Viewing your cameras on a smart phone

[Sequoia]

fyi I finally figured out how to view my car wash cameras on my smartphone- seeing real time/live video. Well, at least mostly so as the video is a little laggy.

I was previously using a video server in addition to the DVR. The video server was constantly refreshing a still image and updating that image to a web page that I could view, but this new method bypasses that.

I'm using Xtralogic remote desktop client ($25) on my Andriod phone. It allows me to remotely connect to my desktop PC (like pcAnywhere or GoToMyPC.) Once I have connected the phone to the PC desktop I can run any software on that PC-- including the DVR camera software.

If you want to do this, beware that you need a Windows PC that support RDC. Most home versions don't-- you need professoinal or ultimate versions of Windows. In my case, I had a PC running Media Center version of XP and it works fine. I think that is the lowest end OS that is supported.

Last precaution-- don't believe the instructions that you can choose any port number that you want for the connection. I tried using port 8002 (my video server is set to 8001) and it flat out would not connect. Once I changed to their "default" port (think it was 3389) everything worked fine.

I don't like having to leave a PC on just to accomplish this, but it certainly gives me the option now wheras I simply couldn't do it before.

 

[bigleo48]

The problem with exporting a screen vs using video remote software (like my Geovision remoteview for my iphone), is that it requires more bandwidth... hence the lag.

You can do the same for free with a VNC server running on the PVR and client for your mobile flavor.

Big

 

[Bubbles Galore]

On my Android phone I use the app called IP Camviewer. It works flawlessly, they have a lite version you can check out.

 

[txheat]

On my Android phone I use the app called IP Camviewer. It works flawlessly, they have a lite version you can check out.

Does that apply for any DVR?
What security system u guys using? Right now im using the one i got from this forum "rugged". It allow u to browse from webbrowser on the android . The only browser that is compatible is opera mini, all the rest comes up page errors. i have a Samsung Epic.

 

[Sequoia]

Software

I looked at, and tried, several "viewer" programs for Droid but didn't have any luck with them. Maybe for other DVR systems they work great.

I have two entirely different DVR models, monitoring two separate locations, each of which I want to be able to view on my phone. The remote desktop works great for both. I found if I cut down to watch one camera at a time instead of using split-screen it refreshes much faster.

I've used VNC on PC's many years ago but heard it doesn't work real slick on Droid. But, I've never tried it.

 

[bigleo48]

I've used VNC on PC's many years ago but heard it doesn't work real slick on Droid. But, I've never tried it.

If you have good amount of bandwidth it does...but same problem as original post...you don't want to export a screen, you want to stream the video if you can. But if you can't, its an alternative.

Big

 

[mjwalsh]

A better alarm capability with the Droid X & Remote Desktop!?

I was previously using a video server in addition to the DVR. The video server was constantly refreshing a still image and updating that image to a web page that I could view, but this new method bypasses that.

I'm using Xtralogic remote desktop client ($25) on my Andriod phone. It allows me to remotely connect to my desktop PC (like pcAnywhere or GoToMyPC.) Once I have connected the phone to the PC desktop I can run any software on that PC-- including the DVR camera software.

Sequoia from the land of the 2,000 plus year old majestic trees,

I have been using the Xtralogic Pro on my new Droid X for about 2 1/2 months now. The key is --- in my view ---- is whatever evolves on the local 24/7 computer is available & with surprisingly good quality. To go from the 16 camera screen to a specific camera is within 2 seconds on the 3G Verizon Network so I can imagine that it will be even better with the future 4G planned for certain parts of the country or world etc. The status of a variety of mission critical sensors can also be seen remotely by this method if the sensors are tied into an interactive event driven form that is on the base computer. I did do a soft reset & a quick audit on one of our Standard Changers the other day remotely through the Droid X.

It would be helpful to have the ability to auto disconnect & reconnect without any intervention to make it more fail safe --- alarm wise ---- since the alarm sound can also come through to that particular RDC. Any experience with alarm dialers that can dial in an extra stealthy way? If the wire is cut the same DSL line that is for the working landline phone & the base computer would be affected ---- so by that logic --- if the Droid X app could alarm if connection was lost --- it would be one of the better alarm & most fail safe alarm systems an operator could have!

