It is now almost exactly 3 months since we installed the first camera pole in Kyalami AH Ext 1 and as promised, here is an update on how it has performed so far. You can read the initial article here.

Cameras are a great way of having eyes on an area without a person physically having to be there. They work day and night and provide alerts only when needed, making it much easier to provide overall security to an area at little overall monthly costs.
When we started off the camera project, the idea was to first install cameras on all of the entrance/exit points in the area and at a later stage, at intersections within the area. In order to do this, one needs a large amount of capital to outlay from the start that would mainly cover the costs of all the equipment.
Because KEROA does not have that capital available, we instead opted for a different approach whereby we wanted to raise the capital for one pole, get it up and running and evaluate the results.
The idea was to have each pole connected to the fiber infrastructure in the area (in our case it would be using the MetroFiber infrastructure) which would enable us to have fast and consistent internet access for the camera feeds to be monitored.
What we found however was that in the Kyalami AH Ext 1, there was no additional fiber infrastructure installed for cameras unlike all our surrounding area. This meant that we had to come up with an alternative solution to connect these poles to the internet, either by setting up a WIFI connection between the pole and the nearest resident or to install a 4G router with a SIM card in the pole.
With our partner, Sky High Africa CCTV and Surveillance Specialists, we opted for the 4G connected camera pole since it would be a good test to see how much data 3 cameras on a pole would use and how well such a setup would work. This also allowed us to not have to rely on other networks working correctly or, in the case of a power outage, loosing connection to the internet because the resident does not have backup power available.
Data Connection and Usage Results
Overall, over the 3 month period we have had a total uptime of around 95%. For the most part we have no issues at all connecting to the cameras however we did eventually lose connection completely. After changing the Telkom SIM with a Vodacom SIM card we were back up and running and we put the issue down to faulty SIM card. Since that was done we have had no further downtime.
We found that our pole with 3 cameras only uses about 3 gigabytes of data per month which was much less than what we initially expected. When the cameras are not being viewed (i.e. someone watching the live stream from the camera), hardly any data is being used since the cameras would only use a bit of data when it triggers an alert. Therefore, the 3 gigabytes mentioned above includes people viewing the live feeds on multiple occasions per week.
Through various service providers, one can purchase roughly 10 gigabytes of data for R99 per month. Therefore our monthly data cost is estimated to be R100. This is amount is currently sponsored by a KEROA committee member.
Power Supply
Our camera pole is completely solar powered and does not rely on any Eskom power. We experienced zero downtime since the system never ran out of battery power. In fact, the battery that we have in place can be reduced to a smaller one however we would prefer for it to remain a 50Ah battery in case we have prolonged cloudy weather.
Monitoring
The Hikvision cameras we implemented can be configured in various ways to trigger alerts. To make it easy for multiple people in the area to receive notifications on their phones without having to install the Hik-Connect app, we did the following:
- The cameras were set up to send all notifications to an FTP server as soon as they occur.
- We wrote a script that runs on the keroa.co.za website to automatically connect to the FTP server and take all the images found on the server and send them to a Telegram bot.
- We created a Telegram bot that would handle the task of receiving the images from the script and posting them to a Telegram group.
- A Telegram group was created and various people as well as the bot were added to the group. Once the bot receives an image, it immediately posts it to the group.
By creating this setup (which is common in the camera monitoring field) we avoided additional monitoring costs from 3rd party service providers who provide this service and we are able to instantly receive notifications directly on our phones in the Telegram app whenever any of the cameras trigger alerts. Members can then respond if necessary.
If in future we install more cameras in the area, all we need to do is set them up to also send the notifications to the same FTP server. There is no limit to the number of cameras we can add to the solution.
The automated monitoring setup via Telegram did not cost KEROA any money to set up. It would however be beneficial for KEROA to subscribe to an offsite monitoring company who can actively view the camera feeds when alerts are received at any time of the day and night.
Effects on Crime
In the first half of the year there were many crimes reported along Zinnia road between Cactus and Rose road. We believe that this was due to criminals entering the are along Rose and Maple road. Since we have put this camera pole up there we no crimes reported in this area.
While it is difficult to conclusively say that this reduction in crime in this specific area is due to the camera pole alone, one has to consider that the camera pole has had a positive effect and criminals are aware that when using this route that they are being monitored.
Conclusion
We are very pleased with the performance of the overall setup and we are actively improving it all them time (adjusting the settings on the cameras for better triggers, enhancing the automated monitoring process etc.).
The need for more camera poles in the area is growing and to do so funding is required. Ideally, if KEROA could receive monthly recurring payments from members and residents of the area, it will allow us to expand the network of cameras significantly over time. Alternatively, if there are people who would like to sponsor a camera pole for their nearest intersection it would most definitely be welcomed. A camera pole like this one costs roughly R36k. Please make contact with us by sending an email to security@keroa.co.za if you would like to find out more.