I could find to do the job. Certainly, not as small as I would like. Thus I think many people go with the consumer doorbell camera units.




1622471911353.png
1622471960399.png
 

BORIStheBLADE

Getting comfortable
Joined
Feb 14, 2016
Messages
739
Reaction score
2,066
Location
North Texas
Hi @BORIStheBLADE

The best I found to put next to the door was the mini-dome wedge, and if you have room for the pigtail under the wall then it works well enough if you paint it to match your wall / trim.

This was the smallest good camera I could find to do the job. Certainly, not as small as I would like. Thus I think many people go with the consumer doorbell camera units.




View attachment 91128
View attachment 91129
About a month ago I installed the 2mp version that @mat200 just posted it's working well.
Yeah not a bad option to have. I might give it the rest of the year and see what comes out before I purchase a camera like this.

I was tempted to build a camera with a Raspberry PI but don't think they are good for 24 hour streaming.
 

gwminor48

Known around here
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
3,622
Reaction score
6,898
Location
Texas
I replaced my porch camera because I was replacing the wood siding on our small porch, so I didn't have to guess where the studs were. That may be one reason people install the doorbell cams. Even harder if you have a brick porch.
 

BORIStheBLADE

Getting comfortable
Joined
Feb 14, 2016
Messages
739
Reaction score
2,066
Location
North Texas
I replaced my porch camera because I was replacing the wood siding on our small porch, so I didn't have to guess where the studs were. That may be one reason people install the doorbell cams. Even harder if you have a brick porch.
Yeah I have brick but its newer and hollow.

I'm tempted to find a POE cube camera and see if I can get a case 3d printed to mimic the doorbells. I have access to 3d printers through my employer.
 

komodo84

n3wb
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Melbourne Australia
I was tempted to build a camera with a Raspberry PI but don't think they are good for 24 hour streaming.

I'm having a similar issue and I'm looking at the RaspberryPi options or ESP32 options.

Realistically what i want is a peephole thats actually a camera that integrates with the rest of my CCTV and I want to also take the stream to show when my door bell is pressed using a Fanvil PA2

Why is the raspberry pi not suitable for constant streaming?
 

BORIStheBLADE

Getting comfortable
Joined
Feb 14, 2016
Messages
739
Reaction score
2,066
Location
North Texas
I'm having a similar issue and I'm looking at the RaspberryPi options or ESP32 options.

Realistically what i want is a peephole thats actually a camera that integrates with the rest of my CCTV and I want to also take the stream to show when my door bell is pressed using a Fanvil PA2

Why is the raspberry pi not suitable for constant streaming?
I've read in a couple places that over wifi it's not. I think most have used the smaller RPI that are only wifi to make these kinds of cameras. I should have been a little more specific I apologize. Which could be a possible issue with the ESP as well.

I just don't feel 100% confident investing the money and time to find out that is the case..
 

holiday

Pulling my weight
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
Messages
273
Reaction score
182
Location
Having a holiday
ymmv..
i have used rpi + usb webcam and streamed 24/7 for years and recording constantly in BI. Never had any issues.
I also have a pi-zero and added an ethernet port to it via the io ports and never had any issues.

the issue most people have and don't know is that they use a cheap power supply supplying 1 or 2A to it.. the raspi need more to work properly especially with all the extra accessories attached to it. .
 

komodo84

n3wb
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Melbourne Australia
I've read in a couple places that over wifi it's not.
Whilst I have to admit I was thinking would try do it with a hardwired network connection; I think issues with wifi connectivity would be related to the rest of your wifi infrastructure more than anything.
I was thinking you were talking more about heat related issues which I know the ESP32 is suggested to have when doing constant streaming.
Boards are cheap enough to throw a few $ at my issue is more time and lack of experience with any of these IoT type maker boards and knowing where to start. I was actually thinking I might throw an ad up on something like freelancer.com and seeing if I could get someone to help me with it.
 
Top