Good video. But for 50 quid you can get a solar wifi 2k camera from amazon with built in battery. Makes more sense imo with the extra features you get as well like motion detection and sd card recording. I just stuck installed a 2.4g outdoor antenna on my external wall this week to cover outdoor areas
Fantastic. The rubbish image quality is obviously down to the camera sensor and lens on it, but rather than swapping for something more expensive, you could just move the rig closer to the thing you want to see. The intermittent signal is probably fine if you just want to check on it every once in a while. I'm sure you could set up a little script that tries to fetch an image every 15 minutes and stores it, so even if it's unavailable when you're looking at it, you can see the most recent image. If those images were stored, you could scrub back and forth to see how quickly debris builds up.
Yea its crazy how small the camera is! Someone else suggested transmitting periodically rather than streaming and I think thats the way to go as I dont need a live feed
I just installed a Ubiquiti u7 outdoor on the peak of my house and it will do about 400m line of sight in my yard/field, and that's with the omnidirectional antenna.
Good video, and I can thank youtube for randomly suggesting your channel. I'm an avid coder on the ESP32's so if you're going to explore this type of DIY camera more, let us know as I'd be happy to chip in with the code. Also, there's a better camera you can buy, yours has the Omnivision '2460' camera sensor which is pretty basic, there's also the 'OV5640' which is a 5megapixel (~2500x2000 pixel) resolution which will result in much better images. There's also variants of the lenses as well (macro vs zoomed in). Assuming you don't need to stream video (if you do, probably easier to use a security camera) then swapping for a better sensor is probably the option. Secondly, for my uses I simply have code that takes an high-res full-res photo every X minutes and pushes it to a server either on the internet or locally. The device then sleeps. This drastically helps with power usage.
That would be super helpful as I have some really complex projects planned and am really new to this side of the projects. Others have suggested sending images every few minutes rather than streaming which I think would be better for our use case as you mentioned and the power saving is a massive plus point especially for the projects we want to leave up the hill for a long time.
Well done @BeyondtgeWorkbench great idea to use a high gain directional antenna. That's exactly what I would have done. Any chance you could release the case you printed for the project. To be honest I have not checked the description to see what is there. But in closing, proud of your skills with wifi. 2.4 rock over distance over 5.8.
Thanks! I will add the files to the description although if you wanted to use it long term it might need some redesigning to ensure better waterproofing
Excellent video and fantastic content! I’ve had great results with using nail varnish as a waterproof coating for electronics (extending cheap bike lights from 2 months before failure to years). I’ve used LoRa before for long range communication but I think it might be too slow for transmitting images, could be handy for other sensors though.
nail varnish is such a great idea! I will try that next time. Yea I cant send video over lora but I looked into it until I realised it couldnt send that much data
@@beyondtheworkbench It's usually free too, just check under the bathroom cupboard, there you will find 25 part used bottles of the stuff! (I did anyway)
The software for viewing the feed in is just the preloaded ESPcam software. I am not saving the data to any drive though just checking in to see the live feed so I am not using anything there.
if its acidic then thats a double NO. first its gonna oxydize the copper strips in the panel and second the acid makes the silicone caulk a conductor that puts an unnessacary load on the panel reducing the solar yield. might be ok'ish in summer but prolly stops working or have unreliable connection in winter.
Thanks, I did wonder about that. I haddnt intended on it staying up there for long as I will be adding it into a bigger design so I will remember what you said when I get to that project.
Thanks for an interesting video. You might have better range/reception, by putting a directional antenna on either end of the connection. The ESP module has a variant with an external antenna. The default one could be exchanged for another yagi or a paneland increase gain. Depending on what you need, you could also reduce bandwidth requirements by just sending a single JPEG every few minutes, rather than a video stream. Subbed for more of this type of practical content
I did wonder if I could swap out the external antenna for another directional one but the connection to the board looked really small. Thats a great idea on reducing the file size sent but might be a bit above my skill level at the moment. I might try that for the wind turbine monitoring as we will send data every few minutes rather than continuously
Yea its great the nozzle is so useful here is a link www.amazon.co.uk/Revell-Model-Tools-Professional-Contacta/dp/B017CAYN08/ref=asc_df_B017CAYN08/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4847403707432596631&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-2281435177138&psc=1&mcid=de0ffaea77533a1c9a99e02f192704cb&hvocijid=4847403707432596631-B017CAYN08-&hvexpln=74&gad_source=1
you're going to want to black out the plastic surrounding the lense or you'll get the white reflected in the glass cover and make the image look hazey. also 400m with directional antennas on both ends and line of sight should be a walk in the park. I've run 340m on the lower gain version of the directional antenna you used (camera end) and an omni at the other (quite a big omni, about 9db gain) and some light foliage in the way. This does lead on to my final question. How long did your battery last? On our setup we used an off the shelf cheap wifi camera, a 40watt solar pannel and a 7Ah 12v battery. during winter we couldn't quite make it through the night, but the camera would come back on when the sun came up.
