Jump to content

Trail cam/cctv for capturing urban wildlife


Longhorn_Fan68

Recommended Posts

I live in South Austin and since I've been here I've seen skunks, coyotes, foxes, armadillos, snakes, lizards, possums, raccoons, all types of birds including birds of prey.

I'd love to set up a camera in the back yard to capture these creatures and have it record automatically (preferably by motion), but I'd prefer it save to an external device that i can easily pull the video from. 

I've looked at a lot of trail cams and traditional home security systems and kinda got tired head. Since this is the hobby board I'd like to use some extra components i have (old chrome os mini computer, raspberry pi, old laptop, external drives, etc), if possible. But am willing to purchase stuff too. 

Is it just as simple as getting a trail came a few sd cards and just swapping them out every so often? Or is there something a little more sophisticated that might deliver better results? Thanks in advance

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

I live in South Austin and since I've been here I've seen skunks, coyotes, foxes, armadillos, snakes, lizards, possums, raccoons, all types of birds including birds of prey.

I'd love to set up a camera in the back yard to capture these creatures and have it record automatically (preferably by motion), but I'd prefer it save to an external device that i can easily pull the video from. 

I've looked at a lot of trail cams and traditional home security systems and kinda got tired head. Since this is the hobby board I'd like to use some extra components i have (old chrome os mini computer, raspberry pi, old laptop, external drives, etc), if possible. But am willing to purchase stuff too. 

Is it just as simple as getting a trail came a few sd cards and just swapping them out every so often? Or is there something a little more sophisticated that might deliver better results? Thanks in advance

Cellular trail cams email you pics and vids, largely doing away with the SD cards. Since it’s your yard, SD would be cheaper and just as easy. There are some very high quality trail cams out there, but the more reviews you read, the more YouTube vids you watch, the more confusing it gets.   We’ve had good luck with Spartan. But for the price, they ought to work well 

Cant help with the other tech stuff, not at all tech savvy. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

I live in South Austin and since I've been here I've seen skunks, coyotes, foxes, armadillos, snakes, lizards, possums, raccoons, all types of birds including birds of prey.

I'd love to set up a camera in the back yard to capture these creatures and have it record automatically (preferably by motion), but I'd prefer it save to an external device that i can easily pull the video from. 

I've looked at a lot of trail cams and traditional home security systems and kinda got tired head. Since this is the hobby board I'd like to use some extra components i have (old chrome os mini computer, raspberry pi, old laptop, external drives, etc), if possible. But am willing to purchase stuff too. 

Is it just as simple as getting a trail came a few sd cards and just swapping them out every so often? Or is there something a little more sophisticated that might deliver better results? Thanks in advance

Does your wifi reach to where you want to place the camera? I have a Ring camera that's powered by solar and is hooked up to my wifi network. I get phone alerts from the backyard (and other locations, but not relevant for this discussion) and I get to keep tabs on the possums and raccoons that live around us. When I first got it, I got a funny video of one of the possums boxing the camera. I guess he was pissed that he was being surveilled.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, royiv said:

Does your wifi reach to where you want to place the camera? I have a Ring camera that's powered by solar and is hooked up to my wifi network. I get phone alerts from the backyard (and other locations, but not relevant for this discussion) and I get to keep tabs on the possums and raccoons that live around us. When I first got it, I got a funny video of one of the possums boxing the camera. I guess he was pissed that he was being surveilled.

yeah, this sorta points to my dilemma. The camera will be about 15 feet from the wifi router, so it should have a strong connection. but this also implies I need to connect to a computer, laptop, phone, etc. it might be easier to just have it dump on an sd card and change it out when it get close to full.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use Blink cameras. They are cheap and easy to set up. ~$8 a month gets you unlimited cloud storage. You can set for motion detect. About my only complaint is that shadows in the day trigger it a lot. But that may be all cameras

 

C5D722D2-843B-465E-8B2B-97CDB5BF5120.thumb.png.9544ca65b7317c4429c762b928e86775.png02DFF6A4-46FA-4FBB-83D1-940DC57C2F99.thumb.png.cfa15e563ee4e8b8b73c304578799b94.png

4CDB44F5-3CCB-4F95-A5EF-906830C2C42B.png

758B4ED3-E157-4EE9-B128-4961A947E71E.png

E26FB4A3-B1A0-4923-A74D-844DB2500080.png

40003344-CD74-4C9E-84A2-BA91F1447008.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a spypoint camera. $15 a month for unlimited pictures, and it sends them to an app on your phone. Batteries can last a few months if it is not set somewhere where it is constantly going off and there is good cellular reception. This is with it set to send pictures twice a day. If you set it to send pictures immediately it will run them down much more quickly. It also has a micro SD card that can be swapped out. The pictures saved to the card have a higher resolution than the ones it sends to your phone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

So SD card is higher quality image at a lesser price is the way to go if you have access to camera, and do not need time sensitivity?  I assume time stamps are on all images?  Wifi/ Cellular is mainly for timeliness?

I am also assuming that the card units are higher res?  Or is that a misconception?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...