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From SBCs and mini-PCs to PCs and NAS, I have some spare gadgets that ended up gathering dust after I upgraded to their newer variants. However, I recently picked up the hobby of repurposing old hardware into useful components for my projects, be it running powerful VMs on outdated PCs or reusing decade-old laptops as smart home hubs.
This week, I wanted to turn my attention to smartphones, most notably an old Dimensity-powered phone I abandoned after getting a taste of Snapdragon’s high-speed mobile processors. Since the phone is fully functional, I wanted to see if I could use it with my self-hosted application stack. After a couple of internal debates, a DIY dashcam seemed like the best course of action, as I could use the SIM card to send the footage to my NAS in case the phone (and car) get stolen or end up in a crash.
If that sounds interesting, here’s a quick overview of the procedure I used to resurrect my old phone as a Frigate-powered dashcam.
Make TrueNAS Scale even better with these amazing utilities
Setting up RTSP streams for my phone’s camera
IP Webcam makes this process a cinch
One of the biggest risks of an old phone is the reduced lifespan of its battery. That’s because I’ll end up plugging it into my car all the time, which could further swell up the already deteriorated battery and eventually turn it into a fire hazard. Luckily, I tried a couple of battery-checking apps, and each one confirmed that my phone barely had 10% battery wear.
With this safety precaution out of the way, I had to think of a way to hook my phone’s camera up to my NVR setup. An RTSP stream sounded like a great idea, so I started looking for applications that could send the camera feed of my makeshift dashcam back to the server resting in my basement.
Luckily, an IP Webcam makes it easy to build an RTSP streaming station. All I had to do was install the app, start the server, and note the RTSP address of my phone.
Deploying the ideal NVR utility
Frigate has me covered on that front
After wrapping everything up on the phone side, it was time to turn my attention to my home server. Over the last couple of months, I’ve tinkered with several Network Video Recorder apps, ranging from MotionEye to ZoneMinder. However, Frigate is my preferred self-hosted utility for this setup, as it packs a clean UI, is (relatively) simple to configure, and works well with practically every device in my setup.
I’ve already got a Frigate server up and running, but deploying it is fairly simple. For containerization lovers, you can simply paste the Compose code from the official Frigate website into a new docker-compose.yml file, modify the path parameters, and whip up a new container using the sudo docker compose up -d command.
If you’re using a TrueNAS Scale or Unraid NAS, you’ll find pre-built templates for Frigate within their respective app stores, and you can fill in your preferred directory settings to create a Frigate container.
Finally, if you’re on Proxmox, you can run the bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/community-scripts/ProxmoxVE/main/ct/frigate.sh)” command within the Shell tab of your PVE host, select Default options, and watch the script work its magic.
Linking the two via Tailscale
Or WireGuard, if you prefer self-hosted setups
By now, I was done configuring my Frigate NVR solution and the phone-based RTSP camera. Adding the RTSP server details to my Frigate instance’s configuration file was all that was left. However, there was a huge problem: both parts of the project were connected to my LAN, and my home network wouldn’t be available if I drove away from my home lab.
VPN services are great for this purpose. Tailscale is my preferred utility, as I can use it even on a CGNAT-afflicted network, but you can also go for Headscale or WireGuard if you want to build this project using locally-hosted services. Personally, I prefer a Tailscale setup, as setting it up is as simple as running the curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh command. Afterward, I entered sudo tailscale up to bring the VPN server online before logging into it with my credentials via the link generated within the terminal.
Tailscale is just as easy to deploy on smartphones, as I had to install the .apk file for the utility and link it with the same device I logged into earlier. Plus, IP Webcam automatically updates the IPv4 address of my smartphone with the one generated by Tailscale, further simplifying the process of connecting my RTSP camera stream with the Frigate NVR.
The software part of the process may be complete, but there are a couple of hardware modifications that can bring this project to the next level. Since I’ve got a 3D printer in my arsenal, I plan to create a car mount for my DIY dashcam. I’ll also need to buy a car charger, as the dashcam would probably run out of battery within a few hours of driving.
