1y ago

Selfhosted Wireless Cameras

I currently have a couple of (amazon) Blink cameras. I would like similar cameras but that are self hosted. Yes these basically are however the HW-Sync module sucks its slow. I've tried other chinese brands which are slower. I was about to buy the Eufy Homebase setup it seemed perfect easy low power cameras. However their "self hosted" solution has issues working with out internet.

It seems like there should be a selfhosted Blink camera replacement. I like the form factor of the blink cameras. The eufy were nice because they had solar options.

Anyone have any experience here? I'd love to use POE but Im too old and busy to run cable through my new house now.

Edit: When I say wireless I mean battery operated as well. Sorry, not just wifi.

26 comments

I'm using Reolink E1 Zoom cameras. My router's firewall keeps them offline, and I manage everything through HomeAssistant. Very happy with my experience on a budget
- I looked up this camera and the reviews for the outdoor model with night vision seem pretty promising. Can I ask how you are using your camera(s)? Like do you have a local server to record the data? Can you access them with a cell phone without using any special apps?
  
  Not parent, but Zoneminder locally with the zmninja app works pretty well. VPN allows remote access, so it is slightly complicated but not too bad.
  
  I'm using them inside. I record to microsd on each camera, and use homeassistant to view them. I'm eventually going to build a NVR for them
Esp32 cam and. Usb c or micro . Works well with motioneye.
- I do love me some ESP32! I did not think about doing this.. I am sure there are stats on power consumption. I think making it outdoor/weatherproof would be the hardest part.
  Do you have any that are solar? or outdoors?
Reolink and Zoneminder has been working fine. Put the cameras in a vlan, block their access except to the ZM server, you can use any IP camera.
- Are the Reolink wireless? What models? Do you have outdoor ones? Im looking for outdoor.
  
  Yes
  
  No, POE. Just the round black ones, I forget the model.
I don't know anything about Blink, but for self hosted camera stuff, Frigate is wonderful.
- What wireless cameras are you using. I too love frigate.
  
  I have 2 Amcrest cameras. One PoE that's super solid, and an inexpensive WiFi camera. I ended up buying another wifi access point just for the camera, and ever since it has been very solid. More a symptom of my house having tons of IoT devices than a problem with the camera, really.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters

IP Internet Protocol
IoT Internet of Things for device controllers
NVR Network Video Recorder (generally for CCTV)
PoE Power over Ethernet
VPN Virtual Private Network
[Thread #649 for this sub, first seen 1st Apr 2024, 19:05] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
I'm not familiar with Amazon blink cameras. I use a reoLink and a Raspberry Pi for two cameras that go to a dedicated Zone Minder NVR server which is firewalled off from any internet access or access to other networks within my house.
reolink was pretty easy, blocking all wan traffic is very important - I'm sure like any store-bought solution. the raspberry pi is low quality and obviosuly a diy solution, but is ok. zoneminder is one of a handful of open source nvr softwares. It's not great in my opinion. I don't think it uses resources efficiently and it's a bit of a pain to set up initially. But from what i read all of these opensource nvr apps have their quirks.
i read good things about amcrest cameras
curious, why aren't you able to self-host your blink cameras; are they ip cameras and is there an rtp stream you can capture?
- The blink cameras are battery powered. 100% wireless (no network or power cables) . Only trigger on motion or if activated for live stream.
You said you already have Blink cams, what about this thing? https://www.amazon.com/Blink-Sync-Module-2/dp/B084RQ6MHJ/ Stick in a flash drive and it's kinda like a DVR.
Ideal setup would be a proper DVR with proper IP cameras. Ethernet would be better but wireless is doable. I don't have enough knowledge to make a proper recommendation but people seem to like Reolink as an affordable option: https://reolink.com/us/product/rlk12-500wb4/
If you don't want to set up a DVR or spend all that money, there are plenty of cheap cameras that write to a microSD card, you could just buy a few of those and buy some massive SD cards that would allow you to record weeks worth of motion events. But of course reviewing all that footage will be a pain without a central DVR. I like my Tapo cameras, and Wyze is another popular brand.
- That is what I am currently doing but the usb port on the unit is 2.0 so its dog slow!
I’m working on something that you could use to build one out of a raspberry pi. Or an old laptop. Or a mini pc and webcam. Basically anything that runs Linux and has a camera.
https://github.com/sciactive/soteria
It uploads video to a WebDAV server. I’m designing it to work well with my WebDAV server, Nephele. Nephele supports encryption at rest and Amazon S3 compatible servers.
It’s not going to be as feature rich as other solutions, but it’s killer feature is that you can watch your footage even if all of your cameras are offline, but Amazon/Google/whoever can’t ever watch your footage.

Fewer Letters	More Letters
IP	Internet Protocol
IoT	Internet of Things for device controllers
NVR	Network Video Recorder (generally for CCTV)
PoE	Power over Ethernet
VPN	Virtual Private Network

26 comments