Do they even MAKE a Wi-Fi outdoor camera?

Wyze makes inexpensive wifi cameras, some of which are outdoor rated. Many of them can be jailbroken to be cloud-free, and the ones which can't be jailbroken are being worked on by the user community.

There's also cloudfree.shop which does not sell any cameras at all, but all their products are, well, cloud-free. It would not be a bad idea to keep an eye on them to see if they add one or more cameras to their catalog in the future.

Clare Snyder wrote to us on Sat, 08 Feb 2025 23:18:52 -0500:

I was waiting for it to arrive, as I bought this $36 Cetey Wi-Fi camera.

Not only that, but you have to verify your phone number & email address. I think all that means that it goes to the Internet before it goes to you.

But I'm not sure because everyone wants what I want so why is it so hard? a. I want a camera that can't even get on the Internet b. I want it to be Wi-Fi only c. From the camera to my router and from my router to my phone

Why is that so hard to do when it's what everyone wants to do?

I'm going to return it if I can't get it to work the way you say. So far, it doesn't work anywhere near the way you say it does.

Although I did get it to charge from the solar panel I also bought.

Either that, or I don't know how to make it work the way you say it does. Or, maybe just this camera doesn't work that way. Dunno.

It's probably me.

But I put an sdcard in the slot and there is no way to set up the camera WITHOUT installing the app and the app doesn't work WITHOUT registering it.

Nothing goes on the sdcard. No matter what I do. Nothing. I must be doing something wrong.

I have a while before I have to return it if I can't ever get it to work. There must be a secret trick to make the eseecloud app save to the sdcard!

Eufy make a range. Check them out, there is plenty of review resources on the internet.

Ask that scammer called Arlen .... ;-)

Because many people want the camera on Internet. Ie, they want to access the camera from anywhere.

This would be possible to do with IPv6 without an intermediary.

Carlos E.R. wrote to us on Tue, 11 Feb 2025 14:10:21 +0100:

Yeah. I know. I said it wrong. I don't care if it goes on the Internet if what you want is to look at your video from somewhere far far away, but I want it to be able to NOT go onto the Internet just to look at your pool.

I don't need my kids on the Internet that way, and I'm sure I'm not alone. It's what everyone would want even if they *also* want it on the Internet.

This camera looked like it would be able to also NOT be in the Internet. But I haven't seen any data yet go onto the sdcard the camera formatted.

Since everyone must want a Wi-Fi camera that can at least save its events onto the sdcard and which you can log into from home without the net....

There must be a camera that is Wi-Fi that, even if it can go onto the Internet, that you can log into from your home when you're at home.

I guess that LAN only cameras are easier to find with Ethernet networking (ie, PoE).

You have to seek cameras with fewer smarts. For example, if they do "smart" things like face recognition for cheap, chances are they use an outside server.

If you can handle the DIY approach, it's been done for you already. This is just one of several articles on building a streaming camera around a raspberry pi board. Other than that, there are commercial surveillance cmaeras that do what you want, plus a lot more...but more $$$.

Carlos E.R. wrote to us on Tue, 11 Feb 2025 19:50:15 +0100:

That's a neat idea, where that's all I want, and I saw a few that are Ethernet only so I ordered some and am waiting for them to arrive.

Funny though, they don't seem to be both Wi-Fi & Ethernet. Just Ethernet. No Wi-Fi.

The face recognition is pretty smart in the camera that I just tested out from Amazon that goes to the Internet, I agree, but I don't want that.

It seems from my searches, that there are five main types of cameras.

Those which are Wi-Fi (but then they're not Ethernet) and worse, they go from the camera to your router to the Internet and back to the router to your phone or computer (which is a long trip from the house to the pool).

Those which are Ethernet (but then they're not on Wi-Fi). Which is strange. You'd think they'd have a device that can do either RJ46 or Wi-Fi.

Those which are cellular (but then they don't have Wi-Fi), which again is strange. These always go from the camera to the Internet via the carrier.

