Potential problems with webcam operation?

[Long Pine]

I am planning to buy and install a webcam and have read the advice in the other threads on setting up webcams. Thank you for the time that many of you put into that documentation (bearislander, lakegeezer, webmaster, and others). I am considering a Stardot camera, but before I make the investment just wanted to check on what problems I might expect with the ongoing operation of the camera.

I don't heat my lake home or visit it in the winter. I also live 500 miles away so dropping in to do some trouble-shooting on the webcam would not be practical. I have high-speed internet with Metrocast and have a Motorola cable modem. Any problems with cable modem operation in sub-freezing temperatures? How about power outages - does the webcam automatically resume operation after power is restored without any manual intervention? Any other issues I may encounter?

I would hate to spend a lot of money on a webcam only to have it be down for substantial periods of time because I can not get up here to fix it. Advice is welcome. Thanks for the help.

[feb]

I leave my cable modem and my cheaper linksys webcams in the freezing house over the winter and have not had any problems. From time to time though, after power outages, the webcam fails to boot up properly. To fix this, I also use X10 modules to control the power to these devices, This way I can simply call up on the telephone, power off the device, and then power it back on and reboot it cleanly. I also have a PC that I can dial in to to make configuration changes as needed, but you could set up your router to allow you right through from your primary home and do the same thing.

[Lakegeezer]

How about power outages - does the webcam automatically resume operation after power is restored without any manual intervention? Any other issues I may encounter?My Stardot camera reliability boots up after power failures. It is in an outdoor enclosure, so the camera has seen sub-zero temperatures - and very hot temperatures, but the internal temperature has not fallen below 40. I've had to return two due to failures, but the current one is working fine. I bought the originals used on Ebay, which may be the source of my problems. Stardot's product is a diskless linux operating system. You can telnet to it and reboot it manually if needed, but if you find yourself doing that, it may be going bad. The biggest problem I have had is caused when my ISP changes my Internet Protocol address. It takes me a while to find the new address and get direct access to the camera again - even though its FTP uploading of pictures to my ISP continues to work.

[Bear Islander]

I have not had any problem from cold weather. Most electronics love it cold and dry.

Every now and then the camera, router or modem will lock up and need to be power cycled. I put them all on a little power timer that will shut them off for an hour in the middle of the night. Now if they lock up it will be fixed that night.

If you don't have a static ip address you can set up a free dynamic DNS with dyndns.com the netcam and many linksys routers can be programmed for this. It's a little complicated to set up if you have never done one, but worth the trouble. With it you will be able to get back into the camera server for remote programming.

Metrocast charges a fortune for a static ip.