Looking For a Wireless Critter Cam

windguy

windguy

Getting comfortable
Sep 25, 2019
286
289
Pacific Coast
Here's the story. We currently have four T5442 fixed lens cams and one B5442 vario for security monitoring all hosted with BI. The need arose this summer to monitor the raised bed veggie garden so I "borrowed" one of the T5442 cams as a critter cam since its entry area birdhouse setup wasn't ready yet. The rats have invaded the garden big time and we needed to see what is going on at night. Unbelievable how many F'n rats are roaming around. These destructive bastards are my number one nemesis now and so far they are smarter than any counter measures I've taken. These rats are so adaptive they won't go near peanut butter in a trap now. I plan to build a wire cage over each raised bed but that will take some time. Yesterday I made a spinner "log" sitting over a garbage can filled with water after getting some tips from youtube. See attached pic. We'll see how successful that trap is at knocking down the heard.

Long story short, we really like having a critter cam to monitor the garden on an as needed basis, but dragging a long Cat 5 cable around each night and taking it down each morning is a drag. Plus I need to install that T5442 in its permanent mount soon and will need to buy a replacement cam. We'd like to have a WiFi cam so we have the flexability to mount it around the yard when the need arises. The idea of having a PTZ cam is interesting but a fixed 3.6 or 6.0m lens cam would work just fine. I'd prefer a cam with a rechargeable battery pack. Searching this forum, I haven't really found anything current unless I'm missing it. Appreciate any cam ideas that others have used. Always value the input from the forum. Thanks!


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bigredfish said:
You wanna borrow my spider gun?


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Ha, ha! Thanks for the offer. You guys in Florida have all the fun toys!
My preference is to use napalm but the neighbors keep complaining about the smell. :idk:

I've been to Florida a few times and you have the biggest F'n rats on the planet. Bigger than some small dogs. (BTW - no intended reference to some of your politicians :rolleyes:)
One mondo rat got into my parents apartment through the toilet and caused all sorts of havoc that I had to clean up. One died inside the wall and the smell was putrid.

Same results last night on the new trash can trap. Just a tire kicker. Went to the market today and picked up a few strips of smoked bacon from the deli counter. Psyched to see how that works out. Winner winner bacon dinner!
 
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Both Dahua and Amcrest have WIFI PTZ cams. I don't know how far it is from house to garden, but could you set up the cam at the house to negate having to use battery power if the zoom was far enough?
 
samplenhold said:
Both Dahua and Amcrest have WIFI PTZ cams. I don't know how far it is from house to garden, but could you set up the cam at the house to negate having to use battery power if the zoom was far enough?
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Thanks Samplenhold. Appreciate the input. The Cat 5e patch cable I made to go from the cam network POE in the garage to the raised beds on the opposite corner of the lot is about 100 feet. I'd need the camera to be mounted very close by yard activity so mounting on the house wouldn't be feasible. Too many obstacles blocking. Good idea though. I think a fixed lens would be adequate over a PTZ.

My initial search for a battery powered WiFi cam was not encouraging. I checked Dahua and Amcrest's websites. The one constant is that the WiFi cams require a 12VDC source or use of a DC to AC adapter. If you get into a WiFi cam with a battery pack, then you enter into the Arlo type products using their own base station. That's what Amcrest offers. Don't want to go there for obvious reasons.

One option is to rig up a rechargeable 12VDC battery pack to supply power to the cam. If I go that route, then I could also add an Access Point and create a point to point bridge and go with a wired cam instead. I like this solution but it ups the complexity somewhat. I don't trust the wireless range of the WiFi cams since the specs are vague on this. I'd have to rely on the AP (not sourced yet) in the garage to provide a strong enough signal and not the camera's WiFi strength. I need to do some testing to verify acceptable WiFi ranges. I can use our house WiFi router to do that. I wanted to keep this critter cam simple with a plug and play solution but so far no luck.
 
I wonder just how much power does a cam that can run on 12VDC use? Would a car battery give you weeks, maybe even months on a charge?
 
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I'd allow 7 watts for a fixed lens camera at night. That's just over a half amp hour. Given that a new car battery should be, at least, 100 amp hour capacity and you've got 50 hours worth before total discharge. Throw in the PTZ current demands and all that goes out the window depending on how often you move the camera and you've got to add in a little, at least, for the WiFi electronics. You'll be charging it every day either lugging a charger and extension cord out there, or lugging the battery back to the charger.
 
