YI Home Camera Wireless Surveillance System Review

The YI Home Camera Wireless IP Security Surveillance System is a low priced home security camera that touts several high end features.  It’s inexpensive versus some of the most popular brands yet shares some of the same features.  At least on paper. I recently picked one up and was anxious to try it out.  Let’s see how it stacks up. Software You can access the Yi Home Camera with your Android or Apple iOS smartphone.  There is no web portal. The smartphone apps is very straightforward.  You can view multiple cameras from here as well as perform configuration changes and initial setup. Setup … Read more

Cooking Etouffee Made My Canary Air Quality Abnormal

The Canary All-in-One Home Security System has a few unique features not found in other home security cameras.  Especially in the way of environmental monitoring.  The Canary measures room temperature, humidity and air quality.  Temperate and humidity definitions are fairly clear cut.  Air quality not so much.  This article probes the meaning of an abnormal Canary air quality reading. So what does this have to with Etouffee? A Home Cooked Meal and Canary Air Quality This topic came up just last night at about 10:00.  My wife got an alert on her phone about abnormal air quality in the living room. … Read more

How to Effectively Cover a Home Security Camera

Seems simple enough.  You’re in a position where you want to block anyone from seeing the image on your home security camera.  Sure, you could pull the plug.  But that disables the camera from useful functions that you might still want to use such as temperature monitoring or sound alerts.  You simply want to cover a home security camera. As shown in the photo, you could simply drop a cloth over it.  Make sure the cloth is thick.  I do this a lot.  Have used a handkerchief which I found to be an ineffective way to cover a home security … Read more

Nest Cam Outdoor Versus Lorex LNC226X Wireless HD Network Camera

The Nest Cam Outdoor was recently introduced as Nest’s answer to outside security camera use.  Well, Lorex has been doing the outdoor thing for quite sometime and their LNC226X is a pretty good bullet style camera made for outdoor use.  So it’s time for our Nest Cam Outdoor versus Lorex LNC226X Wireless HD Indoor/Outdoor Network Camera comparison. We previously wrote detailed reviews on these cameras if you would like to read all about them first: Nest Cam Outdoor Review Lorex LNC226X Wireless HD Network Camera Review Let’s get on with our head to head analysis. Software This category is all about the smartphone … Read more

How to Attach a Siren to a Nest Cam or DropCam Camera

A siren on a home security camera is a nice feature to have.  It’s unexpected and useful for scaring an intruder.  They generally won’t take the time to figure out why it’s going off or where it is coming from.  The popular Nest Cam and DropCam do not have this feature integrated into the camera.  So today, we discuss how to attach a siren to a Nest Cam or DropCam camera. Ideally you want the automated and manual abilities for turning on the siren.  Manual provides the ability to turn it on or off whenever you like.  Automated results in the siren going … Read more

Implementing Battery Backup for a Home Security Camera

If the lights go out and nobody’s home, you can still use your home security camera.  I was always surprised that none of the mainstream home security camera manufacturers thought about this.  It’s a real concern when there’s a power outage.  You still want to be able to keep tabs or at least an archive of what’s going on when the power goes out.  That’s where a battery backup comes into play. Ideally, I want my home security camera to act like my home security alarm system.  When the power is out, my system alerts me and falls back to … Read more