Surveillance Camera RaspberryPi 5 and Dual camera

Surveillance Camera RaspberryPi 5 and Dual camera

Hardware

Raspberry PI 5
2x Raspberry PI Camera V3
2x Raspberry PI Camera Cable for Zero
Solar Panel (25Watt, 12V (nominal), 17.8V Max
Solar Charge Controller (10Amp) (12/24V)
Two LED lights (IR 8W +Visible 18W)
2x MOSFET switches
1x AHT21 Temp/Humidity sensor
1x USB-C cable (RPI 5 power)
Transparent dome
2x Outdoor project box
Cable connectors
12V 19AH battery

Software

Raspberry PI OS lite - Bookworm

Configuration

Lower default console resolution [1]

Edit file “/boot/firmware/cmdline.txt”. Add the following before “rootwait”:
video=HDMI-A-1:1024×768@30

You can try other resolutions, not all of them work

Reboot

Configure WIFI

Run “sudo raspi-config”
“1 system options”→“S1 Wireless LAN”
Follow instructions

Update apt

sudo apt update

Upgrade your packages

sudo apt full-upgrade

Reboot “sudo reboot”

Adjust your system with raspi-config

Configure 1→S9→persistent (storage location persistent)
Configure 3→I1→yes (enable ssh)
Configure 4→P4→disableusbcurrent_limit
Configure 5 (locale, language and keyboard)

Find your mac address

ip add

Write down the mac address and use it in your access point to set a fix ip for this RPI and be able to access it with ssh with a name

Access your pi with ssh

ssh campi5

(or use the ip number that “ip add” shows for wifi)

journal to permanent storage

Edit /etc/systemd/journald.conf and change the following:
Storage=persistent Compress=no SystemMaxUse=300M MaxFileSec=1month
Restart journald:
sudo systemctl restart systemd-journald.service

Hardware Watchdog

Edit /etc/systemd/system.conf and change the following:
RuntimeWatchdogSec=15s RebootWatchdogSec=10min
Reload systemd config file:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Test watchdog with a fork bomb. Create a file called /tmp/test.sh with:
#!/bin/bash :(){ :|:& };:
Run it:
sudo bash /tmp/test.sh
After some seconds it should produce a reboot

Connect your first camera to first camera port

Turn off and disconnect the power supply to your PI
Connect the flat cable the the camera and PI
Restart the PI

Test camera

Run the command:
rpicam-still
It should show a capture from the camera

Install common tools

sudo apt install emacs mc

Install motionplus

Install dependencies
sudo apt install autoconf automake autopoint build-essential pkgconf libtool libzip-dev libjpeg-dev git libavformat-dev libavcodec-dev libavutil-dev libswscale-dev libavdevice-dev libopencv-dev libwebp-dev gettext libmicrohttpd-dev libmariadb-dev libcamera-dev libcamera-tools libcamera-v4l2 libasound2-dev libpulse-dev libfftw3-dev libpq-dev libsqlite3-dev debhelper dh-autoreconf mkdir ~/tmp cd ~/tmp wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Motion-Project/motion-packaging/master/buildplus.sh chmod +x buildplus.sh ./buildplus.sh memeruiz memeruiz@gmail.com
It takes a while to compile
Install the motionplus package
sudo dpkg -i bookwormmotionplus0.2.0-git-20250201-2c7c209-1_arm64.deb
Add motion user to memeruiz group (so motion can access your home directory)
sudo adduser motion memeruiz
Add etc configuration files
sudo mkdir /etc/motionplus sudo cp /var/lib/motionplus/motionplus-dist.conf /etc/motionplus/motionplus.conf sudo cp /var/lib/motionplus/camera1-dist.conf /etc/motionplus/camera1.conf sudo cp /var/lib/motionplus/camera2-dist.conf /etc/motionplus/camera2.conf
Edit /etc/motionplus/motionplus.conf with the following:
Create movie directory and give permissions:
mkdir ~/movies sudo chmod g+x /home/memeruiz sudo chmod g+rwx /home/memeruiz/movies

Connect to Internet with SORACOM 4G and Kölbi [2][3][4]

