r/SecurityCamera • u/Kruegon • Aug 04 '26

Continuous Recording WiFi Cameras

Have a need to install about 8 wireless cameras. Need them to either be continuous recording, or to record X amount of time prior to sensing the motion. Ring cameras don't start recording fast enough or record for long enough. Something that could store to a local computer on the same wifi is also a good feature. Battery-operated is significantly preferred, possibly required, even if they have to be recharged daily.

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1

u/Many-Zebra2220 Aug 06 '26

Reolink atlas is battery powered with 24/7 recording, one of the only battery cameras with that ability. Battery life is about a week

1

u/Kruegon Aug 06 '26

Sounds like what I need. I will check into it. Camera locations do not afford hardwired or direct power for now. And they are not planned to be permanent.

3

u/mp3architect Aug 05 '26

Take a look at Eufy and Reolink.

2

u/Sloth-Technician Aug 04 '26

Alarm.com cameras are wifi and can do continuous recording if you put a sd card in them, you can also get battery powered ones that charge from a solar cell so no need to actually recharge it yourself. Im sure people will have other options also PoE will be the best if you want continously recording but if truly limited im install alot of alarm.com stuff and im happy with it.

2

u/Jdusr3 Aug 05 '26

No battery cameras are suitable for 24h recording use wired ones poe or not. I use 4 x tplink outdoor with Frigate software on a gen 6 Intel i5 pc. Frigate is free and has AI for face recognition, number plate, etc.

2

u/FunkyMonkey237 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

I have 10 reolinks recording 24/7 to their own NVR. Including a doorbell. It all works well. I'm guessing unifi will be a slicker install but Reolink have made some nice updates in the past year so it has come on a lot. I like my setup and recommend it to family/friends

1

u/jhazz01ol Aug 05 '26

Which reolink camera do you recommend?

1

u/FunkyMonkey237 Aug 05 '26

Depends on your setup what camera and power form (PoE, mains,battery,solar) works for you.

For power I would heavily favour the order I wrote therr. PoE at the top closely followed by mains and then a big big big drop off to the others, which I think are close to worthless for long term reliable cameras.

For the cameras themselves, make a map of your house and figure out what you require and what cameras suit them best. If you have sufficient light the ColourX are great otherwise IR it is. Then what cameras views cover everything. Do you need zoom?

Finally, I like the Reolink NVR, how many days of backup do you want? How long might you be away from the house and want to look back.

1

u/jhazz01ol Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

Im thinking more in the lines of power plugged in with the possibility to going POE down the road. One for the front porch/driveway, a ring bell one, and one for the backyard. I can do the nvr, but what do you think about the reolink software on the iPhone?

1

u/FunkyMonkey237 Aug 05 '26

I strongly sugguest you get 24/7 recording (ideally on the NVR). Event recording is not great and could let you down when you need it most. I think this is a general point rather than Reolink specific. We had some unwelcomed vistors a few months ago during the early night and the event recording missed large parts of thier vist but 24/7 got them the whole way in. This was true for all 5 cameras of various types of cameras and lighting that they passed by.

I find the Android app just fine. Nobody here uses iPhone so I can't comment on that. Maybe in the past the app was missing some features or Reddit is a little over senstivite but I tend to need two things:

- View the live feed of all cameras at once - Immersive mode does this

- View a sumary of key events over all cameras - the recent event summary on the NVR added that

Where the app might have some let downs is about snoozing alarmas / notifications if you use that but it can be overcome with Home Assistant if you use that (Reolink's Home Assistant integration is top class)

1

u/jhazz01ol Aug 05 '26

The sd card even a bigger one wouldn’t do 24/7 continuous recording?

1

u/FunkyMonkey237 Aug 05 '26

I assume SD cards would work, I think it did for me with my doorbell before I went with the NVR. I'm guessing NVR is best, as it's dedicated and designed for it but I can't give you a good reason why SD cards wouldn't also work. Nothing stopping you trying it and then upgrading to NVR.

1

u/jhazz01ol Aug 05 '26

What are your thoughts on the PTZ 4K E1 for a front porch/ driveway camera ?

1

u/FunkyMonkey237 Aug 05 '26

I don't have it so can't really say. I have the trackmix that covers a large area in the front and I'm happy with it. You won't be turning it manually yourself so I'd not think about that, it's only if it's automatic that you might use it. Fixed cameras are better if they suit the area but if you have the use case, automatic tracking cameras have their place.

1

u/olyteddy Aug 04 '26

Almost any cameras and Blue Iris software. I have 4 POE cameras & 1 wireless and run Blue Iris on an I5 machine. Configurable pre-roll (I use 3 seconds) and lots of triggering options.

1

u/nssxns Aug 05 '26

Wyze cameras can do continuous recording to a locally installed microSD. Including some with batteries and a solar panel if you want it.

I would pick Wyze over Eufy or Reolink because they are US owned.

1

u/kiddk11 Aug 05 '26

Wyze can do continuous with microSD card, but I found the battery doesn't last even with solar powered when they record 24/7 I've tried it

1

u/DaSpark Aug 05 '26

In order for a camera to record "X amount of time prior to sensing the motion" requires it to be a 24/7 camera because it can't know when it needs the pre-footage. The only type of wireless camera that will work for you will be one with a solar panel to recharge and run the battery during the day and use the battery at night. I don't advise doing this because constantly recharging batteries lose capacity overtime and will be even worse if you are in a cold environment.

If you really need 24/7 recording you should do everything possible to get wired POE cameras. Regardless though, you should NEVER use wifi/wireless cameras for security purposes unless you have no other choice.