Security Cameras on boat

[MedMilo]

That is exactly why in the long term the best option for most people is to install a good quality fully-functioning router which can connect your on-boat LAN (Local Area Network) to the outside world (the WAN or Wide Area Network) using the cell service ("4G"). Your monthly cost is then a single SIM for the router. The cameras don't need their own SIMs. You then use cameras which connect to the outside world via the router, either by WiFi or ethernet hard-wiring. The router also becomes your WiFi hub on the boat, to which all on-board devices connect when they are using WiFi, including VOIP services like Whatsapp phone calls for example.

The SIM chosen for the router should be the one which will give you the most cost-effective service for your needs both when on the boat and when interrogating systems remotely (cameras at first, but you'll probably want others eventually).

Many good quality routers have dual SIM slots so that you can pop in a second SIM if you cruise to somewhere that your principal SIM won't work.

I use a Teltonika RUT950 and like it very much.

In some places the cost of cell services is very high. If your boat is staying in the same place you might want to connect the router to the WAN by a WiFi bridge, either to marina WiFi (unlikely in my view) or a local business within range which will charge a reasonable price for the connection. Routers like ours offer the ability to connect either way, and can be set up so that either SIM 1 or SIM 2 (4G) or the WiFi bridge is the principal connection, with automatic fail-over to the backup.

If you go down this route you must choose a router which will run off the boat's batteries (ie: 12V or 24V DC) so that it doesn't die if shore power is lost, thus isolating you from the cameras at a time when you want them. If you isolate your boat's batteries when leaving the boat you need to install some sort of Uninterruptible Power Supply for the router. The simplest way is a 12V DC instrument battery with a trickle charge (this can also help to protect your instruments from voltage surges or drops).

This has all been covered in other threads, particularly in Practical Boat Owner, so I am not saying anything new or clever. But I am a firm believer that in a world where many boat owners will want security cameras, and will also be using their boats for work to some extent, the right way forward is to install a really good router and hang everything off that. It sounds complicated but in fact what you are doing is setting up the boat just like a house or office. For us the move between house and boat is utterly seamless so far as device use is concerned, we see no differences whatsoever whether we are working at home or on the boat.View attachment 124120

Credit to MatthewRiches of this forum for setting the system up AND helping me understand how it works

Yep, I’m starting to come to that conclusion too, especially if I want more than one camera. Thanks for this input, all makes sense.

 

[Hurricane]

Sadly I think the mobile phone companies have all changed their contracts and many are even reneging on older contracts where they think they can. Three have certainly refused to allow me more than 12GB a month abroad despite my phone original contract being unlimited abroad. And apparently I’m now only allowed 60 days abroad In any 12 month period! I think they’re all jumping on the bandwagon to profiteer from Brexit etc.

Agreed but Vodafone are still (hopefully) honouring my 50Gb/month data only contract - even whilst roaming.
But I'm not expecting it to last long.

 

[Hurricane]

Yep, I’m starting to come to that conclusion too, especially if I want more than one camera. Thanks for this input, all makes sense.

I've been doing this kind of thing for a several years now.
Actually, I have two routers on the boat and two at home.
The first routers are standard domestic ones - home one for connecting to UK Broadband - boat one connects to 3G/4G
Then in each case (home and the boat) the second routers run DDWRT software with OpenVPN
These extra "down stream" routers then create a secure SSL VPN tunnel between themselves.
The net result is the systems on the boat appear on the same LAN.
This sounds a bit extreme but, remember, I have a Ships PC which I can remotely start and stop thus giving access to some of the boats other systems (battery checks etc).
I also have several cameras on the boat but these work outside the VPN tunnel.
At home and on the boat, I use VoIP telephone so any incoming call at home will also ring on the boat and we make UK calls from the boat as though we were in the UK.
The phone call quality is actually a lot better than a mobile phone call but there are other advantages.

All this is a lot more complicated than you are suggesting but I have been running this system for a long time.
Before 3G/4G was available, I used the marina WiFi to create the VPN tunnel but it is now much better with my own 3G/4G router.

