DH-TPC-BF5421-T Thermal camera captures wild hogs...

[erkme73]

I absolutely love this camera. I picked up 5 of them on eBay about 6 months ago - a guy was letting them go for about $160/ea. That was a good deal compared to what others were charging. But since then, I've realized I can use a lot more. Unfortunately, the guy had no more to offer, and prices were back well north of $400.

Until earlier this week - there was a guy listing a lot of 8 of them for $975. The photos looked like they were in great shape - but his listing had them as "untested/not-working/for-parts". I went a few rounds with the seller and it was clear he didn't have the history on them, nor the ability/interest to test them. I offered him $600 and he accepted. They came in today. I tested each one of them. The look and function like brand new. All 8 of them. Comes out to about $75 a piece! I feel like I hit the lottery.

Anyway, here's one of the more compelling clips that made me a believer in the tech. My optical camera that is paired with the thermal never saw any of the pigs.

 

[wittaj]

That is a steal of a deal!

 

[bigredfish]

I absolutely love this camera. I picked up 5 of them on eBay about 6 months ago - a guy was letting them go for about $160/ea. That was a good deal compared to what others were charging. But since then, I've realized I can use a lot more. Unfortunately, the guy had no more to offer, and prices were back well north of $400.

Until earlier this week - there was a guy listing a lot of 8 of them for $975. The photos looked like they were in great shape - but his listing had them as "untested/not-working/for-parts". I went a few rounds with the seller and it was clear he didn't have the history on them, nor the ability/interest to test them. I offered him $600 and he accepted. They came in today. I tested each one of them. The look and function like brand new. All 8 of them. Comes out to about $75 a piece! I feel like I hit the lottery.

Anyway, here's one of the more compelling clips that made me a believer in the tech. My optical camera that is paired with the thermal never saw any of the pigs.

Awesome capture!

If you was wanting to unload one of those….

 

[erkme73]

Awesome capture!

If you was wanting to unload one of those….

LOL... the thought crossed my mind... but I can already imagine where I'm using all of them. I have a deer feed plot that could use a few...

 

[bigredfish]

You're not in Florida are you?

Mrs bigredfish and I used to see big packs of them like that over at the cape near the Indian river and Mosquito lagoon when we went shore fishing.
Had a mama and 4-5 babies scare the begeezus out of us one day as the came right up behind us while we were facing the water in lounge chairs and the damn things came strolling right between us, grunted around and went on their way without so much as an 'excuse me"

 

[erkme73]

You're not in Florida are you?

Mrs bigredfish and I used to see big packs of them like that over at the cape near the Indian river and Mosquito lagoon when we went shore fishing.
Had a mama and 4-5 babies scare the begeezus out of us one day as the came right up behind us while we were facing the water in lounge chairs and the damn things came strolling right between us, grunted around and went on their way without so much as an 'excuse me"

Used to be - over on the other coast in Tampa. Moved to middle-TN about 8 years ago... lot's more open area and wild life. I have three cars a day that drive down my road. One is mail, the other UPS... Third is FedEx or my only neighbor.

 

[pal251]

If your willing to sell one or two let me know, I need one for a remote vet clinic.

 

[bp2008]

I think I saw that ebay listing Looked like a good deal but for my purposes I pretty much always want wider field of view and those were all narrow!

 

[erkme73]

I think I saw that ebay listing Looked like a good deal but for my purposes I pretty much always want wider field of view and those were all narrow!

Correct. I think the thermal is 13mm and the optical is 8mm. Definitely far from ideal, but at $75 a piece I can find a way to make it work. Most of them will be 20' up on utility poles along the street where wide FOV isn't super critical. Now my problem is I'm at 64 cameras and I can't add any new ones without deleting others. First world problems

 

[bp2008]

@erkme73 sounds like you need a second Blue Iris machine!

Or to sweet talk Ken into increasing the limit. I wonder how hard that would be.

 

[erkme73]

@erkme73 sounds like you need a second Blue Iris machine!

Or to sweet talk Ken into increasing the limit. I wonder how hard that would be.

I did ask him a while back and he was pretty emphatic that it was a hard limit. I would much rather have it one one, and would gladly pay to add more capacity. I'll try again.

 

[erkme73]

Finally got a 520' run of cat5 cable to the feed plot. Using a PoE++ (803.2BT) switch in extender mode (up to 250m), I am able to power two cameras aimed at the hog trap. Just happened to catch a doe going after my corn. The trap is for hogs - not the deer. It's just neat to be able to have such contrast...

 

[CamCrazy]

Correct. I think the thermal is 13mm and the optical is 8mm. Definitely far from ideal, but at $75 a piece I can find a way to make it work. Most of them will be 20' up on utility poles along the street where wide FOV isn't super critical. Now my problem is I'm at 64 cameras and I can't add any new ones without deleting others. First world problems

Sorry, did you say 64 cameras wow, that is quite a serious number!! just been looking at some 'cheap' new boxed 13mm versions hence how I got here.

