Weatherproof wireless camera for remote watching where we are going.

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Simi 60

Simi 60

Guru
Joined
Jul 1, 2016
Messages
5,482
Location
Australia
Vessel Make
Milkraft 60 converted timber prawn trawler
Please note. Only thinking of this while in clear areas and on passage .

On our vessel given height of helm it does get an exaggerated roll, think sailing a yacht from the first set of spreaders.

But what has you grabbing a handhold and bracing up high when down on deck level is hardly noticeable, so , while on passage, I have been thinking a 180 degree camera looking out and displaying on 1/2 of the 42 inch downstairs TV with OpenCPN running on other 1/2.

Not full time use, just as a break from helm, grab a feed, 15 minutes then back up.

Have found several $100ish dollar security cameras that tick the box as far as image quality goes but all "seem" to be a subscriber service or want to upload to cloud or be connected to google or some other silly shite that I don't want.

I just want one that connects to onboard wifi > screen.

Any $100ish dollar suggestions?
 
This is what I use as a rearview camera on the back of the RV.
Quality seems above average and weatherproof with a handy bracket.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q7976P7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the one we use outside the home for wildlife and 'security'.
Very compact, waterproof, top quality and includes a mount and base module.
These have the advantage of an app that can accommodate multiple cameras.
https://www.amazon.com/Blink-Outdoo...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl
 
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This is what I've ordered for our front facing camera: https://www.amazon.com/EmpireTech-D...Sensor-IPC-HDBW5441F-AS-E2/dp/B09H2ZRYX8?th=1

Probably overkill for just situational use but in my case it will also be used as part of the security system. Haven't used it yet so unfortunately I can't give real world feedback.

I just want one that connects to onboard wifi > screen
Click to expand...

Check out Blue Iris. It is "air gapped" as they say and allows offline activation.

Since you need to power the camera in any case, I opted to go for POE and get the benefits of having a wired connection.
 
Simi 60 said:
Certainly a contender, thanks

Now trying to find a vid showing quality of image
Click to expand...
Here is a still shot on a overcast day. My camera is 2MP. They have newer ones at 5MP Screenshot_20230202-122924.jpg
 
I was thinking even mounting a GoPro. Decent quality and the modern ones stream to a tablet/phone wirelessly.

You probably won't get PTZ at that price, but questionable need anyway.
 
Does it have to be wifi? That really really limits your options. If you can get an ethernet cable there you can run almost any POE security camera and theres a ton of choices.
 
What you are looking for is an IP camera with a built in web server so that an internet connection is not required. I'm using a backup camera that only requires a 12VDC power source. I'm connecting to it with a tablet that works great other then the view is somewhat distorted.
 
nwboater said:
Stevek, I have been using a similar camera with solar to power the camera. It has worked flawlessly over the past 2 summers — however, because it’s intended as a “back up” camera it only stays “live” for 90 seconds…quite annoying when you need it to stay on.
Click to expand...
I have yet to install, what turns it off and then how do you get it on again?
 
If you set up a stand-alone WIFI router in your boat (dont need internet, and many of them are supplied as 12volt systems that come with a wall-transformer), then you can hook up a couple of ring-cam's. One front and one back. or however many you want. These are wifi cameras so you dont need to hard wire them.

To power them, you can buy either hard wired (I think its either 12V or 5V adapter for the hard-wired) or battery powered. I think they also make a solar adapter for the battery powered version? [Edit- yes they do!]https://ring.com/ca/en/products/stick-up-security-camera-battery

Then you can wifi connect your phone, tablet or laptop(or all at the same time) to the stand alone router and watch remotely wherever you are on the boat.

If you get the PTZ attachement, you can pan-tilt the camera's from your phone.

I have several of these camera's on my home system and responding to this post is making me realise I should do this to my boat as well.

Some extra notes for my recommendation:
  • Ring-cams are made as indoor only and indoor/outdoor. Make sure you get the indoor/outdoor version if you want to install it outdoors
  • The camera needs an external mounting bracket not shown in the photo below. You can make your own or buy them separately. The bracket simplifies the outdoor installation. The ones I have, I have also purchased the Ring pan-tilt add-on, and it comes with a mounting bracket.

