Camera on mailbox 6x6 post

[DanPOE]

I'm looking for ideas and suggestions.

My goal is to have a POE camera mounted externally to my wood 4x4 mailbox post which sits next to the street, the house is 125ft from the street. The camera should be seen as innocuous and ignored by anyone looking at it. I should be able to route the cable through the post in order to hide the cable and limit tampering. The quality of the camera should be high enough so license plates are legible.

Correction: The post is 6x6

 

[VorlonFrog]

The Dahua "mini-dome" / "wedge" models are about as non-obvious as you could get.
You could additionally paint the white case any color (including camo!) to better blend into the post.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Just remember that LPR is an art unto itself. The camera becomes dedicated to that purpose and that purpose only. At night the only thing you'll see is a black screen, head/tail lights and a license plate.

New to LPR? Considerations Before You Begin

Thought I would throw together a post on my experiences so far with LPR in an effort to help others that are considering running down that rabbit hole. There are some practical considerations you should know about LPR. I am approaching this from the position of using Blue Iris and Plate...

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LPR

Licence Plate Reader cameras

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Review-Dahua IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E AI Varifocal Bullet

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[DanPOE]

I'm not not going to worry about LPR.. I only want the plate legible if needed at a later point.

 

[Rob2020]

I do not think you are going to get an inconspicuous (or innocuous if you prefer) LPR camera on your mailbox.

I would recommend hiding in the nearby greenery, possibly in a birdhouse or fake utility box.

 

[sebastiantombs]

You don't want LPR but you want to read a plate? Reading a plate is LPR, License Plate Recognition.

 

[DanPOE]

I added a more accurate photo that closely matches what I have.

Unfortunately I don't have an option of any nearby vegetation.

Possible the best option might be to mount a camera within the newspaper box and have a hole out the side?

 

[DanPOE]

You don't want LPR but you want to read a plate? Reading a plate is LPR, License Plate Recognition.

Correct no LPR. I simply want it legible for later investigation if an event occurs.

 

[sebastiantombs]

If you want a legible plate you are doing LPR, no way around that. The camera settings are quite specific to each situation when doing that which makes the camera dedicated to that single purpose. Go ahead, try to do it some other way successfully. If there were another way there wouldn't be the threads I linked to discussing how to go about it. There are cameras with AI that will do what you want, dedicated to LPR only, but bring your checkbook to that party because they're typically three or four times the price of a "normal" camera. We're not talking about Hollywood movies, this is real life without a special effects department. At a minimum it takes a varifocal and, depending on the distance, a lens with a maximum of 12mm to 64mm. Then you may need additional IR light for night captures. It's not just a point and shoot project.

 

[DanPOE]

If you want a legible plate you are doing LPR, no way around that. The camera settings are quite specific to each situation when doing that which makes the camera dedicated to that single purpose. Go ahead, try to do it some other way successfully. If there were another way there wouldn't be the threads I linked to discussing how to go about it. There are cameras with AI that will do what you want, dedicated to LPR only, but bring your checkbook to that party because they're typically three or four times the price of a "normal" camera. We're not talking about Hollywood movies, this is real life without a special effects department. At a minimum it takes a varifocal and, depending on the distance, a lens with a maximum of 12mm to 64mm. Then you may need additional IR light for night captures. It's not just a point and shoot project.

Yes.. I might need an LPR-level camera. I just don't have the need to run LPR software.

I'm thinking that vehicles will be about 20 ft away as they pass if the camera is angled towards the road. So the lens choice will be important?

I have existing Dahua with a 10-120mm lens but is is sort of long and I don't see it fitting within the newspaper box area. The width of the area would be about 5".

Though I could replace the entire newspaper box with a new contraption made to hold a camera and IR.

 

[DanPOE]

I suppose my plan-B could be to use a camera mounted to the house with a higher zoom and point it towards a turn-around area of the road.

