Low Power, Battery Powered, Outdoor Wi-Fi IP Camera?

[ClipperMiami]

I need to install two cameras in locations that will be extremely difficult to access with power and/or PoE. So I'm looking at the idea of battery power with a solar panel to recharge.

Does anyone know of a low power Wi-Fi IP Camera (that will work with Blue Iris) suitable for this task? I've looked at the Wi-Fi version of the same as my current PoE cameras and they might work but it looks like their power draw is high which means bigger battery and bigger solar panel. I found a compact low power (325ma) battery operated camera that also accepts USB power so that might be a candidate but I have a lot to do for outdoor service. (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Battery-Powered-Ai-Ball-Mini-Wifi-Cam-IP-Camera-Wireless-Surveillance-Camcorder-/281169186303?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4176fd4dff)

Thanks in advance

 

[dorkygrin]

Though this is an old post, I'm also interested in this. Want to use it for remote monitoring, will set a timer to turn it off at night. Or may use with a motion detector.

Low power is the key.

Open to ideas !

 

[Dodutils]

Want to use it for remote monitoring, will set a timer to turn it off at night. Or may use with a motion detector.

Motion detector that would trigger camera ON ? far too slow... to catch someone in front of the camera unless the guy stand and drink a beer waiting for a friend ;-) or you'll have to get very specific cameras that can turn ON fast.

if your camera is 12V/1A do the math to know how much battery you'll need per day and how many solar power you'll need to both keep camera ON and also reload the battery in case of bad weather condition.

 

[dorkygrin]

It's OK if it takes a minute or so to come on. Mostly using for monitoring and periodic live view. However, a small fast camera that has low power requirements would be nice. All of the IP cams I've looked at seem to be kind of big and clunky and draw a fair amount of juice.

I've also been playing around with Raspberry PI with a camera, but they don't like to be shut down abruptly...

 

[nayr]

most cameras draw is from the onboard iR at night when you have no solar generation, a starlight turret w/IR disabled is ~2.5W..

at this point a long range WiFI radio bridge will be the largest draw

 

[dorkygrin]

I can get by without IR since this is only needed during daylight. And I have WiFi at that location.

Maybe I can get something and hack the iR out of it.

Hummmmm......

 

[nayr]

just get something that you can turn the IR on off via firmware.

 

[dorkygrin]

Slightly off topic - During power on, do IP cams typically find an access point, and start transmitting video?

If it were fast enough, it would be nice to use as a trailcam when activated by a motion sensor. Even nicer - save the video to a local SD card.

 

[nayr]

IP cameras power up and join the network, your bridge should already be connected.. if its not then you'll have issues unil the network comes up

 

[Dodutils]

Slightly off topic - During power on, do IP cams typically find an access point, and start transmitting video?
If it were fast enough, it would be nice to use as a trailcam when activated by a motion sensor. Even nicer - save the video to a local SD card.

The thing is that will the motion that trigger your camera ON (if you go for such kind of electrical motion trigger system) will still be moving once camera finish booting ? if not then your cam will record nothing.

Cameras usually don't do auto-record at startup unless firmware have some option to do so.

little trick : set static IP address to get network ready faster.