IP Camera as a Camera Trap

TRLcam

TRLcam

Getting comfortable
Apr 16, 2014
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Nebraska!
This project monitors a milkweed plant 24/7 to record plant growth and the many pollinators that help.

The equipment setup includes a remote IP security camera modified for close focus and infrared illumination.

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The plant holder is a Wimberley PP-400 held in place with a little camo duct tape.

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For power and internet connectivity we used a small trailer pulled by a ATV. On the trailer is a 150 watt solar panel, a weatherproof box containing the electronics and a external omni-directional cellular antenna on a mast.

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In the box is a deep cycle marine battery, a 20 amp MPPT charge controller and charge system monitor. To connect and power the camera there is a POE switch, step-up power inverter, a cellular modem and router.

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The IP camera is set up to take a picture every five minutes and record video when motion is detected. The still images are uploaded immediately to an FTP server to be viewed by the camera operator. The camera buffers five seconds of video at all times. When motion is detected the camera starts recording five seconds before actual motion detection and continues to record five seconds after motion ceases. Using this feature allows the user to see the insect arrive into the frame and depart. The video is recorded to a micro SD card in the camera and retrieved over the cellular link. Using a cellular link also enables the camera operator to stream live video, adjust the motion detection and camera settings remotely.

The video below is a timelapse of images taken over two consecutive nights.

 
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This is awesome! I love seeing cameras set up for things other than security.

What else do you have going on at this farm/property?
 
Just one thing, your IR light may have some influence over the plant growth, could be interesting to see how it reacts and compare with other plants around.
 
Questions like that are out of my pay grade. I'm just the camera monkey. :)
 
Awesome
 
DavidDavid said:
Those are some amazing videos.

Is that first one actually underwater? If so, @CaliGirl will be interested to see that....
Click to expand...

The stock Hikvision camera was actually sealed pretty well. I added a little silicone from a dive housing to the rubber gasket and that was about it. The camera is only under about six inches of water.

Here is the same clip with sound.

 
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Dodutils said:
Just one thing, your IR light may have some influence over the plant growth, could be interesting to see how it reacts and compare with other plants around.
Click to expand...

And the number and type of insects attracted. The IR on these things is like a bug magnet.
 
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No special housing. Stock Hikvision camera. The only change was to open the housing and apply some o-ring gasket grease from a scuba housing to the rubber gasket. The camera was only under about six inches of water so not much pressure.
 
Fish soundtrack was nice.
After a few chords, I was expecting the theme from "Jaws"
Milkweed is crucial for Monarch Butterflies. Is that what's motivating this milkweed cam?
 
Yes, mostly the monarch but also to see what other pollinators are servicing the plant.
 
Very cool! I imagine with plants etc. you'd get a lot of motion-detection false-positives?

Does your cellular sim have a fixed public IP? or are you using a VPN to allow incoming connections?
 
Correct....it is usually windy here so motion detect is useless. The camera was set to send a still image to our FTP server every few minutes.

We have a m2m account with Verizon and pay for static IP on all the cell modems.
 
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