Hey y'all, Tyler here from POE Texas! We get a lot of questions about how to transmit data long distances without having to pay to pull UTP cable. Let's say you have a guest house you want to put Wifi in or you want to put a camera in your barn, but you don't want to pay electricians to come trench out your yard.

Here I’m going to show you how to set up an IP camera using a the Ubiquiti Nanostation as a wifi bridge over a kilometer from the data source for less than $150 (the price of a data drop in most cities, excluding the camera). Think I’m kidding? Check this out.

*Keep in mind this would work equally well with a Wifi Access Point or another bridge.

Step 1: Items You Will Need!

--------

Here’s what you'll need:

1 x WT-GPOE-2B-WM, Modem and switch with data with a 24 volt power supply (we picked 24 volts at 30 watts for the Ubiquiti Nanostations)

1 x 10/100/1000 switch, in this case we’re using the WS-GPOES-8-7

2 x Ubiquiti Nanostation M2's

1 x POE camera(I will be using the Amcrest IPM-743S)

Here is a quick list of miscellaneous items you don't want to forget: - Patch cables - Screws - Zip Ties - Sharpie

1 x WS-POE-48v10w which will step up the 24v power to 48v in order to power our camera which is the IEEE 802.3af standard (what most people call PoE)

1 x WS-POE-48v10w which will step up the 24v power to 48v in order to power our camera 1x WS-POE-I

Optional: a weatherproof enclosure

Optional: mounting post for Ubiquiti Nanostations

Step 2: Introduction to WT-GPOE-2B-WM

--------

First let’s introduce our the WT-GPOE-2B-WM since it’s the newest piece to the kit. It’s a 2 port wall mounted POE injector that connects and powers any two POE devices together.

The main use case we designed for is to directly connect a POE device like a camera and a PoE directional WIFI access point like the Nanostation without the need for a switch. Check it out here: WT-GPOE-2B-WM

Step 3: Introduction to the Ubiquiti Radio (Using the Nanostation Loco M2)

Before we set it up, let's get familiar with the Nanostation Loco M2 by Ubiquiti. Simply put it's directional WIFI radio that can transmit internet data more than a kilometer with clear line of site. Here are all the tech specs on the NanoStations.

When you point two of them at each other they create a secure Wifi bridge you can use to transmit data without wires. Then, on the other end, we’ll connect a Nanostation to a standard POE camera.

Sidebar: To avoid network confusion, you should turn off the wifi to your computer at this point. If nothing else, it gives you an hour or so when you can tell you’re boss you can’t take emails.

First, the Ubiquiti Nanostations need static IP addresses - one each. Either you can ask your network administrator for one, or, if you’re a SOHO like me, I pulled out the instruction manual on my switch. Rather than me try to explain all of this, I'll let the guys at How to Geek show you how to set a static IP address.

Once you know what you’re going to set the IP address to, we can create a Local Area Network (LAN) by connecting and power up the Nanostation to a computer. You can do that by either using the WS-POE-I (mini injector) connected to a 24 volt power supply and plugging it directly into the ethernet port on your computer or by connecting it to a WS-GPOES-8-7 PoE switch with a 24 volt power supply not connected to a larger network. Then, you’ll follow these steps on page 2 to configure your computer to talk to the radio.

In short you type in “192.168.1.20” into a browser window. You may get the “DON’T GO THERE” warning from Google Chrome, but it’s all good. Now that we’re talking to the radios we can now start to configure the Nanostation radios.

Step 5: Configuring the Nanostation Receiving Radio's

Big Lesson Learned: This is when you really want to write down and label your radio with the IP address you give it so you can come back to it later. If you’re like me, you’ll have forgotten it by the next cup of coffee.

Quick Reference of Settings IP Address Radio Name 2nd Radio Name Camera IP Address User Name Password Settings You Must Change Wireless Mode for 1st Nanostation Access Point WDS Enabled airMAX Enabled Wireless Mode for 2nd Nanostation Station At the risk of repetition this is something I’d write down in a text file and store away for future use. You never know when lightning will strike and you have to redo these settings.

I changed my first Nanostation’s IP to 192.168.1.95 (for you friendly hackers out there this was a test set up so, no, it's not still there). Here are some screenshots showing step by step how to program the Nanostation to get it to work like a WIFI access point.

WARNING: These screenshots are pretty in depth, but I promise if you take each one step at a time, it will work! Once you set up the first one, the second one will be identical for the first few steps, so it should be no problem!

The default username and password for these are ubnt/ubnt. Don't leave them that way!

Make sure to select your proper country and agree to the Terms of Use.

