Nanny Cameras for Grow?

Hi has anyone tried using nanny cameras to watch their grow rooms and to evaluate the soil from the cameras as well?

I have been thinking of different ideas to utilize these for security as well, but would like to know any experiences if possible, thanks!

I can't tell you how many growers spend and spend on spy tech, only to trash it in less than a month, the deal is....you have a relationship with plants(known as babes)
like with goldfish, cat or dog owners, its the same attitude, pet owners always make the best growers, it a "THING" difficult to put a finger on,
as for security like all CCTV system, you see a guy wanting to rip you off, ....What are you gonna do?

I like my foscam camera and it will take daily snapshots for doing timelapse wifi or wired network, pan/tilt, IR, pictures, video, it's fun.

I agree with @vostok on the relationship with your plants, no amount of tech replaces hands-on. But I do use the Foscam cameras, it's just another tool to me, no different than the extra money I spent on flexible and reliable timers. I travel a lot so it allows me to keep an eye on the girls which is a nice-to-have but not much value there. These have 2-way audio, I've talked my GF through fixing a couple of issues while I was travelling, priceless. They also have adjustable motion sensors which can email or ftp pics when tripped, I turn it on when there's no one in the house for a couple of days, if I get ripped I'll know who it was and "pursue appropriate justice" (aka beat the fuck out of them, then collect what they owe me)... The catch is security with these remotely accessible cameras. I wouldn't recommend anyone exposing them to the Internet or you will get hacked. Instead, VPN into your network, then connect to the cameras, configure them to be accessed within your network only, use the highest security and long/complex passwords + mac filtering on your WiFi setup.

I will eventually

CptKook said:

evaluate the soil from the cameras

Click to expand...

I will be adding a display that shows Information just so I can check on stuff when I am away. Of course I am going way more techie than most, since my tent runs 3 Cree AB bin 3070's and 150w MISC Red/Blue,PWM (450w LED total), speed Controlled 225cfm 4" Can fan, Peltier cooler/heater, DWC culture with a PWM Air Pump, all running 12v DC. Currently everything controlled by arduino, not sure if will keep doing arduino or one of the newer intel chips eventually. The plan is to fully Automate this small tent, 2 gal buckets,full sample system to check PH (already have the PH probe), Run any type of hydro in the system, ebb/flow or DWC, with Automate water changes if PH out of boundaries or weekly.

I heard of a program on the I pad that connects to wireless cameras in your grow room so you can observe your garden on the go. Gonna try and find the name.

mouse1818 said:

I heard of a program on the I pad that connects to wireless cameras in your grow room so you can observe your garden on the go. Gonna try and find the name.

Click to expand...

Foscam Viewer is the APP for Android for the camera's we have been talking about. IT allows you to view it (internet if you wish to go that route but as the person above mentioned risky) or if you are connected to the same network, view the camera's directly without VPN into your PC. You are limited what you can do on the APP and may still want to log into using a browser.

GVMV said:

Foscam Viewer is the APP for Android for the camera's we have been talking about. IT allows you to view it (internet if you wish to go that route but as the person above mentioned risky) or if you are connected to the same network, view the camera's directly without VPN into your PC. You are limited what you can do on the APP and may still want to log into using a browser.

Click to expand...

They have an app for iOS/iPhones as well, on the iPad, a PC or Mac you just use your browser. The issue with having it available on your phone is you have to have your firewall open to allow the connection. The safer (but more complicated) setup is to create a VPN connection from your phone/tablet/pc into your network if your router/firewall has the option for VPN's. Then you just connect to the VPN (encrypted) and connect to your camera on the inside IP address, typically 192.168.1.xx with xx being the IP you assigned to the camera. In any of these scenarios if you have a dynamic IP on your internet connection you'll have to use a DDNS service to be able to find your current IP and connect to the VPN or directly to the camera.

Don't be so gay.