Back at the homestead, I enjoyed watching the feral cats, ducks, and chickens on the various cameras I had around the property. Plus I found comfort in being able to watch people coming to the front door.

I missed that in our coach, so I looked for new camera systems. The homestead cameras were IP-based, recording to on-camera SD cards (sometimes, with a high failure rate). This time, I still wanted the recordings to be kept locally, to avoid using valuable internet bandwidth, but wanted more modern technology. I found the Eufy brand of cameras, which fit the bill nicely. They are focused on privacy, with the recordings staying on a local device, though a centralized one instead of in each camera. But I can view the cameras, live or recordings, from anywhere. They are also battery-powered (with built-in rechargeable batteries), so I didn’t need to worry about plugging them in.

The Eufy camera comes in various bundle options, but I got a set with two cameras plus the base unit to start. I can add more cameras in the future if I think of use cases.

I mounted one Eufy camera on the outside of the coach, by the entry door. It’s attached with a Command strip that can be pulled apart and pushed together, so I can remove the camera when traveling. (It would probably stay put, but I wouldn’t want to risk losing it):

Here’s the camera in context:

I mounted the second camera inside, watching the living room, so I can keep an eye on our cat Paladin while were away from the coach. It is also mounted with Command strips; we like to avoid screwing things into walls if possible:

Context for it:

The cameras wirelessly connect to this base unit to save and share the recordings:

It is in turn connected via Ethernet to our Pepwave cellular modem (which is looking dusty; soon we hope to have it installed in a better place, and connected to a roof antenna for better signal):

Here’s a view from the outside cam, during a brief spot of rain:

And a view from the inside cam (you can see me and Jenn sitting in the living area):

The Eufy app is quite nice. Here’s the main screen, showing the devices:

The Events page, showing recorded events for the specified day:

Showing one recording, with a sketchy-looking guy at the door. It recognizes humans, and also captures a thumbnail of the face:

The Security page has modes for the system; I have it set to use geofencing, so it automatically switches to Away mode (where the living room camera is enabled) when I leave the vicinity, and back to Home mode (where the living room camera is disabled) when I return:

(Of course, I’ll need to reset the geofence each time we move the coach, but that is easy enough.)