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Is there any hope of bringing owls to your neighborhood? They do a great job with mice and voles, and should have no problem hunting nocturnal rats and similar vermin.

Owls That Live in Southern California

The species diversity of southern California's owl populations offers varying degrees of hooting and screeching for ornithological enthusiasts to enjoy. Many species in southern California also reside elsewhere, yet their homes in southern California are as unique as the area itself. Some owls ...
animals.mom.me animals.mom.me
 
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VorlonFrog said:
Is there any hope of bringing owls to your neighborhood? They do a great job with mice and voles, and should have no problem hunting nocturnal rats and similar vermin.

Owls That Live in Southern California

The species diversity of southern California's owl populations offers varying degrees of hooting and screeching for ornithological enthusiasts to enjoy. Many species in southern California also reside elsewhere, yet their homes in southern California are as unique as the area itself. Some owls ...
animals.mom.me animals.mom.me
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Good point. We have lots of owls around at night. You can hear and see them. I think there are just too many rats for their consumption. Red tailed hawks too during the day. Some affected by poisoned rats unfortunately. That's why I won't use rodenticide bait anymore but it is tempting. Coyotes are affected too and we need them to keep the rabbit population in check.
 
vandyman said:
Where are these rats coming from?

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Most likely bordering yards. We try to keep our yard clear of clutter but we do have a hillside where I've seen nests before and it's near impossible to eliminate. It's just part of nature and the landscape around our parts. The critter cam I'm using revealed that the rats have been scouring the soil in the raised bed after I spread some home-made compost. I started composting last May and you end up with some bug carcasses in the compost and the rats like that. That might explain an uptick in them being attracted to the garden area. We've had signs of rats for the 20+ years we've lived at this place. I also realized why the squash plants have been less than stellar. The rats will eat the flowers and new shoots basically stunting the fruiting process. Enclosing the raised beds with a wire cage structure is the only solution I can see that will work. We'll see about that as the rats always seem to have the upper hand in outsmarting us.
 
sebastiantombs said:
I'd allow 7 watts for a fixed lens camera at night. That's just over a half amp hour. Given that a new car battery should be, at least, 100 amp hour capacity and you've got 50 hours worth before total discharge. Throw in the PTZ current demands and all that goes out the window depending on how often you move the camera and you've got to add in a little, at least, for the WiFi electronics. You'll be charging it every day either lugging a charger and extension cord out there, or lugging the battery back to the charger.
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Good info, thanks. I came up with about that same calculation, roughly 1/2 amp-hour per camera.
I figure a night time camera would need 12-13 hours of power for winter time and a little less for summer if running continuously. Basically 7 amp-hours of capacity per day.
I see that Lowes/HD sell a Mighty Max 12v battery pack with different sizes. An 18 amp-hour one is around $50. 7.2 amp-hour one is $17.
This camera station would have to be easily portable for charging. Your points are very valid about having to deal with that. I want to keep it simple. Thanks!
 
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I found two potential wireless cams that look decent, to me at least. The cam gurus might think otherwise and I'd value that input. PDF Data sheets attached below.

I'd have to check with Andy to see if he can source these models. My preference is to buy through him as a trusted source, as I've done for my five other Dahua cams.

Since I'm now using a 3.6mm lens cam temporarily, that would be my preference over a 2.8mm for a more focused view.

For power, initially I would just run an extension cord to power the camera and deal with a battery pack power solution down the road when I have the time. Not having to string the Cat 5e patch cable each night would be a time saver.

OPTION 1: Hikvision - DS-2CD205151-IDW1
5MP WiFi Bullet with two lens options: 2.8mm or 4.0mm
Doesn't appear to be available at the usual sources.

OPTION 2: Dahua - N41BD12-W (now EOL)
4MP WiFi Bullet with one lens option: 2.8mm
Dahua shows the replacement model (due 09/20) is the IPC-HFW1435S-W-S2. See screen shot below from the Dahua website. The new cam appears similar in form and function but the old model was 2.8mm only. The new model has 2.8mm and 3.6mm lens options. Some of the other specs haven't been completed yet so hard to make a direct comparison but I'm guessing there will be some improvement.