I guess what I am trying to say is it would be nice to have the 2 devices supervised in such a way that if connection was lost --- the Droid X would --- first follow its 2 second reconnect script & if that was not successful ---the needed alarm would turn so we could feel or hear it from the Droid X --- I am hoping someone more technical than myself will come up with that little snippet of Android 2.2 code that would be necessary. I & others would be willing to pay for that ---- sooooo --- Sequoia by doing this --- you would have this for yourself & you could then have the ability to share & still hopefully keep from losing your shirt! Let me know if you think it might be within your range of ability!

MJ

 

[Sequoia]

Andriod

I don't think I'll be writing any droid code in the future, but I think what you describe can be done.

Maybe 4 years ago, I installed a small web server at my SS. Not running on a PC as most would think, but simply a small circuit board with a Cat 5 connector that acts as a web server and has inputs and outputs. Much like a PLC. It was from Phaedrus LTD (in England) and as I recall it cost about $90.

This little server does a lot for me. It tracks all activity due to money, and serves up a (secure) web page showing me how much usage each bay has had, how much money is in each box and the total $$$ on the property. It also sends me a text message once per day at 5pm with that data. Since I live 90 miles from my wash, this lets me manage my trips there more efficiently. Originally, I thought about marketing this to other SS owners, but I do think I'd go broke trying to do that!

And, there are existing dialers that use a cell phone for a backup as an alarm system. Many alarm systems have the same weakness (tethered land line that can be cut) so cell phone backup is an option. Hmmm, with the new capabilities of the Droid I may have to look into that.

Someday, I'll have the dumpster as the wallpaper on my phone, constantly showing video of what is happening. When a dumper shows up, I'll be able to press a button on the phone and have flashbulbs start popping off all over the place.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Sequoia - with a potential promotion at my dayjob, it appears as though I will be traveling alot more. Can you explain better how your system monitors cash both in the bays and at the changers. I am very interested in the daily reports....I will need to keep my attendants honest and this seems like the most feasible way.

 

[Sequoia]

Auditing

My solution probably won't help you as I get a "pretty good" idea of how much money is at the wash, but not an exact accounting. I originally expected an exact accounting, but ran into some difficulty and found the other approach instead.

The web server I use has numerous inputs, and it has an internal counter to be able to know how many times, by channel, it has received an input. I installed an inexpensive relay on each item I wanted to monitor, such as each of the bay pumps. When the pump turns on, it closes the relay, and feeds voltage to the designated input on my web server. So doing that increments the count (for that bay) upward by 1 increment. I know from experience how much the average wash value is, so for each "click" I multiply times my average wash value to get the money count. Add all the bays together, do the same for the vacs, and I know pretty close how much money is on the property. But it's not exact, which is what you need.

I originally set the system up to record "clicks" of pulses from the coin acceptors, but this wasn't reliable and it was dropping clicks. Rather than troubleshoot that, I just settled for an average value that has stayed pretty close over time.

I had other plans to have the relays brighten the nighttime lites when a bay turned on, but never got around to that.

The web server I used requires some programming knowledge, but it's not bad. I bought a HTML for Dummies book and figured out what I needed to know to serve up the web page and have it send me the text message. Since I installed it, I've seen a LOT more PLC's show up that would be much easier to implement and configure.

Finally, I investigated connecting my changers as well, and that got a little mysterious. It seems to me that you could tap the hopper control voltage to identify when a coin or token is dispensed, but as I recall there was some obstacle to doing that. What would be very easy to do is to connect the "out of service" light to an input so you would always know when a changer went out of service. But, my changers are almost never down (should not have said that!) plus I have 3 changers for a 3 bay SS so if one is down it isn't a big deal.

I'd do a current search on web-enabled PLC units and if you don't mind tinkering a bit I think you could get some good cash monitoring in place.