wifi security cameras

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Any footage uploaded to the cloud should be considered compromised.
Never use cloud service, that's the reason for the SD card on board. With security runing a hacker would have to hack multiple security systems just to get into the door, then he would have to deal with a stand alone Mikrotik RouterBOARD which would reject any MAC it didn't recognize. Then there is another standalone firewall that segments the pubic network from the work/home network. This means first they would have to physically hack the router if doing it locally, which it has it's own firewall that rejects MAC addresses it doesn't recognize and segments networks. Then there is a whole host of different technology steps to bypass. The same for access from the public network. It would be easier to hack a banks user data base to gain access to an account they didn't know or even if one has an account there than hack my computer, me thinks.
 
@muddstopper
First off I completely agree with uniballer:

There is no wireless system that will compare to a hardwire system... that said there are some really good wireless systems out there.

And you do not have to completely direct wire a system to make it full-proof...

There are way around this... that are reliable, secure & easily deployed...


Unless something has changed in the past couple of months the Blink Cameras only use the 2.4 GHz bandwidth... which is probably not your issue...

OK full disclosure, I'm in the industry of security, automation & network design... & although I will not bash Blink for what it is... I will say this: Our company will not promote any non-security / network / automation company that is owned by a company that is solely a marketing company. Companies like Apple, Amazon (Blink / Ring), Google (Home / Nest), etc. have zero interest in your security... just marketing & selling you product. (ok... sorry... off my soapbox)

The issues you're having is not uncommon with any system like the Blink system. This system requires two different established connections for it to work properly, the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi connection to your network & their Low Frequency Radio (LFR) which connects to the Blink Sync Module (I believe what you are calling the Blink Router). If you are not seeing at least 3 bars of signal for both the Wi-Fi & the LFR you are going to have issues.

Directly from the Blink site:
"The Sync Module receives information from the Blink servers through your local Wi-Fi, and sends commands to system devices with a Low Frequency Radio (LFR). Cameras receive information from the Sync Module, then send images and notifications through your local Wi-Fi. For optimal performance, your camera must show three bars of signal strength from your Sync Module in addition to the three bars of signal strength to Wi-Fi."

IMOH....There are no two installs that are alike... an example is two identical home in the exact same location, except one of them has hydronic radiant heat throughout... the one with the radiant will most likely need double the access points (Wi-Fi antennas) as the one without... So what I am saying is what works in one location might not work in the next even if they are right next door to each other...

I know you already own it.... but Blink would not be my recommendation or my design for your needs / solution. (& I'm not hating on the product.. just not how I would have designed it)

sorry for the long post....
Thank you. This is very helpful and insightful.
 
Well, I have had the Blink system installed and working for a month now. While I had the free cloud service, I was happy enough with the setup. Now that my free cloud service has expired, things feel apart pretty quick. When I bought the system, I knew I didnt want to pay for a cloud service if I could store the pictures locally. The module will take a thumb drive, so I bought a 256mb drive that is available from blink/amazon. When My free cloud account ended, I installed the thumb drive. Nothing.
The thumb drive only records still shots at random times, will not record video and has to be taken out of the module to be viewed. Useless. When I get an alert, I see nothing on my cell phone and I cant access the thumb drive without being home to physically eject it from the module and then insert it into my computer or tablet. If I choose live view on my phone, I can see live video, but the system does not record, or give me the option to record what I am seeing. This pretty much makes the system useless. The cameras are sensitive enough that I have recorded spiders making webs Infront of them. I have recorded pine needles hanging from the roof of my shed. I have recorded the tail of a barn owl as it flew pass the cameras. Get a hard rain, I have to turn the system off as it records the raindrops as they fall. System works great, all long as you have a cloud account to save everything to. Just dont buy the system and think adding a memory card is going to be of any use to you. It looks like I am going to have to pay the $100 year for cloud storage. I dont want to have to wait until I get home from the store or trip, eject the memory card from the module and stick in my computer to see what activated the camera while I was gone. That defeats the purpose of having a security system if you cant see whats going on and alert the police if a thief is breaking into your house or shop. Why give the thief a head start to get what they want and leave before you even know they have been there. I think now I am going to go leave an Amazon review to express my displeasure with the Blink security system.
 
