Ideas for motion activated home or cctv camera for my front and back yard?

[SrMachoSolo]

Holy cow!
I'm password protected, for what it's worth, but l don't know what to do beyond that.
My WiFi is so weak that l can't even get my aforementioned grill connected to it from the back yard so l doubt there's anyone close enough to pirate it... but you never know.

I thought the WiFi connected smoker was gimmicky and wasn't too interested. Now l have it and I'm mad that l can't get it to work!
Talk about yer First World problems.

It's probably too far away/too many obstacles blocking the signal. How many feet away is it? How old is your router?

You may need a better router, or simply an access point that extends your wifi network range.

-Robert

 

[Alexx1401]

It's probably too far away/too many obstacles blocking the signal. How many feet away is it? How old is your router?

You may need a better router, or simply an access point that extends your wifi network range.

-Robert

We got a couple of the extenders years ago when we got rid of cable and went to just streaming. At first it was great, could put a tv anywhere, no more cables. Then of course found that if we got too far from the router it would often bog down. Bought a couple cheap extenders, plug one in, log it in, they work. Once set up we can move them around were we need them. Pretty cool little device. Probably have gotten far better now. Only thing we were warned to check when we bought ours was to make sure the ones we bought would work with the router we had.

 

[Tony617]

When we finally had to get a system here I went with them, Simplisafe, due to how damn easy it was. ordered the stuff, sick up the stuff, set up account and away it goes. If we want to add on or change anything I can just do it. When we move the last thing I will do at this house is take the stuff down and move it all to new place. They were a GREAT invention.

I ordered a few water proof coverings that I put on the outside cameras of our SimpiSafe system. It includes a longer USB cable as well which works fine for our home. Depending on how many plugs you need or the distance from your outlet you may need an all weather USB extension cable.

 

[Defense Minister]

I added a 5th camera to the system linked below. It's all wireless, other than power for the cameras.

HeimVision HM241 Security System

8CH 1080P NVR / 4 960P Cameras / IP66 Waterproof / Motion Detection & Email Alert / Night Vision / WiFi / Instant Alert / Easy Setup-Plug & Paly

www.heimvision.com

 

[Frank RW]

I got this system a few months ago, and been happy with it.

Lots of features, and no monthly fees. Access via the web. Wired (better security and reliability IMO). Can add up to 8 cameras.



Where I got mine: #AD https://amzn.to/3xWzrjY
(i get a dirty quarter from the bottom of Bezo's shoe if you use that link.)

 

[Jonnyuma]

It's probably too far away/too many obstacles blocking the signal. How many feet away is it? How old is your router?

You may need a better router, or simply an access point that extends your wifi network range.

-Robert

The router itself is less than 1 yr old and sits a good 40' or so from where the grill sits. It's fairly centralized and works well enough inside the house, but starts to lose strength when l go out the back door, then goes away almost completely once l exit the sun porch... seems reasonable, actually. Just mildly irritating that it won't do exactly what l want it to do.
I'm going to look into some form of range extender, which will, hopefully, be able to work some cameras and the grill out back.
Barring some calamity (or HUGE stroke of fortune) we're in our "forever" home now so lve got no problem making hardwired improvements.

...we got rid of cable and went to just streaming.

Here too. The only way to make cable useful is to get the DVR... and there goes another couple hundo per month.
There wasn't but maybe 3 or 4 shows on 2 or 3 networks that either of us cared for anyway... so now we just get a happy surprise when they show up on one of the streaming services.
"Hey, neat... that show we like is on Hulu. All 8 seasons of it. Clear yer calendar, Mama... we BINGIN'.

 

[The Heretic]

The router itself is less than 1 yr old and sits a good 40' or so from where the grill sits. It's fairly centralized and works well enough inside the house, but starts to lose strength when l go out the back door, then goes away almost completely once l exit the sun porch... seems reasonable, actually. Just mildly irritating that it won't do exactly what l want it to do.
I'm going to look into some form of range extender, which will, hopefully, be able to work some cameras and the grill out back.
Barring some calamity (or HUGE stroke of fortune) we're in our "forever" home now so lve got no problem making hardwired improvements.

