Dummys guide to DIY Calving Camera

vanderbadger

pakalasa wrote: »

Sample of video quality from Foscam FI18910W. taken today at 10.30Am . Natural light in shed only, no lights on.
Format is *.AVI

you must be happy enough with that are you?

pakalasa

Ya, I sure am. Thanks for all your help aswell. I wouldn't have had a clue where to even start, with something like this.

vanderbadger

pakalasa wrote: »

Ya, I sure am. Thanks for all your help aswell. I wouldn't have had a clue where to even start, with something like this.

well having done without one for years i would now say that i couldnt manage Without the camera,especially when gone during the day you probably find that even when you havent cows calving you would take a look at the camera every so often to see if things are ok. they are a great help for a man with a day job

glenkeo

Hi I have been following this thread for a while I finally bought a foscam fi8910w for lambing my shed is about 80m from house. I had but cat5 cable in trunking to the shed when I built. Spent about 4hr setting it up on wed. Got it all going even port forwarding thanks do all the help on here. (More luck than anything else). I have two brother one in oz and (he was evening able to use it). And one downs the road. Does anyone know is there a limit on how many devices that can be on at the one time or logged in has I can see picture on my lap top but cannot get it on my android yesterday or today I have tried uninstalling the app ip cam viewer and setting it up again no joy. Any ideas.

vanderbadger

glenkeo wrote: »

Hi I have been following this thread for a while I finally bought a foscam fi8910w for lambing my shed is about 80m from house. I had but cat5 cable in trunking to the shed when I built. Spent about 4hr setting it up on wed. Got it all going even port forwarding thanks do all the help on here. (More luck than anything else). I have two brother one in oz and (he was evening able to use it). And one downs the road. Does anyone know is there a limit on how many devices that can be on at the one time or logged in has I can see picture on my lap top but cannot get it on my android yesterday or today I have tried uninstalling the app ip cam viewer and setting it up again no joy. Any ideas.

you could power off and on the camera just in case too many connections locked it up..
another thing to check, are you sure other people can still access it on internet? it might not just be your phone, while you are getting to it on your laptop it might be because you are on the same network as opposed to accessing it from the internet or accessing it external to your network if you follow me
also if you have eircom broadband it possible your IP address has changed in the last day or so you might need to change the settings on your phone to reflect this
open google and search whats my ip and it will tell you your public IP address

pakalasa

Did you use a 'Dynamic DNS Service' like www.no-=ip.com ?
This is important as the external IP address of your router will be constantly changing. So maybe it has changed from yesterday, and so you can't log on.

just do it

I access mine remotely through a no-ip.com web address. One night I couldn't view it on my android for a while because there were two other people viewing it at the same time. 30mins later when I knew they were off it I had no problem accessing it again.

Also I find my ip address changes every 2 or 3 days so need to go back in through the no-ip.com address to get the new ip address. I'm with eircom.

aidanki

pakalasa wrote: »

Foscam FI8910W camera from here, € 102.65
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Foscam-FI8910W-Wireless-CCTV-IP-Camera-WiFi-Audio-UK-IR-Cut-Infrared-New-Black-/281013782136?pt=UK_Computing_Other_Computing_Networking&hash=item416dba0678

2 of - Ubiquiti Nanostations Loco M2, total € 103.00
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/UBIQUITI-Nanostation-Loco-M2-802-11g-n-150Mbps-LOCOM2-/170692457500?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27be10341c

I also got one 25m and one 15M Cat5 Ethernet cables - € 19.84
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/RJ45-Cat5e-Ethernet-Network-Cable-Lead-1m-2m-3m-5m-10m-15m-20m-25m-30m-40m-50m-/280922918578?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item41684f8eb2

You need total of 4 Cat5 cables. One comes with the camera but is only about 1.5m long. I also welded up some brackets for the camera and nanostaion in the shed.
The camera is delicate enough. It is an indoor one. I made up a sort of canopy to cover it in the shed. Made from a cut plastic bucket.:D It does pan and tilt and see in the dark (Infared) but it does not zoom. (The camera not the bucket)
The 2 nanostations are identical, but configured differently and locked into each other to send data.

I'm also going to get an IP65 Junction Box for the plugs in the shed, just for safety; €20 or so
http://radionics.rs-online.com/web/p/junction-boxes/0455756/

why 4 cables?

cable 1 camera to nanostation
cable 2 nanostation to either wireless router located in house or direct to PC

what are cables 3 and 4 for?

just do it

aidanki wrote: »

why 4 cables?

cable 1 camera to nanostation
cable 2 nanostation to either wireless router located in house or direct to PC

what are cables 3 and 4 for?

