G+_Dames Boire Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Looking for community input for a solution. I have wooded property that I would like to get notifications about. No power, no land line. I'm thinking 1) Solar power to battery. 2) Disposable phone for photos and cellular connection 3) some controller , Raspberry Pi, to handle this. I am ware of trail cam systems that can do this. Don't want to spend that kind of money on this at this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_K R Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 this should be interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Michael Kickingbear Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 How big is the area that you are trying to monitor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Danny Autrey Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 The battery with solar panels will work. I have played with turning a smart phone into an IP web cam (mixed results). The programs I used for that kept the phone on all the time, so it might not last a long time. As far as the Pi can't really comment on that. One thing to think about, if you haven't yet, is the weather. Question, are trying to monitor a gate or the whole property? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Carlos Silva Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 What I would do is have the phone take its photos and post. Let its power drain, have a timer on a charging system that is constantly charging its separate battery. Let that charge its sep battery all the time because it will charge more slowly than the phone would use. When the phone powers up because it now has power you can have coincide w an apps timer. Snap, post, repeat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Alex Knutson-Smisek Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Dames Boire I'm no expert, and I had a few thoughts on your project. To me it seems simpler to eliminate the raspberry pi controller and instead use a smartphone to take pictures and send them to you. You would probably be best off to buy an inexpensive android phone from ting.com which is an mvno that runs on the Sprint network and has very inexpensive phones and service that's based on how much data you use each month. The phone could then be programmed with an app like Tasker to take photos at whatever interval you set (or potentially based on movement but I'm not sure if that's possible). Then you could simply setup a Google plus or Dropbox account for the phone and have it automatically upload photos for you to check remotely. I think solar panels would be useful, but remember that over time dust can accumulate so they'll produce less power unless cleaned semi regularly. Finally you'd want to make or buy a waterproof housing for the phone, and probably find a way to conceal it so no intruders might be tempted to steal the phone. Overall it sounds like a fun project with a lot of possibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dames Boire Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Thanks. I'll look in to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dames Boire Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Michael Kickingbear Just an entrance gate for now. Perhaps an open area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Cole Brodine Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 I would make sure to compare pricing with trail cam systems. By the time you buy an outdoor enclosure, batteries, solar panels, smartphone/raspberry pi, etc you will probably have spent more than you realize. Do you need notifications all the time? You could probably save photos to an SD card and go retrieve them once in a while if you aren't in a hurry to see them. The cellular plan could be expensive depending on what carriers are available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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