Off-grid security camera set-up

Hello!

Looking for a recommended off-grid security camera set-up where images/activity can be sent to smart phone.

Any experienced advice appreciated, thanks!

When you say off grid - do you mean in a location with no hard line electric, phone or DSL/cable, but with the possibility of cell service or satellite internet?

I am curious about the same types of technology - well, specifically what is most cost effective.  We have a lot of people here with wildlife cameras, but most download them manually.  There are also lots of astronomers here with observatories where the info is available to them online while they are traveling - but that requires a hard-line internet connection, I'm told.  DSL.

I looked into systems and saw one type that would require both its own cell service plan  AND an monthly subscription to the company you buy the equipment from.  That seemed really cost prohibitive.  

What is a simpler way to do this?  It seems like one should be able to set up a motion detector to initiate a camera, and then have the recording sent over a cellular or other internet connection to a specific email...?  There must be someone out there who has figured out a cost-effective way of doing this that doesn't lock you into a subscription with some alarm company.

I have no hard line or electric, and my property is very large. I was hoping to find a cost prohibitive set-up that would be solar cameras that could send via cellular to my smart phone, if such a thing exists?

I've been thinking about this for a while.
The closest to off the shelf I have found is the video system used on drones.
I believe the wifi on them is limited to 600 meters but that might be enough.
They also are already set up for DC so making them solar powered shouldn't be too much work.

How much property are you talking about covering? I got into learning about camera systems around 10 years ago and I had more of the mindset of building a system I could maintain with time and tweak to my liking. I didn't want to get a complete off the shelf system that would likely be discontinued or be easy to hack. The field has changed a lot, but here are some of the conclusions that I arrived at, which hopefully will be helpful.
1.)    You get what you pay for. A good long-term system will usually cost more and be more trouble to maintain than most people want to bother with.
2.)    Think about what you want to system for. Successfully identifying thieves and vandals means that the cameras have to be very well placed and high quality. An early warning system for intruders can be simpler, but it's also hard to beat a pen of Guinea Hens. Watching wildlife is probably my favorite use.
3.)    Network cameras are where it's at. They perform the video encoding, rather than overwhelm the central server.
4.)    Wired cameras are best and less troublesome. You have to power them anyways.
5.)    Power Over Ethernet(POE) gets you your power and data on one cable, greatly simplifying the system.
6.)    ZoneMinder is good software that helps you manage and store the camera streams.
7.)    Spiders and insects wreck havoc on motion detection at night.
8.)    Cameras running 24/7 outdoors don't last as long as you think.

You could do all of this on solar, and with a good WiFi router, you could access it by phone on your local network without being connected to the internet.

Also, it's not hard to connect the server to something like a Verizon Jetpack and turn on port forwarding so you can access everything remotely by phone. You might have to go through a VPN if they won't give you a static IP.

We don't use them for a security system though some game cameras would do that.

Our son-in-law uses that kind of game camera.

Resurrecting this thread to ask about very low-tech video surveillance camera(s).  In our case, these would be used inside of farm buildings although weather-tolerant would be a plus.  A wired camera system would be fine, but battery powered also acceptable.  Here's the more crucial details:  We are looking for a set up that can store ~24 hr of video/audio and auto-erase information recorded before that......We do not need to have recordings before that time period.  If it can record in the dark like many trail cameras, that too would be a plus.  Here's the hardest part to find it seems at this point in the technology:  the set-up should NOT require

--cell phone service

--Wireless service

--Bluetooth connection.

Our hope is that recorded information could be stored directly on camera-interfaced flash media or on a USB-connected solid-state drive.  In the event that we wish to review recorded information, we would  just take the storage media into the house for viewing on the home computer.  Please let me know if any readers here are familiar with such a system that I may look into.  Much thanks!

Hi John,

I would look into the cheap portable dashcams for cars. I used to have one that had all of these features years ago. You might have to adjust the video quality depending on the size microSD card that it supports to get a full 24 hours. I can't make any recommendations but last time I looked at them they were inexpensive and better than the one I had years ago. The other option I thought of is an old android phone with large SD card. It doesn't need to have cell service. There are security cam apps for android but I have not personally used them.
Good luck!

Les, that is a brilliant idea ,thanks. It would stand to reason that every home has a kitchen drawer with two old Android phones gathering dust, seems like a great way to upcycle them.  

Hi John,
I can only think of one option that meets your technical requirements... but it is expensive. The Unifi/Ubiquiti security systems have lots of wired cameras. It comes back to a local server... so no wireless or internet needed to record and view information. You can set it to keep video for however long you want.

They do offer an option to setup the server with bluetooth to try and make it easier... but it does not need it, if you have a little network knowledge.

It is one of the few systems I have been able to find that still records to a local device, has good quality cameras for day or night, and does not require a subscription. You can view it from an app on a phone... but you can also use a regular computer to view the recordings as well. But you are going to pay a lot of money for it. We use these at my work.

Thank you for these responses....  Matt, I will look into the link you offered and will see if that expense is something my wife is comfortable with.  It's for keeping an eye on a fair number of rescue animals and it may be worth it for her.  (She is not incorporated as a non-profit, so there would be no way to buy this as a business expense.)  All the same, a good lead...Thanks!  

Cell phone/Android suggestion:  Well, I have an older iPhone 6s gathering dust.  If this was attached to its power/charging cord, would the app your are describing (or similar) allow for recording?  Does the Android app to which you are referring allow for auto-delete of past material so that it can continually record most recent video?  Not sure what the storage size in that generation iPhone was....32Gb?  I know the battery was dying, so I would need to keep it plugged in.

Dashcam:  Had not thought of that!.....Will look into these tonight.  I suspect I would need a 120V -> 12V power converter to run such a device, yes?  But if it works, that would be easily achieved.  Again, thanks for these great leads!

John,

Not sure about the iphone. Most android phones can take an external microSD card but Apple started taking most useful options away from it's customers early on. 32GB might be enough for 24 hours at a reduced quality but not sure.

I have not used the android apps but a quick search showed that they exist. You'd have to shop around and check the features of recording and erasing but if you don't have old android phones around then that doesn't apply anyways.

The dash cams often have some rechargeable battery capacity and can also be plugged into 12v. I would not be surprised if they now have some that can be plugged in and charged from a normal phone charger USB 5v too. That's probably what I would look for. Making the choice of which one to try is always the hardest part for me.

Thanks again for responses.  Finally settled on a Red Tiger ViewClear 70 dashcam that seems to be working pretty well.  Bought a separate 5VDC/3A converter for plugging into 120VAC wall outlet....all working well.  Very pleased with the option to use wireless approach for data storage and transfer, or the internal micro-SD card (comes with 128Gb standard card and I added a 512Gb card to the purchase).  For our needs, it works very well just to remove the SD card and use a USB adapter to dump the desired files from the card onto the home laptop.  Added bonus is the long-cabled extra camera provided for the rear window of the vehicle.  This allows us to have the main camera on the inside of the barn and the 'rear' camera inside of an animal stall where the main camera can't see.  File storage can be adjusted to save in 1 minute, 3 minute or 5 minute increments and camera resolution can be changed to save on storage space.  Very pleased and thinking of adding a few more for other locations on the property.  Thanks!