Ask HN: Solar+WiFi IP Security Cameras?
1 beezle 2 8/23/2025, 4:58:47 PM
Need three or four security cams on my property and power and connectivity are an issue that is not resolved without significant costs thus solar and wifi are musts.
The use case is good triggered image capture and occasional brief streaming, both locally and remote. Pan/tilt is nice but not essential if fixed wide angle.
Having a hard time trying to figure out what is garbage and what is actually worth considering. Just too much SEO/AI/fake reviews.
I doubt I'm the first on HN with these requirements so asking what the community has found to work well. Be gentle,
Ideally like to keep in the $150 per cam range and not be tied to vendor clouds or phone apps. Because I'll need the ability to view remote, security very is important too. I do have a remote server that can act as image repository.
I only need to monitor two indicator lights on pump protection boxes. Green is fine. Anything else, I make the trip down there to check stuff. Reason is that in addition to the protection boxes and breakers, there are (ta-da) slow-blow fuses in the mix. Once, the fuse on the submersible pump blew, but since the tank is 2000 gallons, I didn't notice it until it went empty. Restarting was easy. Replace the fuse. Pump. But I had to re-prime the lines, and the city boy in me failed.
Alternatives:
check once a month or so. I do that.
a photocell on each green indicator with relay to a light in the line of sight.
a water depth gauge, duhhh. [0]
a mirror so that I can actually see the indicators with binoculars. They are inconveniently 90 degrees to my line of sight, behind the tank. But adjusting the mirror will require two people, and it's just me and myself up here.
Any outage of the booster pump is immediately obvious. No need to monitor.
[0] Some of the mechanical designs are quite interesting. I just don't plan to climb to the top of the tank to install stuff. (using a ladder, of course)