There is a POE between each of above i.e.
cable 1 camera to POE
Cable 2 POE to nanostation
Cable 3 Nanostation to POE
Cable 4 POE to Router
The POE's come with the nanostations.

aidanki

whats a POE?

I know its power over ethernet but how does it fit in.......

just do it

Don't know why it's there but it is. Plug -> POE -> 2 cables. In this case 1 cable runs to router and the other runs to the base nanostation.

pakalasa

I finally got my junction box installed. It tidied up things a bit. I also have pic of nanostation bracket on end of shed.

just do it

pakalasa wrote: »

I finally got my junction box installed. It tidied up things a bit. I also have pic of nanostation bracket on end of shed.

Tidy job Pak.

gctest50

That bracket ain't going anywhere in a storm ...

Minor thing might save hassle in the future - if the ethernet cable gets damaged , the water will sneak up along it like a wick a fair distance - you won't know until it has the ethernet socket in the nanostation corroded to death.

just do it

I've same set up of ethernet cables as in pak's photo. I wonder could we get away without the cable from the camera to the poe considering there is an aerial in the camera

just do it

GoodMan55985 wrote: »

Just a bit of advice for Pakalasa on this setup. I have it setup it does take patience and time.

1. If you ordered the Nanostations from InterProjket in Poland, you'll be sent european plugs for the two nanostations. I bought European to UK/Ireland plug adapters to get round this.

2. You will need four Cat 5e Ethernet Cables in total. Two for each Nanostation. You can get them in Currys up to 20m in length or buy them from Comms Express in the UK. Comms Express are very good can order really long lenght to bring the connection from nanostation back to your power supply.

3. Ideally need a double socket in the cow shed. One for the Camera power supply and one the nanostation power supply. Otherwise could use extension leads. Also the Foscam night vision isn't great but can you make out enough to see if action.

4. The cable ties with the nanostations were way too small to tie to my downpipe on shed. You can get a bag of these in any electrical suppliers shop.

5. This Youtube video is all you need to setup the communication between two nanostations - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__xzHnK6IVs&list=UUCLpYbF6epWOUuJurR8INWA&index=19

6. My advice before setting up the nanostations see that you get the get foscam camera setup on the network first. See that you can access camera using an alias (use no-ip as it is free) and on another computer or your mobile. If this is done you have port forwarding setup correctly. This video from awkwardhamster helped me out- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHTxuYa3Kzo&feature=related

On the you tube clip at point 5 there is a little bit of instruction missing around 3 mins in when he switches from nanostation A to nanostation B. When you unplug nanostation A you need to connect it to the router. Now when you're configuring nanostation B it wil be able to find nanostation A. I also needed to download the discovery tool from the ubnt website because when I entered 192.168.1.20 into the url it wasn't picking up the nanostation. The address has changed to 192.168.1.150 or something similar. The discovery tool gives you the new address.

I also had to re-enable the wireless connection so the two nanostations could communicate.

A mate got the same set up and we set it up last week. We hit the same hurdles as when I set mine up so I saved him alot of hours and frustration getting it set up!

Hope this helps someone (and acts as a reminder to myself as I get the feeling it's not the last time I'll be settling it up for someone else :rolleyes:

leg wax

i put up the new hawk wireless camera in shed next to the house worth the 189 yoyos:D

dzer2

Check out aldi they are selling them for 60 euro.

leg wax

dzer2 wrote: »

Check out aldi they are selling them for 60 euro.

bought stuff cheap in there before no more thanks.have a hawk camera 15 or so years with no trouble.

kevthegaff

lads does anyone have it working using vodafone, off your smartphone. lad was telling me they dont free up ports for it

just do it

leg wax wrote: »

bought stuff cheap in there before no more thanks.have a hawk camera 15 or so years with no trouble.

One good camera that works without trouble for 15yrs is cheaper than the 7 or 8 cheap ones you'd use in the same time

munkus

Lads,

Have all the gear except the camera. A few of you have the Foscam. Could someone pm me the ip address of theirs so that I could see how good or bad it is?

Thanks

reilig

Lads, I've gone through this thread and can't find an answer, its probably here, but i haven't found it. So I'll ask:

I have elderly relatives. Their yard and shed is 4 miles from their house. There is no line of sight and they have no phone line near the house - only an esb supply. They are getting up to look at cows that are near calving on a regular basis.

