recommendations for night/motion camera

[zekeandbelle]

hello all,

I'm looking for recommendations regarding what you use to monitor your colony at night. I've modified my owl cages for this coming season and think I'd like to upgrade the camera I've used the last few years. I have to make sure that old great horned isn't getting too smart! thankfully, there have been no attacks since I built cages a few years ago. thanks much,

jan

[flyin-lowe]

Not sure how they would work but I feel like the Blink cameras might be good in this application. I have them on my house for security purposes. They are wireless and run off of wifi. Good thing about them is that they are motion activated and send notification and video directly to your phone. So you could set one up near your housing and if an owl (or anything else for that matter) came within range of the camera it will kick on, start recording, and send the video to your phone.

There is a "sync module" that is plugged in in your house and your camera needs to be within 100 feet of that, so that would be the limitations (wifi and the distance of your housing from your house). The good thing about the cameras is that all the video goes to cloud storage so there is not DVR or anything and there is no monthly fee, you buy the cameras and everything else is included. Since the martins are not out and about at night you could aim a camera at your housing and turn it on after dark. Since they are motion activated and don't record all the time the battery life is great. I am over 2 years on mine and have only had to replace one battery out of my 4 cameras (3 outside and one inside). The night video quality is good to, definitely enough to see what is setting off the cameras.

They also have a live view feature so if you wanted to (day or night) you could kick the camera on from your phone and see what is going on.

[KathyF]

Not sure how they would work but I feel like the Blink cameras might be good in this application. I have them on my house for security purposes. They are wireless and run off of wifi. Good thing about them is that they are motion activated and send notification and video directly to your phone. So you could set one up near your housing and if an owl (or anything else for that matter) came within range of the camera it will kick on, start recording, and send the video to your phone.

There is a "sync module" that is plugged in in your house and your camera needs to be within 100 feet of that, so that would be the limitations (wifi and the distance of your housing from your house). The good thing about the cameras is that all the video goes to cloud storage so there is not DVR or anything and there is no monthly fee, you buy the cameras and everything else is included. Since the martins are not out and about at night you could aim a camera at your housing and turn it on after dark. Since they are motion activated and don't record all the time the battery life is great. I am over 2 years on mine and have only had to replace one battery out of my 4 cameras (3 outside and one inside). The night video quality is good to, definitely enough to see what is setting off the cameras.

They also have a live view feature so if you wanted to (day or night) you could kick the camera on from your phone and see what is going on.

Hello Flyin - long time no talk.

Do you have any screen captures you can share to show the example quality of the video....or link to a sample video? My camera is kinda cheap and I really would like to upgrade. I like the wireless & wifi options. My racks are 75' from my porch
Here's a sample video from mine: https://youtu.be/tjeS-OZtpcM
A racoon attempted to climb all three poles. Not the best quality video though.

[flyin-lowe]

Hey Kathy....
I don't have any videos currently uploaded anywhere that I could link to. My gut instinct is that the Blink cameras are a little better quality then what you have but I am not sure if that is because of the distance that you have yours from your housing or not. I have mine near the entrances to my house and barn so they are not focused on objects that far away. I did find a video that shows a few examples and some of the settings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RODc1IaHyfg

I really like these cameras for home use. The only issue I have is that in the fall when we get a cool morning then a warm sunny afternoon the wasps and house flies are crawling around by place and get on the cameras and set them off. Other then that time of year we don't have too many false trips once you get them set up and get the sensitivity set. The new version of their outdoor cameras also has 2 way audio now so you can talk back and forth to people.