Well, I guess I need to retract part of my last post. It took me a while, but I finally figured out my problem with getting my pic and videos. I ended up needing 2 modules to get the coverage I wanted. What I didnt think about, even tho I knew it would be this way, was that I needed a usb memory for each module. While I did buy one memory stick and inserted it in my home module, I didnt get one for the shop module. While trying to recover and record pictures I was using my shop system for all of my trials and testing. Well, it was by accident that I switched to my home system that I found that the cameras where indeed making and storing videos on the memory stick. I can access those videos from my phone, and I assume also from my tablet, which is also linked to my system. Instead of needing a cloud account, all I really need is another memory stick for my shop module. This makes me happy with the system again. I think the system is again now adequate for my needs. I think the cloud storage might be a good deal, but it does come with the side effect that videos are automatically deleted after 60 or 90 days and is limited to a set amount of storage memory, which might be a problem if you need to save videos for a longer period of time.

The usb memory has to be manually deleted, so you can save the videos pretty much forever and just swap out thumb drives if storage capabilities become an issue. now deleteing the videos from the memory stick is a little aggravating if your doing it from your phone. You have to load each video individually and delete them one at a time, but you can remove the usd drive and insert it in your computer and delete all of them at one time if you need to. I can tell you right now, if you leave the system armed, you can get a lot of videos in a single day. I am playing with my system now to try and limit the sensibility levels to where it isnt taking videos of the rain, and spiders, yet still video the neighbors cat when it walks in the yard. I guess I have went from wouldnt buy again to yes I would buy again, and am still planning on adding additional cameras in the near future. Waiting on another sale, the price has jumped $100 since I bought this system and that is in one month. Lets go Brandon. I have 2 modules so I can run 20 cameras if I wanted too.
 
I have a Zosi 8 camera system but it's not connected to the web for security reasons and because I don't have a smart phone to review and see footage from the phone.
I do have a 4TB hard drive that records all 8 cameras 24/7 and will hold all the data for 45 days before it fills up the HD. If nothing happens I simply dump that data, but I can save what ever I need to my PC.
It works great.
 
I know if I need to, I can save my videos to my hard drive if I insert the usb drive in the computer, I dont know, havent tried to send it to my phone, but since I upload the pics from the system to my phone, I assume I can save the pics if I need to. Now that I think about it, I am pretty sure I can send the pics to others from my phone. Right now it looks like I am storing the pics in at least three places, the usb drive, my phone, and my tablet, and probably a bunch of other places if i link them to the system. Probably link my computer to the system and automatically get the pics on it without having to insert the usb drive, I probably wont do that.
 
I don't know what is going on with your Blink system, maybe the card or usb stick needs formatted? I bought a Wyze Cam v3 and am very impressed with it for the price which was $44 Canadian. My free cloud storage trial has run out but I still get 12 second event clips stored in the cloud for free and I installed a 32 Gb sd card for continuous recordng which overwrites automatically every 2 days for hd video or 7 days for sd video. I can access the sd card through the app on my phone. They seem to be concerned with security saying all data is encrypted. The video quality is impressive even at night for such an inexpensive camera.
 
My system seems to be working again, as of now. I believe one camera is bad. It kills batteries in two days. The other 4 seem to be going strong. Amazon is supposed to be sending me a replacement for the one bad camera. I have all the camera setting set the same and it takes good quality videos, even at night, I was contacted by amazon about my review I left and I told them the biggest problem with the blink security system is they dont include an instruction manual that tells you how to make the darn thing work. There is one little pamphlet that tells you how to connect to your wifi and how to connect the cameras to the module and thats it. You have to google everything.
 
