this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2025
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Hello selfhosters!

I have what is hopefully a simple ask. I am looking for some outdoor cameras for my sister, who is not at all tech savvy. I am, to an extent, and I'd like to get her set up with a small, remotely-manageable system to view and record the outside of her home. I'd wager there's a plethora of selfhost software that can be run on a number of systems (I'm thinking something cheap like a Raspberry Pi), to connect to an external HDD for camera storage.

I'm also looking for camera suggestions for this purpose. Wi-Fi cameras are ideal, since we don't have the means to run ethernet for PoE.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you all have a wonderful week :)

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[โ€“] Shady_Shiroe@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I will say, even WiFi cameras need power run to them, and I'm glad my days are over for running around on a ladder every week changing out the batteries for my mom. Running PoE makes life easier in the long run.

Even the camera that came with its own small solar panel sucked. Camera would drain battery faster then it would charge, shutdown when low, and slowly recharge back up, but you still need to climb up to turn it back on.

[โ€“] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 9 months ago

Wifi cameras don't run exclusively on battery. Most run on 5V from a USB wall wart.