Security Cameras on boat

[KevinT1]

On Reolink website it is mentioned that recording to the cloud is not supported here in Europe/UK.
Do you confirm ?

Recording to the cloud isn’t supported in EU, don’t think they’ve sorted a way around this for UK yet.

The App is good, infra red night time, alerts, siren and 2 way speech perfect

 

[I’m no expert]

I used one of these through a Vodafone 4g hub, worked so well I now have it installed at my front door.

Blink Outdoor | Wireless, weather-resistant HD security camera with two-year battery life and motion detection | 1-Camera System : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Also if you set it up using the shore power to power the camera it pings you when the power goes off.
Shows temperature as well, you also get pinged if it goes above or below set points that you can set.
I also had a heater plugged into a smart plug connected to the 4g hub so I could toggle on the heater if I got a ping.

 

[Hurricane]

Recording to the cloud isn’t supported in EU, don’t think they’ve sorted a way around this for UK yet.

The App is good, infra red night time, alerts, siren and 2 way speech perfect

Not sure what you would want the cloud feature for.
There is the ability to store images and videos within Reolink (and most other similar devices).
And it is quite easy to set up the email facility to send you an email alarm with photo as an attachment.
Again Reolink and others have this facility.
Works with standard gmail accounts.
I can't see why you would need a cloud.

 

[cherod]

Not sure what you would want the cloud feature for.
There is the ability to store images and videos within Reolink (and most other similar devices).
And it is quite easy to set up the email facility to send you an email alarm with photo as an attachment.
Again Reolink and others have this facility.
Works with standard gmail accounts.
I can't see why you would need a cloud.

in event of the unit being stolen

 

[ShaneAtSea]

Not sure what you would want the cloud feature for.
There is the ability to store images and videos within Reolink (and most other similar devices).
And it is quite easy to set up the email facility to send you an email alarm with photo as an attachment.
Again Reolink and others have this facility.
Works with standard gmail accounts.
I can't see why you would need a cloud.

I agree.

If he wants internet on his boat then get the router but if its only for the camera then there's no point

The router would be good if you want to use something like a Boat Monitoring and Tracking System in the future

 

[Bran]

Ring stick up cameras work well. Rechargeable battery, lasts months between charges. I don’t bother with the subscription, was very useful during lockdown to keep an eye on the boat inside and outside.
Not as cheap as the ones mentioned earlier, may well get one of the pan and tilt versions mentioned

 

[Hurricane]

Finished fitting my Riolink in the cockpit this morning.
This is the view from the camera.
Note - image reduced to 800x600 to overcome the stupid forum limits

 

[TwoHooter]

I wouldn't be without our cameras. All internal at the moment but I really hope this winter will see the external system added.
The most useful camera is in the wheelhouse. It looks at the distribution board so I can see the power indicators.
If I get an alert that we have lost shore power I can check straight away.
Our set up is Hikvision cameras (pricey, but recommended to me when I started) > Dahua Network Video Recorder > Teltonika Router with an EE SIM. I like EE because nowadays their coverage is very good and I have a plan which covers all our cellular devices and allows me to swap the data allowance between devices as required. To view the cameras remotely I can use either Hikvision's EZVIZ or the Dahua DMSS server.
Back in 2016 we were moored in Mylor marina (Falmouth) and the marina webcam showed us that our flybridge cover had come loose and was flapping in a strong wind. We got the marina staff to re-fix it. Probably saved the cost of a new cover. It's ridiculous that I haven't been able to get our own external cameras moved to the top of the list after 5 years but just as they get within sniffing distance something breaks and I have to fix that instead.
Snapshots taken just now (if anyone mentions the wheel I'll ignore them, we've discussed the wheel on other threads ):-

 

[SimonA]

I have the Reolink camera on my boat and use the Vodafone sim card at £4 per month. In the UK the solar panel struggles to keep the battery charged in the winter and requires a mains charge every couple of months, it is fine on solar the rest of the year. The only downside is the lack of cloud storage.

 

[MedMilo]

This has been a very interesting thread! I keep my boat in Corfu and live in the UK. Keeping an eye on the boat through the winter, whilst I’m in Hampshire, would be fantastic! To this end, last week I ordered the Reolink Go with the built in SIM etc - will buy at least one more once I’ve set it up / tested it in Greece. Took a loooong time to get the Reolink app to pair with the camera (long story and not really relevant to my question!), but it’s now linked okay.

My question is around the SIM. I got the Three 24gb, 24 month jobbie as mentioned earlier in this thread but, on speaking to Three this morning, it seems that the SIM will stop working after two months due to being outside the UK. Annoying waste of £44! I also got the Vodafone V Sim at £4 per month but don’t know whether that will keep working for, say, 7 continuous months in Greece without being returned to the UK during that period. Would much prefer to have a UK purchased SIM but will set up a contract in Greece if I have to! So, question is, has anyone discovered a UK SIM option, obvs data only, that will work continuously in Europe in one of these Reolink cameras?!

 

[TheCoach]

Given the way things are going with roaming charges in Europe would you not be better buying a local SIM? That's what we do/did when holidaying abroad in non-roaming countries.