Here too. The only way to make cable useful is to get the DVR... and there goes another couple hundo per month.
There wasn't but maybe 3 or 4 shows on 2 or 3 networks that either of us cared for anyway... so now we just get a happy surprise when they show up on one of the streaming services.
"Hey, neat... that show we like is on Hulu. All 8 seasons of it. Clear yer calendar, Mama... we BINGIN'.

Ubiquiti

LTU Pro - Ubiquiti Store

5 GHz PtMP LTU Client with advanced RF performance, functions in a PtMP environment with the LTU-Rocket as the BaseStation.

store.ui.com

UniFi WiFi - Ubiquiti

WiFi perfected. Thoughtfully designed access points with enterprise-class performance, effortless scalability, and an unrivaled management experience.

www.ui.com

On many routers you can just hook up an omni antenna with gain, or you could have an access point with its own antenna.

 

[Jonnyuma]

Ubiquiti

LTU Pro - Ubiquiti Store

5 GHz PtMP LTU Client with advanced RF performance, functions in a PtMP environment with the LTU-Rocket as the BaseStation.

store.ui.com

UniFi WiFi - Ubiquiti

WiFi perfected. Thoughtfully designed access points with enterprise-class performance, effortless scalability, and an unrivaled management experience.

www.ui.com

On many routers you can just hook up an omni antenna with gain, or you could have an access point with its own antenna.

Thanks for that.
I'll be looking into these.

 

[Alexx1401]

The router itself is less than 1 yr old and sits a good 40' or so from where the grill sits. It's fairly centralized and works well enough inside the house, but starts to lose strength when l go out the back door, then goes away almost completely once l exit the sun porch... seems reasonable, actually. Just mildly irritating that it won't do exactly what l want it to do.
I'm going to look into some form of range extender, which will, hopefully, be able to work some cameras and the grill out back.
Barring some calamity (or HUGE stroke of fortune) we're in our "forever" home now so lve got no problem making hardwired improvements.

Here too. The only way to make cable useful is to get the DVR... and there goes another couple hundo per month.
There wasn't but maybe 3 or 4 shows on 2 or 3 networks that either of us cared for anyway... so now we just get a happy surprise when they show up on one of the streaming services.
"Hey, neat... that show we like is on Hulu. All 8 seasons of it. Clear yer calendar, Mama... we BINGIN'.

YEP! We did not save much by the time we changed but it is light years more convenient. We of course had a DVR but, if we wanted to watch anywhere else we had to steam so normally watch commercials. Move the TV? Had to run more wire. Wife wanted an outlet in the garage as she had her treadmill there. Cost was enough to have them come out to install another jack that I said to hell with this and went all streaming. As soon as I did I thought should have done this years ago. Have used a couple streaming services that are just like cable, give you a DVR by cloud. With them Wife just hooks an old Chomebook up to a tv mounted in garage and she can watch her shows while on the treadmill. If she wants to go up to the bedroom to watch, like when it was too damn hot here, she could just take a tv up there and watch with AC on. No damn coaxial to run anywhere any more. Did have to up our bandwidth so we did not save much but, I would never go back to cable again now. 5g is making noise about becoming real competition to cable here. If they do price may drop. Right now we have only one choice, Comcast. So it's pay the price they charge or pound sand. It will be nice if they finally get a competitor her. When we lived in the city they had a choice there and the other provider was cheaper. One thing I missed about leaving the city was losing the Broadband they offered

 

[The Heretic]

Thanks for that.
I'll be looking into these.

Ubiquiti has a good rep for these kinds of things. I have a directional antenna on my roof - I get the internet via long distance WiFi - I send my signal to my neighbor about 100 yards away, then he sends it to a guy down the mountain about 2.5 miles away (as the crow flies) who connects to fiber (Ziply) and from there to the backbone. I get about 5-6 mbps on a good day. I am on the waiting list for Starlink.

 

[tkdguy]

I purchased one from Costco; Lorex, last years 6 camera unit. Where is the best place to place the cameras around a residential home in West Portland. My backyard is fenced. Ideas? Thanks.

 

[SrMachoSolo]

I'd aim for something like this, but it really depends on the shape of your home.


With 6 cameras, you should be able to cover almost all possible entry points towards your residence.

-Robert

 

[Alexx1401]

I purchased one from Costco; Lorex, last years 6 camera unit. Where is the best place to place the cameras around a residential home in West Portland. My backyard is fenced. Ideas? Thanks.

