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Bulldawg_30

Solar Powered Cellular / Wifi PTZ camera design

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Good morning and thank you for taking the time to preview my post.

I am an outdoorsman, nothing better than escaping from the stress of the world we live in and having time in the woods to hunt. My son and I built a box blind three years ago and enjoyed constructing and using the blind while hunting.

 

This year had been very busy and my free time was cut considerably which meant we could not travel out to the land and enjoy our time away from the hustle and bustle back home.

 

When I finally did get the chance to head out and go hunting with my 70 year old uncle we were disappointed to find the box blind that my son and I had built tipped over on it's side and rendered useless, which meant my plans to have my uncle sit in the blind to keep warm and dry were gone. Now this post is not so much about what had happened, instead it is meant to learn more on how we can rebuild the project with some features that might allow us to protect our investment and at the same time possibly watch some of the wildlife as they may come into view.

 

So here is the idea, let me preface this by saying that I consider myself a novice when it comes to electricity and cctv camera systems. I do have a Truvision DVR 30 running in my home, it was a cheap system to purchase and easy to install the analog cameras around our home. Other than replacing the hard drives the system has run flawlessly since I purchased it used.

 

What I would like to do is to create a solar powered IP PTZ camera system (with audio would be a huge bonus). My concerns and worries are the power system and the data required to run such a project. I will post signs in the area to alert others that there is a security camera installed for their protection as well.

 

As I understand, from the research that I have done I would need the following

Solar Panel

Charge Controller

Battery

Power Inverter

Electric Timer (used to reset the system at scheduled intervals)

Cellular Router* or similar cell / wifi device

PTZ Camera and possibly a weatherproof box to house some of the components.

 

The system would be mounted high in a tree with the ptz camera mounted to a branch away from the trunk to allow a larger area of view.

 

Now the questions of what size battery would fit the need which would then lead into what size solar panel to maintain a charge in the battery.

 

The cellular data portion is obvious that I would need to research available carriers and their plans either monthly or service contract, but how much data could potentially be used is a question that I keep trying to figure out.

 

I would access the system remotely from my home, office or cell phone if need be and would like to receive email alerts when motion is detected (The motion sensing parameters would be adjusted so that leaves and tree limbs would not necessarily trigger an alert).

 

May I ask for your input as well please. I am unsure and not 100% confident of my plan and am would be grateful for those of you who may be able to lend some of your knowledge to help us bring the plan together to protect our investment.

 

Thank you for your time today and considering to preview my post.

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I'm looking for the same sort of answers, but not finding a lot. Thus my reply on an old post

Your best choice currently is a Reolink Go PT combo package with solar panel. Comes in just under $300 for a plug & play system that does not require any technical knowledge. I have this rig, and it does work as claimed, though it could be better. The lens cover fogs up in cold weather, the illuminator lights up anything that's on the lens cover, and the sort of installation I'd like to do requires a totally different approach from what a security/hunting camera market analyst will come up with

 

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