Is there a way so set up a camera using a wireless broadband dongle? It would be good if I was able to look at them online myself too an odd time.
Can anyone tell me what equipment I would need to get for them and possibly link some of it?

vanderbadger

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-MR3220-150Mbps-Wireless-Router/dp/B0043GWGV8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362995718&sr=8-1
something similar to this could/should work where you can plug the 3G dongle into a router like this for internet access, you could then wire your camera back to one of the ether net ports on router
you would need to check the 3g coverage in their area first, I wouldnt be a fan of it to be honest butmight work away for you

ellewood

vanderbadger wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-MR3220-150Mbps-Wireless-Router/dp/B0043GWGV8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362995718&sr=8-1
something similar to this could/should work where you can plug the 3G dongle into a router like this for internet access, you could then wire your camera back to one of the ether net ports on router
you would need to check the 3g coverage in their area first, I wouldnt be a fan of it to be honest butmight work away for you

What speed - upload and download speed would you need for this to work properly?

vanderbadger

ellewood wrote: »

What speed - upload and download speed would you need for this to work properly?

well i have wireless broadband its 2mb download, not sure what the upload is and it works fine, dont know about the 3G as i dont realy ever use it, id be thinking you would want a real good connection though to have any comfort looking at camera remotely

JCB1

My upload speed is only 300kb - its adequate but not perfect. Its good enough for the picture but moving the camera is not so reliable.
I use the preset settings to move the camera and it(foscam) works fine.

just do it

I've configures 2 bridges connected to the access point. One is for the calving camera and that works fine. The other is for internet access at a separate house 200m away. Can't seem to get it working though. Do I need to plug a router in at the other side or something?


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Lofty0990

Just a quick query - do the nanos from Lativa come with POE's and did I read earlier in this thread there was a plug converter issue Euro V UK , if so where can they be got .

Many thanks

just do it

Lofty0990 wrote: »

Just a quick query - do the nanos from Lativa come with POE's and did I read earlier in this thread there was a plug converter issue Euro V UK , if so where can they be got .

Many thanks

I think mine came from Latvia and they came with POEs. I switched the plugs to Irish plugs. Having said that the ones that came on it are 2 pin and work fine.

munkus

just do it wrote: »

I've configures 2 bridges connected to the access point. One is for the calving camera and that works fine. The other is for internet access at a separate house 200m away. Can't seem to get it working though. Do I need to plug a router in at the other side or something?


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I can't make out much of the detail from that image. Check the following

Make sure you have line of sight.
SSID - make sure it's the same on all 3.
WPA key - make sure this is the same on all 3 also, reset it on the one that's not working.
The one in your house has to be set to Access Point mode, the other 2 must be Station
Make sure that are all on the same Channel (1, 6 or 11)

Once the access point in the other house associates with your one, you have extended your network to that house. The ethernet cable (lan port on POE injector) should be plugged into a switch or wireless router in the other house. Make sure if you are plugging into a wireless router in the second house that DHCP is turned off, or else that could mess with your own network - reissuing addresses that have already been leased out.

just do it

munkus wrote: »

I can't make out much of the detail from that image.

Yeah I thought that mightn't be much use.

The ethernet cable (lan port on POE injector) should be plugged into a switch or wireless router in the other house. Make sure if you are plugging into a wireless router in the second house that DHCP is turned off, or else that could mess with your own network - reissuing addresses that have already been leased out.

I think this is the issue. The receiving nanostation is connected to the AP but isn't plugged into anything. I wondered if there should be a wireless router plugged in to it.

munkus

just do it wrote: »

Yeah I thought that mightn't be much use.
I think this is the issue. The receiving nanostation is connected to the AP but isn't plugged into anything. I wondered if there should be a wireless router plugged in to it.

Ya, it needs something to spread the wireless around the house. The nanostation itself is directional, so wouldn't be ideal for laptops to connect to directly. Test it first by plugging a laptop into the lan port and see if you get an IP address from your home router. this will prove that the bridges are working fine.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WR841N-300Mbps-Wireless-Router/dp/B001FWYGJS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363740518&sr=8-1

Pick up a cheap home wireless access point like to one above. Plug laptop into it to set it up, browse to default gateway address (192.168.1.1 or 254 usually) and disable DHCP and configure the wireless settings for the house. Then connect the lan port from the nano into any of the switch port on the back (Not the one marked DSL or WAN though)

Also set the wireless channel to a different one to the nanostations, only ever use channel 1, 6 or 11 are they are non overlapping.

gctest50

just do it wrote: »

I've configures 2 bridges connected to the access point. One is for the calving camera and that works fine. The other is for internet access at a separate house 200m away. Can't seem to get it working though. Do I need to plug a router in at the other side or something?


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Did you change the IP address of one of them ?