Those which are hard wired analog, which isn't what I can easily use given the amount of obstructions between the house and the pool.

Did I survey all the possible types out there easily bought? Wi-Fi only (no Ethernet) Ethernet only (no Wi-Fi) Cellular only (no Ethernet or Wi-Fi) Analog

And there are the DIY Raspberry-Pi streaming cameras too, but that's out of my technical level of expertise (I have no technical skills whatsoever, as if I did, I wouldn't need to ask this question to get the answer from you).

Here's an example of each on Amazon. Wi-Fi $40

Saves hardware and the complication of configuring the WiFi initially.

Notice that Ethernet cameras are normally PoE. Maybe you haven't noticed, this means "power over ethernet". Two of the wires in the ethernet connection (RJ45) are used to provide electricity to the camera, thus saving in an extra connection and hardware. But means you mean to install a PoE Switch to provide this special Ethernet connection (which can of course power a number of cameras)

On computers, they are different cards. It is not that strange.

Possibly. I dunno, right now.

Maybe there are kits out there with easy instructions.

Strange. They say it is a body camera, but needs an external power supply.

One of the photos say "intelligent protection". That suggests external computing, but I'll continue reading.

The product description section mentions an app, for ios or android.

Then there is a photo that clearly depicts the camera at home, and watching from the office in the phone. This is a 99% indicator there is an outside server involved.

One of the reports, by Tennesota, clearly says he is using an app in the phone to tell the camera what wifi credentials to use. This is a 90% indicator there is an outside server involved.

One report mentions trying to use the camera on the car or on a bike, but they finally did not do that. Doesn't seem to me to be an appropriate camera for that usage. Normally such a camera would not require internet, not even a LAN.

All the reports I could read are marked "Amazon Vine Customer Review of Free Product". Interesting, I don't see those in Spain. One of them could be Arlen. I clicked to see more reports, but then it asked for my login, and I refused. I do my Amazon searching anonymously, so that they don't email me.

I don't think you can use this camera in the LAN without an external server. Mind, some of the cameras using an external server may be capable of directly saving from the camera to the flash cards, without sending to the server on internet.

I find off-putting that not the description nor the reports tell the name of the app or the service they register to. This is important. If you have already a camera at home, you'd want the second camera on the same app. The registration can involve a fee. And of course, there can be reports on the app or service.

Amazon used to have a visibile list of questions and answers but now they have the asbility to ask questions (and to see previous questions and answers if you use the right search terms. So maybe you can get an idea that way. I think the first model uyou listed that I replied about, on eeither home repair or electronics repair, ... I asked about that, whether you could view the pictured on a PC and the alleged AI said yes. Then I asked if you could control the pan and tilt with the PC and AAI said it found nothing about that (so, No.) How that affects your needs I don't know.

I have a similar question to yours. Do they make one where you can view the image and control the pan and tilt with a PC. I don't mind having to set it up with a phone, but I don't want to need the phone after that, because my phone is rarely on, and my PC is always on.

I have no pool or kids to worry aobut. I just want to see the deer who pass by, and the robins if they are eating my cherries. Their privacy is important to me, but not enough to worry if they're on the web, but I want to do everything with a PC. (If my house is being robbed while I'm away, I don't want to know about it.)

All deer and robins look alike to me.

Because the Seller wants not to sell you a widget; they want to get you trapped into renting a service that requires you pay and pay and pay.

Not quite.

IEEE 802.3af-2003 uses Phantom Power of Olden-Daze . The transformers at center-tapped;

Secondary winding:

--------------- Bl/W To camera via CAT 5/6 \ / == CT + \ /

--------------- W/Bl To camera via CAT 5/6

The unshown primary windings provides the data. The CT is connected to the power supply.

This is just the data TO the device; an identical second one is for the data back FROM the camera. Its CT will be the power supply negative.

This is replicated at the camera.