Install the debian dependencies/tools:
sudo apt-get install udhcpc
Install kölbi sim card on SORACOM modem
Connect SORACOM USB modem on a USB3 ports
Wait until it completely boots (several minutes)
Download the setup_eg25.sh script from soracom:
curl -O https://soracom-files.s3.amazonaws.com/connect/setup_eg25.sh
Edit this script and change the DEFAULTAPN to “kolbi3g” and change DEFAULTUSERNAME and DEFAULT_PASSWORD to “no”
Run the script:
chmod +x setupeg25.sh sudo ./setupeg25.sh
It should connect to Internet. Check with “ip add”

Disable WIFI default gw [5]

sudo nmcli connection modify VIRAZU1 ipv4.never-default yes

Using two cameras with motionplus

Motionplus doesn't support two raspberry pi cameras with one single process. Also, motionplus doesn't support two cameras using libcam. libcamerify has to be used for each motionplus process.

Two new systemd unit process files must be created

Disable original motionplus systemd process:
sudo systemctl stop motionplus.service sudo systemctl disable motionplus.service
Create two new motionplus systemd unit files:
sudo cp /lib/systemd/system/motionplus.service /etc/systemd/system/motionplus0.service sudo cp /lib/systemd/system/motionplus.service /etc/systemd/system/motionplus1.service
In each file replace the “ExecStart=/usr/bin/motionplus”.
- For motionplus0.service:
ExecStart=/usr/bin/libcamerify /usr/bin/motionplus -c /etc/motionplus/motionplus0.conf
- For motionplus1.service:
ExecStart=/usr/bin/libcamerify /usr/bin/motionplus -c /etc/motionplus/motionplus1.conf
Copy /etc/motionplus/motionplus.conf to motionplus0.conf and motionplus1.conf
In each conf file activate a different camera file
In each camera file use:
v4l2_device /dev/video0

or:

v4l2_device /dev/video8

according to the output from rpicam-hello –list-cameras output

Start and enable both systemd unit files

i2c for aht10 and aht20

raspi-config→3 Interface options→I4 I2C→Enable Yes
Power off
Connect your I2C device to pins: GPIO2 (I2C1 SDA) and GPIO3 (I2C1 SCL). Use 3.3V power supply for your device. Pull-ups are integrated on the RPI.
Reboot and test:
i2cdetect -y 1

It should show 0x38 or 0x39 depending on the aht10 configuration (0x38 or 0x39) or aht20 (0x38)

Use the integraded USART interface

raspi-config→3 Interface options→I6 Serial Port→Login Shell on serial→No
Serial port hardware enable→Yes
Reboot
File “/dev/ttyAMA0” Should now exist
Connect your USART interface to pins GPIO14 (TXD) and GPIO15 (RXD)

Python code for reading temperature, humidity and solar battery state from AHT10, AHT20 and Renogy WND10

mount your pi home directory remotely with sshfs (in your host):
sshfs campi5:/home/memeruiz ~/mnt/pi
get the code (in your host):
mkdir -p ~/mnt/pi/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/ cd ~/mnt/pi/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/ git clone git@www.memelabs.net:pi-security-camera-utils cd pi-security-camera-utils git submodule init git submodule update
Install dependencies (in the RPI5):
sudo apt-get install python3-pip python3-smbus pip3 install renogymodbus –break-system-packages
Connect your USART interface to pins GPIO14 (TXD) and GPIO15 (RXD) and to the renogy solar charger
Connect your I2C AHT10 sensor to pins: GPIO2 (I2C1 SDA) and GPIO3 (I2C1 SCL). Use 3.3V power supply for your device. Pull-ups are integrated on the RPI.
You can also connect your I2C AHT20 sensor to the same I2C1 pins in parallel. In this case Edit file pythonutils/i2csensors_all.py and at the end of the file uncomment the line:
battery_aht20()
To test communication (RPI5):
cd pythonutils ./i2csensors_all.py
It should show something like this:
CT:25.8C|H:55.4% || SP: 0.0V|SP: 0.0A|B:12.7V|B:76.0%|LC: 0.1A|LP: 1.0W|Temp:28.0C

flask web server for remote survaillance

Install flask (RPI5)
sudo apt-get install python3-flask sudo cp ~/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/pi-security-camera-utils/systemd/motionpluswrapper.service /etc/systemd/system/ sudo systemctl start motionpluswrapper.service sudo systemctl enable motionplus_wrapper.service
Disable buggus autofocus
Edit file: /usr/share/libcamera/ipa/rpi/pisp/imx708.json and remove the complete “rpi.af” section

