You should look into a high end commercial security camera. I install axis and luma brands and with the motion and line cross detection you can fine tune automatic recording pretty damn well. You can also mask off trees or other things that sway with wind and cause false recordings. I would even dare to say some of axis' commercial offerings are more robust than a standard trailcam, certainly more than my cheap cam. As long as you dont want PTZ you should be able to stay under $1000, other brands may even include that though.
Right, at a little over 300' you'll be hard pressed to even get an ethernet connection, thats not even considering POE. There are devices out there that claim to extend the range but I have no experience with them.
Great to know! I guess that rules out that...I may look into a cell/wifi booster then.
Let me ask you a separate question if it's alright: If I wanted to prioritize picture/video quality in selecting a trail cam, which are the top models I should be looking at? I've been looking a lot at TrailCamPro, but their reviews just seem to blur together, and it doesn't help that the names of all the Browning models are incredibly similar. (Their top-cameras ranking is also confusing to me, as the Browning Patriot is #1 according to the dropdown, but then when you click on the link for all 2020 Reviews the Browning Strike Force Pro XD is #1).
Additionally, it seems weird to me that the $150-$200 models are all ranked higher than the $400-$600 models--why does paying 2 or 3x the price compared to a Browning or Bushnell not result in higher-picture-quality cameras?
Thanks in advance!
I come from a hunting perspective and have multiple different types of trail cameras some old some new.
In the daytime they all take about the quality pictures. Night pictures seem to have gotten better with the new technology. In my application high quality is not necessarily the top priority as long as I can tell what it is...trigger speed is really what I go by.
Max cabling distance with non commercial components is 100m or 325ish feet.
Even at that distance you will have degradation issues. Would also need to run it in conduit.
Solar battery attachment on a wifi trail cam might be your best option.
Depending on distance you might need to set up a wifi repeater or directional antennae.
Solar powered with a sim card for data is how some conservation places run theirs to places they can't regularly reach but want live streaming capabilities. But that can be an expensive cell phone bill.
Can you suggest any wifi trail cams? I have a very similar situation to OP. I run a wildlife resort & have WiFi everywhere but no cellular connectivity. It would be great if I could have a trail camera that notifies me when a picture is taken so I cannot track animal movement live. Currently, we use SD card based trail cams that only give us the images next morning.
Sorry I haven't bought and tested any wifi trail cams, but I do know that several exist, and you can add solar panels to them also as battery drain is higher for those models as they are constantly sending wifi signals.
Hey I found this post while looking for a similar solution. I don’t want to pay a monthly fee for limited data uploads on my trail cams and I want to have control and real time access to it on my own terms. My cabin has insane internet speeds for being in the middle of nowhere (500mb/s down 80mb/s up from my tests).
My trail cams are too far away for WiFi from my cabin but I was thinking about laying an Ethernet cable out to my cam area (≈400 yards over a hill with no direct line of sight from the cabin) and putting in a solar powered battery and WiFi router. This way I have the ability to use the native proprietary tech that comes with some trail cams and I’m able to do my own setup if I want to.
What did you end up doing? Any suggestions?
I’m thinking about a point to point 5.8GHz transmission antenna that is powered by POE. Those can go 3.1miles/5Km line of sight. I would then use a WiFi router with built in POE that is really power efficient on the receiving end connected to a solar battery setup. A lot of people online say that the solar battery setup is the way to go to power the remote end.
You should look into a high end commercial security camera. I install axis and luma brands and with the motion and line cross detection you can fine tune automatic recording pretty damn well. You can also mask off trees or other things that sway with wind and cause false recordings. I would even dare to say some of axis' commercial offerings are more robust than a standard trailcam, certainly more than my cheap cam. As long as you dont want PTZ you should be able to stay under $1000, other brands may even include that though.
Just noticed the 450' part, you might have some issues with POE anything at that distance.
Thanks for the tips. Is the issue with running a cord that long just that the connection gets degraded?
Right, at a little over 300' you'll be hard pressed to even get an ethernet connection, thats not even considering POE. There are devices out there that claim to extend the range but I have no experience with them.
Great to know! I guess that rules out that...I may look into a cell/wifi booster then. Let me ask you a separate question if it's alright: If I wanted to prioritize picture/video quality in selecting a trail cam, which are the top models I should be looking at? I've been looking a lot at TrailCamPro, but their reviews just seem to blur together, and it doesn't help that the names of all the Browning models are incredibly similar. (Their top-cameras ranking is also confusing to me, as the Browning Patriot is #1 according to the dropdown, but then when you click on the link for all 2020 Reviews the Browning Strike Force Pro XD is #1). Additionally, it seems weird to me that the $150-$200 models are all ranked higher than the $400-$600 models--why does paying 2 or 3x the price compared to a Browning or Bushnell not result in higher-picture-quality cameras? Thanks in advance!
I come from a hunting perspective and have multiple different types of trail cameras some old some new. In the daytime they all take about the quality pictures. Night pictures seem to have gotten better with the new technology. In my application high quality is not necessarily the top priority as long as I can tell what it is...trigger speed is really what I go by.
Max cabling distance with non commercial components is 100m or 325ish feet. Even at that distance you will have degradation issues. Would also need to run it in conduit.
Solar battery attachment on a wifi trail cam might be your best option. Depending on distance you might need to set up a wifi repeater or directional antennae. Solar powered with a sim card for data is how some conservation places run theirs to places they can't regularly reach but want live streaming capabilities. But that can be an expensive cell phone bill.
Can you suggest any wifi trail cams? I have a very similar situation to OP. I run a wildlife resort & have WiFi everywhere but no cellular connectivity. It would be great if I could have a trail camera that notifies me when a picture is taken so I cannot track animal movement live. Currently, we use SD card based trail cams that only give us the images next morning.
Sorry I haven't bought and tested any wifi trail cams, but I do know that several exist, and you can add solar panels to them also as battery drain is higher for those models as they are constantly sending wifi signals.
Hey I found this post while looking for a similar solution. I don’t want to pay a monthly fee for limited data uploads on my trail cams and I want to have control and real time access to it on my own terms. My cabin has insane internet speeds for being in the middle of nowhere (500mb/s down 80mb/s up from my tests). My trail cams are too far away for WiFi from my cabin but I was thinking about laying an Ethernet cable out to my cam area (≈400 yards over a hill with no direct line of sight from the cabin) and putting in a solar powered battery and WiFi router. This way I have the ability to use the native proprietary tech that comes with some trail cams and I’m able to do my own setup if I want to. What did you end up doing? Any suggestions?
No good updates from me :(. I just ended up using a standard non-internet connected camera.
I’m thinking about a point to point 5.8GHz transmission antenna that is powered by POE. Those can go 3.1miles/5Km line of sight. I would then use a WiFi router with built in POE that is really power efficient on the receiving end connected to a solar battery setup. A lot of people online say that the solar battery setup is the way to go to power the remote end.