DIY WiFi Cam Tutorial

[Scumbag_Lemon]

This is awesome, thanks for the guide!  I was wondering if it's possible to set up a virtual machine to be used as the hub server rather than getting another pi?  

[brock2112]

Do the camera Pis need to be hard-wired? Or did I miss the part about wifi setup?

[Kadah]

One issue with the Pi Zero's is trying to buying more than one of them from an official reseller. If you get them through Adafruit, Sparkfun, or a local Microcenter, they are only going to allow you to purchase one at $10 price point. The random Amazon sellers tend to list the Zero's for stupidly high prices.

 

Adafruit and Sparkfun will only allow one ever, ie you can't just other another later. I've actually has Sparkfun apologize for having to modify my order to remove a Zero W I had with some other stuff so they could comply with the RPI reseller agreement (though they still gave the order free shipping even though it was now under that dollar amount).

 

Microcenter will sell you more than one, but you'll be paying $15ea for 2-5 and $20ea for 6+. This is a good way to get more than one, but Microcenter locations are very random. Not sure if they enforce the pricing if you buy more later on, I'm testing that now. Though if you have a local Microcenter, check their online store, they seem to have the Zero W on sale right now for $5. Microcenter has this habit of selling some items near or below cost randomly.

[Can0nFan]

for iOS you can configure it to work with Homekit as well


https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/03/21/how-to-create-your-own-homekit-camera-with-a-raspberry-pi-and-homebridge

[Xephrew]

Hi all, I'm interested in this.

Has anyone found out how to set up a standard windows PC as the hub? I use an old windows PC for a PLEX media server and thought that it would be suitable for the hub.

[Pixel5]

5 hours ago, brockmvendors said:

Do the camera Pis need to be hard-wired? Or did I miss the part about wifi setup?

its step 5 in the single camera setup.

[bamato]

7 hours ago, Xephrew said:

Hi all, I'm interested in this.

Has anyone found out how to set up a standard windows PC as the hub? I use an old windows PC for a PLEX media server and thought that it would be suitable for the hub.

This is my same situation, I would be interested in this as well.

[Epictek300]

15 hours ago, Scumbag_Lemon said:

This is awesome, thanks for the guide!  I was wondering if it's possible to set up a virtual machine to be used as the hub server rather than getting another pi?  

Yep, instructions are here for that assuming you already know how to set up a virtual machine https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneye/wiki/Installation

9 hours ago, Xephrew said:

Hi all, I'm interested in this.

Has anyone found out how to set up a standard windows PC as the hub? I use an old windows PC for a PLEX media server and thought that it would be suitable for the hub.

Motioneye only supports linux. You would need to install Linux on the machine or run it inside a virtual machine. Since you seem to be using it as just a media server maybe linux would actually be ideal? If you need support setting up Linux just give me a shout.

[WeltyStark]

Is it possible to add another IP cameras to the MotionEyeOS? Or just the Zero's?

[Epictek300]

1 hour ago, WeltyStark said:

Is it possible to add another IP cameras to the MotionEyeOS? Or just the Zero's?

Yes

[WeltyStark]

29 minutes ago, Epictek300 said:

Yes

That's cool, I already have some IP cameras here. Thank you!!

[mkuilen]

Thanks for this awesome tutorial.

 

I connect the Microsoft Lifecam HD-3000 to a Raspberry Pi 3. The Pi gets really hot (80°C - 83°C). The cam runs at 960*554 and 20 FPS.

What is the most easy way to cool it?

[jakkuh_t]

28 minutes ago, mkuilen said:

Thanks for this awesome tutorial.

 

I connect the Microsoft Lifecam HD-3000 to a Raspberry Pi 3. The Pi gets really hot (80°C - 83°C). The cam runs at 960*554 and 20 FPS.

What is the most easy way to cool it?

Heatsink, small fan, lower FPS.

[The_Vaccine]

why not just buy a wyzecam??? its $20 and its soooo good

[Scumbag_Lemon]

11 hours ago, Epictek300 said:

Yep, instructions are here for that assuming you already know how to set up a virtual machine https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneye/wiki/Installation

Motioneye only supports linux. You would need to install Linux on the machine or run it inside a virtual machine. Since you seem to be using it as just a media server maybe linux would actually be ideal? If you need support setting up Linux just give me a shout.

Thanks for the link, I just got my pi zero.  This should be lots of fun.

[Xephrew]

13 hours ago, Epictek300 said:

Yep, instructions are here for that assuming you already know how to set up a virtual machine https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneye/wiki/Installation

Motioneye only supports linux. You would need to install Linux on the machine or run it inside a virtual machine. Since you seem to be using it as just a media server maybe linux would actually be ideal? If you need support setting up Linux just give me a shout.

Great, I'm glad that's been made clear! And I certainly will if I do. 

Thanks.

[Gartral]

OK... I'm posting this here, also hi all! This is an expanded version of my comment on the recently released video on the subject, so let's get too it

 

A) both Shinobi and ZoneMinder, both free (shinobi only for personal use) can take these feeds, this centralizes encoding and storage if you need/want that however ZM can both also export to a NAS as either it's main target, a failover target (Disk full) or to archive events.

