Camouflaged tree cam and conduit

[simonx314]

I ran PVC conduit for a tree camera's ethernet cable, but the conduit was an eye sore. Too industrial looking. The conduit looks much better after painting it with tree-color-matched paint and wrapping it in fake ivy. I'm curious what other ideas people have tried for concealing conduit.





The camera is a Hikvision panoramic ColorVu with the bracket removed so it would fit in a small birdhouse. I covered it in this camouflage tape.

. .


The birdhouse has cutouts to allow for an unobstructed view. I embedded magnets in the wood so I can easily remove the front.

 

[wittaj]

Thats a cool idea for the 180 cam!

@Parley has camo'd a few cams as well.

 

[CanCuba]

Looks great!

An option regarding the conduit would be to install a light (perhaps illuminated house numbers) on the tree as well. You could power it by using a POE splitter and a DC y-cable split the power between the camera and light. This would justify the conduit being there to most people.

 

[Parley]

Another option is to end the conduit at the base of the tree and do what I did. See picture. I used direct burial cable but ran it in PVC anyways. By the way I filled the end of the conduit with a black silicon sealant.

 

[CCTVCam]

This is brilliant!

I can see 1 slight ways to improve it but very minor: Cut out some tape to go over the black facia plate around the camera lens / led's. Slight note here as it's inside the box, a plain brown tape that matches the bird house stain might stand out less than camo on the camera.

Otherwise perfect and one of the best camo mountings there's been.

Just one question, with the bracket removed does it just sit loose in the box?

 

[simonx314]

...with the bracket removed does it just sit loose in the box?

Yes it's just sitting loose in the birdhouse, and the bottom of the camera is rounded so wobbles out of position if I mess with the wiring at all (I also ran 16 gauge landscape power wire for motion sensors, possibly lights, which I am still setting up). I need to 3D print a base because the motion detection zones I drew along perimeter of my yard are not lined up after the camera is bumped even a little bit.

I have an infrared beam sensor wired into the Hikvision's alarm input terminal. So the camera can play custom sounds or turn on/flash it's white lights to ward off people who cut through my yard. I also connect my Hikvision/Dahua cameras to Home Assistant, so the various alarm input and various line crossing/region detection of humans show up as binary sensors which I can use to turn on my front yard smart lights, send alerts, etc.

Normally I would use a an ESP-8266 to connect diy motion sensors to Home Assistant, but here I can piggy back the sensor on the Hikvision's ethernet connection.

 

[Tygunn]

Yes it's just sitting loose in the birdhouse, and the bottom of the camera is rounded so wobbles out of position if I mess with the wiring at all (I also ran 16 gauge landscape power wire for motion sensors, possibly lights, which I am still setting up). I need to 3D print a base because the motion detection zones I drew along perimeter of my yard are not lined up after the camera is bumped even a little bit.

I have an infrared beam sensor wired into the Hikvision's alarm input terminal. So the camera can play custom sounds or turn on/flash it's white lights to ward off people who cut through my yard. I also connect my Hikvision/Dahua cameras to Home Assistant, so the various alarm input and various line crossing/region detection of humans show up as binary sensors which I can use to turn on my front yard smart lights, send alerts, etc.

Normally I would use a an ESP-8266 to connect diy motion sensors to Home Assistant, but here I can piggy back the sensor on the Hikvision's ethernet connection.

Which infrared beam sensor are you using?

I'm using a Seco-Larm dual sensor:

https://www.amazon.com/Seco-Larm-960-D90Q-Photo-Detectors-Alignment/dp/B002WV19DM

It runs across my entire front yard and triggers an ESP8266 to report to my HomeAssistant setup. So far it has been extremely reliable.

 

[simonx314]

I use cheap beam sensors that only have a single beam, but they are surprisingly reliable. Sometimes a bird will fly through them so I filter that out with ESPHome requiring at least 200ms break, or in combination with a PIR sensor which doesn't pick up birds.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802567819966.html

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802851019677.html

I also have a laser beam sensor that bounces off a bicycle reflector and back into itself, so it is a beam break sensor where you only have to wire one side. You can only see the beam when it is foggy at night.

 

[simonx314]

I finally got a 3D printer and printed a bracket for the birdhouse. I designed the model in the free Tinkercad web app, and printed about 5 or 6 prototypes before I got it right.

 

[Tygunn]

I use cheap beam sensors that only have a single beam, but they are surprisingly reliable. Sometimes a bird will fly through them so I filter that out with ESPHome requiring at least 200ms break, or in combination with a PIR sensor which doesn't pick up birds.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802567819966.html

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802851019677.html

I also have a laser beam sensor that bounces off a bicycle reflector and back into itself, so it is a beam break sensor where you only have to wire one side. You can only see the beam when it is foggy at night.

Okay, those are FAR cheaper than the beam sensors I was using. How have they held up outside? Did you enclose them in some manner?

 

[simonx314]

Okay, those are FAR cheaper than the beam sensors I was using. How have they held up outside? Did you enclose them in some manner?

I have 3 pairs of those sensors outside. No issues. I put a piece of electrical tape around the seam between the plastic shells so there is no path for water to force it's way in.

1 pair in direct rain for 5 years.
1 pair partially covered but still gets wet in heavy rain
Last pair mostly covered by this birdhouse and porch.

This might be the same sensor you are using for cheaper on AliExpress.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832029612196.html

 

[Flintstone61]

I like the post suggesting to end the PVC down low near the base of the tree. Then there is less to camouflage.
Just as an idea, here is a mailbox i found in the Northwoods that I thought was really creative.

 

[aesterling]

I also have a laser beam sensor that bounces off a bicycle reflector and back into itself, so it is a beam break sensor where you only have to wire one side. You can only see the beam when it is foggy at night.
View attachment 167684

What laser beam sensor are you using? Do you also have it hooked to another ESPHome?

 

[simonx314]

What laser beam sensor are you using? Do you also have it hooked to another ESPHome?

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802087583973.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.10.49151802sc0p6D&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

This is an industrial sensor, so you'll have to make sure to get the voltages correct and have soldering skills to deal with it. Yes, ESPHome. I had to build a shroud to keep direct sunlight off of it.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Cool, all looks awesome !

 

[TonyR]

I like the post suggesting to end the PVC down low near the base of the tree. Then there is less to camouflage.
Just as an idea, here is a mailbox i found in the Northwoods that I thought was really creative. View attachment 167711

That's about the size of the mountain cabin I can afford these days.....