I am trying to do a DIY dash-cam camera system for my car and I do have a Raspberry Pi 3B with a case, heat-sinks and cooler (I could upgrade to the pi 4 model if necessary)
While I'm pretty good at computers (programming, OSs, etc) I suck at electricity and have only basic theoretical knowledge.
I would like to have at least 3 cameras connected through USB:
1. front
2. back
3. interior
*or
maybe the 3rd facing down for the front seat and 4th for the back.
*or
maybe 3rd interior facing forward and the 4th backwards.
*or
have 1 single interior 360 camera.
I am aiming on purchasing the best video quality USB cameras while also taking note of the following aspects in this order:
1. Power Consumption - As the USB cameras will be powered through USB, a high power consuming USB camera will increase the temperature of the raspberry. 2nd reason for this is that I would like to have a complementary power source for my raspberry and would like to be able to record as much as possible off the car battery power. This is why for further reducing the power consumption, when used off the car battery, only interior cams should work. Was thinking into getting a power-bank with a capacitor (or any other decent setup like this one: https://thepihut.com/products/ups-pico). Also not really sure if I can power 4 USB cameras from the 4 USB ports available on my raspberry.
2. Image Quality [Resolution, fps and IR] - Of course I would like the highest resolution with the best FPS rate and have found this camera that have amazing specs for that: https://www.ebay.com/itm/5MP-CMOS-OV564 ... 2-1mm-Lens but besides being pretty bulky for my setup it doesn't convince me.
This one https://www.elecrow.com/micro-infrared- ... -1573.html is also an option but it only connects through 15PIN FFC and not USB so even if I can connect 1 camera I still have 2-3 more to go (or is it a way to split the 15PIN cable?). Another issue is that the 15pin cable is so fragile when compared to the USB cable.
This one for example https://www.seeedstudio.com/USB-Infrare ... -2140.html doesn't work for temperatures below zero degree Celsius and as I'm experiencing up to -15 degrees in winter, that's not an option either.
3. Size of the Camera (plus the infrared sensors and light) As I will get them somewhere into the car I need to be as small as possible and preferably as hidden as possible. This is why I would prefer a rectangle camera instead of the round ones.
4. Price - This is here just so you don't go crazy with suggesting some rocket-science-like cameras but I'm open to spending as much as necessary for any component for this setup (or at least it's nice to know what can be done with a higher investment so I can work from there down)
It's main functionality should be to record to the SD-card and rotate the recordings after a specific period of time or based on remaining available space but also should be able to connect to any predefined WiFi networks (or maybe install a 3G/5G modem module) and stream the video online to a ftp, cloud, etc and for this (but not only for this) I was thinking into using MotionEyeOs.
As a side-note, would be great if I can add 5th (or more) wireless IP camera to this setup (not really necessary but a nice add-on). This would mean that my WiFi internet connection will be gone or I could also add a 2nd WiFi card and use that.
Processing Power - I guess the real question here is in fact about the processing power. Will the raspberry 3 or 4 or any other be able to successfully run and process all this data (within decent parameters of temperature and power consumption)?
Should I go with lower image quality for the cameras or I can go wild?
What are the maximum camera specs that I could attach to my system in order to match high-quality commercial dash-cam products?
Not necessary but a nice add-on would be a display connected to this system so all the recordings should be visible - I know I'm pushing my luck here in terms of power and processing consumption if I add a display but it's worth trying - in fact I only need a web-based console where I should be able to check the ongoing recordings for testing and adjusting purposes.