 

[erkme73]

Sorry, did you say 64 cameras wow, that is quite a serious number!! just been looking at some 'cheap' new boxed 13mm versions hence how I got here.

LOL, yes... Though I'm up to 75 now that Ken upped the limit to 128! The way he said it would require a complete rebuild to increase the limit, I assumed it would never happen... Then one day, in a barely noticed changelog item, it said limit increased. What a happy day that was.

 

[CamCrazy]

LOL, yes... Though I'm up to 75 now that Ken upped the limit to 128! The way he said it would require a complete rebuild to increase the limit, I assumed it would never happen... Then one day, in a barely noticed changelog item, it said limit increased. What a happy day that was.

Oh my god, sorry, I am shocked, always thought if someone on here said they had 25 or maybe even 30 cameras I would not be that shocked. But 64 and now 75, no way, I feel almost average with just 12 active, no doubt this number will grow to 16+ now the thermal box has been ticked! Amazing though, you deserve some kind of award for that number, surely nobody has more than that?

What spec PC are you running them on out of interest, I am a tech guy so guessing i7+++++

 

[erkme73]

Oh my god, sorry, I am shocked, always thought if someone on here said they had 25 or maybe even 30 cameras I would not be that shocked. But 64 and now 75, no way, I feel almost average with just 12 active, no doubt this number will grow to 16+ now the thermal box has been ticked! Amazing though, you deserve some kind of award for that number, surely nobody has more than that?

What spec PC are you running them on out of interest, I am a tech guy so guessing i7+++++

Just an i7-7xxx with 48GB of ram. I have everything tweaked to try to minimize cpu load and average around 40-50% when there's not a lot of activity. During rain, fog, or windy days it gets up in to the 70-80% range. Ken has really done a lot to allow my older system to handle all the cameras without much strain.

I've added AI to a couple of the road-facing cameras to alert when visitors come, and when those run through the CPAI module, the CPU will spike to 100% for a second or two, but nothing prolonged. I've debated going to a newer generation PC, but until this one give me performance issues, I'm good with it for the near future.

On an aside, my wife just took a position that will have her working out of a camper for two weeks each month. Using Tailscale VPN, I'm able to use Starlink service to add a few more cameras in/around the camper to my collection. Tailscale allows you to add remote cameras without port forwarding. In fact it works on public networks where you may be behind two NATs and no access to a public IP. It really opens a world of possibilities that no longer depend on the type of network at the remote side.

 

[bigredfish]

Tailscale is basically built on the WireGuard VPN platform which I use via my firewall appliance.

 

[CamCrazy]

Just an i7-7xxx with 48GB of ram. I have everything tweaked to try to minimize cpu load and average around 40-50% when there's not a lot of activity. During rain, fog, or windy days it gets up in to the 70-80% range. Ken has really done a lot to allow my older system to handle all the cameras without much strain.

I've added AI to a couple of the road-facing cameras to alert when visitors come, and when those run through the CPAI module, the CPU will spike to 100% for a second or two, but nothing prolonged. I've debated going to a newer generation PC, but until this one give me performance issues, I'm good with it for the near future.

On an aside, my wife just took a position that will have her working out of a camper for two weeks each month. Using Tailscale VPN, I'm able to use Starlink service to add a few more cameras in/around the camper to my collection. Tailscale allows you to add remote cameras without port forwarding. In fact it works on public networks where you may be behind two NATs and no access to a public IP. It really opens a world of possibilities that no longer depend on the type of network at the remote side.

Thanks for the information. I am still on version 5.8.8.8 since I found it stable at the time, maybe I should try a newer release, see how it goes. More cameras on the camper there is no stopping this guy amazing. Tailscale VPN does sound interesting, I'm guessing when you say a few, it will be no more than 20

 

[Flintstone61]

I absolutely love this camera. I picked up 5 of them on eBay about 6 months ago - a guy was letting them go for about $160/ea. That was a good deal compared to what others were charging. But since then, I've realized I can use a lot more. Unfortunately, the guy had no more to offer, and prices were back well north of $400.

Until earlier this week - there was a guy listing a lot of 8 of them for $975. The photos looked like they were in great shape - but his listing had them as "untested/not-working/for-parts". I went a few rounds with the seller and it was clear he didn't have the history on them, nor the ability/interest to test them. I offered him $600 and he accepted. They came in today. I tested each one of them. The look and function like brand new. All 8 of them. Comes out to about $75 a piece! I feel like I hit the lottery.

Anyway, here's one of the more compelling clips that made me a believer in the tech. My optical camera that is paired with the thermal never saw any of the pigs.

All I want for Christman is my two functioning thermals,,,
Jealous dude, great find!

 

[erkme73]

All I want for Christman is my two functioning thermals,,,
Jealous dude, great find!

Ha, you'll have to compete with my neighbors who all want some too. It's hard to be the bad guy and say no sometimes... just keep scanning eBay. There is a glut of these from businesses who no longer need them now that the plandemic has passed...