Off grid cameras?

[TestBoy]

As the subject says.....

The closest thing I can find that might fit the bill are the "eufy" branded cameras.
They have a solar option for topping up the batteries, no subscription fees, etc.

Our property has internet access... and is serviced by one company. That company happens to be T-Mobile.
Their home internet service is the only thing available. It seems to generally get good reviews.
What I don't know is if they will play nice with each other and allow us to not only have internet access out at that property but be able to check in remotely.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing? suggestions?

 

[bkt]

I don't have experience with these:
Cellular trail cameras: Cellular Trail Cameras: Top 4 Things You Need to Know - Reolink Blog
Self-contained security systems: Remote Off-Grid HD CCTV

The EufyCam stuff looks pretty good and is less expensive than the solutions above.

A big consideration for me is relying on some other service in order to use my cameras. I shouldn't need an internet connection to see who's at the door. Setting up some IP cameras (amazon offers several fairly inexpensive models) and setting up a local webserver and my own front end was pretty easy. No need for the internet; just a local area network.

 

[TestBoy]

In my case, I am an hour away.
I want to be able to watch the gate and a few areas around the property.

 

[Curmudgeon]

What I don't know is if they will play nice with each other and allow us to not only have internet access out at that property but be able to check in remotely.

A friend of mine has several remote cameras. His run on "cellular signal", the cams have a basic cellular unit (think basic cell phone) inside and that's how they communicate. As long as the cameras can get good cellular signal they work flawlessly.

Wireless cameras require the internet to communicate. That seems to be what you are considering. The only issue I can see is how far away from the T Mobile device are you wanting to place the cams? I'm betting you will be somewhat limited as to how far you can move away from the source and still have signal to the cameras, unlike the cellular cameras.

I know, for me here, I don't have to go far from my house to lose signal from my modem to my smart phone, less than 100 yards, if I was to actually check it I'd bet less than 50 yards.. So, if you have the cameras a couple hundred feet away you'll probably be OK, if they are more than that, cellular is the way to go. Of course that requires an additional fee.

 

[The Lazy L]

Majority of surveillance camera manufacturers require an off site server. You pay a monthly subscription fee for the server use. Your camera(s) video are sent to this server. From any where in the world your can access the server to review your video alerts. Losing your home Internet results in no video storage, no remote access and no live streaming.

Feit Electric cameras store video on each individual camera's SIM micro card. Alerts are sent via Feit's (free) off site server. If your on site Internet goes down, video(s) are still being saved to the SIM cards. You still have access to the camera(s) IF you have a connection to your home WiFi.

 

[Neb]

My brother has Simpli Safe

They recently added a wireless camera for outside use. I need to check them out.

Ben

 

[backlash]

I have a Wyze outdoor camera. It is battery powered but you can add a solar cell to charge it. I've had mine running over 6 weeks and the battery level is still over 80%. I don't have a solar cell attached.
It has a WIFI connection so no wires are needed.
I record to a micro SD card and you can sign up for a remote recording but it's not required.
The pictures are very good even in darkness and you can add a light to it.
The range might be a problem.
The best part for me was it cost $60.
I do not have a monitoring plan so I pay nothing per month. I can view my camera live and play back events but without a plan it's only 12 seconds at a time.
You can get an alert when something triggers the camera and all this is on your smart phone.
You can but Wyze products at Home Depot.
You can check it out in this link.
I have NO connection to this company.
Wyze outdoor camera.

I like the Simplisafe system but their camera is $168.

 

[TestBoy]

The T-Mobile cylinder looking device has Ethernet ports on it as well as wireless.
My thought is that I would put up my own high power directional access point (Mikrotik, Ubiquiti, Engenius, etc) and point it in the general direction of the cameras.

I neglected to mention we don't have grid power. We barely have a paved road
I should be able to power the access point and internet gateway with a small solar system.
Planning on setting one up anyway to charge/run power tools, etc. as we work out there.

Maybe I just need to get a few things and try them out.