I need to upgrade the wiring in the chicken coop. Mostly because it's scraps nutted and taped together, but I also want another outlet for another water heater and better lighting.
I've had the idea for a while to setup a 24/7 video stream from the coop, what better time than when I'm wiring?
So I'm looking for a camera that can stream 24/7, preferably Wi-Fi enabled but I can maybe get cat 5 there, BUT no batteries.
"Plug in" just gets me USB cabled cameras. I've seen some security cameras that act as light bulbs, but the quality sucks and from what i can tell they aren't ment for constant streaming. USB power with Wi-Fi streaming could work.
IP65 or better outdoor rating would be nice, but I'm more worried about temperatures hurting it than water because it will be mounted in the ceiling of the coop.
Does the wifi reach out to there?
I've had a 4 pack of these for years. Single they are less than $20. Watch them anytime from your phone.
Another popular choice and outdoor rated
I don't have a particular solution for you, but battery powered with a solar charger seems like a good option.
I have a number of Ring cams (probably not what you are looking for) that are battery powered but have a solar panel to charge the battery. Power wise, it works very well (I am in SoCal of course, but I think it would be fine for most areas)
andy_b
Reader
1/18/24 7:37 p.m.
Reolink has a range of outdoor rated cameras that are tough and reasonably priced, with no cloud service or nvr required. Record to SD card or view live via web browser.
edit: I rarely post here, but I promise I'm not a canoe. We use reolink cameras at work for their API capabilities. It's a dusty environment that is minimally climate controlled, and they take a lot of abuse. I'm confident they would hold up well in a chicken coop.
While the Google Nest outdoor cameras are battery powered, they also offer a cord/charger that's not USB.
I'd have to say the the price approaches Apple stuff, but they can stream 24/7 and do event based recording. No monthly subscription if all you want to do is stream. The back end and app through Google is pretty solid, and they've worked well at our barn and vet clinic for the last couple of years.
In the last week, I've learned that they do shut down at 10 below, but then your chickens probably would too.
Another vote for the Wyze cameras, we have them all over the homestead, indoor and outdoor. They use a removable card so you can record about a week's worth of video if you need it, and play it back remotely as well as stream. They work well and we haven't had any fail in the 6 years or more that we've had ours. They are day/night cameras too
Another vote for the Wyze cameras, we have them all over the homestead, indoor and outdoor. They use a removable card so you can record about a week's worth of video if you need it, and play it back remotely as well as stream. They work well and we haven't had any fail in the 6 years or more that we've had ours. They are day/night cameras too.
They have an adaptor that plugs into the 120V supply and a USB cable from that to the camera. They work over wifi - we initially got them so we could keep an eye on our then new pups......
We have three of the Foscam solar powered ptz cameras, one on the house and two out at our garage. They've worked well so far. Only about four months in, but our wired Foscams have been kicking for years, so we are quite hopeful.
Wyze Outdoor Camera, waterproof / built in battery. Has a AC powered base inside the house and CAT5 then connects to camera via WiFi. Like others has a microSD slot to record but you can stream it and record from the app. Can add on a solar panel to keep it charged.
I have a bunch of Wyze cameras. I love them. Cheap, great resolution, and you can stab in a micro SD if you want to record.
They have all kinds of options, too. You can define certain ranges of the field of view to ignore motion, so if you don't want a recording every time the wind blows that bush, done. IR lights, triggers for sound and/or motion along with sensitivity to both, alerts, a nice phone app for remote viewing, easy setup.
They do require wifi, at least the new ones do. My first-gen models would still record to an SD card even without wifi, which was nice for using them as a trail cam or somewhere like at camp as security cams. They would record, but couldn't send notifications. If we showed up to find the place had been broken into, we could just pull the SD card and give it to the police. Fortunately that hasn't been needed. The most recent ones I bought (maybe 5 months ago) don't do that. They're just kinda dumb without wifi.
I'm really curious if I can trick them because I want to use them at our other camp. I'm wondering if I set them up on wifi using my phone as a hot spot, then leave the router on when I leave. They might still think they're connected and they'll record.
I guess I should have been a little more specific.
I'm looking for a cam to setup to stream direct to a twitch or YouTube or whatever service.
The wyze do look like an interesting option. As long as they have strong Wi-Fi antennas, like equivalent to a 5 year old cellphone. Distance isn't so much a problem, but the coop is steel with a giant open door.
AAt least now I have some stuff to look through.
The one I posted above will do that. You just have to configure that in the setup. I imagine that is the case for most cameras posted in this thread.
https://support.amcrest.com/hc/en-us/articles/6162283651085-How-to-Setup-an-Amcrest-IP-Camera-for-RTMP-Streaming-to-YouTube
when you are watching your feed on a phone , do you need the cameras app or is there a way to tap the IP address of the camera?
and can anyone tap into your cameras IP address ?
Wyze cameras will do that with some clever IT magic. Anyone with the Wyze App I can invite to view live streams of any of my cameras, or I watched a tutorial about how you can configure something to make it a streaming camera without the proprietary wyze stuff. Wyze is just a brand that has cameras with their own infrastructure, so it would take a little bit of customizing to make them a generic web cam. Think of it as kind of trying to configure an apple to be as open-source as Linux.
If you're streaming for you and family and friends, Wyze would be good, but it takes a little creative hacking to make them a simple streamer. For that, you'll be more worried about the software than the hardware. If you're just public streaming, any wifi video camera with the right output format is your huckleberry
I purchased some of the higher end Eufy cameras off the jungle website. I use them more for a security thing, but the ones I have are not wired, they have their own batteries and a little solar panel on top, they said I shouldn't ever have to charge them, even in Seattle. I also have one in the basement and it is just USB into a plug. What you want is a USB powered with wifi. I went with the Eufy ones because I didn't have to have a subscription service, mine actually save back to a homebase that I have an SSD inside of. But that's still not a requirement. Not sure how you could make it a streaming camera, but they could be an option. I think they are on the same price range as the wyze ones.
I can access my Wyze cams from any wifi source, it is not public in that no one else can sign into my cameras without my password.......they will stream as long as the wifi connection is there - we use ours to keep an eye on our pups while out to dinner or whathaveyou......we just log in and set the phone on the table while we eat. Don't know if you need it or not, but Wyze have built in mics and speakers, so in our case we can "talk" to the Pups while away. Plus too and also, the Wyze cams have motion sensitivity if you want it, and you can block off areas that you don't want motion to trigger the record feature.
