DIY Calving Cameras

Can do this very simply, no need for mad wiring or getting internet from home place.

Buy a SIM router, a data SIM card and an wifi camera eg ring camera (Plugged or battery)

All can be got in Harvey normans or similar, you will pay 5/10 quid a month on SIM contract.

Then stop contract after calving season or put to another location and use for security

I did the above for last calling season, worked a treat.

Anyone can do it.

We had an old calving shed with PTZ camera that failed every few years costing hundreds to replace. it was slow due to getting internet from house which required repeaters etc.

It's hard to recommend the specific models as technology changes and my system is in place a long time.

You need the IP Cameras PTZ and/or fixed, the bridge kit and a switch for wired cameras or AP for Wireless.

A POE Switch is an option if you go for wired POE cameras, but you need to make sure all your POE equipment conforms to the same IEEE POE standard. Cheaper cameras use "Passive POE" and do not work with propper POE switches these simply come with their own POE injector and each one has to be powered anywhere between the switch and the camera (very long cable runs may need the injector plugged in closer to the camera than the switch).

I like the Hikvision kit, more recently gone for Hi-look by Hikvision which is their cheaper consumer grade kit, which I find still works well but lacks some of the integration capabilities for large security/monitoring systems like you might find on large corporate premises and simpler AI features for motion detection etc (so perfect for looking at cows).

Avoid battery cameras where you have power, I've a few Reolink with solar panels for security in locations where power is not practical, they work but have limits on how long you can view/record and are lower resolution have poorer night-vision (in order to conserve power).

I'd also avoid cameras which depend solely on a cloud service, as they will not work if that service is down, goes out of business or just decides that model is obsolete. Although a cloud service is the simplest setup, at least the Hikvision / Hi-Look have both options.

Bridges can be bought in pre-configured pairs, Ubiquity are the brand of choice for this sort of setup, but there are loads of cheaper options too.

I have 2 pairs of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/KuWFi-Wireless-Supports-Transmission-Distance/dp/B07Z4R827X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=FH6QR7XLW59Q&keywords=wireless%2Bbridge&qid=1699436598&sprefix=wireless%2Bbridge%2Caps%2C65&sr=8-3&th=1

They work well for me, and no issues streaming 10 cameras simultaneously. They have an automatic pairing mode by I ended up setting them up manually for 2 reasons, firstly they all have a default WiFi Key of 66666666 which is obviously not secure and secondly this way they could be configured to act as a one to multiple WiFi bridge and also 5Ghz AP's simultaneously. So this setup could also work as an AP for 5Ghz cameras cutting out one device, but I use mine just for mobiles as coverage is a bit sketchy and my cameras are wired or 2.4Ghz. My distance is less than your 300m but I have one on TV pole at house and the others inside sheds so broadcasting through the galvanized corrugated sheeting which would be less than ideal but have no connection/speed issues either.

@pms7 those cameras look good value to be fair, the OP should probably consider a switch with more ports as they stated that they want 2 cameras + PTZ now and more to be added in future.

I know you've installed a good few of similar setups at this stage, are the PSU's in those switches up to running multiple PTZs? or have you found any limitation on the combination of cameras v ports available? Max power output is likely shared across all ports so in theory with POE switches if there are enough larger devices (like the PTZ's) you could run out of power before running out of ports.

No, a wireless bridge is 2 identical devices they will need line of site to each other over large distances not so much over shorter. Generally one will be wired to the modem/router and the other wired to the devices at the shed.

Wireless links between the modem/router and bridge are not impossible but should be avoided if possible as it only adds more potential points of failure.

Not significant enough to be an issue. Could be a big drop compared to local network speed if it's Gigabit speed but more than fast enough to stream multiple cameras, I've streamed 10 simultaneously over mine.

Considering most cameras will be relying on a cloud service anyway then the biggest bottleneck in rural areas will likely be the internet speed to the router.

Cheaper bridges will claim to achieve 300mbs max, better ones 1000mbs+ but real world setup if you can't achieve 100mbs then there is something wrong with the setup.

I have two Reolink RLC-823A PTZ cameras in separate sheds. The sheds are about 800m from the house with plenty of trees in the way so I use a wireless bridge using airMax m2 loco nanostations.

I have one nanostation plugged into the router in the house and the cameras are plugged into the two receiver nanostaions on the sheds.

The internet in the house isn't great (3mbs) but I never have any issues connecting to the cameras or moving them. The cameras have infrared lights for viewing in the dark but also have a built in led light that can be turned on in the app. You can save points that the camera will quickly move to when asked.

I normaly view the cameras on a phone or tablet but I also side loaded the app onto a fire stick to view them on the TV

You can get them on a few websites including amazon.

I found this video useful for setting up the nanostations

I bought 2 new Reolink RLC-523WA wifi cameras. The 4G router is struggling this year to run these (vs old Aliexpress 25e one i had previously).

I'm exactly 870m from the shed so i have a lot of trees and ditches to go through although shed is slightly elevated. I've bought these to setup a bridge which ill wire directly to the router but at the shed, can i connect to a router to bounce the signal around the shed (ive a number of different TP-Link 4G routers)? Or what do i need in the shed?

Hi lads. I have just purchased a calving camera and I am having issues getting it to connect to the network it is a SIM card battery operated camera. I keep getting the same network connected message then it buffers and comes back it 4g not detected.

I got a world SIM card with the camera and I put the SIM card into my phone and turned on roaming and I am able to use this SIM card on my phone. Played YouTube make calls so SIM card is working in the phone anyway. Then I put my own SIM card into the camera and the Camera is connecting and working as intended.

When I put the camera sim back in I am back into the same cycle. Anyone any experience with an issue like this?

Cameras with P2P support will work with any provider without inbound connections. Your camera makes an outgoing connection to a remote server and you connect to that. I'm not a big fan of these types of services on cheap Chinese cameras but they work.

Personally I'd go with a cloudflare tunnel, but it requires another always on device such as a PC or Raspberry Pi. Works essentially the same as above but Cloudflare would be a more reputable company when it comes to internet security.

Download a speed test app - ookla or similar.

Reolink are popular for solar/battery powered cameras and have a PTZ 4G version.

I've two fixed Wifi ones here, they don't have as good a night vision as my wired cameras, (presumably to save power with less IR) but they are OK for small sheds.

If you are not far from house, would you consider a wireless bridge instead of one with a sim?

Is there power there?

You also have the option of getting a 4G or 5G router then you can use any PTZ camera and have the option of adding more cameras for watching livestock or security without needing multiple sims.

This is a speed test at the shed. Is it good enough do you think?

Is this something new three has implemented ?

I had the same issue where router kept disconnecting. Once I hard wired the router to the cameras it stopped doing this. You might be a different issue still but might be worth trying. It was a pain running the cables but i haven't had to reset the router once since

edit

Here is a few picks, of the bulkheads.

We've only one PIR but it's the cheapest of the cheap, does fine to light up path to the light switches, but there are loads of more powerful options out there.

I've a few campervan lights in a poly tunnel too.