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I have been following Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects closely for a while and I am pretty keen on giving one a go. I have no real electronics assembly experience but can program.

I have chosen the 'Wireless Security Camera with the Arduino Yun' project on Adafruit (https://learn.adafruit.com/wireless-security-camera-arduino-yun/introduction). However, I have a couple of things I need clarification on before I give this a go.

Firstly, the setup for the project described in the link is wired to a PC. I am aiming for a portable solution and from my research I could probably use an Eye-fi SD card and send pictures to Dropbox and send video streams to the internet (as described in the link). Is this a sensible method i.e. draws the least amount of power from the batteries compared to other wifi methods?

Secondly, with the setup in the link I am not sure what the power source is (I am probably missing something). Regardless, I would like to use a battery source and from my research it seems that 6 AA batteries will be the right way to go. The problem is that the webcam and the Eye-fi card plus all the other ports on the Arduino Yun will probably take a lot of power thus rendering the battery method useless in the longer term. Other than programmatically turning off all unnecessary ports on the board + the LED light (not sure if this is possible) what else can I do to decrease battery power draw down, keeping in mind that I would like live streaming and the ability to capture pictures in real-time?

Finally, is this a good project i.e. portable wireless motion-detection camera for Arduino or would this project be more suited to Raspberry Pi?

Any help and tips will be very appreciated. Thanks.

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1) Having it connected to a PC is not necessary, an eyefi SD card is a great idea but you already have wifi onboard, why would you need another one?

2) The power source is the computer. But again, you can battery power the board. I don't know where that 6AA batteries comes from but that's probably too much, the PC provides 5V through the micro usb, why would you need 9V? Depending on how much autonomy you need, how big the batteries can be and how much money you can spend an appropriate battery solution might (or might not) be found.

3) That just depends on what who's answering likes more, I've used the raspberry but maybe someone else likes arduino more.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you for the insight. On pt 2, if I wanted to create a very long term version (1yr+), what type of batteries/battery configuration would you suggest given that the battery pack would have to be around the size of 6 AA batteries or smaller and a small battery budget (<$50/yr)? \$\endgroup\$
    – Black
    Jul 15, 2014 at 8:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ You want the batteries to last a year or you can recharge them but whant to change them no more often than once a year? \$\endgroup\$
    – Vladimir Cravero
    Jul 15, 2014 at 8:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ I want to change them no more than a year. \$\endgroup\$
    – Black
    Jul 15, 2014 at 9:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ Well if you want live streaming 24/7, forget it. Your device draws something like 300mA, that's 7.2Ah a day, or 2.628kAh a year. At 5V that's a whopping 13kWh a year, there's no way you can find a battery like that, even with 10 times your budget. A mobile phone battery, a big one, is usually a little above 2200mAh, for comparison. \$\endgroup\$
    – Vladimir Cravero
    Jul 15, 2014 at 9:30
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    \$\begingroup\$ I have a raspberry with the camera module and a wifi dongle that with a nice switching regulator draws approximately 200mA @12V, that's about 2W. You totally read them incorrectly anyway... Try to rethink your requirements and when you have a clear idea of what you want to do open a new question (after searching for already answered q.) to seek help about the battery. \$\endgroup\$
    – Vladimir Cravero
    Jul 15, 2014 at 12:19

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