breckhawk
PMA Member
That was the question that came to my mind a few weeks ago. I have a trail cam about 200 yards from my house that I end up checking way more than I should. I didn't really want a cellular cam plan that I had to pay for so I started looking at wifi trail cams.
Came across the Stealth Cam FLX but it seemed a bit pricey for what it was.
I switched gears a bit and figured if I can get a wifi signal out there why not try a Ring cam? I have Ring cams around my place already and love em. At 99 bucks the stick up cam with rechargeable battery seemed like a better option than the $200 FLX. Plus I'm already familiar with the interface so I thought why not.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/ring-s...a-white/6375744.p?skuId=6375744&ref=212&loc=1
The biggest problem with the idea is getting the signal out there. My current wifi setup would only reach about 50 yards away from the house reliably. I needed a way to send the signal further...so with a little research I came up with this. Only 40 bucks.
https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/outdoor-radio/cpe210/
I hardwired it to my existing network setup and created a new SSID for it...then pointed it towards the spot I wanted since it's a directional radio. Tested it out with one of the kids Android tablets and was getting 4/5 bars at the cam spot 200 yards away. At this point I thought this might actually work like I envisioned.
The cam was white, but after a bit of time with camo duct tape and razor blade it looked better. There is also a blue light that comes on when recording so i covered that with a piece.
Deployed it 2 days ago. Results have been pretty sweet. In 2 days i have already got 2 nice bucks on it. Been tweaking the notification settings a bit since the wife complained about it going off all night
First is the tall 8.
and his traveling buddy the big 9.
So far I'm extremely happy. Time will tell how it holds up. Video is quite compressed so it's obviously not HD...but you can see from the pics its not bad. I find myself checking in on it quite often.
The cam is on a fence opening heading out into our alfalfa field. The deer are just hammering the alfalfa at night right now.
Battery life isn't anywhere near as bad as I was expecting. After 2 days and multiple videos/me constantly checking... it's still at 96%. Obviously the colder weather will impact the life, but I plan on getting a spare that I can keep charged and swap out when needed.
We already pay the $10 a month Ring plan which allows me to save / download vids from the cloud. No net new cost there. Alltogether I have about $150 in the setup after taxes for the camera and access point. Without the plan it wouldn't record on motion...but it would notify you and you could check in on it realtime.
I might be able to get another 100 yards away and still get enough signal. It would have to be a pretty clear shot from the radio. There are much stronger outdoor access points out there that you could get much further....for more money.
Anyway thought I would share. Fun little rewarding project that will keep me busy.
Came across the Stealth Cam FLX but it seemed a bit pricey for what it was.
I switched gears a bit and figured if I can get a wifi signal out there why not try a Ring cam? I have Ring cams around my place already and love em. At 99 bucks the stick up cam with rechargeable battery seemed like a better option than the $200 FLX. Plus I'm already familiar with the interface so I thought why not.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/ring-s...a-white/6375744.p?skuId=6375744&ref=212&loc=1
The biggest problem with the idea is getting the signal out there. My current wifi setup would only reach about 50 yards away from the house reliably. I needed a way to send the signal further...so with a little research I came up with this. Only 40 bucks.
https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/outdoor-radio/cpe210/
I hardwired it to my existing network setup and created a new SSID for it...then pointed it towards the spot I wanted since it's a directional radio. Tested it out with one of the kids Android tablets and was getting 4/5 bars at the cam spot 200 yards away. At this point I thought this might actually work like I envisioned.
The cam was white, but after a bit of time with camo duct tape and razor blade it looked better. There is also a blue light that comes on when recording so i covered that with a piece.
Deployed it 2 days ago. Results have been pretty sweet. In 2 days i have already got 2 nice bucks on it. Been tweaking the notification settings a bit since the wife complained about it going off all night
First is the tall 8.
and his traveling buddy the big 9.
So far I'm extremely happy. Time will tell how it holds up. Video is quite compressed so it's obviously not HD...but you can see from the pics its not bad. I find myself checking in on it quite often.
The cam is on a fence opening heading out into our alfalfa field. The deer are just hammering the alfalfa at night right now.
Battery life isn't anywhere near as bad as I was expecting. After 2 days and multiple videos/me constantly checking... it's still at 96%. Obviously the colder weather will impact the life, but I plan on getting a spare that I can keep charged and swap out when needed.
We already pay the $10 a month Ring plan which allows me to save / download vids from the cloud. No net new cost there. Alltogether I have about $150 in the setup after taxes for the camera and access point. Without the plan it wouldn't record on motion...but it would notify you and you could check in on it realtime.
I might be able to get another 100 yards away and still get enough signal. It would have to be a pretty clear shot from the radio. There are much stronger outdoor access points out there that you could get much further....for more money.
Anyway thought I would share. Fun little rewarding project that will keep me busy.
