Recommendation: wifi floodlight camera which integrates with security spy
Hey everyone... I have a floodlight outside my building which has stopped working, and it seems to be a slam-dunk to simply replace that floodlight with one which includes a WIFI camera (there's no wired ethernet to the spot).
Obviously it needs to work with SecuritySpy.
The one I've found is a Foscam F41 which seems perfect serviceable, but wondering if there is something else in the price range which might be a better choice? If anyone has any thoughts please advise, thank you.
Comments
Well alright.. no recommendations. I'm going in, will report back.
Wifi camera aren’t recommended for use with securityspy.
I've used several WIFI cameras for a long time... literally years, with no ill effects.
If you just want a floodlight that turns on when motion is detected, it's much better to get this separately. Go for a bright LED floodlight with built-in PIR sensor, and mount this (ideally) a little away from the camera, but pointing to the area that the camera is looking at.
Then you can go for a normal camera, and you will get a much larger choice of cameras than if you were to look for only those with built-in floodlights.
We do not recommend WiFi cameras, especially for outdoor locations, because signal strength can be an issue. But if you make sure that it's close enough to the access point that it can receive a good signal, there is no reason why this wouldn't work fine. But it's always better to use wired Ethernet wherever possible. Since you have to run power to the camera anyway, it's often not too much more difficult to simply run Ethernet and use PoE.
Agree with this. I took one step further...
I have a few cameras near the floodlights. I bought cheap (but strong) LED floodlights without PIR motion sensing (which often has false positives). Then I wired in a Shelly relay switch to turn them on.
Using HomeAssistant, I created a virtual switch called "human or animal detected" and when SS detects a human or animal, it switches on the virtual switch, then an automation turns on the Shelly relay blasting light out for a bit and then turning off so spiders don't collect.
The cameras have pretty good nighttime detection. I also have an automation that plays a barking dog sound if this occurs at night (to scare the deer away from the flower garden).
Hi @jimmyjohnson this sounds like a great setup, thanks for posting your experiences.