Excellent I am pleased you found it works too. I was worried I was hitting the limit but you have shown it can be done. It lasted for me but we had really sunny days while I was testing it. I will be swapping the device out for the next version so I will have to see how it copes with cloudy days.
just wow... some time ago I had similar results (300mts) using a tplink WA5210G configured as an AP and a 12-element antenna... By the way, what power is the solar panel you use?
A narrower bandwidth should give you stronger/stable throughput. Eg 10mhz wide frequency channel is more stable but less data capacity than 20mhz. Try and get a couple of grid antennas, I've done 20kms with them. Generally on 2.4Ghz there's also only 3 channels that don't overlap depending on what channel bandwidth you choose. Keep in mind what other 2.4Ghz you have around that may cause interference, printers are a bugger for it.
You know that any fillament 3d print is not waterproof at all as it is a poreus material. Coat the outside with something. Also if you need longer range and speed is not needed the use 802.11ah wifi which does 11mbit up to 500m and 1mbit upto 3km without fancy antenna.
You could try Wi-Fi Halow 802.11Ah, albeit the speed is around 5.0Mbps as it's using 868Mhz with 1Mhz of width in the UK. However, American units have 900Mhz with 10-18Mbps and interferes with UK mobile networks.
@@beyondtheworkbench i used to steal wifi from my appartment's community center half a block away. only had about 1-2 bars of wifi signal strength so i took a bunch of old cardboard boxes and taped AL foil to them and made a big reflector on one wall of my apartment. got me 3-4 bars no sweat. can use cheap AL foil tape now days and make it pretty cheap. idk about outdoors.
I thought the same when I was researching for this video but it turns out you can send data over a much longer distance but not a lot of data so video cant be sent via LoRa
not really my area tbh but a lot will be down to resolution (data), frequency (lower will go further but lower data rate), aerial design and power are also going to be crucial. Drones can send video a pretty long way and are obviously wireless but may not all be wi-fi.
Will probably never need such a device but simply enjoyed the video immensely. Many thanks once again.
Thank you, I put a lot of effort into the filming so its nice to hear you liked it anyway
I've just made sure im notified for every video I forgot to click that button last time.
Great video and editing
Thank you very much! 😁
So cool, thoroughly enjoyed that vid. Great work!
Thank you very much! 😁
Nice edit 🙌
Thanks. 10 secs of that took a whole day to film!
Good video. But for 50 quid you can get a solar wifi 2k camera from amazon with built in battery. Makes more sense imo with the extra features you get as well like motion detection and sd card recording.
I just stuck installed a 2.4g outdoor antenna on my external wall this week to cover outdoor areas
Add one with 4g and a cheap Sim card and it's done
Nice that sounds like an excellent solution
Great video and good attempt, home assistant and esphome you could monitor anything and everything,
Thank you very much
Liking the new video style... a good watch!
Thanks!
Highly recommend getting into fpv drones .. great for remote inspection.
I have considered it especially as I can chase the sheep out with it as well
Fantastic. The rubbish image quality is obviously down to the camera sensor and lens on it, but rather than swapping for something more expensive, you could just move the rig closer to the thing you want to see. The intermittent signal is probably fine if you just want to check on it every once in a while. I'm sure you could set up a little script that tries to fetch an image every 15 minutes and stores it, so even if it's unavailable when you're looking at it, you can see the most recent image. If those images were stored, you could scrub back and forth to see how quickly debris builds up.
