Hen House Surveilance?

[cmom]

I think I will buy one as my coop is to far away for a wired camera. Do you know how many feet it is good for? The other wireless I bought said 300 ft, but it was no where near that with a poor picture.

 

[plowbouy]

my wireless router is inside a metal machine shed and is able to communicate with the webcam which is approx 200ft away. The signal strength is around 15 - 20%. I like that it has sound so I can listen to them as well..

I leave the webcam up on my computer all night long, and at 530am we are wakened to the rooster crows coming over the speakers. It's our "all natural" alarm clock. (Saturday mornings we have the volume turned down) ;-)

Just remember, the darker it is in the coop, the more "grainy" the picture. With the 15 watt bulb, the light is very low and the picture is grainy, but I am still able to make out the individual chickens and can see them move around. At night, Im more "listening" to what's going on rather than watching...

Good Luck..

 

[cmom]

I have a wireless router that my camera and DVR is connected to. I wonder if I can set up a second router. We will be building a new coop soon on the back of a barn we just built and it's not very close to the house. Maybe I can put another router in the barn.

 

[plowbouy]

Yes you can connect two routers together.. That is what I had to do. Since my chicken house is over 500ft from the house, I put a wireless router in the machine shed which is approx half way between the house and the chicken house. Then, from the machine shed router, I bounce the wireless signal to my wireless webcam in the chicken house.

ROUTER CONNECTIONS
However, I ran CAT5 (hardwired) ethernet cable (approx 400 ft) to connect the two routers together. They are NOT connected together via wireless. I didn't think I could get a good enough wireless signal strength going through the house and a metal building to make it work to my satisfaction...

In fact, since it was not an option for me I did not even check to see if I COULD connect the two via wireless. I would assume you can, but I never verified.. I use linksys routers.. You may want to check with your manufacture to assure you can connect two wireless routers together "wirelessly" if you are going that route.

CAT5 LENGTH LIMITATIONS
Also, keep in mind if you do use a CAT5 ethernet cable to connect the two routers, you are limited to around 350ft of cable length before it starts to degrade your bandwidth. Like I indicated above, I have my cable length running closer to 400ft and it is working fine.

BENEFITS
The nice thing about it is... putting a router in your shed will give you a "hot spot" out there so you can take your laptop, cup of coffee, sit with the chics, look at yourself on the camera & surf BYC all day long... ;-)

Sorry this is so long, ... but hope it helps..

PS.. Nice picts of the Hilltop Farm on your space

plowbouy

 

[Granma in Costa Rica]

Thank you all! I am going shopping for Dlink DSC 950 G and something called a "router." I hope a router and camera works without an internet connection. I have been waiting for a phone line for over three years.