SwampNut

The Wyze battery powered outdoor cameras are shipping now. Since wifi is too battery-heavy, they use a proprietary gateway, which can support multiple cameras. Prices are still cheap. The supplied rechargeable batteries will need to be recharged every 3-6 months.

Yup, that's normal.

Pricey, but it's 30 minutes from me if someone wants to have it looked at.

This is a fantastic time to be a seller. Free "nigga rich" money from FedGovCo means that everything in the lower price range is now hot, along with everyone wanting to get back to normal and/or do new things. My friend who flips ATVs says the prices and sales volume is through the roof. Gladiator Rubicons are 100% sold out now at the dealers I've bought from in the past, and the pre-orders are at nearly MSRP again. No more big discounts. A neighbor who is constantly complaining about having no cash just took their family checks and used them as a down payment for a RZR 1000. BRILLIANT!

Dude, are you seriously questioning the expert on All Things?

I've always just stuck the fresh battery in the bike and rode away. Dry-charged batteries seems to stay charged until you add the acid.

Buy the stuff on a credit card with extended warranty protection. Call them when it fails. Done. But like Dave said, there are kits to add a valve to the "unserviceable" systems.

Alright, let's see if I can help with some sense here. Cameras need a power source, and a connection to transmit video, unless they will only record locally. The connection was a coax cable with the older camera systems (analog video) and is now ethernet or wifi for new digital (IP) cameras. You can have an Network Video Recorder (NVR) recording your IP cameras, or your analog cameras if it has analog inputs. Those are pretty outdated though. The NVR can be just software (I run it on my desktop), a physical box with NVR software, or internet ("cloud") based. Wired IP cameras can be fed with Power over Ethernet (PoE), or with local power. Wireless cameras obviously must have local power. PoE power comes from a network switch, which you need anyway to connect wired IP cameras. Not all switches support PoE, so you have to buy one that does. Cameras come in a wide variety of resolutions and aspect ratios. They also have a wide variety of lenses so you need to consider that. I love a wide lens with wide aspect ratio for the stairs over my one massive room as it covers something like 130 degrees across, but I don't need as much vertical. It's a 5k camera so you can do virtual zoom if needed, and have enough resolution. But at the front door I need good vertical coverage to see the whole space and a whole human. Both are wide-ish angle. For the front hallway, I don't need much for wide angle or even high resolution. A lot of the "systems" that you see are just a PoE switch, cameras, and the NVR software loaded on a little box. All stuff you *could* do yourself, but if you're not already technically proficient you probably don't want to. If you have any use for a NAS, then you can get something like a Synology and it comes with NVR built in. So you can store your own files there, and also have it be the NVR. No tech knowledge needed. The Wyze camera are super cheap and limited, but most people seem to be happy with them.

23andme.com/redeem Code 1: REPG2S Code 2: REPI6P Post up if you use one, so others know.

WTF! Ok, let me come up with a rational explanation of how these systems work, that will make sense for everyone, and that I can type in two paragraphs. I'll do that later today.

The bigger one is 2x faster, so it might be better for booting really. I'll send them though.

Almost that simple. Load the Wyze app on your phone, fire up the camera. Press the setup buttons. When the voice says "scan code" point the camera at the QR code on the phone screen. It will ask for your wifi password, then connect the camera to wifi. Then you can use the Wyze app to view the camera. You do need to go into the app and tell it to record to the card. From then on it just sits there doing it. I hacked mine to run open-source software, and to connect to my NVR. That was actually super easy too. So I don't record locally and can't tell you an exact amount you can record locally, but it will be somewhere upwards of 20-30 hours of recordings. I've had two mounted on the back patio for several years. Eaves could be less coverage. There are some case options that do make them weather tight, and they are cheap. I have a couple, but haven't used them yet. I think it was like $10 for two. There is local recording, and cloud recording of short clips. Local recording is as long as you need. Cloud is 7 seconds on a free account, and longer on a paid account.

I can send you a 250, or a 64, or both. They are normal 3.5" SATA form.

I would avoid the major brands like Netgear, Ring, Nest, and the like. Overpriced, and geared around milking you for their extra services. Wyze is fucking cheap, with cheap and free cloud storage options, plus the ability to store on a local card. So you can buy a $20 Wyze camera, $8 SD card, and you're recording. Done. The cameras take 5v USB power and come with a 120v to USB adapter, so you have options. There is no central storage server, which is both good and bad, depending on specific circumstances. I think it's fine for what you want.