Ebay IP Wireless Webcam Experiment

[Metman]

Biggleswade AWS Weather - Added WebCam.............

I thought I'd see what the results would be like if I purchased the cheapest Ebay IP WiFi Cam (DB Power) and installed it to my Cumulus Webpage: http://www.biggleswadeweather.freeglovine.com as the Camera is not waterproof I have had to set it up indoors.
To access the camera from my Cumulus Page just click on Webcam in the Cumulus menu bar, then enter in the log-in window Username: "guest" Password "guest" and hopefully this should take you to the IP Cam front page , then select View Mode 1 for Internet Explorer Browsers and View Mode 2 for Firefox and Safari Browsers. You should now see the Webcam view.
This is at 640x480 but is a bit dark because its siting behind two panes of window glazing and secondly its pointing towards my Weather Station on the shed roof which is about SW and therefore picks up a lot of sunshine which reduces the brightness. The software that comes with the WebCam is pretty basic but includes Alarm and Email facilities and resizing, unfortunately I cannot work out how to switch the IR LEDs off so I can use it at night because of the glazing reflection ?
For a £35.90 Ebay solution it has been a great little experiment until I can afford a proper solution. If you have any problems viewing it or comments then please let me know?

I forgot to say that the Webcam is remotally moveable ie: 270 degrees in horizontal axis and 90 degrees in vertical axis from your pc or the viewers pc over the internet if operator rights are given to the user!

I also forgot to say you may see my Young 6 month old Labrador Retreiver Puppy "Angus" on the grass in the foreground or the Missus putting out the washing!


Thanks

Metman (Mark)

[ironeagleuk]

This won't work for users outside of your network, as the link is pointing to a local IP address.

You need to forward your ports on your router.....take a look at http://www.portforward.com and that will explain what settings you need to set.
Also you need to ideally create a static IP address, and use something like no-ip to link to your local adress...no-ip details can be found here: http://www.no-ip.com/getting_started.php

I used a DB Power to start off with, but it gave up the ghost after about a years use. I've now replaced it with a IPCam from Maplins, that looks identical, but costs twice as much, but does provide a better picture.

You can see the difference here:

I was having trouble with my "cheap Ebay Tilt/Pan IP camera", connection issues were doing my head in.....so I bit the bullet, and wanted a new one there and then.....so went to Maplins and bought this one for £93, which is branded as Storage Options: http://www.maplin.co.uk/pan-tilt-wirele ... era-508703

Looks identical to my previous one which was branded as DB Power....but I think they are both basically Foscam clones.

But the picture quality of the 2 are quite different....the new one is much better, brighter and clearer.

Here's a pic of from the old one:



Here's a pic of from the new one:


The pics were taken 22 days apart, but were taken at roughly the same time of day with similar weather conditions.

[Metman]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply - I hadn't appreciated about the port forwarding so I have downloaded the getting started guides for both the websites you gave me and once the F1 at Silverstone has finished today I'll get down to studying them in detail and make the neccessary changes to my settings.

Your second camera definately produces a better result than the first unit especially in the sky area as well as the countryside below.

I have attached a screen shot of my webcam taken a few minutes ago although the buildings are a bit blurry due to the double glazing the sky gives me a reasonable result.

I have retrieved a decent IR Cam from our skip at work which was working before it was replaced by a IP Webcam. The only thing was is the leads were just cut-off so will have to remake the connnections. I'm hopng this will give me a better quality cam once I have worked how to integrate it into my pc whether it has to be adapted to USB or IP to enable it to be uploaded to the web I am not too sure. The camera is made by VISI O N of Korea and is the model VN70CSHR-HVFAIRC. it has a 1/3" Sony Super HAD Image element and 35 metre IR capabilty and can be mounted outdoors so could be an ideal replacement if I can get it all working and configured for my website.

Once again thanks for your response and I hope I can work through the setting up guides for port forwarding.

regards

Mark (Metman)

[ironeagleuk]

Have you tried adjusting the brightness a little in the IPCam web interface?....I have mine set to 9 for brightness, and 4 for contrast....but still sometimes look abit darker outside than it is.

Take a look at the links I sent, and if you have any trouble, then post back and I'll try to help.

My website actually uses Yawcam to upload the image, rather than the built in interface of the IPCam.....so the port forwarding is all geared up for that rather than direct from the camera. If you take a look at my website, you'll see the image under webcam like yours, and if you click on it, it shows a live broadcast for 60 seconds

[Metman]

Hi
I've changed and added the port forwarding settings as per the website instuctions, can you see it now?

I've also increased brightness to 9 as suggested.

reards

Mark (Metman)

[robynfali]

Mark,

Just a suggestion, but check with your neighbours about their homes being in view of the camera, some can be dead funny (personal experience)

I love the angle of the shot tho,

[Metman]

Thanks Rob,

Understand about the neighbours but I haven't told the Missus yet!

Mark (Metman)

[robynfali]

lol, don't, your gonna be sleepin on the couch otherwise buddy!, keep us posted about this tho, because its something i might change to

[pete_c]

Here in the US I am unable to see your webcam at the

82.11.124.55 address.

That said instead of opening up a port on your firewall you can just upload / FTP an image to say WeatherUnderground ever few minutes using a script.

[ironeagleuk]

Works for me....well done on getting it up and running so quickly, and getting your head around it....took me alot longer.

Interesting to see that your interface for your DB Power is different to mine

[Metman]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for letting me know it works ok.
I had trouble getting the unit up and running from the supplied CD so I downloaded the latest files from the DB Power website (see link below)
and it seemed to work ok but I had to link it via a cable in the first instance before i could then use the Wireless network.
(The "Bsearch" program seems a bit hit and miss but once I worked through this it connected ok).

www.db-power.com

Regards

Mark (Metman)

[ironeagleuk]

Gosh where did all those downloads come from on the DB Power site.......there were only 2 when I looked a month ago, and they were PDF's...can see they were added on July 6th

Are any of those files firmware updates, or just apps for the PC?

[Metman]

Hi,

They are program files for the PC I downloaded and used the followig to get my DB Power up and running:

Bsearch.zip
IPC.zip
OCX_install.exe
B Serials IP Camera Operation Guide.exe (Guide only

mark (Metman)