 

B) most cheap-ass video surveillance systems have this little standard built in called ONVIF (Indeed MotionEye supports both mjpeg capture and production, this is part 1 of ONVIF, part two is a well documented interface for sending those streams over an IP Network, MEOS would not work without this, MEOS has a few ONVIF compliance issues, but then so do even the most expensive CCTV systems)

 

C) while I like this system, it's far cheaper in both real money and man hours to research ready-made IP cameras with ONVIF and use those with an aforementioned NVR server instead.

 

D) I'm leaving this one for you Linus, Specifically; a work around exists for Nest cams, an NVR software called Blue Iris, look at it, it's 60USD. Shinobi, mentioned above has the very beginnings of support for Nest cameras, currently it's able to capture 640x480 at 1fps... this is being worked on actively.

 

if anyone would like more detailed instructions on how to get any of these things working (Minus Blue Iris), please let me know, I'll dig my claws in deep and make a full forum thread for it.

 

and good work Jakkuh!

[I Like Cake]

I have a couple of questions I was hoping one of you could answer.

 

I don't really want to set up a NAS if i can help it and I want to keep wires and clutter to a minimum so I'm looking at a USB HDD plugged into the hub server. My question is do the USB ports push out enough power for a mid to high capacity external USB HDD?

Something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Portable-External-Creative-Photography/dp/B00G7LQAQY/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1527672635&sr=1-1&keywords=External%2BHDD&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A1034434031%2C3598517031&th=1

I know it wouldn't be great from a data integrity point of view but I'd move any important footage off the HDD ASAP. Or if anyone has a better solution please speak up.

 

I read on the WIKI that it supports DropBox and GoogleDrive but does anyone know if it supports OneDrive?

 

Forgive me if these have been answered but I couldn't see it on this forum or the wiki.

[Sakai 121]

Can I use pi zero instead of pi zero w ?

[Velcade]

I've been looking for a system for my basement.  I'm hoping I can set this up to record when a Magnetic contact switch (door sensor) is tripped.  Shouldn't be too hard.  I wonder if there's a way to have it snap a few pictures and email them to me.

 

Thanks for the tutorial. 

[Egg-Roll]

This is kinda useless for someone who knows how to set up a system themselves...

 

https://www.amazon.com/Wansview-Wireless-Security-Surveillance-Monitor/dp/B0148C3I22/ X3

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-OptiPlex-Processor-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B01AWOAUJY/

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Desktop-External-Drive-WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN/dp/B01LQQHLGC (shuck it, it's a red)

 

https://www.ispyconnect.com

 

Total price: 366.72 + taxes 3 cameras 1 computer 1 8tb drive. Truth is you only need 2-4tb(buy reds directly in that case or purples/ surveillance based HDD).

 

Just saying, it would also be 10x easier than this video.

 

I use 3 TV-IP551WI, for cameras that are 640 they are still awesome. 

[Epictek300]

4 hours ago, Velcade said:

I've been looking for a system for my basement.  I'm hoping I can set this up to record when a Magnetic contact switch (door sensor) is tripped.  Shouldn't be too hard.  I wonder if there's a way to have it snap a few pictures and email them to me.

 

Thanks for the tutorial. 

Motioneye has all of these features described

https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneyeos/wiki/Action-Buttons

https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneyeos/wiki/FAQ#what-should-i-do-to-have-pictures-attached-to-motion-notification-emails

[Epictek300]

1 hour ago, Egg-Roll said:

Just saying, it would also be 10x easier than this video.

 

Hardly 10x easier, it's fairly straightforward 

[Epictek300]

13 hours ago, I Like Cake said:

I don't really want to set up a NAS if i can help it and I want to keep wires and clutter to a minimum so I'm looking at a USB HDD plugged into the hub server. My question is do the USB ports push out enough power for a mid to high capacity external USB HDD?

Something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Portable-External-Creative-Photography/dp/B00G7LQAQY/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1527672635&sr=1-1&keywords=External%2BHDD&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A1034434031%2C3598517031&th=1

I know it wouldn't be great from a data integrity point of view but I'd move any important footage off the HDD ASAP. Or if anyone has a better solution please speak up.

 

This would work fine, and can't think of a better solution other than hosting the Hub on a computer with a dedicated hard drive.
 

13 hours ago, I Like Cake said:

I read on the WIKI that it supports DropBox and GoogleDrive but does anyone know if it supports OneDrive?

 

It doesn't support OneDrive sorry. You could compile this onedrive app on to the Pi and then sync the folder but that seems like a lot of hassle when google drive would be a lot easier.

[Egg-Roll]

1 hour ago, Epictek300 said:

Hardly 10x easier, it's fairly straightforward 

Never knew plug and play wasn't 10x easier than assembling everything and waiting on 2-3 sources/locations... I could have the setup I put up running inside of a hour. How long will it take to assemble everything for 3 cameras+1 Pi? Then software and everything... sure it won't take 10 hours to do but the multiplication factor of ease depends on person to person and not time. So 10x for me might be infinite for someone else.

 

The plug and play setup you could set up all 3 cameras within minutes for example my cameras are forced IP threw their settings and not the router(router has a false IP and they don't show up at all ), so I know them w/o issues. The biggest time sink is getting the software and hardware to work properly together. Plus to get a IR camera on Pi you're looking at easily $80+ per camera at which time you might as well go with something pre built with the price range...

 

Cheaper than Nest, but cheaper and easier options exist...