Appreciate the help. Thanks!

Dahua N41BD12-2 EOL.png
 

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Very relevant topic, @windguy! I came to ipcamtalk to look for less power hungry ideas on solar powered security cam for my offgrid shed/garden.
At the moment I have UniViee IPC2122LR3-PF28M-D (accidental choice) camera.
MikroTik SXTsq Lite2 for point2point wifi from garden to my apartment. At garden side running directly from 12v.
Sxtsq has a single LAN - that goes to a camera.
Plus the same sxt is serving also as a local wifi AP (ar very narrow radius though) for few other devices.
Cameras poe expects 48v, but I have cut the lan cable at both ends and sending 12v from car battery and feeding cameras DC input at the other end.
And a 100w solar panel charging the car battery (with OSPSolar@esp32 based mppt charge controller - but u can easily get non-diy option here, too).

Sxt is eating around 1.3W constant.
Camera is eating around 1.5w durin day, but as IR kicks in - it jumps up to some 5w or so.
Is easily gets close to 100W a day just for network and single camera. May sound low, but autumn is coming here and there are rainy or overcast days when I barrely scrape 50w.

I'd be looking for options to turn IR on/off by api/onvif, based on external pir sensor. Or keep camera asleep, but capable of quick wake up on pir event. Interested in recommendations anyone may have.

P.s.
I realize, taking some battery powered "cloud cameras" (and living w 3rd party cloud) may be powerfriendlier&easier option.
 
Old Timer said:
The Wyze outdoor cameras have a PIr that turns on the camera.
It runs on a rechargeable battery, so cheats any time it can.
I'd just run a wire and be done with it.
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camera is one thing - battery will keep it up&running. But I'd need also Wyze base station powered 24/7 from the solar battery. Would expect the base being less hungry than my current camera with IR-led, so net-net it should be less Wh every day. And better mobility in terms of where camera can be put.
 
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Austris said:
camera is one thing - battery will keep it up&running. But I'd need also Wyze base station powered 24/7 from the solar battery. Would expect the base being less hungry than my current camera with IR-led, so net-net it should be less Wh every day. And better mobility in terms of where camera can be put.
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And you will need to keep up with the battery charging for the camera.
Wyze base is so it can connect quick. It takes a bit to connect to a normal wireless.

I still think I would run a wire out, and go from there.
 
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Old Timer said:
The Wyze outdoor cameras have a PIr that turns on the camera.
It runs on a rechargeable battery, so cheats any time it can.
I'd just run a wire and be done with it.
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Sometimes running an Ethernet cable isn't feasible. In my case, I need the camera to be movable where it can be setup to monitor critters in the yard. Locations around the yard will change.
I thought Wyze cameras are only used with a cloud based ap, not ONVIF compatible and BI friendly.
 
windguy said:
Here's the story. We currently have four T5442 fixed lens cams and one B5442 vario for security monitoring all hosted with BI. The need arose this summer to monitor the raised bed veggie garden so I "borrowed" one of the T5442 cams as a critter cam since its entry area birdhouse setup wasn't ready yet. The rats have invaded the garden big time and we needed to see what is going on at night. Unbelievable how many F'n rats are roaming around. These destructive bastards are my number one nemesis now and so far they are smarter than any counter measures I've taken. These rats are so adaptive they won't go near peanut butter in a trap now. I plan to build a wire cage over each raised bed but that will take some time. Yesterday I made a spinner "log" sitting over a garbage can filled with water after getting some tips from youtube. See attached pic. We'll see how successful that trap is at knocking down the heard.

Long story short, we really like having a critter cam to monitor the garden on an as needed basis, but dragging a long Cat 5 cable around each night and taking it down each morning is a drag. Plus I need to install that T5442 in its permanent mount soon and will need to buy a replacement cam. We'd like to have a WiFi cam so we have the flexability to mount it around the yard when the need arises. The idea of having a PTZ cam is interesting but a fixed 3.6 or 6.0m lens cam would work just fine. I'd prefer a cam with a rechargeable battery pack. Searching this forum, I haven't really found anything current unless I'm missing it. Appreciate any cam ideas that others have used. Always value the input from the forum. Thanks!


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