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Camera trap

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GoSeigen
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Camera trap

#428745

Postby GoSeigen » July 19th, 2021, 11:38 am

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive but effective camera trap. Primary use will be indoors or under shelter for detecting humans, but it would be a bonus if it could be used for animals too and left exposed to the elements. Extra bonus if it can notify that it has been triggered.

TIA.

GS

pje16
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Re: Camera trap

#428749

Postby pje16 » July 19th, 2021, 11:56 am

Not sure if this price is ok but we used one of these to deter loitering teenagers drinking near our premises
Worked a treat
the night after it was installed four of them pitched up, sat down on a bench got some bottles out
the light flashed on, they looked up at it and scarpered
not sure what you mean by trap, if you want to deter, this does the job

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRQ17RD? ... ct_details
PS you need an I-phone to set it up, it won't work on Andriod, and it does work well with Alexa

GoSeigen
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Re: Camera trap

#428842

Postby GoSeigen » July 19th, 2021, 4:50 pm

pje16 wrote:Not sure if this price is ok but we used one of these to deter loitering teenagers drinking near our premises
Worked a treat
the night after it was installed four of them pitched up, sat down on a bench got some bottles out
the light flashed on, they looked up at it and scarpered
not sure what you mean by trap, if you want to deter, this does the job

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRQ17RD? ... ct_details
PS you need an I-phone to set it up, it won't work on Andriod, and it does work well with Alexa


A camera trap is basically a video camera which starts recording when there is motion in its field of view. They are typically used to capture video of wildlife, hence their name, but could equally be used for humans.

I'm a Mac user so your suggestion is fine, it's a bit more than I was hoping to pay, especially given how conspicuous it is as may get nicked if installed outdoors (or indoors for that matter)! Where we live we have burglaries of our house around once every 3-6 months on average :o :shock:

We'll get an alarm system at some point but not till the house is remodelled. In the meantime this device would help gather evidence and hopefully be able to go in various places indoors or out.


GS

GoSeigen
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Re: Camera trap

#428844

Postby GoSeigen » July 19th, 2021, 4:55 pm

pje16 wrote:https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRQ17RD? ... ct_details
PS you need an I-phone to set it up, it won't work on Andriod, and it does work well with Alexa


This ticks some of the boxes but seems to be mains powered only(??) and has a pretty ropey review score so grateful for any other suggestions...


GS

pje16
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Re: Camera trap

#428849

Postby pje16 » July 19th, 2021, 5:28 pm

They tend to be mains powered, do you really want to be running back and forth recharging/replacing batteries
I did get a 2nd one that had two lights which was just over £100 in March but is now £175 for some bizarre reason
We haven't installed that 2nd one yet but the one in the link I posted works very well
We had to get a wifi range extender as well
but it kicks into life, when in our case, humans come into range
I'm in the office the on Saturday and can just say to the Alexa on my desk
"Alexa show camera" and I can see bods outside the building and cars up on the main road 50-60 metres away
Ours in mounted quite high, you would need a ladder to get to it, and we point it downwards slightly
We don't need converation, have nver troed it in fact and that's what seems to get the bad reviews
and another when says "£500 down the drain" er it costs £90 so how much faith can you place in a twit like that
Our one was tricky to setup only because I have an andriod phone, my mate had an i-phone it to less that 5 mins to get the app to link to the camera
all I can say is we are happy with ours as it works fine

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Re: Camera trap

#428852

Postby ReformedCharacter » July 19th, 2021, 5:44 pm

GoSeigen wrote:
pje16 wrote:https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRQ17RD? ... ct_details
PS you need an I-phone to set it up, it won't work on Andriod, and it does work well with Alexa


This ticks some of the boxes but seems to be mains powered only(??) and has a pretty ropey review score so grateful for any other suggestions...


GS

It's difficult, I've looked at similar options. You said that it was a bit more than you were hoping to spend but the Swann is one of the cheaper choices and that's probably reflected in the reviews. I have one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DIGITNOW-Waterproof-Wildlife-Surveillance-Detection-camo/dp/B07DF6CRWN/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=campark&qid=1626712415&s=electronics&sr=1-3

and it works well. It doesn't do notifications though and TBH if you wanted something that does notifications reliably the you would be looking at quite a bit more expense. One thing that might be worth considering, possibly when you 'remodel', is to use an external PoE camera and (or) other alarm devices such infrared motion sensors. Less cabling and no need for an external mains supply.

RC

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Re: Camera trap

#428864

Postby GrahamPlatt » July 19th, 2021, 6:46 pm

I was going to joke and say that Geoff100 will be along in a minute with a raspberry pi hack. Then I thought I’d just do a search for that... https://www.instructables.com/Raspberry ... ce-camera/

ReformedCharacter
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Re: Camera trap

#428867

Postby ReformedCharacter » July 19th, 2021, 7:00 pm

GrahamPlatt wrote:I was going to joke and say that Geoff100 will be along in a minute with a raspberry pi hack. Then I thought I’d just do a search for that... https://www.instructables.com/Raspberry ... ce-camera/

In the article it mentions Motion image detection software. I use MotionEye (on a Pi) which provides a GUI to Motion and I heartily recommend it. It works flawlessly and is easy to tune to individual needs.

RC


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