Configure the wireguard VPN

Install wireguard:
sudo apt-get install wireguard
Copy client configuration over:
sudo mkdir /etc/wireguard sudo cp ~/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/pi-security-camera-utils/wireguard/pi/wg0.conf /etc/wireguard/
- Start and enable wireguard systemd service:
sudo systemctl start wg-quick@wg0 sudo systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0
This methods doesn't work for sharing with other wireguard clients

Configure the openvpn VPN

Install openvpn
sudo apt-get install openvpn
copy config file and certificates:
cd ~/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/pi-security-camera-utils sudo cp -r openvpn /etc/
Start and enable openvpn client service:
sudo systemctl start openvpn-client@camrem0 sudo systemctl enable openvpn-client@camrem0
In the openvpn server config file be sure to comment out all “push and route” lines. Specially “redirect-gateway”. Be sure that this config file includes the line “client-to-client”

Configure motion Telegram notification

Edit both files “/etc/motionplus/motionplus0.conf” and “/etc/motionplus/motionplus1.conf” and uncomment the following line:

onmoviestart /home/memeruiz/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/pi-security-camera-utils/motionpush/motionpush.sh

Messages should now be arriving to Telegram!

Configure motion video file upload

Install dependencies
sudo apt-get install cadaver lsof
Copy cadaver config file to home
sudo cp /home/memeruiz/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/pi-security-camera-utils/cadaver/.netrc /home/memeruiz/
Copy nextcloud systemd service file:
sudo cp /home/memeruiz/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/pi-security-camera-utils/systemd/nextcloudpushd.service /etc/systemd/system/ sudo systemctl start nextcloudpushd.service sudo systemctl enable nextcloudpushd.service

Configure network watchdog

Copy the ping watchdog systemd service
sudo cp /home/memeruiz/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/pi-security-camera-utils/systemd/ping_watchdog.service /etc/systemd/system/
Start and enable the service:
sudo systemctl start pingwatchdog.service sudo systemctl enable pingwatchdog.service

Using GPIOs for IR lights, normal lights and Alarm/beeper

copy the systemd unit file for gpio initialization:
sudo cp /home/memeruiz/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/pi-security-camera-utils/scripts/systemd/lights_init.service /etc/systemd/system/
Activate and enable the service
sudo systemctl start lightsinit.service sudo systemctl enable lightsinit.service
- copy the systemd unit file for infrared night light service:
sudo cp /home/memeruiz/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/pi-security-camera-utils/scripts/systemd/ir_light.service /etc/systemd/system/
Activate and enable the service
sudo systemctl start irlight.service sudo systemctl enable irlight.service
copy the systemd unit file for alarm/beeper service:
sudo cp /home/memeruiz/local/src/repos/www.memelabs.net/pi-security-camera-utils/scripts/systemd/alarm.service /etc/systemd/system/
Activate and enable the service
sudo systemctl start alarm.service sudo systemctl enable alarm.service

Sending and receiving SMSs

polkit only allows to list and read smss for users. To send or delete SMSs create and edit file: /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/50-mmcli-send-sms.rules with the following contents:
polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) { if (action.id == “org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.Messaging” && subject.isInGroup(“memeruiz”) ) { return polkit.Result.YES; } });
- Restart polkit:
sudo systemctl restart polkit.service
To list modems:
mmcli -L
To list SMSs on modem:
mmcli -m 0 –messaging-list-sms
To show an SMS:
mmcli -s 0
To create and send an SMS:
mmcli -m 0 –messaging-create-sms=“text='hellow world',number='+50683096020'” mmcli -s 3 –send
To delete an SMS:
mmcli -m 0 –messaging-delete-sms=0
Shrink raspberry pi SD images