Well what is it you want "seen"? Most of course want to see the front door. Most want to see where they park. Even with fenced in back yard we have 2 views of our back yard. Again it all is in what you want covered. When we moved I added 4 more cameras to mine so I could see all sides of the home and the front door. Picture you are home, it's late at night, you or your dog thinks something is outside? Do you want to be able to see all the way around the home?

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Which models can I choose from for less than $500.00? Maybe a feedback loop to a computer screen for 24 hour watchful eye in the case of cctv? Ideas?

I've had good luck with ring cams. Have 2 spotlight ones (older models) and 2 stick up cams. Spotlight ones are $200 (or less on sale) and stickup are $80. You can link so when one senses motion the others start recording also. They r getting good now at being able to fine tune motion detection. You can set zones, sensitivity, or have poeple only mode so that they don't go off when not needed. All mine r battery powered and charging is as easy as plugging in ur cell phone. Alerts ur phone when motion detected. I rarely use speaker (intercom) and have yet to use siren feature. There are other features and neighbors app, snapshots taken every x seconds, etc but U can read up on those if interested. There is regular ring app and rapid ring app which is like a quick twitch to view live. I have both installed on phone and they work well. Battery life is about 2 months per battery spotlights hold 2 and stickup holds 1. I would go with spotlight for ur main one(s) as they are more sensitive and longer range. Have never used the doorbell type. I have never used other brand camera systems so I can't compare to any of those fwiw.

A final note is that for any motion detection cam consider lateral movement when mounting. If someone is walking side to side to the cam it will pick it up easily. If they are walking towards or away from the cam they will pick it up later than if mounted to detect lateral movement. This is the same for any of them. In fact it's the same for a photo camera. If someone is walking side to side the place they are when shutter opens and closes are two different places therefore u get blur if using slow shutter speed. That blur is what motion detector reads as motion. If someone walking to or away the person is virtually the same size between shutter opening and closing so no blur (looks like no motion to motion detector - harder to pick up until size changes dramatically such as very close to the camera). Took me forever to figure that one out but it makes a big difference.

 

[kmk1012]

5g is making noise about becoming real competition to cable here.

Not to derail the thread but in my experience 5G makes my phone (very new apple) unusable. It's so slow that I will just set it down before getting pissed (again). How is 5G any better than 3g? I hate going into a 5G area as it makes all of our phones unusable. Yes, they are updated and all that.

 

[Alexx1401]

Not to derail the thread but in my experience 5G makes my phone (very new apple) unusable. It's so slow that I will just set it down before getting pissed (again). How is 5G any better than 3g? I hate going into a 5G area as it makes all of our phones unusable. Yes, they are updated and all that.

No idea why yours are having problems since I am FAR from any kind of expert at this. Do know 5G will offer amazing speeds for internet in the places it's actually in use now.

 

[kmk1012]

No idea why yours are having problems since I am FAR from any kind of expert at this. Do know 5G will offer amazing speeds for internet in the places it's actually in use now.

I even started as thread about it before and got no traction. Two phones and they both are not useable on the "new" service.

Why is 5G so SLOW?

Old phone on 5G always slowed down when I’d get close to potland and in 5G. Now, new phone and the same. Anyone else experience this?

www.northwestfirearms.com

 

[Adamrobertson]

Which models can I choose from for less than $500.00? Maybe a feedback loop to a computer screen for 24 hour watchful eye in the case of cctv? Ideas?

Ring.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Fwiw/FYI I noticed the ring spotlight cams (battery version) are on sale for $150 ($200 reg price) through the end of the month. I've only seen them on sale a couple times but tbh I don't look very often. Extra batteries r around $30 so that's $180 with 2 batts.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

I even started as thread about it before and got no traction. Two phones and they both are not useable on the "new" service.

Why is 5G so SLOW?

Old phone on 5G always slowed down when I’d get close to potland and in 5G. Now, new phone and the same. Anyone else experience this?

www.northwestfirearms.com

Interesting. I wonder if this is network specific, or maybe location specific (Fe some software version the carrier runs in a certain region or smaller area has a bug and doesn't play nice with the phones)? I don't know jack about 5G, just wondering out loud. I hope it's "only" teething pains for new 5G network. Good to know about, thx for mentioning! What network is it?