Bloody moths
I continue to have fun with my CCTV camera.
The cable I was waiting for finally arrived yesterday so it was time to start some real tests.
Until yesterday I was testing it indoors with the occasional test looking out a window. That worked up to a point but the main problem was night testing. After dark, with the camera pointing out the window all I got was an image that looked like there was a car about to hit me – just two very bright spots and nothing else. The infra-red was reflecting off the glass and was blinding the camera!
So I set up the camera at an ideal spot at the front of the house. The cable connectors are nicely tucked up under the garage eaves so are weatheproof. Even better, the camera is almost invisible as it’s in a shrub.
The first problem was that the wifi is quite weak there and the signal drops out quite frequently. That’s fixed just as soon as I bring my other wifi system back on-line, but I have to buy a yoke for that.
The second problem arose after dark. It was grand for a while until there was a puff of wind. That made a few leaves flutter and they are just to the side of the view. The camera started recording and also it switched on its foodlights. All hell broke loose. The floodlights attracted a moxy load of moths who all gathered in front of the camera. Of course the camera detected the motion and stayed recording, and I started getting incessant fucking warnings on my phone that the house was being invaded. I had to switch off the whole system as it was pissing me off, not to mention being a probable problem for aircraft navigation. It is really fucking bright.
So I have a few things to iron out. First of all I have to trim those twigs and leaves that are in view in case there is another puff of wind [it has been dead calm here for a long time. So much for using wind power?]. Also I have to buy that yoke to reactivate my front wifi system.
Then I have to find out how to deactivate those floodlights and get it to use infra-red only. Then I discover if moths are attracted to infra-red!
I have discovered that I can’t set sensitivity [bad] or field of activity [bad]. I can save selected video files but have a hell of a job downloading them [not so good].
Apart from all that it works well.
The van that side swiped your car.
What chance of an update?
Nothing to report. Plod did nothing so I did nothing. It's not like the car was devalued in any way. You can't get lower than scrap value
What if the bad guys come from the rear of the house or even the side yard. You'll need a few more cameras for total coverage. Then of course you'll need motion sensors inside the house in case they get by the cameras. Then of course with the motion sensors you'll need a camera for inside the house so you can photograph the bad guys in action. Then you can have all you surveillance sent directly to the Garde so they can check in on you every now and again just to make sure you're safe. Or you could just keep a loaded 12 bore shotgun by the bed. Much more effective.
They are welcome to try. I have a hell of a lot of boundary but I also have a hell of a lot of brambles. The only way onto the property is through the gate. Unless you're into flaying yourself alive of course.
Although we don't have the floodlights, the ring of infrared LEDs surrounding the camera lenses always attract all sorts of bugs (including spiders and their webs). The other triggers are animals (day and night), wind, rain, snow, fog, cars passing on the road, us out on our deck or in our yard, etc, etc. You only have one camera so it shouldn't be so bad with the exception of the flood lights. Too bad you have a mystery camera with no owner's manual. Might tell you how to disable the floods.
No model number on the thing at all?
There is no hint of a maker at all [I have looked everywhere]. The only hint [of a Chinese origin] is the network identity – ShenZhen Century Xinyang Technology Co., Ltd. Weird….
Just trimming the leaves won't do it. It will help by removing that trigger event but you will still have the knock on impact when it is triggered by something else. Either an errant spider running over the sensor and being in the eaves that is likely or even a proper event with someone walking up the drive. They may leave but your bugs won't.
Errant spider? Like this lad?
https://youtu.be/Bjiv9NwlcdA
Infra red won't give you a very good picture in the dark unless there's a lot of ambient light available
I would suggest not hiding the cameras in the bushes, but making them visible to possible intruders. Also, make sure the recording box in in a place where it can't be easily swiped by a burglar
Actually the infra-red isn't too bad at all. It just comes up as monochrome with a touch of noise on it.
There are two ways off looking at security. None means you have nothing worth robbing and too much means you are laden down with goodies. It has taken me years to make my place look so run down and worthless.
I now have it set to store info on the Interweb [when it's connected, that is!]