 

[sebastiantombs]

AT 20 feet a standard varifocal would work. I'd use a 5442B-ZE bullet for that at that range. It's not a "small" camera by any measure though. Alternately a 5442T-ZE is the equivalent in a turret form factor and may fit onto a 6x6 post but it'll be a pretty large bulge on the post. Co-locating the IR with the camera isn't the best solution, attracts too many bugs but with a 20 foot range you probably wouldn't need auxiliary IR.

 

[DanPOE]

AT 20 feet a standard varifocal would work. I'd use a 5442B-ZE bullet for that at that range. It's not a "small" camera by any measure though. Alternately a 5442T-ZE is the equivalent in a turret form factor and may fit onto a 6x6 post but it'll be a pretty large bulge on the post. Co-locating the IR with the camera isn't the best solution, attracts too many bugs but with a 20 foot range you probably wouldn't need auxiliary IR.

Thank you. Having a camera 'hidden' is possibly the biggest problem. Back to the drawing-board I think.

 

[mat200]

I'm looking for ideas and suggestions.

My goal is to have a POE camera mounted externally to my wood 4x4 mailbox post which sits next to the street, the house is 125ft from the street. The camera should be seen as innocuous and ignored by anyone looking at it. I should be able to route the cable through the post in order to hide the cable and limit tampering. The quality of the camera should be high enough so license plates are legible.

Correction: The post is 6x6

see;

Mailbox Camera

A few months ago I was taking out the trash and while walking down the driveway I noticed a car stopping at our mailbox, opening it and driving away. It was dark so I know it was not the rural mail carrier. We live in a rural area and have had occasions of missing mail in the past. We don't have...

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also

Birdhouse LPR with the HFW5241E-Z12E

So Ive been helping a buddy install a camera system over the past few months on weekends when we both can, and we've just about finished. (minus the Barn ptz GOAT cam we hope to have installed next week) Its a good sized lot and he had asked me to spec out the cameras and placement for him as...

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[DanPOE]

see;

Cool solutions. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[mat200]

Cool solutions. Thanks for the ideas.

@MrSurly did a great job also on a mailbox camera .. do check it out

Mailbox Hide, Newbie Down the Rabbit Hole

I decided that I really needed some street view cameras... long before I realized it would start me down the path to ipcams and Blue Iris. I knew where I wanted cameras, right at the street, in the mailbox and at least somewhat hidden. I schemed about Wi-Fi and solar panels, batteries, voltage...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Griswalduk]

See the Following link for some construction ideas courtesy of Norm on the New Yankee Workshop.

 

[wittaj]

Correct no LPR. I simply want it legible for later investigation if an event occurs.

You can purpose almost any Dahua camera to be able to read plates if it has the right focal length for the distance being covered.

But at night this isn't going to be "hey I have this camera to catch cars go by and see people walking and get the plate."

The shutter needs to be faster than the available light to see an image. We are using the reflective properties of a plate to read it from infrared bounce.

As others have said, it will be a black image and all you will see are the head/tail lights and the plate. So if you want to also be able to see other stuff, then you need two cameras.

Here is what our cameras being used to visibly read plates look like:

 

[samplenhold]

Check out this thread on setting up cams for LPR. I have two LPR cams running but do not use "LPR software". Daytime caps of plates are pretty straight forward. It is dusk, dawn, and night that are much harder.

LPR Case Study: Scoping, Planning, Proof of Concept, Installation, & Results

Introduction This thread is about my journey into LPR (License Plate Recognition) after having about 18 months of experience with IP cams and having quite a bit of my system finished. I am not an expert on LPR, or IP cameras either. But I have spent a lot of time working with my system and...

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[DanPOE]

Thanks all for suggestions. There are some street lights so I might get away without needing IR and rely on reflection.

The cameras recommended would be perfect if my camera placement restrictions were not a problem.

I wonder if I could deconstruct the camera body to make it fit in a tight space.