( you should find it under the "Network" tab in that photo )

They come from the factory set 192.168.1.20 or something

vanderbadger

just do it wrote: »

I've configures 2 bridges connected to the access point. One is for the calving camera and that works fine. The other is for internet access at a separate house 200m away. Can't seem to get it working though. Do I need to plug a router in at the other side or something?


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ok so you have 3 of them now, what way are they set up? in my case its the one up in the yard that is the central one as the 2 houses can both see it, its like a triangle i guess, this one need to be set as access point under the wireless role setting, set the other 2 to station under wireless mode

just do it

vanderbadger wrote: »

ok so you have 3 of them now, what way are they set up? in my case its the one up in the yard that is the central one as the 2 houses can both see it, its like a triangle i guess, this one need to be set as access point under the wireless role setting, set the other 2 to station under wireless mode

Yeah I've had three of them from the start, just getting around to the second station now :rolleyes:. Access point is in my house and it can see the station at the shed with camera and the station in the other house. Need to get a wireless router or something similar for the other house. I've a spare netopia router from eircom somewhere that I'll try once I find it!

vanderbadger

just do it wrote: »

Yeah I've had three of them from the start, just getting around to the second station now :rolleyes:. Access point is in my house and it can see the station at the shed with camera and the station in the other house. Need to get a wireless router or something similar for the other house. I've a spare netopia router from eircom somewhere that I'll try once I find it!

you should be able to connect a pc directly to the injector but i guess if you want to supply wireless you might need a router

Lofty0990

Over on the wireless board some of the heavy gang are pro these cameras - from same stable as nanos - a bit more expensive - anyone tried them or would they be suitable? Or are they pc access only ?

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/UBIQUITI-AirCam-Dome-Airvision-H-264-1MP-megapixel-IP-camera-HDTV-/180831678870?pt=US_Security_Cameras&hash=item2a1a687196

gctest50

Outdoor ones from the same crew,

http://www.aerial.net/shop/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=17&products_id=1185

just do it

vanderbadger wrote: »

you should be able to connect a pc directly to the injector but i guess if you want to supply wireless you might need a router

Plugged the laptop into the bridge and, hey presto, internet access . May still get a router as mobile bb is poor.

vanderbadger

just do it wrote: »

Plugged the laptop into the bridge and, hey presto, internet access . May still get a router as mobile bb is poor.

next thing you will be selling braodband to the neighbours :pac:

just do it

vanderbadger wrote: »

next thing you will be selling braodband to the neighbours :pac:

Now there's an idea

sea12

Right guys,

I finally went and bought the Forcam and the nano stations ratehr than going down the agri camera route. However It was delayed shipping as it was out of stocka nd it only arrived yesterday. LAmbing has now started ine arnest and getting this set up quickly is important.

I installed the software but I can not even get to the see the camera when it is just connected to the router here in the house. Never mind the nano stations or port viewing. My internet provider is Eircom.

Ot is just coming up as a black screen.

Really need some help.
Where do I start?

pakalasa

Connect camera direct to computer first. I have setup notes of my own at home, but not here at work.
Just to warn ya -you need a bit of patience setting all this up, one simple thing wrong & it doesn't work.

sea12

Hi palaska. Yep that's what I have been trying.
Camera plugged in. Cat 5 cable supplied with camera going from camera to Internet router.
Another cable going from Internet router to computer.
I get the log in page and enter username. It then goes to what should be the camera operating but it's only a black screen with all the tools for directing camera/ brightness etc on the left of the page.

vanderbadger

sea12 wrote: »

Hi palaska. Yep that's what I have been trying.
Camera plugged in. Cat 5 cable supplied with camera going from camera to Internet router.
Another cable going from Internet router to computer.
I get the log in page and enter username. It then goes to what should be the camera operating but it's only a black screen with all the tools for directing camera/ brightness etc on the left of the page.

there isnt a cap over the lens is there?

pakalasa

When you power up the camera, by plugging it into the mains with the 20V adaptor, you should see the camera rotating around for a while before it stops. Does it do this?

sea12

Yep it does that. This is where Im getting to.

vanderbadger

sea12 wrote: »

Yep it does that. This is where Im getting to.

are you using internet explorer there, might be a browser problem
have a look thru this
http://foscam.us/blog/foscamipcameras/setting-up-ie-on-windows-7-to-view-the-foscam-fi8908w-wireless-camera-enabling-the-activex-control-module/
or just try it from a different browser, mozilla firefox or google chrome

pakalasa

When you insert the CD with the camera sotfware, did you choose the right operating system, i.e windows OS.
Does the camera show up on windows explorer when you connect it to the computer?
Can you pan tilt the camera?
What make of Foscam is it?