Making a Hik 2432 portable with mini router and battery pack

[Larebear]

I'll probably get the Huisun setup to run portable this weekend or maybe sooner. I'm curious about how long it will run too, especially when using ptz.

 

[Securame]

I'm not sure that would work with this router. I believe the single port is a WAN port. When I initially setup the router, I did it wireless using a laptop.

I do have another mini router (xiaomi mini router) that has two lan ports, so I might try using that router and connect the camera directly to it. It more than likely would draw more battery power though. The USB meter is temporary. I just wanted to see how much current the router draws. Also I need the WiFi for the Samsung tablet to view the camera and be completely wireless.

Not sure what model it is, but I use many times TP-Link MR-3020 which is pretty close to that one, and it can work in different ways.

 

[Larebear]

I would be curious how long Huisun would run!

I set up my spare Huisun today using the Anker battery pack for power. I used the xiaomi router connected directly to the Huisun and was able to monitor it using the TinyCam Pro app on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S. (Love that app)

I wasn't able to supply power from the battery to both the camera and router because I don't have a Y power cable for the 12v. I have one on order through Amazon Prime though.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050H9A18?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

I'll wait until the Y cable arrives to do the battery drain test using the Huisun ptz and the xiaomi router. Here's a couple of pics with the setup so far.

 

[Larebear]

Received the Y power cable and was able to power both the Huisun ptz camera and the xiaomi router for about 8 hours using the Anker battery pack. Part of the time was with the IR LED's on. Plenty of time available to demo the cameras.

 

[klasipca]

Received the Y power cable and was able to power both the Huisun ptz camera and the xiaomi router for about 8 hours using the Anker battery pack. Part of the time was with the IR LED's on. Plenty of time available to demo the cameras.

Cool! Those LEDs though will definitely burn through this battery pack in half the time, but still good to know. Thanks for sharing! Btw, how do you like xiaomi router? I take it yours had PandoraBox installed?

 

[Larebear]

Cool! Those LEDs though will definitely burn through this battery pack in half the time, but still good to know. Thanks for sharing! Btw, how do you like xiaomi router? I take it yours had PandoraBox installed?

I really like the xiaomi. It works very well as a portable/travel router and it did come with PandoraBox installed. As you recommended, I sent them a message to make sure the router included PandoraBox. They said it would and it did.

 

[Larebear]

I made a short video today showing the Huisun ptz and xiaomi router totally portable using the Anker battery pack for power. I'm using my Samsung Galaxy Tab S and the TinyCam Pro app for viewing the camera.

I set the camera for auto-patrol and it didn't seem to have much effect on battery usage. Battery stayed at 100% for about ½ hour. I estimated that the battery would last from 5 to 8 hours depending on whether the IR LED's were on or off.

I accidentally set the battery pack for 9 volts output when I did the first test. Surprisingly the camera and router ran fine on the 9 volts, including ptz. Didn't see any difference after I set the battery pack back to 12 volts.

 

[klasipca]

Now if you can get a solar panel that could charge this battery that would be even cooler

 

[Larebear]

That may be a great idea. Now you got me thinking about it.

I don't know much about solar panels. Would this solar panel be overkill?

 

[klasipca]

Don't know much about them, but I would think 12V 30 watt panel should do it...

 

[Eddie Current]

Need to know how many amps it pull total while operating the PTZ. I would want to setup a wireless PTZ on a battery that was recharged by a solar panel. Not sure how it would work with the IR's at night.

 

[Larebear]

I tried to measure the amps with my 'Kill A Watt' meter but there must be something wrong with the meter. I powered the camera with a 12V 2A power adapter plugged into the meter and it only showed .15 (150ma) with IR's on and the camera doing PT.

If the Huisun's power usage is about 11 or 12 watts with two IR's on, then I would assume it would be drawing around 1 amp.

 

[klasipca]

I tried to measure the amps with my 'Kill A Watt' meter but there must be something wrong with the meter. I powered the camera with a 12V 2A power adapter plugged into the meter and it only showed .15 (150ma) with IR's on and the camera doing PT.

If the Huisun's power usage is about 11 or 12 watts with two IR's on, then I would assume it would be drawing around 1 amp.

on v2 I saw it jump to 15 watt briefly, but I didn't use Kill A Watt to test it.

 

[alexvas]

My two cents regarding decreasing power consumption:

1. Decrease Android device screen brightness.

2. Use low-bandwidth profile in tinyCam Monitor app drawer. In this case sub stream will be used which decreases power consumption for Android device, camera and router. To get even lower power consumption, use Snapshot protocol in Camera Settings.

3. To get as longer as possible tablet usage in tinyCam Monitor use hardware H.264 decoder in App Settings - Video Settings. In the latest tinyCam 6.5 new Hardware+ decoder is introduced. Try it.

 

[klasipca]

@alexvas speaking of decreasing power consumption... I wanted to submit another feature request for consideration. Perhaps it's already possible, but I haven't figure it out yet how to set scheduled streaming. Scenario is that I want to stream video from 7am to midnight only. If the device is connected via wifi I could've used scheduler app, but the box is using ethernet connection...

 

[alexvas]

You can schedule running apps via Tasker app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm

 

[Larebear]

My two cents regarding decreasing power consumption:

1. Decrease Android device screen brightness.

2. Use low-bandwidth profile in tinyCam Monitor app drawer. In this case sub stream will be used which decreases power consumption for Android device, camera and router. To get even lower power consumption, use Snapshot protocol in Camera Settings.

3. To get as longer as possible tablet usage in tinyCam Monitor use hardware H.264 decoder in App Settings - Video Settings. In the latest tinyCam 6.5 new Hardware+ decoder is introduced. Try it.

Thanks alexvas. I made some of the changes that you suggested. Also using the Hardware+ decoder. So far seems to be working fine.

 

[alexvas]

I'm thinking about adding Low power mode in tinyCam Monitor. If this checkbox enabled in app drawer, the app will decode only keyframes for H.264 stream (usually key frame comes every second) and for MJPEG stream only 1 frame per second will be decoded. That should decrease power consumption in the app.

 

[spyfly81]

Very nice setup.. I am in the process of building a trail camera system with wireless and solarpanels

 

[Larebear]

I've almost completed the project. Ordered a separate battery for the router so I don't need to have the router close to the camera running off the same battery. Will post a pic of the setup in the next day or two. Solar panels would be a plus to keep the batteries charged.