Planning an off-grid UniFi camera deployment for a farm. Looking for feedback before I buy anything.

I’m in the design phase for an off-grid camera system on a family farm and would appreciate feedback before I start buying hardware.

Nothing has been purchased yet. I’m still evaluating the architecture, networking equipment, wireless bridges, cameras, and solar components.

Property Layout

• Internet connection is at the house.
• The house has line of sight to the Barn (closet to house) and Hill.
• The Barn has line of sight to the House and Hill.
• The Hill has line of sight to the House, Barn, and Valley.
• The Valley has line of sight to the Barn and Hill only.
• There is no utility power at the Barn, Hill, or Valley.

Current camera plan:

• Barn: 1 camera
• Hill: 2 cameras
• Valley: 1 camera

Everything will record to UniFi Protect.

House Equipment

Current thinking is:

• Cloud Gateway Max (2TB)
• Pro Max 16 PoE switch

Camera Options

Currently considering:

• G5 Bullet
• G5 Pro
• AI Bullet

The cameras will mainly be monitoring livestock and the property. Is there a clear winner for this type of deployment?

Wireless Backhaul

This is the area I’m least certain about.

Options I’m considering:

• airMAX NanoBeam 5AC Gen2
• UniFi Device Bridge Pro
• UniFi Building Bridge
• A hybrid approach

One architecture I’m considering is:

House

/     \

Barn      Hill

\       /

\     /

Valley

The House would have direct links to the Barn and Hill. The Valley would connect to whichever location provides the best RF path after testing.

I’m also open to completely different topologies if there’s a better approach.

Remote Switches

For the Barn, Hill, and Valley I’m considering:

• USW-Flex
• USW-Ultra
• Something else?

Since every remote location is solar powered, low idle power consumption is important.

Solar

Current thought is:

Barn

• 200W panel
• 100Ah LiFePO₄ battery

Hill

• 200W panel
• 100Ah LiFePO₄ battery

Valley

• 200W panel
• 100Ah LiFePO₄ battery

I’m not trying to engineer for 100% uptime through every possible weather event. If a remote site goes offline during an occasional extended winter storm, that’s acceptable.

Solar Charge Controller

I’m currently looking at:

• Victron SmartSolar MPPT
• Renogy
• Ubiquiti SolarPoint
• Any newer Ubiquiti solar solution I may have missed

I’d especially appreciate feedback from anyone running off-grid UniFi equipment.

Power Architecture

This has probably been the biggest rabbit hole.

I’ve looked at:

• Standard 802.3af/at PoE everywhere
• Passive PoE where required
• Native DC distribution
• DC-to-PoE converters

What’s the cleanest and most reliable way to power an off-grid UniFi deployment today?

Enclosures

Current thought is:

Barn

• Equipment mounted on a backboard inside the barn.

Hill & Valley

• NEMA 4X fiberglass enclosure mounted high enough that cattle can’t rub against it.
• Solar panel mounted above.
• Cameras and radios mounted above the enclosure.

Questions

1. If you were starting from scratch today, what gateway and switch would you choose at the house?
2. Which camera would you choose?
3. Which wireless bridge would you choose today?
4. Which switch would you use at the remote solar sites?
5. Which solar charge controller would you recommend?
6. How would you handle the DC/PoE power architecture?
7. Is there anything obvious I’m overlooking before I start buying equipment?

I’m trying to stay in the Ubiquiti ecosystem where it makes sense, but I’m not opposed to mixing in third-party hardware if it’s clearly the better solution. My goal is to build something reliable and maintainable that I only have to build once.

Thanks for any feedback!