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Does anyone have a recommendation please for a battery powered indoor security camera? I’ve found loads of cameras on Amazon but they tend to required mains power.
In terms of the features I need it’s storage to an SD card, motion detection, wifi connection and the ability to connect and look at a live view. I probably dont want the blink ones as I dont trust Amazon not to issue some sort of update to make them subscription only. I jest slightly but you never know…
At the moment I’m about to buy these TP ones but they are power cord ones. I like TP stuff, looks like it has a good app, so wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I’d prefer something battery powered as can be placed anywhere:
can anyone think of anything that would fit the bill?
Cheers
Thank you, but that has a power cable unfortunately in the pictures. Also the same model on Amazon is listed as requiring a power cord
Wouldn't any ring doorbell do this? When I'm charging ours in the kitchen I can choose to watch my kids not put stuff away...presumably it would be the same wherever you put it.
Batteries last a couple of months on charge, can drop in live. I suppose you are tied into a sub, but you can stick it on the front door after you've seen who's stealing your biscuits...
I've got Blink ones, used the free sub until it expired, now saving onto a memory stick using the hub. You'll need to use 1.5v lithium batteries as other 1.2v rechargables show up as "low battery" all the time and you ignore it until they just go dead. I'm powering mine with lithium AAs that have usb sockets.
My mistake.
To get a live view, (do you mean remotely?) then either a local storage hub or some form cloud service is likely needed.
with Eufy this would be either a setup like this
or for a standalone camera but also using their cloud, something like this.
Forgot to add that the two cameras above are battery powered.
Reolink
what is the actual use-case? Why do you need to keep moving it, don't you have any power sockets? Can't you just use an extension lead if necessary (or if you're handy with a soldering iron, you can make a much more discreet extension)? Wired camera beats battery in virtually every department, including cost! I some of the panning Tapo cameras in the OP, we leave them out when on holiday to keep an eye on pets, they're really good and pretty much unbeatable VFM!
Thank you, some good options there. I will check out Eufy and Reolink.
I do like the Blink ones, but I’d noticed that you have to buy some sort of hub to use them without a sub, which seems like a bit of a pain.
The ring doorbell might work, I guess it’s just a camera but I dont know if they have local SD storage.
The use case is quite simply some home security while on holiday. The reason I want a battery one is that it can be placed discreetly on a shelf or similar. I do have both extension leads and power sockets, but that’s quite obvious to any potential intruder to have a load of wires trailing everywhere so am after something as discreet as possible.
I think it's reasonable to be wary of Amazon but I have 2 Blinks and they've been superb. They both run on USB power or battery, the app is good with its ease of use, remote storage and good pushes. They don't have local storage but the remote stuff works great. Only complaint is they're supposed to be outdoors cameras and they suck at rain, no lens protection etc. But that's OK for you.
You can whack an app on an old android smartphone to do this if you have one lying around in a drawer.
That said, I think lasting a week whilst you're on hols is optimistic.
You can whack an app on an old android smartphone to do this
Battery is unlikely to last long with WiFi enabled.
For the use case I'd go with a discretely wired in unit. We have a nest one in the hall to watch the dog while we are out and it's all but invisible. With the cloud backup it does not matter anyway as it it was seen then it should be too late. It's not security as such though just evidence.
I've got Blink cameras round the outside of the house. Battery powered, been up a few years now
Ive got some Reolink cameras and they are fine. Do exactly as they say, and the app is neat enough.
Pretty sure they do some USB recharchable ones, but they will probably be IR triggered, as having the camera on all the time will rinse the battery, so the camera only comes on when the IR sensor is tripped, or you call on it from the app.
Ive just got some imou cameras. So far very good. No subs, app is very good and the picture is brilliant. The one i went for was
<h1 id="title" class="a-size-large a-spacing-none" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-weight: 400; color: #0f1111; font-family: 'Amazon Ember', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px !important; line-height: 32px !important; margin: 0px 0px 0px !important 0px;">Imou 2K Wireless Security Camera</h1>
Ring do decent standalone battery operated indoor cameras, in addition to the doorbells. We have a couple as part of overall security system (or in reality for seeing what the dog is doing when we are out !)
Worth mentioning that Prine Day is coking so there all sorts of Blink/Ring deals coming up so you'll probably find something with the hub included for free/not much.