I know the subject of home security cameras comes up from time to time on the forum...I was looking for a IP camera that is easy enough for my mom and dad to operate with my initial set up...I was looking at the Dropcam by Nest....but the $200 price tag was a little steep....while cruising ebay I came across the one linked to at the bottom....I did a best offer of $33 and they took it.....Unless you are familiar with Port Forwarding through your router, set up can be a real pain.....this camera required no port forwarding.....I had it up and running in less than 5 minutesWhile it doesn't have PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) it's screen quality and features are excellent......it has a motion alarm with email and text style notifications......Wireless IP Camera HD Add-Drop Security IR WiFi 720p P2P Night Vision Baby Home Although I have not tried it......with a smart phone and a hot spot I believe this could be set up to be used in an RV.....

I'm using the Foscams and they have been rock solid for several years. While they do require Port Forwarding setup, once it's done, it's done. I do believe that anything that doesn't require that setup needs a DNS account (?). What's nice with the Foscam is that if power is interrupted, like a blackout, when the camera reboots, it emails me the ISP IP just incase it changed with the outage. Does that one?

Foscams....Real easy to use once set up. I have three of them around my house as my wife and I travel a lot. I can quickly look at my phone and see if the fort is secure. And it is set up with an APP my son installed that it records video if someone moves in front of the camera. You can yell at them and hear what they are saying. I belive I paid $60 each at Amazon.com

Jeff,I have 3 foscams and 8 wired Lorex cams......The Foscams are rocksolid once you get over the learning curve.....I use a No-Ip address for my DNS......I used to have problems with them switching IP addresses after a black out....until I learned how to turn of the DHCP......For the money, A PTZ Foscam is a great camera......The Dropcam clone I referred to above is nice in that there is not the set up learning curve......

96Bounder30E wrote:I used to have problems with them switching IP addresses after a black out....until I learned how to turn of the DHCP......learn how to do "DHCP reservations" in your router, although what you did works just as well

Simplicam ($150) -- no port forwarding, no static IP, easy setup, but you'll need a WiFi hotspot.

Inexpensive wifi wireless security camera | Good Sam Community

SCVJeff
Explorer
Apr 01, 2015
I'm using the Foscams and they have been rock solid for several years. While they do require Port Forwarding setup, once it's done, it's done. I do believe that anything that doesn't require that setup needs a DNS account (?).

What's nice with the Foscam is that if power is interrupted, like a blackout, when the camera reboots, it emails me the ISP IP just incase it changed with the outage. Does that one?
Rbertalotto
Explorer
Apr 01, 2015
Foscams....Real easy to use once set up. I have three of them around my house as my wife and I travel a lot. I can quickly look at my phone and see if the fort is secure. And it is set up with an APP my son installed that it records video if someone moves in front of the camera. You can yell at them and hear what they are saying. I belive I paid $60 each at Amazon.com
96Bounder30E
Explorer II
Apr 01, 2015
Jeff,

I have 3 foscams and 8 wired Lorex cams......The Foscams are rocksolid once you get over the learning curve.....I use a No-Ip address for my DNS......I used to have problems with them switching IP addresses after a black out....until I learned how to turn of the DHCP......

For the money, A PTZ Foscam is a great camera......

The Dropcam clone I referred to above is nice in that there is not the set up learning curve......
LittleBill
Explorer
Apr 01, 2015
96Bounder30E wrote:
I used to have problems with them switching IP addresses after a black out....until I learned how to turn of the DHCP......

learn how to do "DHCP reservations" in your router, although what you did works just as well
TechWriter
Explorer
Apr 01, 2015
Simplicam ($150) -- no port forwarding, no static IP, easy setup, but you'll need a WiFi hotspot.
the_bear_II
Explorer
Apr 01, 2015
I used a D-Link Lite WiFi cam to watch my bed ridden dad while I was at work. An app on my iPhone allowed me to check on him while I was away from the house. I think it was $89.00 at Best Buy.

It was always on but secure through the use of the MyDlink website user ID and password. It can be setup to activate with motion or sound. It will send you an e-mail when activated. The more expensive version allows you to talk through the camera if needed like for monitoring a baby or to let a thief know you have called the police.
Community Alumni
Apr 02, 2015
Foscam
Golden_HVAC
Explorer
Apr 02, 2015
Great idea!

I was thinking about getting a Harbor Freight security system, and set it up in my house. THey have a 4 camera set up for $299, this seems much lower cost. For now, I leave my dash cam on 24/7, and it will record anything for about 4 days before writing over the old data.

The dash cam was only about $12 and a 32 GB card was only $6.55. Prices for Dash Cams have really come down. My brother in law hit a car that pulled out on the highway in front of him, so a Dash Cam is becoming more a requirement, especially when they only cost a few bucks!

Good luck, Happy travels!

Fred.
SCVJeff
Explorer
Apr 02, 2015
96Bounder30E wrote:
Jeff,

I have 3 foscams and 8 wired Lorex cams......The Foscams are rocksolid once you get over the learning curve.....I use a No-Ip address for my DNS......I used to have problems with them switching IP addresses after a black out....until I learned how to turn of the DHCP......

For the money, A PTZ Foscam is a great camera......

The Dropcam clone I referred to above is nice in that there is not the set up learning curve......
I run mine static into the router, but it's the cable modem that causes me issues. A UPS prevents most ISP/IP reassignments, but we had an outage while at Quartzsite that also killed the modem, so...... It asked for a new IP when it woke up again. :( The Foscam IP report gave me the new IP and it was a quick fix
lynndiwagon
Explorer
Apr 02, 2015
These new Wifi IP cams out of China are really a bargain. At the prices they're selling them it is really easy to play around with them. I just got through installing one on the back of my rig for a backup cam. Used a "garage sale" Netgear wireless router to set up a local LAN in the rig and monitor it from the cab with my Galaxy Tab tablet. It was around $45.00. Using an old computer running Contacam you could set up a whole home system pretty reasonably. The biggest problem would be getting 12VDC to the cam's.