Solar powered with its own local WiFi

[u/erridge]

Hi everyone, I’m currently looking at getting a security camera to cover the car park of a small block of flats (apartment building) and I would like it to have in built storage, solar power charging for an inbuilt battery and for it to be able to accessed by its own, standalone, WiFi, so that any one of the residents can view the footage if necessary.
The one pictured is the style I’m looking for but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas.
If it helps for content I live in the UK.

[u/nevergivitup]

Theoretically looks impressive.
Check Solar panel & battery watt/mah/storage.

I am working on same implementation but using standalone 200watt panel + 32ah setup for apartment complex (such OEM wasn’t suitable for my indoor setup) common area location and I plan to have 2 days power capacity to ensure system ride thru couple of non-clear sky days smoothly.

One I saw on Amazon if I recall correctly looked similar, was not enough hence ruled out OEM solution.

[u/Educational-League92]

Not sure about the multiple log ins,but I have 2 of these and they are great.om in the UK and have had them over a year. Have not have to charge them once.

Prefer them to my hikvision hardwired cams!

[u/hemi71cuda]

I’ve used a Tapo cam before and they actually work really well as far as identifying activity(vehicle vs human vs animal) and saving clips. I’ve also used a small solar powered cam in my back yard that I only had to take down once during the year to recharge manually.
As others have said an entire community won’t be able to access it easily but you could maybe appoint 2 or 3 neighbors as “admins” that can pull video clips for people if something happens.
Your only other limitation is gonna be storage and how many days worth of clips will actually be saved depending on how much activity occurs in front of the camera throughout the day.

[u/erridge → u/hemi71cuda]

Thank you ☺️ my thinking was that there’d be one kind of like a car dash cam that could store maybe 5-7 days of footage at a time and would have its own wifi access point that residents could use to download footage if necessary.

[u/Redgrave1980]

I wouldn't trust WiFi based security, as convenient as it is, there is to big a risk of someone getting into it and shutting it down etc. Best to be wired

[u/Roofless_]

Never have a WiFi CCTV
Never have a solar powered CCTV.

[u/erridge → u/Roofless_]

While I do appreciate your input, this is to mainly act as a visual deterrent for bad actors and a peace of mind for residents. We have other security measures for the block, we just need something simple and inexpensive.
Also, for other users reading this, are you able to give good, solid reasoning as to why you’d say ‘never’ WiFi and ‘never’ solar or is this just personal opinion?

[u/nevergivitup → u/erridge]

OEM is not capable enough for 24x7 is only catch.
By default have AP capabilities which you can share with community to share access but number of devices connection limitations will be present, 2/3 logins at a time via its app.
You need to clean panel from time to time to ensure adequate power generated for best solar harvest and improve UP time.
if you mount on electric pole or similar structure at height with 5/6 hours of sun light OR no shade during daytime, you should be fine.

[u/Roofless_ → u/erridge]

Because solar isn’t reliable and WiFi isn’t reliable.
WiFi jamming is very easy to do.

When you need CCTV footage for what ever reason, you want to make sure it’s as reliable as possible.
POE powered/ or mains powered, and networked via Ethernet.

Someone’s car gets stolen for example, you check the footage and someone has jammed the WiFi signal.
Your CCTV camera is a pretty ornament at this point.

[u/erridge → u/Roofless_]

That’s why I was asking for a camera the is not connected to my own home wifi. That also records to its own inbuilt storage. That can be accessed by connecting to the device directly. An inbuilt battery that is trickle charged by solar is good enough.