PTZ camera calving / lambing

[Ray]

Thinking about buying one of these plug and play P2P "Sricam ptz cameras" to set up in our calving shed. It appears really easy for a novice like me to install and download the app to a mobile or ipad for viewing, and at £80.00 delivered isn't going to break the bank either. I'm also looking at "These too" to form a wifi bridge and extend our broadband signal into the nearby shed. Looks like the whole set up would be around £150?.. Am I missing something I wonder?.. Anyone else got one of these?.. Any good?

 

[Matt77]

Thinking about buying one of these plug and play P2P "Sricam ptz cameras" to set up in our calving shed. It appears really easy for a novice like me to install and download the app to a mobile or ipad for viewing, and at £80.00 delivered isn't going to break the bank either. I'm also looking at "These too" to form a wifi bridge and extend our broadband signal into the nearby shed. Looks like the whole set up would be around £150?.. Am I missing something I wonder?.. Anyone else got one of these?.. Any good?

I went for AgriCamera version of exactly what you’ve just said, if it’s as easy as theirs I put ours up in a short afternoon, very easy if you’re a practical person. Mines great, really happy with it, but mine was just under a £1000 so as to the quality that you’ll get for £150 I wouldn’t know.

 

[Ray]

I went for AgriCamera version of exactly what you’ve just said, if it’s as easy as theirs I put ours up in a short afternoon, very easy if you’re a practical person. Mines great, really happy with it, but mine was just under a £1000 so as to the quality that you’ll get for £150 I wouldn’t know.

The supplier is offering a 30 day return refund if not happy along with a two year warranty so that's something I reckon. I've seen a good review on another forum but was just hoping some others may have got one on here too.

 

[Matt77]

The supplier is offering a 30 day return refund if not happy along with a two year warranty so that's something I reckon. I've seen a good review on another forum but was just hoping some others may have got one on here too.

Sounds good and we know technology gets cheaper by the day so hopefully it’ll be a good set up.

 

[upnortheast]

Havn`t seen that camera, but tends to be a case of you get what you pay for with PTZ cameras
Dearer ones will have better quality lenses & zoom capability.
Depends how much detail you need to see & the size of the area you are looking at.
Not usually too difficult to set up. Plenty knowledge on here if you have problems

 

[Ray]

Havn`t seen that camera, but tends to be a case of you get what you pay for with PTZ cameras
Dearer ones will have better quality lenses & zoom capability.
Depends how much detail you need to see & the size of the area you are looking at.
Not usually too difficult to set up. Plenty knowledge on here if you have problems

Yes I'm sure your right there. This one has 5x zoom which I'm not sure is enough but the 355 and 180 degrees pan and tilt will more than cover what I need. I've emailed the seller to see if it comes with a UK plug and at the price they're asking I guess I'll take a punt and see what it's like.

 

[upnortheast]

Worth a punt at £80. Just open the box carefully so you can send it back if you find you need a better quality image
Our Foscam was about £120 3 years ago. Adequate for our needs https://www.amazon.co.uk/Foscam-FI9828P-Wireless-Security-Surveillance/dp/B00HZR8VD4

 

[Ray]

Worth a punt at £80. Just open the box carefully so you can send it back if you find you need a better quality image
Our Foscam was about £120 3 years ago. Adequate for our needs https://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI9828P-1280x960p-Weatherproof-Connectivity/dp/B00IV4QE2A

I see your Foscam has 3x zoom, is that plenty as I was unsure about 5x on the sricam.? The agricamera is 12x zoom

 

[Nearly]

I see your Foscam has 3x zoom, is that plenty as I was unsure about 5x on the sricam.? The agricamera is 12x zoom

You can be the guinea pig. I'll watch from here.

 

[Ray]

You can be the guinea pig. I'll watch from here.

A guy here already been the guinea pig and is very pleased with the set up. I've already decided to buy one if it has a UK plug and become the second guinea pig but just wondered if anyone here had one to tell about.

