I have aluminum siding on my house so wifi is a no go. I hard wired all my cameras. I never have a connection issue. Works 100% all the time. And I don't have to worry about someone hacking my signal.
wifi security cameras
- Thread starter muddstopper
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I must have some sort of weird setup or conditions. I connected the extra blink module today and placed it in my shop. Connected a camera and things worked just fine. Alright, things are starting to come rogether.. I still had one more camera so I decided to put it inside my shed where I keep all my reloading equipment in. I go in the house and start to configure the extra camera and bang, it connects to the module in the shop. Now just a few days ago, a camera wouldnt connect to the other module while it was in the shop, if I took it outside and closed the shop door. . Made me scratch my head, but what the heck, its working now. So I take the extra camera and put it in the shed, everything worked just fine, until I shut the door on the shed and the camera loses connection to the module in the shop. Open the door and it reconnects. Now the module in the shop is only about 10 or 15ft from the camera in the shed, but there are 2 metal walls between them. It aint going to work that way, but that blasted camera will connect to the shop while setting in my recliner inside the house. Dont make good sense to me. but what do i know. I am pretty dang sure it isnt my wifi signal. I could take that camera all the way to the end of my property and still get alerts and pictures on my phone. What I am going to try next is trying to connect all my house cameras to the module in the shop and see if that will work. If it does, I will just move the house module to my shed and hope that works. If it does and since I can get signals at the other end of my property with the shop module, I am going to get another kit and throw up some more cameras to watch the deer. Of course another kit comes with another module and I will just give it back to my brother to replace the one I Borrowed. What I wish I had is some sort of system where I could have placed the router/module outside without worrying about weather screwing it up. Trying to work within the confines of metal structures without hard wireing is a crap shoot.
I have used Ubiquiti products many times and also find they will do everything they claim. Using directional antennas they will transmit wifi long distance when linked as a bridge. What I liked about them there was a tool on their web site where you could input your location and it would read the topographical information and project a map much like google maps where you could plot the layout of your network and it would tell you it the link was possible. This way you didn't waste money or time setting up the bridges. It also allowed you to reconfigure the stations so they would communicate and would also tell you how high your antenna had to be for communication. WIFI is direct line of sight and the lay of the land means a lot.
They also make stations and bridges in the 900 mhz range that have more penetration in places where trees and stuff are in the way. The 900 mhz will also follow the lay of the land better than 2.4 mhz wifi and doesn't require line of sight.
Woodchuckr
ArboristSite Member
I made a "Cantenna" several years back, directional cel antenna. Used some site off the net for the calculations and it actually got me from 1 bar to 3-4 bars when aimed with a compass and headings off google earth. I was impressed.
I use a power-line extender about 150' to my shop. We do zoom calls out there with another computer running the web and music with no issues.
explain the powerline extender. What is it?
A power line network uses the power line wires to form a hard line network. you simply plug it into an outlet wall socket and it creates a network over the electric lines of your house, plug in more receiver and extend the network. What you want to look for is Powerline adapters.
So, If I plug a extender into my house outlet, and one in my shop outlet, it will put wifi in my shop??. Not that that matters much, as I have wifi in the shop already. The problem is the cameras wont talk to the wifi module if the module is in the house and the cameras are in the shop. Which dont make sense since with camera in house and module in shop, it will connect. I have Wifi and the modul is connecting to the wifi just about anywhere on my property, including inside the shop. The cameras wont connect to the module if the module is in the house and the cameras are in the shop, or my shed. In other words, the camera signal isnt passing thru the shops metal walls. I have a module and camera in the shop and I am getting pictures. It seems that with module in the shop, My cameras will connect when placed just about anywhere, except the camera in the shed. The shed camera will only connect to the module if the shed door is open. I havent had any time much to keep fooling with the system, but it looks like if I place one module in my shop and the other module in the shed, I will be covered, even if I decide to put a camera(s) inside the house. Anyways, right now I have cameras working everywhere except my shed. I also think I am going to go ahead and buy another system to cover areas where the deer like to eat bushes. One thing I thnk I like about having multiple modules is I can disarm individual systems whan I dont need them. I can leave the shop cameras on 24/7 when I am not in the shop and cut them off when I am working in the shop. Only way I can see to stop getting a million alerts when I am the one setting off the cameras. One other problem is I am going to have to get rid of a rabbit that keeps setting off my driveway cameras in the midle of the night. And a dog, and a cat, and a squirrel, even had a spider set that camera off.
