Remote Webcam monitor using marina wifi

[Delfini]

I thought I would find plenty of practical examples on the web describing how to build a remote web cam monitor system using a freebie marina wifi connection but it seems I was wrong - I cant find any practical or working description of a system which could send still pictures of the cabin to me over email or whatsapp or similar and I wonder if anyone here has any advice or preferably first hand experience of the challenges and possibilities of such a thing ?

I am planning to leave my boat for a few months in an overseas marina (with free wifi) later this year and thought it would be a good idea to be able to check if all looked OK from home

Thanks

 

[Plum]

I thought I would find plenty of practical examples on the web describing how to build a remote web cam monitor system using a freebie marina wifi connection but it seems I was wrong - I cant find any practical or working description of a system which could send still pictures of the cabin to me over email or whatsapp or similar and I wonder if anyone here has any advice or preferably first hand experience of the challenges and possibilities of such a thing ?

I am planning to leave my boat for a few months in an overseas marina (with free wifi) later this year and thought it would be a good idea to be able to check if all looked OK from home

Thanks

Hi, i looked into this recently, have not done it yet, but was going to try using an old phone and a baby monitoring app such as the Dormi baby monitor app.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[Giblets]

Don't know about foreign marinas but most of the south coast ones I have been in that have free wifi have a time limit on the service normally so many hours per day. This may thwart any long term monitoring.

 

[RichardS]

Yesterday I installed this IP security camera outside my home. http://www.netviewcctv.co.uk/hikvision-ds-2cd2542fwd-iws-4mm.html

Excellent service from Netview. The camera is tiny fits easily in the palm of your hand and very high quality. You could easily fit it on the bulkhead of a boat and the wide angle lens would show the entire cabin. You just need a 12V connection to the battery. The camera then connects to wifi so the marina would need to have wifi on 24/7 but unless you are accessing the camera it is not using any bandwidth so I don't think the marina would object if you discuss it with them.

The camera has very sophisticated motion-detection built in as well as IR so it works just as well in total darkness.

It also has an integrated SD card (my 64Gb one arrived from Amazon this morning so I have yet to swap it for the small one I put in yesterday) and records HD video or stills or a mixture of the two to the SD card either according to motion detection or any time you preset. However, this is probably not so important for your application.

Once you have the camera set up you register it for free on Ezviz http://www.ezvizlife.com/ ... all the instructions were included with the camera. All I do now is log into my Ezviz account from any PC, phone or tablet and I can see the live feed and either record it to my PC or tablet or phone (Ezviz app) or take screen shots. The camera will also send text* or email alerts or set off a sound alarm if it detects any motion. (not wave motion of course, motion inside the cabin and the sensitivity and area under scrutiny are all user configurable)

I can't see why this wouldn't all work perfectly on a boat providing you leave a 12V feed connected. There's even a wifi antenna socket on the camera if you need to boost the signal but I have been testing the camera in the loft of my house with the wifi router by the front door so through two ceilings / floors and the connection is rock solid without an external antenna.

Richard

Edit: I've been playing around with my IP camera today and it works extremely well. Live video and motion triggered capture of video or stills to the SD card are all very smart and it sends an email immediately upon any trigger action. However, it does not send texts to mobiles. However, if you have to have SMS rather than email I think there are automatic email to SMS services you could subscribe too.

 

[nigelmercier]

I bought a Wi-Fi webcam from Lidl or Aldi, it's on my garage. It uses a lot of bandwidth on the AP, so you would not be popular.

 

[RichardS]

I bought a Wi-Fi webcam from Lidl or Aldi, it's on my garage. It uses a lot of bandwidth on the AP, so you would not be popular.

I don't think it has to be like that though?

The camera I describe in my post (and there are cheaper options) records to its own internal memory at whatever resolution, frame rate and bit rate you wish - I've set mine to 2688 x 1520 pixels, 20FPS, 6144 Kbps bitrate. The local storage does not use any bandwidth of course.

You can use these same settings to stream over IP to the internet or you can set a separate video stream as low as you wish - something like 400 x 300 at 1 FPS (or even 1/16FPS!) and a 256 Kbps bitrate would not even consume noticeable bandwidth and, in any case, would only use it at all when you actually access the stream over the internet and I assume that the OP is not going to be sitting there watching the feed 24/7. :ambivalence:

Of course, if you something happens the camera alerts you, and you can then you can look at, or download the live video to your local PC/tablet, or view/download the HD video stored on the camera over the internet which will use a huge amount of bandwidth (with my settings ayway) but surely that isn't going to be necessary very often .... I hope?

Richard

 

[Delfini]

It seems possible to use such a thing but I just wonder if the camera could be accessed from UK via the marina Wifi without their wifi network provider tinkering with external port access and provision of DNS services - and that sounds like a problem

I can see how the camera might be able to send me an email if the motion sensor triggers (providing it is able to login locally if the wifi network asks) but I would also like to take a look when I fancy it - stills would be fine and video a bonus

@Richard - do you know if Ezviz http://www.ezvizlife.com/ ... messed with your wifi router ?

Thanks for the replies

 

[RichardS]

@Richard - do you know if Ezviz http://www.ezvizlife.com/ ... messed with your wifi router ?

It didn't do anything with my BT wifi router. I have the firewall set up on the router to block all unsolicited traffic but I guess that Ezviz is solicited as I have to load the web page and log in so when I'm at home I'm on the "right side". All that happened was the Windows firewall on my PC asked for permission to accept the connection from Ezwiz.

When I installed the Ezwiz app on my Android tablet it just connected.

If the marina router has a firewall I'm sure you could ask them to allow Ezwiz through if it picks it up. You could show them that you are only streaming a low-res video, or even stills, and, even then, only accessing once a week or whatever. You'll be using a lot less bandwith than anyone who is living / working on their boat.

Richard

 

[SteveSarabande]

Only works if your marina wifi is reliable. Mine makes me login again every few days, not much use for cameras