Yea its crazy how small the camera is! Someone else suggested transmitting periodically rather than streaming and I think thats the way to go as I dont need a live feed
hey man, big fan of your videos, have you stopped uploading? :(
I came here to say the same thing!
No not stopped but the new style of videos are taking a lot longer to film
@@beyondtheworkbench awesome, can't wait for it
I just installed a Ubiquiti u7 outdoor on the peak of my house and it will do about 400m line of sight in my yard/field, and that's with the omnidirectional antenna.
Nice!!
Good video, and I can thank youtube for randomly suggesting your channel. I'm an avid coder on the ESP32's so if you're going to explore this type of DIY camera more, let us know as I'd be happy to chip in with the code. Also, there's a better camera you can buy, yours has the Omnivision '2460' camera sensor which is pretty basic, there's also the 'OV5640' which is a 5megapixel (~2500x2000 pixel) resolution which will result in much better images. There's also variants of the lenses as well (macro vs zoomed in). Assuming you don't need to stream video (if you do, probably easier to use a security camera) then swapping for a better sensor is probably the option. Secondly, for my uses I simply have code that takes an high-res full-res photo every X minutes and pushes it to a server either on the internet or locally. The device then sleeps. This drastically helps with power usage.
That would be super helpful as I have some really complex projects planned and am really new to this side of the projects. Others have suggested sending images every few minutes rather than streaming which I think would be better for our use case as you mentioned and the power saving is a massive plus point especially for the projects we want to leave up the hill for a long time.
That assembly was surgical!
I really enjoyed it.
Well done @BeyondtgeWorkbench great idea to use a high gain directional antenna. That's exactly what I would have done. Any chance you could release the case you printed for the project. To be honest I have not checked the description to see what is there. But in closing, proud of your skills with wifi. 2.4 rock over distance over 5.8.
Thanks! I will add the files to the description although if you wanted to use it long term it might need some redesigning to ensure better waterproofing
Excellent video and fantastic content! I’ve had great results with using nail varnish as a waterproof coating for electronics (extending cheap bike lights from 2 months before failure to years). I’ve used LoRa before for long range communication but I think it might be too slow for transmitting images, could be handy for other sensors though.
nail varnish is such a great idea! I will try that next time. Yea I cant send video over lora but I looked into it until I realised it couldnt send that much data
@@beyondtheworkbench It's usually free too, just check under the bathroom cupboard, there you will find 25 part used bottles of the stuff! (I did anyway)
What is the NVR software you show in this video? Must get my esp32 chips out again, was a lock down pass time
The software for viewing the feed in is just the preloaded ESPcam software. I am not saving the data to any drive though just checking in to see the live feed so I am not using anything there.
Congratulations good feeling when it works , is the silicone ok on the solar pcb acetic acid thanks .
if its acidic then thats a double NO. first its gonna oxydize the copper strips in the panel and second the acid makes the silicone caulk a conductor that puts an unnessacary load on the panel reducing the solar yield.
might be ok'ish in summer but prolly stops working or have unreliable connection in winter.
Thanks, I did wonder about that. I haddnt intended on it staying up there for long as I will be adding it into a bigger design so I will remember what you said when I get to that project.
Awesome
Thanks
Thanks for an interesting video. You might have better range/reception, by putting a directional antenna on either end of the connection. The ESP module has a variant with an external antenna. The default one could be exchanged for another yagi or a paneland increase gain. Depending on what you need, you could also reduce bandwidth requirements by just sending a single JPEG every few minutes, rather than a video stream. Subbed for more of this type of practical content
I did wonder if I could swap out the external antenna for another directional one but the connection to the board looked really small. Thats a great idea on reducing the file size sent but might be a bit above my skill level at the moment. I might try that for the wind turbine monitoring as we will send data every few minutes rather than continuously
I wish I was just half as bright as you mate 👍
Thanks, I just get it all off the internet so I have to thank Google
Bizarre request - what is the glue (?) dispenser you are using @4.21. ?