You may need a wifi router with an external antenna port if you want to stick with WIFI all the way. My shop has a steel shell and no wifi access inside. What I did was put an external antenna on the outside, run the antenna cable into the shop and plug the antenna cable into the antenna port on a wifi router and link the routers. You would need to run one as an AP router (access point) and the one with the external antenna as a repeater. Mesh network works about the same as the repeater network with AP.
There is other ways to setup a linked wifi network like " wireless distribution system" (WDS) where all the nodes/routers are running as an AP router (access point). Most of the time WDS is specific to manufactures as there is no standard established for WIFI. That is the reason the nodes should be from the same manufactures. WDS is a more complicated network system, but it offers more flexibility. The AP Routers run as a bridge to a network but can have there own security application setting and firewall settings. They can have their own sidd, login credentials and this way if needed one can limit access to other nodes on the network because the login credentials can be different. If you set them under the same ssid and login credentials they can hand off to one of the other nodes on the network that may have a better signal. This is the way I have a hotspot setup that covers more than 40 acres.
There is other ways to setup a linked wifi network like " wireless distribution system" (WDS) where all the nodes/routers are running as an AP router (access point). Most of the time WDS is specific to manufactures as there is no standard established for WIFI. That is the reason the nodes should be from the same manufactures. WDS is a more complicated network system, but it offers more flexibility. The AP Routers run as a bridge to a network but can have there own security application setting and firewall settings. They can have their own sidd, login credentials and this way if needed one can limit access to other nodes on the network because the login credentials can be different. If you set them under the same ssid and login credentials they can hand off to one of the other nodes on the network that may have a better signal. This is the way I have a hotspot setup that covers more than 40 acres.
Man, you just flew way over my head. I would have to put a collar on my neck and hand you the leash and be led thru what you just said. I appreciate it tho, I cant help my ignorance to all this tech stuff.
SuperDuty04
ArboristSite Guru
Yip, they’re a professional line of products. I went from $2000 bridges to $90 bridges because they worked so well. I must have replaced over a thousand of them across all my sites.
SuperDuty04
ArboristSite Guru
you always gotta worry! You’re home network isn’t the least bit safe. Actually, you’re not safe at all. You’re just not a target for anyone. A hacker could get into your PC in less than an hour. True story.
My security system is not on the web so it cant be hacked. My pc has nothing of any importance on it. I don't do any bill pay or finance stuff on line. Nothing here to see.
SuperDuty04
ArboristSite Guru
I was just meaning, if you can view your surveillance cameras from your computer or phone, the general hack can as well. These home networks are gravy for a hacker. 25 years I’ve spent in this profession. But you nailed it, there’s nothing to gain unless you make yourself a target.
I have a dedicated TV for my security system. It doesn't connect to my pc at all. The TV sits on my desk next to my pc and stays on all the time. If it moves I see it.
I run a Mikrotik RouterBOARD with RouterOS for a firewall and management software. With the right fillers you can segment the lan/home network from the Public Network and manage the Mac addresses allowed access. You can also manage bandwidth and things like content for each client.
I no nothing about internet security. I know someone that does internet security that set my pc up so I have no idea how secure it is. I just simply use aisles and fake information for all my interactions on the web and i don't put anything of any worth on line. All they can get is my you tube searches and fake email. I don't even text on my phone. I only use the internet for entertainment vs watching TV. Like I said there is nothing to see. If I get hacked it would only be an inconvenience.
I use the ReoLink system, with a GSM card which provides 4G, and a solar panel which keeps the battery topped up. Over winter the battery does deplete from 100% down to about 40% but it only takes a day of winter sunshine and the battery is fully recharged. The battery lasts about 3 weeks without any charge at all. A great system day and night, and has recorded more wildlife than you would think, owls sat next to it, hares playing around the fields, and woodpeckers finding insects.
I use a APC power ups on my system. If power goes out the charge last about 150 hours.
If you can view the cameras only when you're on your network and the cameras are blocked from reaching the internet then they are not much of a risk. If the cams are uploading to "the cloud" and you can view them from anywhere, then they are. Most are set up that way. Some home IoT devices require it. At a minimum the cams should be on a DMZ, not your home network. So if they're compromised they can't be used to attack your computers. They'll just be used in a bot net or to mine cryptocurrency or to spy on you (less likely as it's not easy to automate a way to make money off that). Any footage uploaded to the cloud should be considered compromised. A lot of the camera companies will tout how they encrypt the footage in transit and forget to mention that it's in the clear on their servers, or tell you how they restrict employee access to it.
