Cheapest off-grid LTE timelapse rig

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi guys!

Did a few searches but couldn't find anything close enough. I want to build a solar-powered timelapse rig which sends pictures to a cloud storage via 4G/LTE. We plan to build a house and I want a static timelapse from start to finish but the rig can be stolen so I don't want to invest in Vosker V200 or similar.

I can handle the power (solar > battery > 5V) myself but don't have a clue about which components to select because of UART limitations and so on. And of course I'm no programmer but I'll ask a local guy to write the code, just want to make sure it is possible as an Arduino project. The rig doesn't have to have a UI or remote control ability, just program it once, turn it on and that's it -- it should take a photo every 5 minutes (for example) and send it to a cloud continuously for a period of a few months.

As I see it:

GPS (UART) for timestamp so the files would look like 2021-01-30_13-21-54.jpg

Micro/nano LTE SIM card module
like https://aliexpress.com/item/32284777313.html

ESP32-Cam or similar (1600x1200 max, AFAIK, but what if there are higher-res ones so I could make a decent 4K timelapse)

Files should be sent to one of the popular cloud services like Dropbox. Can Arduino Nano handle it? Or I need Mega for more UARTs? And what if you know of a similar project already implemented )

Thank you guys!

2

ESP32-Cam sounds like a good starter. Can't see what this has to do with an Arduino. :astonished:

3

Hi,
I agree with @Paul__B, esp32-Cam.
Also google randon nerd tutorials
They many tutorials and projects that may cover what you need.

Tom... :slight_smile:

4

I did this with a Pi and the camera made for it. Just make sure you have a nice big SD card.

5

I would think the cheapest approach would be to use an inexpensive Android smartphone. It solves the camera, storage, low power, LTE problems in a highly optimized package.

For what it's worth, I've done a fair amount of time lapse photography this way, though I've just logged to the SD card and recovered the data manually. It should be relatively easy to save files in the cloud.

I've also done time lapse using a USB camera and Raspberry Pi-like single board computer which probably is more suitable than Arduino class boards.

6

throttlenerd:
As I see it:

GPS (UART) for timestamp so the files would look like 2021-01-30_13-21-54.jpg

Why use a GPS for the Timestamp? Why not use a time server instead?

If you have access to the cloud to upload to, then you have access to a time server to read time.

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