Thing have gotten pretty bad with the sneaky sneaks and five finger discount around here lately. My neice and her husband live just down the road and he had his tractor stole, I posted about it a while back. He got the tractor back and then about a year ago he got his equipment trailer stole. He just got it back this past week. He saw it being pulled down the road and followed it while calling the police. They told him not to follow them. He did anyway and followed them into a housing project and held them at gun point until the law showed up. Things werent pretty, but bottom line, he got his trailer back, the cops didnt arrest the people that had it. Justice aint what it should be. I have a storage shed on my lot that joins my house property. Its mostly full of junk, but its my junk. Last week I walked down to the shed and saw the door was open, nothing missing, nothing worth stealing, but someone had been in it. That shed is only about 30-40 feet from my shop. My shop is full of valuable stuff. I need the cameras to prove who goes into the shop. My shop, like my house, is harder to go into with out my knowledge, I am here pretty much 24/7. I have ankle biters that bark at anything.
Not arresting thieves is why they continue
 
I haven't had anything stole since I installed the cameras, but I am finding the setup kind of aggravating. Birds, squirrels, neighbors dogs, even spider webs will set it off. I find I am deleting pictures several times a day. I try to keep the system turned off during the day when I am home. There are sensitivity settings and even zones you can set to limit just what areas will set off the cameras. I gave up trying to set it and just zoned out things like my flag flapping in the wind. Still debating buying extra cameras, I have five and can go up to 20, 10 per module, but I don't want it taking my pic while pee'ing behind a tree. While I don't like having to delete pics all the time, I am sure my feeling would change if I catch someone stealing from me. One thing for sure, nothing drives up or walks up without getting its picture taken. I also use the talk feature to talk to my wife if she's outside and I am doing something I need her advice, about. She always jumps when I start talking out of the camera. I think its funny, her not so much.
 
I purchase this spy camera charger because I had a feeling my monster in law was abusing my dog, he started doing things he never did before she came to live with us, and I kept telling my husband my suspicions and he didn’t believe until I purchase the cameras and did not tell him I did once I had the evidence I confronted her and showed my husband and needless to say videos don’t lie and I called the police and i no longer have a monster in law. I will choose my baby doggy 100% thank you so much this product saved my dog.
 
I purchase this spy camera charger because I had a feeling my monster in law was abusing my dog, he started doing things he never did before she came to live with us, and I kept telling my husband my suspicions and he didn’t believe until I purchase the cameras and did not tell him I did once I had the evidence I confronted her and showed my husband and needless to say videos don’t lie and I called the police and i no longer have a monster in law. I will choose my baby doggy 100% thank you so much this product saved my dog.
Sorry for what he went through but you did the right thing.
 
There are sensitivity settings and even zones you can set to limit just what areas will set off the cameras. I gave up trying to set it and just zoned out things like my flag flapping in the wind. Still debating buying extra cameras,
You can buy some now where they can be set for human detection and filter out the rest.
 
You can buy some now where they can be set for human detection and filter out the rest.
Mine are not that way. I am using a couple as game cameras. I have been surprised at the range between module and camera. I also have a spypoint cellular game camera that I am to tight to pay a subscription for. I get 100 free photos a month. It took 72 deer pics in one night and quickly ran out of free pic the next day. I have 2 regular game cameras I just check every once in a while. Cats, dogs, rabbits and the ocassional spider like getting their picture taken.
 
Mine are not that way. I am using a couple as game cameras. I have been surprised at the range between module and camera. I also have a spypoint cellular game camera that I am to tight to pay a subscription for. I get 100 free photos a month.
Yep, got 5 Spypoint Spylink's that I use for monitoring trails, scrapes and stuff. The 4 Spartan Cams and the 6 Moultrie cellular trail cameras I use on feeders. The Spylink's don't take near as many pic's as the feeder cams so I go with the free 100 picture plan like you do.
 
I believe my trail cams are Moultry as well. I put the biggest sd card I could fit in it. When I took them down last spring, one camera had over 1000 pictures stored. I used to worry about filling the sd card up and running out of memory. I pulled one of my blink cameras today. I was getting to many alerts and I have enough deer pictures saved to do me till next fall.
 

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