Motorhome, boat, garden shed: keeping watch from afar
Keep an eye on places where you are not all the time: camera, sound alert and phone alarm system for campers, sailors and allotment gardeners.
The motorhome is on the pitch, the boat in the harbour, the shed in the allotment, and you are sitting at home wondering whether everything is all right. That is not paranoia but normal concern about things that cost money and heart. An old phone helps you sleep more calmly.
Option 1: Camera phone with alert
Set up a phone with VintageCam as a camera, powered by 12 V to USB, a solar panel or shore power. On sound or movement you get a message with a photo, with Complete also with a short video. You can listen in live and look at any time. A prerequisite is internet: Wi-Fi from the site or a SIM card in the phone. Without a connection, VintageCam reports after a short time that the camera can no longer be reached.
Option 2: Phone as an alarm system without a camera
Sometimes you do not want a camera, for example because guests occasionally sleep in the motorhome or sound and picture are not appropriate. For this case there is the role “Alarm system” in VintageCam Ultimate: the phone uses only the accelerometer, charging cable and GPS, no camera and no microphone. If the vehicle is moved, jacked up or broken into, the siren sounds and you get a message including the position. If the motorhome is stolen, the map shows you where it is going.
Power and heat
The biggest problem in a vehicle is heat. A phone behind the windscreen in the sun gets hot, the battery suffers and some phones switch off. Put it in a shady spot, never in direct sunlight, and make sure there is ventilation (Round-the-clock use, battery and heat). In winter cold is the enemy; lithium batteries deliver less power in frost. A phone with constant power from shore supply copes with this well.
GPS and track
Outdoors positioning works very well. The map shows track and markers, and you can save the route as a GPX file or open it in Google Maps, helpful for showing it to the police or retracing your trips (Exporting the GPS track).
What is allowed
On your own vehicle or in your own shed this is generally unproblematic. But: on campsites, in harbours or in allotments there are neighbours you may not film. Point the camera only at your own property, never at the neighbouring pitch or public paths (Video surveillance at home).
