Solar Advice (sort of off topic)

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turbojimmy wrote:


Thanks. I hadn't thought of that. I have a few hundred feet of 8-wire low voltage cable left over from my sprinkler system repair (long story). I think it's 14-gauge but it may be 16. I could probably easily bury it along the driveway, even though I'd be wasting 6 of the 8 wires.

Pair (or triple or quadruple) the wires up (i.e., twist them together) to create, in effect, a pair of larger gauge wires for a lower voltage loss over the distance. E.g., 8 conductor becomes 2 conductor wire.

2oldman wrote:
Nest cams require wifi. Got wifi?

I do have WiFi down there. I put an extender in one of the rooms at the front of the house. It's not very strong, but I plugged in one of my existing cams down there (using the 12V cig adapter in my truck) and it works.

A trail cam is also a good idea. I could move it to the woods behind the house too.

Lots of things to think about now. Thanks!

DrewE wrote:
Probably easier and cheaper, if less elegant, is to run 500' of low-voltage landscape wire from your house down to your camera location. Use a 12V or so power supply at the house, and have a 5V regulator or DC-DC converter for the camera, so as to accommodate voltage/power loss in the wire. (This should be adequate for even 500 feet of 16 gauge wire with a load requiring 1A, which would have a total voltage drop of about 4V in this situation.)

A 500' roll of 16/2 landscape wire is less than $100 from Home Depot. If installed carefully in proper weather-sealed enclosures, this should operate without difficulty for a long time with basically no maintenance.

Thanks. I hadn't thought of that. I have a few hundred feet of 8-wire low voltage cable left over from my sprinkler system repair (long story). I think it's 14-gauge but it may be 16. I could probably easily bury it along the driveway, even though I'd be wasting 6 of the 8 wires.

Probably easier and cheaper, if less elegant, is to run 500' of low-voltage landscape wire from your house down to your camera location. Use a 12V or so power supply at the house, and have a 5V regulator or DC-DC converter for the camera, so as to accommodate voltage/power loss in the wire. (This should be adequate for even 500 feet of 16 gauge wire with a load requiring 1A, which would have a total voltage drop of about 4V in this situation.)

A 500' roll of 16/2 landscape wire is less than $100 from Home Depot. If installed carefully in proper weather-sealed enclosures, this should operate without difficulty for a long time with basically no maintenance.

Put a trail / hunting camera down there if you just want to figure out who's driving on the lawn and then you have photo proof - it's a lot easier and you can use it elsewhere as needed.

Amazon

Bill

Nest cams require wifi. Got wifi?