Remote monitoring of printer

I am new to 3d printing but while reading some of the threads on forums one thing I find frustrating to many is leaving the printer only to find on return a pile of spaghetti or a melted blob of plastic or something similar.
I have noticed that the Reptier Host software offers an app for smart phones that push notifications to the phone. But reading some of the reviews shows a bit of dissatisfaction with the app.
Is there any other options available, perhaps Bluetooth apps for smart phones, or maybe a camera setup that can be monitored on a smart phone, like a video baby monitor.

Ive got an aiball trek wifi camera on an arm on my prusa i2.
Not the greatest of images but does the job and is relatively cheap.
I just use one of the 5v supplies from my atx power supply to run it so its on when the printer is on.

[www.thingiverse.com]

Gordon

I use a camera as well. Mine is a Dlink camera and it runs over WiFi and I can check it from my phone or tablet.

It's not a good idea though to leave the house with a printer running (see the safety section) as several people have had printers catch on fire during prints. My home office is a few feet away from my bedroom so I do long prints at night (I am a very late night person) and I lay down and watch TV while they run. I figure I can smell or hear any major issues and I have my phone next to me so I can check on it periodically without getting up.

Octoprint with a Raspicam and you are good to go. You can also control the printer remotely as well.

[octoprint.org]

Thanks for the responses.
I have looked at the Octoprint web site and video, but am a little bit confused on how it works. Please keep in mind I am new to 3d printing.
Is the Rasberry Pi connected to the Arduino Mega board, and then the printer is controlled by a PC through the Rasberry Pi? Or is the Rasberry Pi capable of control as a stand-alone controller with a keyboard and television connected? Or both?

The raspberry is a tiny computer running a Linux OS, then you use Octoprint on it instead of Repetier or Pronterface. You connect directly the Arduino to the RPi with USB.Octoprint is a web interface, you can reach it with any device having a web browser connected to your home network, or through Internet.
I use it everytime, it is really usefull (with a USB hub, wifi dongle and USB cam).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2014 05:52AM by kimented_.

PrintToPeer supposedly has something that analyses pictures of a print every 10 layers and can pause the print if there are issues. I have yet to see if this feature really exists as by the time I get home from work I have forgotten about PrintToPeer, but I am going to look into it this week. PrintToPeer is roughly the same as OctoPi. I like OctoPi but I feel it needs more features before I go back to using it.

I bought this wifi camera and it works pretty good...
[www.amazon.com]

I can view the image on my PC or my Android phone.
Tiny Cam from the Google play store works well for the Android phone.
I decided a camera is a good option since it will show me if the printed item is not printing correctly, or on fire.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2014 09:36AM by Easy.