As you can see, I have more time on my hands than sense - but, being retired, little things like this keep the "grey matter" working.

Silly example of the VPN tunnel.
We are on the boat at the moment and went to a very Spanish restaurant for lunch today.
Great food but we had a lot of trouble translating the menu using the usual Google Translate phone app.
The food was very good and we want to go back in a few days so we took a copy of the menu with us.
My home PC has a lot of tools to do this kind of thing but the software wasn't installed on the boat's PC.
Easy - I just remotely started my home PC from the boat and used the software already installed on home computer to translate a scanned copy of the menu.
Job done - we can now go back to that nice restaurant with a fully translated menu!!!
Sorry, I told you it was a silly example but this is EXACTLY what I did earlier this evening.

Sorry for the thread drift.

 

[SimonA]

As I have said above, why would you want cloud storage?

I'm case someone breaks in and steals/throws overboard the camera. Not much good as a security camera if it gets stolen unless the video is already sent to the cloud.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Also if you only record on sd you usually can’t watch it back unless on the same network with cloud storage you can

I have over 20 cctv cameras at home (a hobby of mine).. Has it occurred to anyone that all these very cheap CCTV cameras all streaming to Chinese servers are just setting up total cctv coverage of the U.K. and other countries by China

 

[Bigplumbs]

I thought I would give this a go but I always disconnect all boat power when I leave my boat so I have bought a battery camera that seems to get good reviews with a solar panel I will try the marina WiFi at first to see if that works

here is the link to the one I have bought

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08DHXM...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[Bigplumbs]

Also if you only record on sd you usually can’t watch it back unless on the same network with cloud storage you can

I have over 20 cctv cameras at home (a hobby of mine).. Has it occurred to anyone that all these very cheap CCTV cameras all streaming to Chinese servers are just setting up total cctv coverage of the U.K. and other countries by China

it seems now that with my Wansview cameras I can watch back the SD video from a different network. Must have been an app update as I am sure I couldn’t do this last year

 

[Northern Star]

I have a Three mobile 4G router on my boat with unlimited data for £17 a month and have also installed one of these as a security camera.

HD WiFi IP Security Camera Wireless Indoor CCTV System Home Baby Pet Monitor | eBay

Works a treat and I can view the boat in the marina anytime on my i-phone app as the router works off 12v and I installed a 12v to 5v USB inverter for the camera.

 

[Hurricane]

I'm case someone breaks in and steals/throws overboard the camera. Not much good as a security camera if it gets stolen unless the video is already sent to the cloud.

Yes but it is really easy to set these cheap cameras up so that they send you an email every time that they are triggered.
And you don't need a cloud feature to make emails work - just a free Gmail account will do.
If anyone wants to know how, I can post my setup process..

 

[Hurricane]

Has it occurred to anyone that all these very cheap CCTV cameras all streaming to Chinese servers are just setting up total cctv coverage of the U.K. and other countries by China

Agree 100%
But the situation is FAR worse than you describe.
Yes, these cheap security cameras use Chinese servers to "tunnel through" firewalls.
It only takes an unscrupulous Chinese camera manufacturer to create a "back door" in their camera software and they will have COMPLETE access to your internal home network (WiFi or wired LAN).
In fact this isn't limited to cameras - any IoT device is capable of this very serious potential security breach.
For this reason, both on my boat and in my house, I have separated all my IoT devices (cameras, Alexa and WiFi switches etc) and installed them on their own network thus isolating all my home PCs etc.

So, to recap, your concern is valid but there are far more security issues than just camera streams.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Yes but it is really easy to set these cheap cameras up so that they send you an email every time that they are triggered.
And you don't need a cloud feature to make emails work - just a free Gmail account will do.
If anyone wants to know how, I can post my setup process..

I think the Point is that if the thief has chucked your camera in the Drink. You will not have the recorded video to help anyone identify the boat intruder as the SD Card will be at the bottom of the marina or indeed in the thief's pocket

 

[Northern Star]

hmmm and all those phones made in China too ????

