Wifi Bridge for Multiple Cameras?

[brightnight]

I have four Dahua IPC-HFW5231E-Z12E cameras and I was hoping to set them up so I could run power to each camera and have each camera record to a micro SD card on motion(no NVR), and transmit each camera over a WiFi bridge. That's four cameras, each with their own WiFi bridge all connected over independent 2.4Ghz link to the same modem. That way, I only have to run one cable to power the camera and don't need a NVR, but I can still check the footage and change the settings remotely over the internet. When I want to retrieve the footage I can review it remotely or grab the micro SD card out of the camera. Does this sound like it will work or are there any potential problems with this or anything I might be missing? I assume a WiFi bridge on the modem side like a Nanostation loco M2 or Ubiquity M2's can be paired to to multiple transmitting stations on the camera side at the same time? Thanks in advance.

 

[tangent]

Lets take a step back.
Why do you want to use wifi?
Are the cameras all on the same building or are they spread across multiple buildings?
Can you describe the camera locations in more detail (photos or diagrams are always good)?
If you're going to run cable to the cameras for power (required) why not just use PoE and let one cable do power and data?

Recording locally to a computer or nvr is going to work better than trying to use SD cards only. SD cards are guaranteed to fail much sooner than a hdd with video being continuously written.

 

[brightnight]

Lets take a step back.
Why do you want to use wifi?
Are the cameras all on the same building or are they spread across multiple buildings?
Can you describe the camera locations in more detail (photos or diagrams are always good)?
If you're going to run cable to the cameras for power (required) why not just use PoE and let one cable do power and data?

Recording locally to a computer or nvr is going to work better than trying to use SD cards only. SD cards are guaranteed to fail much sooner than a hdd with video being continuously written.

Thanks for your response, please bear with me as I explain. I’d love to get you input so if there’s a better way to do this please don’t hold back! If I run 4 cameras and a NVR, am I right to think that I would have to run four Ethernet cables from a NVR to each ePOE port (one to each camera), or is there a way to daisy chain them from one camera to the next using only one Ethernet cable and a splitter? If I'm just running power and recording on the camera SD card I only have to run one cable for power and I can daisy chain the power cable by splicing the cable for each camera as needed. It seems like recording on the camera and simultaneously on the NVR is the way to go (I'm told this is possible).

I’m using these cameras to film wildlife in the woods about 600ft from a house (see diagram), but the footage quality is critical. The house has an outdoor outlet that I can use but I’m not sure I can get Ethernet or WiFi from this house. The Dahua cameras and the NVR I have have “ePOE” and can do 300M distance of POE according to their datasheet: "The ePoE technology of Dahua, designed internally, adopts advanced 2D-PAM3 coding modulation from physical layer, and realizes full duplex transmission over 800 meters at the speed of 10Mbps, or 300 meters at the speed of 100Mbps via Cat 5 or coaxial cable media." If these distances are true I believe I can leave the NVR in the house and run the cables into the house right?

The power outlet is a sure thing, Ethernet from the house is up in the air right now, but neighbors have WiFi I can definitely use. I need a way to be able to view the footage remotely and possible change camera settings, make sure everything is working correctly, etc. Once I place the cameras I want to stay at least a few hundred feet away from them because if I intrude in the area too much I will scare away the wildlife I’m trying to film.

I should mention I already have a Dahua NVR (NVR5208-8P-4KS2E). Thinking about it now it seems using an NVR located in the house to provide POE to the cameras and broadcasting from the NVR to WiFi is likely the best option, but I also would like to have the cameras recording to SD cards in their full HD quality and ease of picking up footage.

I will be setting the cameras to only record with motion so they should be recording to a pre-record buffer constantly...not sure if the buffer is on the camera or the card. My priorities are in order of importance:

1) I need to power the cameras, either directly or from POE from the NVR.

2) I need to be able to check and view the footage remotely to change settings and make sure everything is running correctly, either by checking a NVR located in the house, located in a waterproof box between the camera and the house, or (ideally) checking over WiFi and never needing to be there.

