Remote location for CCTV

I'm a complete novice at this, I work with a local charitable group in my spare time & we have a 40ft steel ISO container used for storage. The container is in a remote area with no power or WiFi but reasonable mobile phone coverage. We have suffered from vandalism in the past & 1 serious but unsuccessful attempt to get into our store.

Is there any possibility of having a CCTV system to keep a watch in this area? The site is mostly unattended so ideally we would access the camera by phone periodically to check.

We could erect a pole for the camera which I guess would have to be solar powered & the pole could be against the container so that other equipment would be inside.

Any advice or information you can give would be gratefully received.

Anything is possible, but sometimes it's just more complicated.

I think you have the right idea with solar panels being the way to go for power; the most difficult part will be selecting those of the appropriate size and quantity that you'll need.

Access from you mobile phone can usually be done effectively with certain 3G/4G hot spot devices. Verizon carried something called a Jetpack that you could get working with a CCTV system as long as you had the appropriate router to go with it. There have been some recent threads created regarding these hot spots; just search for them on the forum.

Other than getting those two details ironed out, the rest is just shopping for the CCTV equipment that you want.

Thanks for your reply Don. Can I run a router without having mains power?

Thanks for your reply Don. Can I run a router without having mains power?

The router and modem will require power if that's what you're asking. You may not need a router depending on your other hardware.

I'm a complete novice at this, I work with a local charitable group in my spare time & we have a 40ft steel ISO container used for storage. The container is in a remote area with no power or WiFi but reasonable mobile phone coverage. We have suffered from vandalism in the past & 1 serious but unsuccessful attempt to get into our store.

 

Is there any possibility of having a CCTV system to keep a watch in this area? The site is mostly unattended so ideally we would access the camera by phone periodically to check.

We could erect a pole for the camera which I guess would have to be solar powered & the pole could be against the container so that other equipment would be inside.

 

Any advice or information you can give would be gratefully received.

Unique problem you have here but not impossible.

I would go with solar panels on the top of it (if you don't think they will be vandalized) to a battery in an enclosure in the container. I would go with a wireless camera so that you can connect directly to a Wifi hotspot (Verizon and several cell providers offer this for a monthly fee). The hotspot can just be permanently charged and stay on all the time. However, with the data rates charges and limits this might prove expensive.

Any reason you can't just go with local storage?

I'm a complete novice at this, I work with a local charitable group in my spare time & we have a 40ft steel ISO container used for storage. The container is in a remote area with no power or WiFi but reasonable mobile phone coverage. We have suffered from vandalism in the past & 1 serious but unsuccessful attempt to get into our store.

 

Is there any possibility of having a CCTV system to keep a watch in this area? The site is mostly unattended so ideally we would access the camera by phone periodically to check.

We could erect a pole for the camera which I guess would have to be solar powered & the pole could be against the container so that other equipment would be inside.

 

Any advice or information you can give would be gratefully received.

 

Unique problem you have here but not impossible.

 

I would go with solar panels on the top of it (if you don't think they will be vandalized) to a battery in an enclosure in the container. I would go with a wireless camera so that you can connect directly to a Wifi hotspot (Verizon and several cell providers offer this for a monthly fee). The hotspot can just be permanently charged and stay on all the time. However, with the data rates charges and limits this might prove expensive.

 

Any reason you can't just go with local storage?

We could use local storage but, because there might be periods of weeks when we don't visit the site, it would be useful to be able to check it remotely.

Hi. Very low power cameras like mobotix or the axis.

You can buy both as a standalone with 3or4g

Camera will send you alerts when something is detected.

Snapper on the forum is the mobotix guy

Also if South caroliner I can find details

Hi. Very low power cameras like mobotix or the axis.

 

You can buy both as a standalone with 3or4g

Camera will send you alerts when something is detected.

Snapper on the forum is the mobotix guy

Also if South caroliner I can find details

Thanks for the info, I'll check those out. I'm a long way from S. Carolina, all the way across the Atlantic.

How far is the container from a decent internet signal? Could always do a wifi hop with a ubiquiti setup , power the camera with solar, try to get one with alarm input so you can wire up the doors of the container and maybe place a motion sensor in there that will allow you to receive an alert via email-sms if the container is breached or motion is detected inside.. there are some wireless camera solutions out there as well ... Most of these devices run off of 12vDC or less.. it's just a matter of figuring out the amp/h usage rate of all the devices combined and getting batteries / solar panels that will keep everything powered up over time.

where is this located? State County.

How far is the container from a decent internet signal? Could always do a wifi hop with a ubiquiti setup , power the camera with solar, try to get one with alarm input so you can wire up the doors of the container and maybe place a motion sensor in there that will allow you to receive an alert via email-sms if the container is breached or motion is detected inside.. there are some wireless camera solutions out there as well ... Most of these devices run off of 12vDC or less.. it's just a matter of figuring out the amp/h usage rate of all the devices combined and getting batteries / solar panels that will keep everything powered up over time.

 

where is this located? State County.

Probably at least 300m from anywhere with wifi.

Location is SE UK.

 

Probably at least 300m from anywhere with wifi.

 

 

 

Location is SE UK.

300m to wifi? Or to a nice hardline connection? What about satellite internet?

 

Probably at least 300m from anywhere with wifi.

 

 

 

Location is SE UK.

 

 

300m to wifi? Or to a nice hardline connection? What about satellite internet?

No chance of hard wire. I don't know what's involved with satellite but believe it is expensive. I've attached a JPEG showing the location to give an idea of the problem, the one building visible at the edge is just a barn with no power.

What I meant by hardline, was a good internet service location.. like the house on the property.. those ubiquiti's can travel pretty far with line of sight.. We just did a remote installation where there was really no other choice except satellite .. we used a company called via sat or Excede internet.. the cost is $60 a month for 5down 2 up with a cap of 10 GB a month.. supposedly they don't reduce your upload speeds once your limit is met.

So you have a couple of options.. get your internet access from a home near by that is paying for service or get internet service there at the location. you can create a solar setup with batteries for power out at the unit itself.. I would find a dvr that has alarm inputs and relay outputs and set you security up that way... sensor the doors, maybe some motion detection alerts from the cameras or a PIR that is attacehd to the alarm inputs on the DVR/nvr itself.

I've never used a 3g hotspot type of device personally .. but I would suppose it is possible to acheive what you want.. but I would make sure whatever device you choose, you have the option of hard wiring some sort of alarm system in with it.. keep us informed on what you decide.

That's not a house in the image, just a barn with no power. Looks like internet is not an option, the satellite fee is too expensive.

Is there no where or no one within 5-10 miles that has internet you can use? maybe pay a monthly to help them with their bill?

You could install a system.. but without any access to remotely it won't do you much good.. b/c if someone does break in they will just steal that along with whatever else of value there is...

maybe signage and dummy cameras will serve as a deterrent from any further mischief

We have considered dummy cameras, just not sure how effective they would be. The problem is mainly petty vandalism.