Nest box camera wirless wifi?

[Stuart Philpott]

Guys although I'm probably too late for this year I'm just about to finish cobbling up a tawny owl box roughly to the RSPB design I've found on line. Lol another one of my hairbrain pipe dreams

I'm curious about nest box cameras, I guess box will be 30 yards or so from house so running cables a right faff. Any nouce out there please and experiences any knowledge at all would be great. Treat me as clueless.

thanks so much for reading and any replies advice wisdom etc

take care

stu

 

[Box Brownie]

I did read up a while ago about a 'home built' project using a Raspberry Pi computer with a wifi module.....................I will have look later to see that IIRC was indeed correct.

But AFAIK any remotely placed camera with such WiFi or 'mobile phone' like connectivity will likely need a solar panel or more easily sorted a 20,000mAH battery pack.

Depending on the 'risk' (private land to private land vs public access and vandalism?) of cabling it, even at 30yards might be a better option ???

 

[Stuart Philpott]

I'm not to worried on vandals bud.sure it might happen, solar is possible I guess ,and, I have a degree of understanding having installed the camper off grid set up. My nouse is being stretched with raspberry PI though.......hmmm I'll dig a good bit

Anyway box is up tree average first egg gets laid 23rd march as a ball park according to google so it might not be too late. I saw the wood in a skip Laurence it immediately screamed owl box at me so my only outlay has been time and screws, so its def worth a punt..........................

@dale buddy this is pipedream stuff, no harm in dreaming.................but a thought has just struck me.are there any sched 1 issues with me making piccies of Tawny at a nest site that I'd made them int' garden ?

 

[Nod]

For a small solar charger for a 12V battery (don't think they're suitable for Lithium batteries though), have a look at https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/206242 . Should be enough oomph to keep up with a camera, I reckon.

 

[Dale.]

@dale buddy this is pipedream stuff, no harm in dreaming.................but a thought has just struck me.are there any sched 1 issues with me making piccies of Tawny at a nest site that I'd made them int' garden ?

Nope, Tawnies are not on the list Stu, so as far as Sched 1 is concerned, all good.

There's a but though and you will porbably know this already, it would still be illegal to cause undue disturbance, to the point of causing the birds to abandon the nest or intefere with nesting activity, regardless of Sched 1. I'm sure you have this covered though with good etiquette and fieldcraft.

 

[Gav.]

I've not got any experiance, I know it's not what you've asked for but I had a simliar idea a while but got side tracked on something else, I looked at this, you've probably seen it but thought I post just in case.

Good luck!

Long Range Wireless Outdoor IP Bird Box Camera - Green Backyard

Enjoy a wireless range of up to 650ft and 64GB local video recording

green-backyard.com

 

[Stuart Philpott]

Nope, Tawnies are not on the list Stu, so as far as Sched 1 is concerned, all good.

There's a but though and you will porbably know this already, it would still be illegal to cause undue disturbance, to the point of causing the birds to abandon the nest or intefere with nesting activity, regardless of Sched 1. I'm sure you have this covered though with good etiquette and fieldcraft.

Thanks Buddy all bases covered snag might be etiquette,buiders and etiquette in the same sentence Dale................................. that's a rare rare thing

Soz bud how could I not being very serious though last thing I'd want after all this faff making 'em a delux des res is to disturb and make then desert it kinda defeats the object images are secondary mate beasties first, just wanted to be sure it's all to easy to inadvertantly walk into conflict bro even as a well meaning soul

 

[Stuart Philpott]

For a small solar charger for a 12V battery (don't think they're suitable for Lithium batteries though), have a look at https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/206242 . Should be enough oomph to keep up with a camera, I reckon.

thanks buddy .Nod it's all down to the solar charge controller I'll have a dig later whant to say my thankyous and then am fairly desparate to look at some images

 

[Stuart Philpott]

I've not got any experiance, I know it's not what you've asked for but I had a simliar idea a while but got side tracked on something else, I looked at this, you've probably seen it but thought I post just in case.

Good luck!

