Techie help? Teamvier>laptop>webcam>4g dongle

[PEJ]

I am looking for an easy way to monitor the inside of my boat in Mallorca and I thought of connecting a wide angle webcam that I have to and old laptop, putting a 4G payg dongle in it and installing team viewer. Leave it plugged in and from home go on team viewer and I will be able to see what the camera sees.

Assuming this would work, how much broadband data would get used? Would the laptop be constantly drawing on data or would data only get used when I log on to team viewer? Any idea how much data would get used looking at your webcam output for a few minutes?

 

[mparrish]

Easiest way I have found is having a MiFi box on the boat (gives 4g access for other users/boat purposes) and have a Foscam C1 camera connected. This has motion and sound detection on the camera and emails me a series of pictures if it detects anything. Also has Android and iPhone apps for monitoring the camera remotely. I've had it working faultlessly for about a year. I know there are lots of cameras with this stuff - the reason I went for the Foscam C1 is that it has a 5v USB power supply and my boat has usb charging ports around the boat which run of the boats 12v system, so it all works fine even when the shorepower is unplugged.

My son has used TeamViewer at school/college for the last 10 years for remote viewing, and althouth easy to setup/use it is not without it's problems. Not tried it in your proposed config, but it would mean that your old laptop would be running all the time, consuming power and possibly broadband (4g) allowance.

 

[Orange]

I use Logmein professionally, which is a competitor of Team Viewer.

Your description would indicate to me that there would not be a high amount of internet use while the system is standing by. You will get pings from the anti-virus & the Windows updates trying to do their stuff. However when you remotely log on, it's possible that Team Viewer will reduce the screen resolution for the transmission, possibly making it difficult to see detail on the webcam.

Once logged in, assuming quality is reasonable, it would be much like streaming a TV program in bandwidth use. Assume about 3gb per hour for HD quality. I don't think however that Team Viewer is suitable for this purpose. At HD quality, I suspect that Team Viewer will lag if on best quality.

Mike's suggestion of a system that emails images would be better, unless you're prepared to pay for a system which will continually stream.

 

[henryf]

I think you would be better placed going down the route of a fixed IP SIM card connected to a sim based router to which the camera is connected.

As and when you want to access the camera use the Sim card's IP address. You will only use data when you are accessing the camera.

Team viewer isn't really designed for constant access and if the session drops out you will need someone on the boat to re-establish connection.

Henry

 

[PEJ]

Thanks for the replies.

@Henry: I am not sure I understand you.

I think you would be better placed going down the route of a fixed IP SIM card connected to a sim based router to which the camera is connected.

As and when you want to access the camera use the Sim card's IP address. You will only use data when you are accessing the camera.

Team viewer isn't really designed for constant access and if the session drops out you will need someone on the boat to re-establish connection.

Henry

When you say "connected to a sim based router" do you mean a MiFi unit? Because I was originally think of buying one of these but then I downgraded my thoughts to using some of the old tat that I have hanging around the place. Of course the MiFi unit has other benefits when you are on board.

So are you suggesting a separate spy camera with a wifi link to the MiFi which is left connected? And it will only draw on your GB allowance when you connect to the camera via the camera's software/app?

 

[KevB]

What about using an old android phone with skype set to auto answer. Dial the phone's skype as and when you want to have a look?

 

[BartW]

onboard I have a Yachtrouter from Locomarine (I have the Mini)
internet connection is with marine wifi or sim card (selectable)
on the quay is a Hikvision Camera, connected via boat crew Wifi network with the router , (could aswell be a onboard camera, connected with a cable)
Hikvision offers a free web portal service, that has acces to their camera's
via EZVIZ app on my I-phone I can see the boat realtime.
not the cheapest solution, but works very well and reliable.

 

[henryf]

Thanks for the replies.

@Henry: I am not sure I understand you.


When you say "connected to a sim based router" do you mean a MiFi unit? Because I was originally think of buying one of these but then I downgraded my thoughts to using some of the old tat that I have hanging around the place. Of course the MiFi unit has other benefits when you are on board.

So are you suggesting a separate spy camera with a wifi link to the MiFi which is left connected? And it will only draw on your GB allowance when you connect to the camera via the camera's software/app?

I'm not familiar with Mifi devices but providing they allow you to set up port forwarding then they will work. I was thinking along the lines of a traditional router that takes a SIM card. You need a fixed public IP SIM card which is a specialist product. People like this lot sell them

http://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/3G/Fixed_IP_SIM.html

I'm not keen on using third party proxy servers to access cameras. The service can be sporadic when it gets busy. Using my suggested method you are going straight from your computer to your boat camera. You would of course be able to access the Internet whilst on the boat using the router.

The downside is data cost compared to more traditional internet sim packages.

Henry

 

[PEJ]

What about using an old android phone with skype set to auto answer. Dial the phone's skype as and when you want to have a look?

Hmmmm.......

That's a good idea. I assume the skype device could be my also be my old laptop?

 

[PEJ]

onboard I have a Yachtrouter from Locomarine (I have the Mini)
internet connection is with marine wifi or sim card (selectable)
on the quay is a Hikvision Camera, connected via boat crew Wifi network with the router , (could aswell be a onboard camera, connected with a cable)
Hikvision offers a free web portal service, that has acces to their camera's
via EZVIZ app on my I-phone I can see the boat realtime.
not the cheapest solution, but works very well and reliable.

Wooo!! That's cool!

What is the camera that took that image fixed to and how do you power it?

 

[KevB]

Hmmmm.......

That's a good idea. I assume the skype device could be my also be my old laptop?

Yes, but you'd still have the issue with getting your laptop on to the web. Using an old phone and turning off all updates I can't imagine it'll use any data till you connect.

Quick search found this.

http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/use-skype-as-security-camera