Camera as a sensor

Mickey

@Mickey very good and detailed article. I have several of the GSM modems (that I now understand are not GSM modems at all) somewhere so i'll see if they can be flashed with openwrt. should be fuuuunnnn.

Notice that the one I posted from aliexpress have its own procedure to flash openwrt on. Be careful not to brick your module...

bjornhallberg

@axillent
@Moshe-Livne

Yeah, it is perhaps not the most economical solution. Probably closer to $100 per unit. Foscams have probably become better and cheaper since last I looked. Personally I'd rather have more control over my setup. Like how the housing is ventilated. Plus all the fun of building and figuring things out. Of course I don't get night vision, but I figured it is better to trigger a relay to turn on some floodlights or whatnot that will give intruders some warning. No use being sneaky about it.

But yes, it would be really interesting if someone could come up with a really cheap battery powered solution.

Mickey

@bjornhallberg said:

@axillent
@Moshe-Livne

Yeah, it is perhaps not the most economical solution. Probably closer to $100 per unit. Foscams have probably become better and cheaper since last I looked. Personally I'd rather have more control over my setup. Like how the housing is ventilated. Plus all the fun of building and figuring things out. Of course I don't get night vision, but I figured it is better to trigger a relay to turn on some floodlights or whatnot that will give intruders some warning. No use being sneaky about it.

But yes, it would be really interesting if someone could come up with a really cheap battery powered solution.

openwrt as battery powered solution wont last much but they can be attach to cheap 5v solar pannel by day and run on lipo by night so no need for external power source. also
Its possible to install Motion on thoes modules and have state of the art motion sensors.

Moshe Livne

@Mickey how quickly do they boot up? might boot it when pir is triggered.

Mickey

@Moshe-Livne said:

@Mickey how quickly do they boot up? might boot it when pir is triggered.

I thought about it but openwrt is a full linux and it takes 15-20 seconds to boot up so it will be half a minute delay between trigger and response

bjornhallberg

Speaking of battery powered cameras, there already are commercial products such as Arlo and Homeboy:
http://www.cnet.com/products/netgear-arlo-smart-home-security-kit/
http://www.cnet.com/products/homeboy/
Not cheap enough, and battery times will surely vary depending on use, but they are a nice proof of concept.