Yea its great the nozzle is so useful here is a link www.amazon.co.uk/Revell-Model-Tools-Professional-Contacta/dp/B017CAYN08/ref=asc_df_B017CAYN08/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4847403707432596631&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-2281435177138&psc=1&mcid=de0ffaea77533a1c9a99e02f192704cb&hvocijid=4847403707432596631-B017CAYN08-&hvexpln=74&gad_source=1
take a look at WiFi Halow its a bit more expensive but might be a good choice for a higher resolution camera
Excellent thank you I will check it out
you're going to want to black out the plastic surrounding the lense or you'll get the white reflected in the glass cover and make the image look hazey. also 400m with directional antennas on both ends and line of sight should be a walk in the park. I've run 340m on the lower gain version of the directional antenna you used (camera end) and an omni at the other (quite a big omni, about 9db gain) and some light foliage in the way. This does lead on to my final question. How long did your battery last? On our setup we used an off the shelf cheap wifi camera, a 40watt solar pannel and a 7Ah 12v battery. during winter we couldn't quite make it through the night, but the camera would come back on when the sun came up.
Excellent I am pleased you found it works too. I was worried I was hitting the limit but you have shown it can be done. It lasted for me but we had really sunny days while I was testing it. I will be swapping the device out for the next version so I will have to see how it copes with cloudy days.
if you have line of sight and a good antenna itll work
Yea the line of sight was the main reason I thought it might work
just wow... some time ago I had similar results (300mts) using a tplink WA5210G configured as an AP and a 12-element antenna... By the way, what power is the solar panel you use?
We used a 5v 250ma panel but I am not sure on how the power charge situation will last over time we will have to see.
A narrower bandwidth should give you stronger/stable throughput. Eg 10mhz wide frequency channel is more stable but less data capacity than 20mhz. Try and get a couple of grid antennas, I've done 20kms with them. Generally on 2.4Ghz there's also only 3 channels that don't overlap depending on what channel bandwidth you choose. Keep in mind what other 2.4Ghz you have around that may cause interference, printers are a bugger for it.
20kms! wow thats way further than I imagined possible.
Surely that's going to break the moment it starts raining and water gets in the box and usb socket!
Yea I dont think its heavy rain proof. Now that it works I will be putting it into a bigger project rather than relying on the first design.
You know that any fillament 3d print is not waterproof at all as it is a poreus material. Coat the outside with something. Also if you need longer range and speed is not needed the use 802.11ah wifi which does 11mbit up to 500m and 1mbit upto 3km without fancy antenna.
Nice thanks for the suggestions! I will try the 802.11ah and see if it improves things
You could try Wi-Fi Halow 802.11Ah, albeit the speed is around 5.0Mbps as it's using 868Mhz with 1Mhz of width in the UK. However, American units have 900Mhz with 10-18Mbps and interferes with UK mobile networks.
That sounds great thanks for the suggestion
If you put a uni-directional antenna on *both* ends, you will probably get a much better result.
Excellent thank you so much
hmm add an aluminium wifi reflector behind/above your target
I wondered about that so I am pleased you said it would help
@@beyondtheworkbench i used to steal wifi from my appartment's community center half a block away. only had about 1-2 bars of wifi signal strength so i took a bunch of old cardboard boxes and taped AL foil to them and made a big reflector on one wall of my apartment. got me 3-4 bars no sweat. can use cheap AL foil tape now days and make it pretty cheap. idk about outdoors.
I hope that silicone isn't the acetic acid cure type, otherwise the electronics are toast. I learned that 40 years ago, the hard way.
Thanks I will check
Cool and techy farmer..😁🙂 as the world is getting older. They said farming is the future.? The future is no longer in the city?😑
Thanks thats a title I like
Add a better directional aerial on the remote
Thanks I wasnt sure if I could as the connector was so small but I will look into it now you have mentioned it
Wouldn’t LoRa not work ?
I thought the same when I was researching for this video but it turns out you can send data over a much longer distance but not a lot of data so video cant be sent via LoRa
try wifi hallow
Thanks I will have a look
Just use a drone and power it from a solar panel , then you can move the camera gimbal too…
Great idea
its all about los :)
yea the second I put it behind a tree it cut out
Just use a Point to Point and a proper camera
nice set up
Radio signaling go more than 400m you thought was impossible? wait till you hear about ham radio ;)
Someone else said they did over a km so it can work way above what I thought
not really my area tbh but a lot will be down to resolution (data), frequency (lower will go further but lower data rate), aerial design and power are also going to be crucial.
Drones can send video a pretty long way and are obviously wireless but may not all be wi-fi.