Cheers,

TC

 

[MedMilo]

Given the way things are going with roaming charges in Europe would you not be better buying a local SIM? That's what we do/did when holidaying abroad in non-roaming countries.

Cheers,

TC

That’s an option but, certainly in Greece, the market is much less sophisticated than in the UK. Easy to find a 10GB one month SIM for a holiday type scenario but there don’t seem to be the data only little bundles for c€4 a month or the prepaid 24GB 24 month type options. As an example, the cheapest contract I’ve found is c€20/month which is the normal data + voice + SMS type contract which, for two cameras, starts to get quite expensive at 2 x €20/month, so €500 / year for the cameras.

 

[TwoHooter]

....for two cameras, starts to get quite expensive at 2 x €20/month, so €500 / year for the cameras.

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.

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

 

[Rwc13]

I am just about to install a Reolink 360 degree and tilting wifi solar powered camera on my boat in Vilamoura Marina. Will connect to the guest wifi which seems pretty good.

Possibly a daft question, but has anyone had any joy using the motion sensor automatic siren/voice alert on such cameras to keep the seagulls away from their boat? My boat seems to attract a huge amount of seagull poop at the moment, particularly on the canvas roof canopy.

 

[Hurricane]

I am currently using a UK Vodafone 3/4G service which has been working on the boat 24/7 for the last 3 years.
We have a 50GB/month data usage account.
I pay about £22 per month
But most of the time it uses less than 1Gb data whilst we are away.
There are rumours that new UK contracts in the future will have limited data usage.
However, I have heard that Vodafone will honour their past contracts.
It has been said by Vodafone that existing contracts will be honoured but I have experience with Vodafone - they are ?astards.
But we have been on the boat for the last 3 weeks with a further 2 weeks to go and the data usage seems to be OK - at the moment.
Our Vodafone monthly contract renews tonight and we used about 40Gb last month.

As far as Reolink is concerned - the Solar panel powered camera seems to work and, when interrogated, the battery level remains at 100%.
As said above, any contract bought in the UK (like our Vodafone one) will give you a UK IP address that means BBC iPlayer etc will work without a VPN.
In fact, over the last week, SWMBO have bee watching a lot of UK TV - The F1 (on Channel 4) for example.
So, our 3/4G service runs the TV etc when we are on the boat and the cameras when we are away from the boat.

 

[Hurricane]

Given the way things are going with roaming charges in Europe would you not be better buying a local SIM? That's what we do/did when holidaying abroad in non-roaming countries.

Cheers,

TC

Local SIMs won't give you a UK IP address so you would need a good VPN to get BBC iPlayer working - note:- not all VPNs will be reliable with BBC iPalyer.
But if you buy a UK SIM, you won't need a VPN - it will come with a UK IP address.
And thats the dilemma !!

 

[Hurricane]

on speaking to Three this morning, it seems that the SIM will stop working after two months due to being outside the UK. Annoying waste of £44! I also got the Vodafone V Sim at £4 per month but don’t know whether that will keep working for, say, 7 continuous months in Greece without being returned to the UK during that period. Would much prefer to have a UK purchased SIM but will set up a contract in Greece if I have to! So, question is, has anyone discovered a UK SIM option, obvs data only, that will work continuously in Europe in one of these Reolink cameras?!

Interesting
I haven't heard of anyone being cut of for leaving their UK contracts running in Europe.
That doesn't mean to say that they won't get cut off in the future!!!

 

[Scubadoo]

Interesting thread, I use a TP Link MIFI router which has a battery built to last about 7 hours which covers mains power outages. It is connected to various cameras including Reolink Argus Pro which is waterproof and has it's own battery to last months which is also connected to the mains, so any mains power failure the router and camera remain on. I've had this set-up for several years, the TP link MIFI Router did fail once (software issue) after nearly three years use, however it was replaced by TP Link 3 year warranty. You don't need to pay subscription for cloud, just use a SD Card but also set-up email alerts which will send an email with a picture of any triggered alarm events. I have expanded the use to now include a wifi socket(with timer function) to control when the heater comes on which also monitors temp and humidity, I can view all this from the comforts of my home, this approach has saved quite a bit on the marina electric bill in the last year.

I use Three mobile data sim which cost about £24 (varies on amazon) for 12gb / 12month sim which is more than enough to view the cameras daily.

 

[Hurricane]

The only downside is the lack of cloud storage.

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

 

[MedMilo]

I am currently using a UK Vodafone 3/4G service which has been working on the boat 24/7 for the last 3 years.
We have a 50GB/month data usage account.
I pay about £22 per month
But most of the time it uses less than 1Gb data whilst we are away.
There are rumours that new UK contracts in the future will have limited data usage.
However, I have heard that Vodafone will honour their past contracts.
It has been said by Vodafone that existing contracts will be honoured but I have experience with Vodafone - they are ?astards.
But we have been on the boat for the last 3 weeks with a further 2 weeks to go and the data usage seems to be OK - at the moment.
Our Vodafone monthly contract renews tonight and we used about 40Gb last month.

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.