 

[upnortheast]

I see your Foscam has 3x zoom, is that plenty as I was unsure about 5x on the sricam.? The agricamera is 12x zoom

Agricamera will probably read a tag at 40 paces
depends what you need

 

[Matt77]

Agricamera will probably read a tag at 40 paces
depends what you need

This is 100% if that’s something you want but the other may do the same??

 

[Ray]

It would be good to read tags but that's not essential for me. I just want the ability to see if any are calving and if they are we'll be there pronto so can deal with tags then.

 

[steveR]

Thinking about buying one of these plug and play P2P "Sricam ptz cameras" to set up in our calving shed. It appears really easy for a novice like me to install and download the app to a mobile or ipad for viewing, and at £80.00 delivered isn't going to break the bank either. I'm also looking at "These too" to form a wifi bridge and extend our broadband signal into the nearby shed. Looks like the whole set up would be around £150?.. Am I missing something I wonder?.. Anyone else got one of these?.. Any good?

The built in IR lighting will almost inevitably crap, and of course, you will be viewing in B&W. However, if you don't want round the clock lighting in your sheds, (and there are some who don't) then budget a few quid for an IR floodlight or 3. Around 30 quid for a couple... I have some of these in the stackyard and workshop as well as the inevitable LED PIR floods... Seem to work OK and have lasted 18 months so far.

 

[Ray]

I've now got my sricam sp008 camera and am very pleased with it and have registered and downloaded the app. It works well in our house when wired directly to the broadband router, but sadly won't connect via wifi. I guess this is because our home broadband signal is just too weak. Apparently cameras need a stronger signal than laptops, tablets etc to wifi.

I'm now looking at mobile 4g wifi and it seems o2 have the best coverage in our area. If I go with a o2 4g data plan and get a Huawei hotspot device or the like, I presume this will then allow me to view with my phone from anywhere? Can I just put a data sim in a old mobile phone placed near the camera and run on it's hotspot even??.. I'm on ee with my own mobile. Also it's hard to know how much data I'll need when deciding which plan to go with. Has anyone any idea on camera data usage per month? although I suppose that's like asking how long a piece of string is when viewing times and durations are unknown... Thanks.

 

[upnortheast]

Don`t think the camera will use huge amounts of data doing occasional calving checks.
Best to start with a PAYG sim & monitor how much data is used, then you can get a monthly contract sim of a suitable size

Sometimes issues using a moibile network with an IP camera. Due, I think to the way mobile networks use IP addresses.
Someone else will have more info

 

[sleepy]

I went for AgriCamera version of exactly what you’ve just said, if it’s as easy as theirs I put ours up in a short afternoon, very easy if you’re a practical person. Mines great, really happy with it, but mine was just under a £1000 so as to the quality that you’ll get for £150 I wouldn’t know.

I'l happily hold my hands up and admit that we couldn't even get close to the sort of prices above. We spend more just buying the components in China for our power supplies that they are retailing that camera for. But it's not really comparable - you have still got to get the WiFi to the shed somehow, power it all up, waterproof it and then try and get it all talking together. It's like comparing a kit car engine with a new bmw.

And then somewhere along the line I have to fund ~£50k worth of technical support staff costs each year and attempt to make a profit so we stay in business. I wonder if mr 'gardenequip' from ebay would be answering technical support emails at 10pm on a saturday night

 

[Ray]

Got my Sricam ptz camera up and working well now on wifi, it was just a simple password mistake . It really is easy to commission and set up even for a novice like me, with clear instructions and YouTube videos too. I'm sure there are better quality units available, but for under £80.00 delivered complete with easy to download app to control and use from any android / iphone, laptop. ipad etc, I'm certainly very pleased and will be buying two more as soon as the supplier has available stock (currently sold out). The image is very good and it's easy to pan, tilt, and zoom. My daughter who's 100 miles away from us was viewing and operating the camera from her phone within minutes of receiving the password!.. I'll post pics once up and running in the calving shed...

Here's a couple of videos of how it works and set up if anyone's interested.