Bookmark This! posted by

Solar Powered Wireless Webcam – keeping tabs on remote places 24/7

Solarpoweredwirelesswebcam

Iain Barclay bought a field one day. And wanted some way to look at it, when he wasn’t there. So he went ahead and built himself a clever Solar Powered Wireless Webcam –  which he calls a FieldCam –  using some off the shelf parts, a 3G cellular phone dongle and router, and a custom circuit board. The result is very cool.

Solarpoweredwirelesswebcam2

He’s stuck the box in the field, and set it up to trickle charge constantly, and power up the camera every 5 minutes to take a shot which is then uploaded (automatically I think) to Flickr for his family to enjoy. Running cost is £10 a month flat for the 3G cellular data connection SIM card.

Solarpoweredwirelesswebcam3

He doesn’t mention an overall cost, but it sounds like around £200 or so for the full kit, which is pretty good considering the functionality of beaming pics back from a field in the middle of nowhere. I’m wondering, though, whether the same result could be achieved somehow by rigging up an old cameraphone (something like a Nokia N82 perhaps?) to deliver a photo at set times.

Why doesn’t someone make a reasonably priced commercial version of something like this? C’mon you guys, get to it.

[Check out also these solar powered DIY Wireless CCTV and WiFi Wireless Webcam –  not 3G –  ideas].

 So, to recap – the FieldCam has a battery which is topped up by a solar panel. Every hour it powers up, checks the battery level and if that is ok (over 12v), flips a relay to provide power to a mobile internet router and a camera. The camera in turn is set to take a photo and send it to an email address (through the router) some time later. Then it all switches off and hopefully charges up a bit and the cycle starts again.

3 Comments

  • This is a nice diy idea:)

  • The only thing I know about solar energy is it will help you to store energy and will help you to cut down your electricity bills but I never thought of this idea.

  • The above post is very interesting for me. I never heard about the solar powered wireless webcam. The concept is nice and hope it will be beneficial for the people.

comments powered by Disqus

Side Advert

Write For Us

Personnel

Managing Editor:
Nigel Powell

Associate Editor:
Caitlyn Muncy
Associate Editor:
Dan Ferris
Ecological Editor:
Debra Atlas
Technology Editor:
Fritz Effenberger
Asian Editor:
Hu Ping
Reviews Editor:
Kevin Evans

FB Like Box