Running cctv camera off a dongle

[BlackRider]

Was looking at a wireless cctv camera for the stable, but I need it connected to wifi then I can spy on him munching his net

Does anyone use a dongle and does it use loads of data? Thanks

(this is just for one horse in over night).

 

[AshleyG]

I've been looking into doing this as well (still at the planning stage at the moment). The data usage will depend greatly on how you set it up and how much you use it.

If you're going to be looking at the camera 24/7 (or even all night) it's going to eat a lot of data. Whereas if you're just wanting to see a still frame every now and then it won't as so much.

I just put together a little test setup running of a raspberry pi in my house. I used the tools in Chrome to see how much data is being transferred when viewing it. I set it up to send a 1640x1232 image (a 'HD' image for example might typically be 1920x1080) and to update the photo about once every 3.5 seconds. I ran it for approximately one minute and it use 12.9MB of data (and updated the image 17 times). So on my little test if you got a 1GB (1024MB) data allowance you might end up being able to watch it for 79 minutes per billing cycle (if my maths is right).

Now my system is not optimised for remote viewing, you could lower the resolution which means each image transferred would be smaller and so use less data, meaning you could watch it for longer. You could even have two different streams so you could use a lower resolution version to check in normally and then have a high resolution one if you feel you need to see more details.

To me that looks workable and affordable but as I said it'll depend on how you're planning on using it/the camera you use.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[BlackRider]

Sorry only just seen this, I took my set up live on Sunday - on the basis that as I wasn't streaming, and just accessing the camera when checking up on him, it wouldn't be a lot of data.

Also set them camera up on the lowest quality / frames per second to reduce bandwidth too. I've used just over 2mb in the last 5 days, I eded up getting 2 wifi hotspots so I can rotate them daily.

Loving having access and being able to check check up in my horse

 

[AshleyG]

Glad to hear it's all working. And I agree - gotta love the piece of mind of being able to see that they're all ok

 

[Reacher]

Sorry only just seen this, I took my set up live on Sunday - on the basis that as I wasn't streaming, and just accessing the camera when checking up on him, it wouldn't be a lot of data.

Also set them camera up on the lowest quality / frames per second to reduce bandwidth too. I've used just over 2mb in the last 5 days, I eded up getting 2 wifi hotspots so I can rotate them daily.

Loving having access and being able to check check up in my horse

Would you mind explaining in words of one syllable what kit is required please?

 

[BlackRider]

Sure I’ve got a Reolink 2 camera and 2 ee 4gee mobile hotspots (I’ve 2 then I can rotate each night).
Very simple to set up - hope that helps.

 

[Reacher]

Fab - thanks

 

[BlackRider]

Should add you need to log into the ip address of the hotspot to give both devices the same name and password as the reolink will only remember one.

 

[YorksG]

We have three small cameras which run off a dongle box (ee 2 mb box) We have one in each field gateway, they are motion activated and can also live stream. We have many sheep selfies the cameras were less than £60 each from Amazon.

 

[Tigertrot]

Sure I?ve got a Reolink 2 camera and 2 ee 4gee mobile hotspots (I?ve 2 then I can rotate each night).
Very simple to set up - hope that helps.

Are younusing the Ee ospray dongle ? Thanks

 

[BlackRider]

Are younusing the Ee ospray dongle ? Thanks

Yes

 

[Tigertrot]

Yes

Whoop whoop thank you
Im not techy at all but thanks tomthe lovely H&Hers I may have cracked this and placing an order