Chris Hammond wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16 2024 05:47 -
I’ve been pondering the possibility of fixing a wildlife camera up using one of those high res security cameras. They are reliant on an internet connection so on the face of it not really suitable, but I have a cunning plan.
So before I lay out a lump of cash I thought I’d run the idea by you chaps so that someone can point out why it won’t work.
I’m thinking about buying a cheap phone contract and then using the associated phone to provide the internet connection. This would involve leaving the phone out in the woods close to the camera. Of course recording time would be determined by the longevity of the phone charge but I reckon I might get a couple of days filming between charges. Maybe longer if I set up one of those power packs to be included in the phone’s hidden location.
I’m nearly always missing something with my cunning plans, so I’m hoping someone can point out the obvious to me?
just pondering over this again. Do you already have a cctv camera you want to try and repurpose ?
if not i'd think the cost involved buying a camera, a phone and contract, and everything else would end up more and be a bigger pain in the a**e to do than to just buy an already existing trail camera. then im thinking about the power needs which i dont think will be really efficient given the needs of a cctv camera with built in wifi and a mobile phone etc.
if you're just after a wee project and have the cash to spare id look at raspberry pi solutions that has all the bits and pieces you need to make a trail cam but reckon in the end that would be more expensive than a bog standard trail camera you need physical access to view. Pi solution you can do what you want.
Pi way roughly speaking;
£20 for the Pi, smallest you could get away with imo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Raspberry-Pi-Z ... B09KLVX4RT
camera module id budget £30-60 theres lots of options to choose from with or without infrared. you could even use a usb webcam if you have one sitting around in a junk box but tbh they are s**t. need to take into consideration how strong the IR is on these and might need to bodge additional IR emitters..
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=raspberry+ ... era+module
operating system for the pi is free. the community made a cctv one which can definitely be repurposed to be used as a trail cam and can be set up to notify you of motion along with a screenshot and can upload directly to a google drive account or dropbox etc. so really you dont need to connect to the device if you want the videos remotely and avoids the issue i spoke about before.
https://github.com/motioneye-project/mo ... i/Features
still haven't got to buying batteries and ive not got a clue bout battery prices just now or what you'd even need to get. also weather proof housing but thats an easy one.
you could test it out at home for no more than £50'ish with just a pi, camera module, sd card for the pi os (you might have one in an old phone/drawer) then bodge together internet, battery, extended storage, better motion detection bodging a PIR sensor from alarms and housing for it all at some point if you're happy.
in the end you could have a more advanced system for more or less than the cost of a dumb standard trail camera you need to physically go to just to get the footage. with pi you still need to go there to configure it (we could MacGyver remote commands though, somehow, like emailing the device in the woods to do something).
just buy a trail camera