New system suggestions

[heyho]

I have been using a 5 camera Blue Iris setup (on a PC) for several years now. Moving house now and leaving the camers (all Tapo) so have a blank canvas.

Been Googling cameras/systems etc and am thinking about continuing with Blue Iris rather than a dedicated hub system.

The new house doesnt have easy to access power in a couple of areas and POE is also not practical so I was thinking about something like the Reolink 24/7 solor powered camera. Has anyone any experience with using a 24/7 solar powered camera with Blue Iris or should I be really considering a powered device.

 

[Bruce_H]

From my understanding, solar powered cameras do not provide a continuous video stream, which BI expects from the cameras. I have never used a solar powered device so this just what I have been reading, you may want to confirm this?

 

[heyho]

That was my thoughts as well but I know Reolink do a wireless solar powered 24/7 one.

 

[Bruce_H]

From what I have read, most Reolink cameras do not have a good reputation on this forum!
I would check out the 24/7 claim as it may just be relying on an internal battery to send out alerts 24/7 as opposed to actual 24/7 video, it takes a lot of power to keep a regular camera going, all you have to do is feel how warm they get!

 

[TonyR]

From what I have read, most Reolink cameras do not have a good reputation on this forum!

....especially when used with Blue Iris!

 

[tigerwillow1]

That was my thoughts as well but I know Reolink do a wireless solar powered 24/7 one.

(IMO) Near the equator I could believe it to work except during storms. In the northern US, not a chance in the winter. In between those two locations would be varying degrees of working and not working depending on northness and local weather.

 

[bp2008]

I searched Solar Security Camera | Reolink Solar Cameras with WiFi & 4G and have no reason to believe they support RTSP or ONVIF or anything that Blue Iris would need to pull a video stream. They're probably proprietary mobile app stuff and will operate in a sleep mode except when a low power motion sensor wakes it up.

If you own the place and intend to stay there for more than a couple years then it is probably worth the extra effort to do a wired setup and avoid WiFi for cameras. There are almost always ways to do this with only basic DIY skills and without hiring a pro; it is just a matter of creativity. For example if you can get even ONE cat5e cable between your Blue Iris server and the outdoors, then you can mount a PoE switch in an outdoor enclosure and run all your cameras (or daisy chain more PoE switches) from that without drilling any more holes through walls. Even if you have no outdoor power outlets from which to power a traditional PoE switch, you can use a PoE extender switch with up to 90 watts of input power via PoE+++ to feed a decent number of cameras with data AND power all via the one cat5e cable.

 

[TonyR]

Excerpt from the article at bottom:

Introduction to RTSP

This article shares some basic knowledge about RTSP and the format of RTSP URL. Applies to: Which Reolink Products Support CG...

support.reolink.com

 

[bp2008]

Good find @TonyR

In case what was said makes no sense to the reader, it essentially means the solar+battery powered cams might technically work in Blue Iris but would suffer a long "signal loss" event every 5 minutes and you could expect the battery to go dead pretty quickly in any situation where the solar panel wasn't performing well (such as on a cloudy day or at night).

 

[TonyR]

Good find @TonyR

In case what was said makes no sense to the reader, it essentially means the solar+battery powered cams might technically work in Blue Iris but would suffer a long "signal loss" event every 5 minutes and you could expect the battery to go dead pretty quickly in any situation where the solar panel wasn't performing well (such as on a cloudy day or at night).

Thanks. I first posted it almost 2 years ago but had a heckuva time finding it.

Post in thread 'Solar powered IP camera?'

Aug 20, 2024

A battery-powered, solar-charged camera that can stream via RTSP to VLC or Blue Iris is as scarce as unicorns, unfortunately.

Introduction to RTSP

This article shares some basic knowledge about RTSP and the format of RTSP URL. Applies to: Which Reolink Products Support CG...

support.reolink.com

• TonyR

...and TP-LINK's Tapo support posts similar advice:

How to View Tapo Camera on PC, NAS, or NVR Using RTSP/ONVIF | TP-Link

Stream your Tapo camera using RTSP or ONVIF on a PC, NAS, or NVR. Learn the RTSP URL format, how to set up ONVIF, and how to connect using VLC or other platforms.

www.tp-link.com