Ring-Stick-Up-Cam-on-Ring-Pan-Tilt-Mount.jpg
 
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Why on earth wouldn't people just run an ethernet cable so they can have a nicer POE camera?

I use the ring cameras at a remote house, but the live view is marginal at best. The refresh rates are poor and theres generally a lot of lag. I even have one of the solar panels for the ring and it works, but its not something I'd want to rely on in my experience.

With one ethernet cord you could have a camera that is actually capable of providing a legitimate realtime feed. Instead of potentially annoying 90 second time outs, i have camera feeds running 24/7 recording 2 weeks of video. I've got 7 on board and i've got another 8 running at my house. The technology to do this is rock solid and mature.
 
bkcorwin said:
Why on earth wouldn't people just run an ethernet cable so they can have a nicer POE camera?

I use the ring cameras at a remote house, but the live view is marginal at best. The refresh rates are poor and theres generally a lot of lag. I even have one of the solar panels for the ring and it works, but its not something I'd want to rely on in my experience.

With one ethernet cord you could have a camera that is actually capable of providing a legitimate realtime feed. Instead of potentially annoying 90 second time outs, i have camera feeds running 24/7 recording 2 weeks of video. I've got 7 on board and i've got another 8 running at my house. The technology to do this is rock solid and mature.
Click to expand...


The only reason I didn't do that on the boat is power consumption. The base station for my Blink cameras draws all of a couple watts at most and the camera batteries last a long time. A wired setup with an NVR was looking like I'd have a hard time getting anything under the 40 - 50 watt range with 4 cameras and that's significantly more power draw than I was willing to accept.
 
Simi 60 said:
Maybe I don't want to drill another hole in my boat.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on how you view the importance of the camera. For me they were kind of mission critical so i didn't mind the holes much. I've also had to cut a lot of holes so i don't really flinch much at doing it.

And hey like your signature says everything on a boat is broken so you'll have to drill some more holes sometime! Just send one more for a camera.
 
rslifkin said:
The only reason I didn't do that on the boat is power consumption. The base station for my Blink cameras draws all of a couple watts at most and the camera batteries last a long time. A wired setup with an NVR was looking like I'd have a hard time getting anything under the 40 - 50 watt range with 4 cameras and that's significantly more power draw than I was willing to accept.
Click to expand...

Thats a good reason, but in the case of the OP when we're talking about putting the feed up on the 42" flat screen i figure power consumption probably isn't the biggest concern.
 
bkcorwin said:
Why on earth wouldn't people just run an ethernet cable so they can have a nicer POE camera?

I use the ring cameras at a remote house, but the live view is marginal at best. The refresh rates are poor and theres generally a lot of lag. I even have one of the solar panels for the ring and it works, but its not something I'd want to rely on in my experience.
Click to expand...

I am sorry my friend, but I disagree. You are correct that there is lag in your live view of your remote home, but that is not the case here. In the example you cited, your remote home has to connect to your remote home WIFI, then run through the internet to your present location, then your location's WIFI router, and then from there to your remote viewing device (tablet, laptop, phone). OK, I agree there may be some lag.

In this case we are talking about a WIFI router that your camera and viewing device are connected on the same router. I don't know about you but I have 3 cameras and a ring doorbell and I can have a live conversation with anyone on either the camera's or doorbell. Anyone that rings the doorbell, I only talk to them via the doorbell camera. It's live and there is no latency or lag in the picture or conversation.

PS- the speed of your router also has an effect on your latency/lag
 
Check out the Lorex cameras. I have had good results with wired and wireless and no subscription required.
 
Max1 said:
I am sorry my friend, but I disagree. You are correct that there is lag in your live view of your remote home, but that is not the case here. In the example you cited, your remote home has to connect to your remote home WIFI, then run through the internet to your present location, then your location's WIFI router, and then from there to your remote viewing device (tablet, laptop, phone). OK, I agree there may be some lag.

In this case we are talking about a WIFI router that your camera and viewing device are connected on the same router. I don't know about you but I have 3 cameras and a ring doorbell and I can have a live conversation with anyone on either the camera's or doorbell. Anyone that rings the doorbell, I only talk to them via the doorbell camera. It's live and there is no latency or lag in the picture or conversation.