Password Change: Now that we are logged in, we will have to change the password for security purposes. Click the System option once logged in.

Now change the password below.

Once you do that, hit the change button circled blow. Then the “apply” option that appears at the top.

Configuring the Access Point: This is where we make the first Nanostation into an Access Point that we will have plugged into our switch on our network. Just copy the settings on the photo below.

Enable Air Max: Make sure the box in the photo is checked!

Change the Radio’s IP to avoid conflicting addresses:

Since both radios will start with the same IP address, we will need to do the bench set up and change the IP address of them both in order to avoid conflict! Follow this screenshot in order to change. Then hit Change and Apply.

Sidebar: When changing the IP address, be sure to change it to the domain of your network. For example, if my Gateway IP is 10.1.0.1, We could change it to 10.1.0.XX (Where XX is a two digit number)

Step 6: Setting Up and Pairing Transmitting Nanostation Radio

(This one goes with the camera)

Now that we have the first Nanostation setup and programmed, we can set up our second Nanostation that we will use as the transmitter that will be connected to the POE camera and be setup anywhere as long as it has line of sight of the access point we set up! The set up is exactly the same as the first one except we'll make this one Wireless Mode Station.

Here are the screenshots on how to set this one up.

Next, disconnect it from your computer and set them both up on the network you'll be using. This is where we pair the two together so they only talk to themselves. Access the transmitting Nanostation by navigating to it through a browser window (yeah, it's time to turn the wifi back on or reconnect to the network).

Double check these settings:

Then make sure on the SSID you select the Nanostation you set up as the access point. Then select Lock to AP. Now they're paired!

You can confirm they are paired with each other and have good line of sight by checking the signal meter on the back of the radio. If all LED’s are lit and show a good signal, they have paired successfully!

Step 7: Setting Up a POE Camera

Sidebar: Our WS-POE-48v10w is a great tool to bring up 24v to 48v without having to purchase a whole new injector and power supply. That way you can have one 48v device on a 24v injector.

Now that the radio’s are set up, we can start to set up the POE camera we have. Our POE camera will be the Amcrest IP-743S (we happened to have one on the test stand) which we have set up to transmit to our cell phones to monitor the video feed. Below is the link to step by step instructions on how to set this camera up.

Visit https://www.google.com and type in your camera model and then Quickstart Guide. For example, I would type Amcrest IP-743S Quickstart Guide. It will be a PDF and you can follow the quick and easy instructions the company has provided in the guide.

A quick note: We get a lot of question about how to power a 12 volt POE camera. You can check our video about 12 volt / PoE cameras.

There are so many IP cameras out there, we couldn't possibly show them all to you. Sorry, you'll have to read that about your own camera.

In order to test your camera’s connectivity, you can use the software that your manufacturer recommends. Once it’s installed, you will be able to add it with the steps they provide. Once connected, it’ll show the camera’s video feed and you will be online!

Step 8: Taking Our Setup Out to the Real World!

Now that our camera and radio’s are on our network, it’s time to set them up in our desired location.

The access point Nanostation will be connected to the network either through the WS-POE-I injector or the WS-GPOE-8-7 switch and can be set up wherever you’d like since they are weatherproof. We managed to transmit short distances from outside to inside.

For the outside assembly we just put it together in a $20 exterior rated enclosure.

Here's a picture how it all came together.

Plug in the power supply and connect to WT-GPOE-2B-WM

Connect patch cable from port labeled POE to the WS-POE-48v10w

Connect patch cable from port labeled Data+POE to radio

Connect RJ45 cable from other end of the WS-POE-48v10w to the 48v POE Camera.

You may ask how far can the camera be mounted from the directional wifi device. Ethernet cable will transmit the IP protocol 330 ft, so as long as you’re closer than that, you’re fine.

Now you are free to mount the radio anywhere you’d like. Since these are directional radios, you will have to make sure they have line of sight on each other in order to work! Here is website with a short demonstration of line of sight.

If you got a weather enclosure for protection, here is a photo I have taken of my setup which gives great protection for the products inside.

Conclusion: What Can You Do with This?

I hope you enjoy setting up this project like we did! If you have any questions, feel free to contact our expert customer support at service@poetexas.com.

In case we haven't convinced you yet to set this up, I’ll just leave some uses that we could think of for this project. If you have any ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments. We’d be happy to make a guide for them!

Do you need a remote camera to watch a back door?

Are you trying to catch that raccoon digging in your trash?

Do you need to see the other end of your property?

How about adding an Arduino lightning trigger with a still camera?(Results may vary!)

← Previous Post Next Post →