Long Range Wireless Outdoor IP Bird Box Camera - Green Backyard

Enjoy a wireless range of up to 650ft and 64GB local video recording

green-backyard.com

Gav again cheers muchly for the link again will come back later..............managed to scrubble 200 yds into a field to 3 hares I spent a LONG time with them am absolutely wrecked mate, but took some frames want to see if I was able to ruin all of them ..........................or maybe just maybe

many thanks all forgive me I'm so excited first hare shoot of the year

bye

 

[Gav.]

Gav again cheers muchly for the link again will come back later..............managed to scrubble 200 yds into a field to 3 hares I spent a LONG time with them am absolutely wrecked mate, but took some frames want to see if I was able to ruin all of them ..........................or maybe just maybe

Hope you had better light then I did

 

[Stuart Philpott]

Hope you had better light then I did

Nope.,well OK I'm lying buddy I'll own that when I was getting there I did, but ya just can't rush that ya have to do the time or they run off. But yeah when I got there the light dropped lower than a W's drawer's on a ramming friday night.

I'm a happy bunny bro. spotted 3 hare 2 51.made first image 3 49.last image 4 47.....backed out left hares in peace utterly no cover .missed THE moment Gav was AWOL. for a split of a second

but I'm chuffed to bits, and also a train wreck.damn I've missed messing with hares mate

Lol I can't share nowt cause PS is updating but hey what a blast

 

[Gav.]

Nope.,well OK I'm lying buddy I'll own that when I was getting there I did, but ya just can't rush that ya have to do the time or they run off. But yeah when I got there the light dropped lower than a W's drawer's on a ramming friday night.

I'm a happy bunny bro. spotted 3 hare 2 51.made first image 3 49.last image 4 47.....backed out left hares in peace utterly no cover .missed THE moment Gav was AWOL. for a split of a second

but I'm chuffed to bits, and also a train wreck.damn I've missed messing with hares mate

Lol I can't share nowt cause PS is updating but hey what a blast

I'm glad you got out there!

That makes me feel lucky, I only spent 30mins crawling to 'my' pair

The moment is always when you blink

 

[cymruchris]

I've fitted a few cameras in a few places that might be considered less straightforward - like this one at the top of a church tower for owl watching (Although he's not there quite so frequently at the moment) - livestream here:

https://rtsp.me/embed/tRn3b7Ei/

If you want something really reliable - you do need power - but you don't necessarily need mains at the box.

Would there be a possibility of running a single Cat5/6 network cable from the house to the box? (Assuming you want one single camera) You can get it on reels (outdoor weatherproof - usually black).

There's a couple of straightforward tools needed for crimping a network connector onto either end that can be had for around £25 total.

You then need a POE network switch in the house plugged into your existing router - these are fairly cheap - around £20ish for something that'd be suitable from someone like TP-Link.

POE is Power Over Ethernet - so what that does is it sends power down the network cable from the POE network switch that you'd plug into it down to the box - and you'd then buy a POE camera for that other end.

You then have the choice of which POE camera you use - there are several micro-birdbox style cameras - or you could even use a regular CCTV camera if the box is big enough.

Another option of course would be to have a POE Network video recorder which can be had for around £100 ish that could be used instead of the above mentioned POE network switch - the camera could plug directly in - and you'd then have the benefit of recording whatever is going on in the box as well. (Potentially with motion alerts so you know when you've had visitors). At a later date you could also plug in a couple of cameras for your own home security if you thought it worthwhile.

Doing it this way would do away with the need for wifi. That's a starting suggestion to see if you think that might be doable.

 

[cymruchris]

Another benefit to using a CCTV network video recorder and a regular CCTV camera would be that you could set up alerts for when there's any activity in your box - and with it recording - when things happen at daft o'clock in the morning (In the case of this morning - 03:47am), you can go back and watch what happened. (The camera here auto-zooms when it detects activity in a certain spot)

 

[Stuart Philpott]

Chris what a fantastic couple of posts thanks, SO MUCH for your time and wisdom let my try and dijest what you have said and comeback with some meaningful.well hopefully meaniingful it's me, they still might be stupid, Q's.

There is alot within your post that's way over my head Chris...I have no idea what a cat 5/6 cable is for example and my digital skills are legendary poor. I need to find some time to read a bit, which by the way this week has started will be hard hard won.