PS- the speed of your router also has an effect on your latency/lag
Click to expand...

This really depends upon the camera system.

The problem many of the wireless cameras have is that they are designed to send 4, 8, or even 16 cameras worth of various levels/rates of streaming high-res video to a single Wi-Fi access point, often on the NVR. So, they tend to do a lot of compression, which seems to be a bursty workload. They often don't seem to have any more processing power, whether special purpose or general purpose, than they need to barely do this. And the WiFi access point seems to be fairly basic. The result is the potential for a good bit of encoding latency, in addition to what is likely relatively modest network latency.

There isn't any reason it has to be this way. Better hardware specs would fix it. But, I think it is a price point thing. The latency just doesn't bother the average person using it as a security camera or to have a 2 sentence conversation with someone at the door. We get what the lion's share of the market wants and wants to pay for.

There are probably some WiFi systems out there that do better. There is no reason they have to be this way. But, fining them may be the trick.

My Hiseeu system from Amazon was once fairly decent about latency. Then I upgraded to some of their newer generation hardware (giving away the old hardware a bit too early...) and it suddenly had more latency. I don't think the hardware specs were any worse. In fact, I think they were better. But, I think the next generation of the software had more features and ate more of the cycles, decreasing the headroom for bursts. It is still a great system for situational awareness as well as security. But, I wouldn't use it to maneuver in a tight marina. Of course, it was never designed for that. It was good luck that it was good enough for that for a while.
 
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Anyone have wireless camera thoughts to mount on the side to assist in docking situations? A camera that perhaps stitches together for a full 180 degree view? Go Pro could probably do this.

Ideally would connect into a Furuno display.
 
Have a hard wired backup camera that feeds into all the MFDs. Can mirror the MFDs screens on any pad or phone. Could do similar setup wherever you want.

Don’t leave home without it.
 
I have found the resolution on backup cameras lacking.
Ok for what's a few metres out but the security cameras seem to be better for distance.
 
Simi 60 said:
Please note. Only thinking of this while in clear areas and on passage .

On our vessel given height of helm it does get an exaggerated roll, think sailing a yacht from the first set of spreaders.

But what has you grabbing a handhold and bracing up high when down on deck level is hardly noticeable, so , while on passage, I have been thinking a 180 degree camera looking out and displaying on 1/2 of the 42 inch downstairs TV with OpenCPN running on other 1/2.

Not full time use, just as a break from helm, grab a feed, 15 minutes then back up.

Have found several $100ish dollar security cameras that tick the box as far as image quality goes but all "seem" to be a subscriber service or want to upload to cloud or be connected to google or some other silly shite that I don't want.

I just want one that connects to onboard wifi > screen.

Any $100ish dollar suggestions?
Click to expand...
I put a 4 camera system on our mainship 390 and connected cameras to my Garmin display up top and a Raymarine display at the lower helm. they connected by getting a BNC to RCA adapter found on Amazon worked great and when in port I could have them become security cameras over wifi https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06W9FWPC3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I plugged in the 4 cameras to a basic 4 to 1 switcher that allowed connectivity to the MFP's worked great, if it is of interest I can send you the parts list for all the cables and adapters.
 
KnotYet said:
This is what I use as a rearview camera on the back of the RV.
Quality seems above average and weatherproof with a handy bracket.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q7976P7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the one we use outside the home for wildlife and 'security'.
Very compact, waterproof, top quality and includes a mount and base module.
These have the advantage of an app that can accommodate multiple cameras.
https://www.amazon.com/Blink-Outdoo...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl
Click to expand...



Thanks. I will be installing the EWAY license plate camera on the stern.:)
 
Let us know the result. My experience with wireless backup cams is the battery life is short (or will you wire it?), resolution is not great and the transmission range is much shorter than specified. Also unless it is all plastic even though it may be waterproof any metal will quickly rust on a boat. But at the price not a lot to risk if it doesn't work out. If this works well it is a good find.
 
Last edited:
Ken,

Wireless on the network only. The 12 VDC will be from the house, that way we can have it always on. The housing is plastic, and intend to be externally mounted.
 
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Good to know. Please post a follow up as to the performance.
 
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