3) I need a simple way to get the motion triggered videos (when the time comes) onto my computer and stick them all in a folder. I’ve heard the NVR might record in a proprietary format and that they don’t just make a folder full of videos split up by each motion event-which is what I want. I can supply a large card like a 256GB micro SD card for each camera and physically access the cameras once a month to switch cards without disturbing the animals. I'm still not sure if the cameras can both record to a SD card and the NVR at the same time, of it the NVR will have lower quality, make it hard to get footage off, etc.


Map:

 

[tangent]

Thanks for your response, please bear with me as I explain. I’d love to get you input so if there’s a better way to do this please don’t hold back! If I run 4 cameras and a NVR, am I right to think that I would have to run four Ethernet cables from a NVR to each ePOE port (one to each camera), or is there a way to daisy chain them from one camera to the next using only one Ethernet cable and a splitter? If I'm just running power and recording on the camera SD card I only have to run one cable for power and I can daisy chain the power cable by splicing the cable for each camera as needed. It seems like recording on the camera and simultaneously on the NVR is the way to go (I'm told this is possible).

I’m using these cameras to film wildlife in the woods about 600ft from a house (see diagram), but the footage quality is critical. The house has an outdoor outlet that I can use but I’m not sure I can get Ethernet or WiFi from this house. The Dahua cameras and the NVR I have have “ePOE” and can do 300M distance of POE according to their datasheet: "The ePoE technology of Dahua, designed internally, adopts advanced 2D-PAM3 coding modulation from physical layer, and realizes full duplex transmission over 800 meters at the speed of 10Mbps, or 300 meters at the speed of 100Mbps via Cat 5 or coaxial cable media." If these distances are true I believe I can leave the NVR in the house and run the cables into the house right?

The power outlet is a sure thing, Ethernet from the house is up in the air right now, but neighbors have WiFi I can definitely use. I need a way to be able to view the footage remotely and possible change camera settings, make sure everything is working correctly, etc. Once I place the cameras I want to stay at least a few hundred feet away from them because if I intrude in the area too much I will scare away the wildlife I’m trying to film.

I should mention I already have a Dahua NVR (NVR5208-8P-4KS2E). Thinking about it now it seems using an NVR located in the house to provide POE to the cameras and broadcasting from the NVR to WiFi is likely the best option, but I also would like to have the cameras recording to SD cards in their full HD quality and ease of picking up footage.

I will be setting the cameras to only record with motion so they should be recording to a pre-record buffer constantly...not sure if the buffer is on the camera or the card. My priorities are in order of importance:

1) I need to power the cameras, either directly or from POE from the NVR.

2) I need to be able to check and view the footage remotely to change settings and make sure everything is running correctly, either by checking a NVR located in the house, located in a waterproof box between the camera and the house, or (ideally) checking over WiFi and never needing to be there.

3) I need a simple way to get the motion triggered videos (when the time comes) onto my computer and stick them all in a folder. I’ve heard the NVR might record in a proprietary format and that they don’t just make a folder full of videos split up by each motion event-which is what I want. I can supply a large card like a 256GB micro SD card for each camera and physically access the cameras once a month to switch cards without disturbing the animals. I'm still not sure if the cameras can both record to a SD card and the NVR at the same time, of it the NVR will have lower quality, make it hard to get footage off, etc.


Map:
View attachment 40904

If you were going to "daisy chain" power to cameras you'd need to use pretty large cable to make it work at those distances. I don't see wifi working the way it does in your head.

Ethernet does need to be either home run or connected to a switch. There are a few PoE switches that can be powered by 802.3at PoE. This is one way you could reduce the cabling
1 to 4 PoE Extender
It may have problems with more than 3 cameras, but it's a good option. You could use this with cameras 1-3.

Ubiquiti tough cable is a high quality outdoor cable. Another direction you could go would use coax and media converters with ePoE cameras, but there's no way to connect multiple cameras to this.

If you run Ethernet outdoors, especially over large distances, lightning is a significant concern. Make sure you add some ethernet surge suppressors.

Look at some of the info in the wiki and read other threads to help teach yourself other things you'll need to know.