CCTV for remote locations

December 14, 2007 10:26 AM

I have a need for a CCTV system in an area with no power or wired connections. The images/video would only need to be retrieved in the event of a break in or something of that ilk. What are my options?

The obvious power solutions would be wind and solar power to charge batteries so that the system can work over night.

I guess the video/images would need to be stored on some kind of HDD or memory card, as a VHS player would drain the battery power pretty quickly.

Help my protect my sisters stables Hive Mind!

posted by lemonfridge to Technology (2 answers total)

motion activated game camera. Takes photos when it senses motion. Probably around $200 for a decent one. Here's a few to give you some idea what they're like
posted by cosmicbandito at 12:05 PM on December 14, 2007

If you jump on eBay, you can find HDD divx recorders; the 250GB versions will record at low quality for about 11 days and my guess is that they'll use only a few tens of watts, likewise for the camera. A decent UPS (48V one like a big rackmount SmartUPS) that supports external batteries should power that and a camera for a week if you gave it a few car batteries to run from; add solar power and it will go forever though you'll need to regularly turn up to empty the disc.
posted by polyglot at 8:08 PM on December 14, 2007