Rural setting, looking for 4G security camera with cloud storage

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jaybeedee

64 posts

Master Geek

#318774 19-Feb-2025 21:05

Looking for recommendations / advice . We want to set up a camera at our padlocked gate (gate and 1km drive shared with 7 properties) because of problems with vandalism and unauthorised access.

No power, no wifi, but reasonable cell service at the gate.

I think we want cloud storage, that is accessible by multiple app users. There is a lot of access, so we don't want everything notified, but do want an app that is easy to identify saved clips of interest.

I have Eufy at my place in the city, but from what I can see cloud storage is only supported with the Homebase and wifi (plus the app is a bit ordinary).

Reolink seems to have some models which will meet our needs, but quite hard to be certain about what is fact and what is sales talk.

Has anyone done this ?

And in a perfect world we would have motion detection range of >20 metres, no visible lights at night and fantastic battery life. I figure we can paint our own camouflage on the white plastic they all seem to be.

Thanks

John

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#3344640 19-Feb-2025 21:36

I think you will need to figure out the best place to mount this and provide a suitable “pole” of sorts that won’t fall down when pushed (so secured or secured by depth and concrete base), shaken, forced by wind.

trying to camouflage won’t be needed as this is going to stick out (or are you thinking average person / fence height mounting) ?

eitherway, perhaps build a welded “cage”, to stop any bashing or otherwise….including the solar panels.

As a secondary option, consider a second solar panel to potentially feed a small spotlight that also activates on motion, that would help with better images.

mudguard

2113 posts

Uber Geek

#3344641 19-Feb-2025 21:45

We do this with Arlo. We have some horses grazing remotely. Camera has a big battery, SIM and SD card and bought the matching solar panel.

We have it set to record with movement. NB ours is we can look at the silly buggers rather than for security.

I think I pay about $20 per month to Vodafone for the data SIM and about $7 per month to Arlo.

Both my partner and I can use the app and it stores all the clips on a server somewhere and the SD card.

cyril7

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#3344724 20-Feb-2025 06:12

Something wrong with the aspect ratio, those horse's seem way to short. 🤓

traderstu

332 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3344806 20-Feb-2025 09:16

I used a Reolink Go PT Plus 4MP camera for security while we did our new build, must have purchased it 3~4 years ago. It did exactly what it said on the box. It has it's own solar panel to keep it charged. At the time it qualified for a fair amount of cloud storage at no cost. Also has its own SD card.

The first camera failed and was promptly replaced under warranty. I was suspicious that the connection of the solar panel to the camera was not terribly water tight so I only charged this second camera from the mains. The camera only starts up when it detects motion (or when you log in to have a look) so battery life was good. Only needed charging once a week.

This camera only had a few months use, available for sale at 1/2 my cost if you're interested. I had a quick look on the Reolink website and it looks like this model is discontinued so not sure how well this camera is supported now. DM me if you want more info.

Camera was mounted on top corner of shipping container.

mudguard

2113 posts

Uber Geek

#3344817 20-Feb-2025 09:27

cyril7:

Something wrong with the aspect ratio, those horse's seem way to short. 🤓

They will not be winning any steeplechase events. Maybe an eating contest 😂

jjnz1

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#3344828 20-Feb-2025 09:37

I have installed a few Google Nest cam's connected wirelessly to a Wifi 4G router for some farms. This solution allows for multiple cameras.

Nest cam's send video back to cloud, plus if Nest Cam gets stolen, as long as a Police report is filled, then Google will send you a replacement.

One.NZ have some good data only deals which suit event only storage. I also have some on unlimited 4G business connections with static IPs too that are used when 24/7 recording is required.

Nest cam's are run of the mill, but they have buffering/memory onboard which allows them to store a few hours of events if the internet drops off.

They can run off their internal battery for a few months depending on activity, when mains power drops off.

neb

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#3344884 20-Feb-2025 12:45

Any trail camera will do this, there's so many, and so many options, that it's best to just google that term. They're all designed to blend in with the background, and if you get a cheap Chinese one off TM or Ali it'll be less of a worry if it gets stolen or damaged.

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jaybeedee

64 posts

Master Geek

#3344892 20-Feb-2025 13:09

traderstu:

....... The camera only starts up when it detects motion (or when you log in to have a look) so battery life was good. Only needed charging once a week.

.....

I was hoping to get more battery life, our neighbours in the city have a Eufy camera which they think they get ~6 months out of. We won't get anywhere near that, but I was hoping for months rather than weeks without solar.

jaybeedee

64 posts

Master Geek

#3344895 20-Feb-2025 13:16

neb:

Any trail camera will do this, there's so many, and so many options, that it's best to just google that term. They're all designed to blend in with the background, and if you get a cheap Chinese one off TM or Ali it'll be less of a worry if it gets stolen or damaged.

We have used a trailcam in the past at another entrance. It was good for that use case (monitoring letter boxes for thieves) but unless they have moved on a lot I don't think they offer the app usability, the image quality, the cellular connection for video, the ability to filter events for people and vehicles only and define zones that we have got used to with Eufy etc.

Spyware

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#3344900 20-Feb-2025 13:50

If you want reasonable images at night then you need IR and thus a power source.

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neb

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#3344979 20-Feb-2025 15:49

Spyware:

If you want reasonable images at night then you need IR and thus a power source.

Not necessarily, trail cameras (which however the OP has indicated he's not keen on) will do B&W images at night.

Zorg2000

73 posts

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#3345289 21-Feb-2025 14:01

I think you are probably going to struggle for nighttime image quality for anything consumer grade. Don't get me wrong Reolink are good for what they are, but the distances required to keep the camera 'safe' without either an external light source and/or IR spotlights mean the image quality suffers considerably. The sensors on them are just not big enough to give you decent quality images at night. You could maybe try adding a solar powered spotlight nearby/separate from the camera, making the spotlight obvious and the camera more hidden. Ideally you could have both an IR spotlight and a regular sensor light keeping the camera IR and lights off. This also helps to give you a bit more time between cleaning the spiderwebs off the lenses etc. The Reolink app will let multiple users log on to the same account or you can share the camera/s with multiple accounts.

jaybeedee

64 posts

Master Geek

#3345304 21-Feb-2025 14:50

Thanks for all the feedback, I hadn't considered Arlo so will look at that along with Reolink.

Interestingly, we figure a lot of our issues will show up between sunrise and sunset, so quality night images is a bonus, not a bottom line.

bellzah

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3345322 21-Feb-2025 15:42

I've got a similar situation with the end of the driveway a long way from the house and Wifi/power, and have started looking at options too.

Have you looked at the eufy 4G LTE Cam S330? Or is the motion or storage not good enough?

It would likely be out of range of the optional homebase that allows for 16TB storage, but looks like you can add a 128GB microSD card for local storage, surely that would do a week or so of storage.

Or is there a better option?

jaybeedee

64 posts

Master Geek

#3345350 21-Feb-2025 17:10

bellzah:

Have you looked at the eufy 4G LTE Cam S330? Or is the motion or storage not good enough?

That was where I started looking, but problem is that it needs homebase to get cloud storage, otherwise local storage only.

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