Life too short and I hope they enjoy watching my boating as it must be fascinating for them all.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Agree 100%
But the situation is FAR worse than you describe.
Yes, these cheap security cameras use Chinese servers to "tunnel through" firewalls.
It only takes an unscrupulous Chinese camera manufacturer to create a "back door" in their camera software and they will have COMPLETE access to your internal home network (WiFi or wired LAN).
In fact this isn't limited to cameras - any IoT device is capable of this very serious potential security breach.
For this reason, both on my boat and in my house, I have separated all my IoT devices (cameras, Alexa and WiFi switches etc) and installed them on their own network thus isolating all my home PCs etc.

So, to recap, your concern is valid but there are far more security issues than just camera streams.

Indeed. The thing is that for many people having two wifi networks is quite expensive and also you have a very high degree of IT skill and ability. I know you probably feel that what you do is quite easy and it may well be but again for many just setting up a simple camera is for them difficult. What you do with a fruit pie is quite incredible and I am quite good at IT also but your skill way exceeds most mortals. So in short them hackers have got us all by the short and curly's. And well as for Alexa she and her mate Jeff B (who i think she is in love with) has gotso many of us in his pocket it is quite scary

 

[Bigplumbs]

hmmm and all those phones made in China too ????

Life too short and I hope they enjoy watching my boating as it must be fascinating for them all.

Not so much your boating diaries they are after but more you financial details and other data that they can make hay with. Mind you I like you feel that I cant even attempt to cover all the angles so I just do what I can which is not much.

I have been trying to get at Hurricanes bank account through his Raspberry Pie but so far no luck

 

[Hurricane]

I think the Point is that if the thief has chucked your camera in the Drink. You will not have the recorded video to help anyone identify the boat intruder as the SD Card will be at the bottom of the marina or indeed in the thief's pocket

Yes
But these cheap cameras also send a photo as an attachment to the email the instant that they are triggered. Still not convinced that you need a cloud.
I used to set my on board cameras to store a video on my home server whenever they were triggered but after a year or so, I decided that the emailed photos were good enough.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Thanks Hurricane.

I just had a mess with the settings in my wansview cameras and on the motion alert it actually sends a 10 second video to the App on the phone. Not an email. You can also set the area and indeed the sensitivity. Very useful me thinks. Just tested it and it works well. So as you said one in the eye for cloud storage

 

[Bigplumbs]

So messing some more this motion alert is very good but the real challenge is setting the motion area and the sensitivity as a waft from a bush seems to set it off quite easily

 

[Croftie]

Thanks Hurricane.

I just had a mess with the settings in my wansview cameras and on the motion alert it actually sends a 10 second video to the App on the phone. Not an email. You can also set the area and indeed the sensitivity. Very useful me thinks. Just tested it and it works well. So as you said one in the eye for cloud storage

But is the video being stored to your mobile or are you just streaming it off the camera SD each time. What happens on the app on your phone if the camera is off line ie no net access or camera stolen

 

[ChromeDome]

One more vote for Reolink. Fitted RCL-500W outdoors at home, capturing and storing to built-in micro SD and simply overwriting when full.

Easy install, nice access via smartphone (even more intuitive than the PC client software). Cabled to LAN to improve speed of video downloads.

 

[Hurricane]

So messing some more this motion alert is very good but the real challenge is setting the motion area and the sensitivity as a waft from a bush seems to set it off quite easily

This conversation is very topical.
One of my jobs today was to set up the exclusion zones on my cockpit camera whilst I am on the boat so that I can test it works etc.
It took me a while to realise that the mask on the Reolink cameras "blanks out" areas that you don't want to be triggered.
Initially, I thought that the mask included areas that were the sensitive part of the alarm.
Now that I've set it up properly and tested it, it works well.
Reolink also have an audible alarm which I probably won't use but it was useful when setting it up.