So I roughly have installed a 5442 6mm birdhouse camera on lamp post 50' from my front door....with tire slashing incursion discussion

[Holbs]

Broke the roof a little, will fix later. Gotta add some green leaves or fake ivy as well. But for now, it is working. 6' height aimed right down the street where it is the only entrance (it's slightly crooked for time being). It's primary purpose is to catch faces as folks walk towards my house. I may swap it out to a 5442 varifocal to get the 12mm focus instead of 6mm. Will test as is.
Question: can I add some black fabric to the front (or on the inside cavity) of the square lens hole? Or will that mess things up.

 

[sebastiantombs]

You could try some dark screen to maybe hide it, but keep in mind that will reduce the amount of light seen by the lens and the amount of IR going out the front. The only way to be sure it would work is try it.

 

[Old Timer]

I used fiberglass window screen, and had to pull it back to where it was against the camera. Otherwise it
screwed up the Ir or gave a halo around the picture.

 

[samplenhold]

Love that view!

So are you going to allow birds in? Like an upstairs apartment for them?

 

[TonyR]

Nice! What happened to the roof closest to the lamp post?

 

[Holbs]

Nice! What happened to the roof closest to the lamp post?

bought at auction. 2 of those bird houses (cedar) for $5. I'll transplant the other bird house's roof which has a side wall damage onto this one. Just wanted to make sure this works out.

 

[MrSurly]

Love it! I'd probably put some black screen to block the entry of birds....just to avoid whatever contamination of the box that would result. Clearly, if you did want let them in, you'd need to add a 'floor' over the cam and there wouldn't be much room anyway. I find that having a cam actually AT the STREET is HUGE for determining who done it. To reduce spiders, toss some mothballs inside.

 

[Holbs]

I used fiberglass window screen, and had to pull it back to where it was against the camera. Otherwise it
screwed up the Ir or gave a halo around the picture.

Did you pull the fabric tight against the lens and rubber band around lens housing?
My first night of testing, the IR made HUGE backsplash where could barely see anything. Switch to color mode and didn't look shabby at all. May go color mode 24/7.
I'll be adding some packing material (soft yellow spongy stuff) to the rear of the camera to help stabilize it. And no, no birds allowed I'll be adding a real bird house on other side of lamp post to give the appearance that everything is normal and I'll be adding Ivy leaves strands or such to spice up the appearance of the post/bracket. I still have to add my outdoor Bosch TriTech PIR that will point towards front door and my LPR camera (I think I gotta ditch that bush).
I ran 3 cat6 cables for network devices, #4 cat6 for the PIR, and a 24v stranded wire for the DC lamp lights (all underground rated wire in 50' of pvc).
Other side of driveway I have a single cat6 and a sing 24v stranded wire for future cam/PIR.

 

[samplenhold]

can I add some black fabric to the front (or on the inside cavity) of the square lens hole?

Why do you want ask this?

 

[handinpalm]

I understand you want to hide the lens, but I would not do anything to distort the image w/ screening in front of lens. I would think you want to get the best video, especially at night. What about moisture accumulation on screen?

 

[Holbs]

Why do you want ask this?

this points directly in the direction of rain/snow so thought of something on the front side to protect the lens. And also to hide it a tad bit.

 

[Holbs]

I understand you want to hide the lens, but I would not do anything to distort the image w/ screening in front of lens. I would think you want to get the best video, especially at night. What about moisture accumulation on screen?

if I used IR, total whiteout splash. This is just a rough draft. I may re-do and drill a wide enough hole for the entire lens to pop into the hole. Will be doing some testing as time goes on.

 

[MrSurly]

if I used IR, total whiteout splash. This is just a rough draft. I may re-do and drill a wide enough hole for the entire lens to pop into the hole. Will be doing some testing as time goes on.

The IR lens, I believe on the 5442, is below the rectangular cutout of the lens opening, therefore it is also below the rectangular cutout in the birdhouse so it's lighting the back of the wood.

 

[MrSurly]

You might do well to simply drill say, a 3/4" hole in line with the IR lens, rather than make the slot way bigger.

 

[Holbs]

The IR lens, I believe on the 5442, is below the rectangular cutout of the lens opening, therefore it is also below the rectangular cutout in the birdhouse so it's lighting the back of the wood.

shhhh... I didn't realize that til last night I should of cut the rectangular opening up/down instead of left/right. I'm known around these parts for making mistakes!

 

[Holbs]

what's funny.... my first hobby is wood working. Sawstop 52"/Unisaw 52", 15" planer, 8" jointer, 3HP dust collector...bleh bleh bleh. However, due to these security events, had to stash my work vehicle inside my shop in haste (everything basically thrown to the sides). Once things settle down, I'll build some cedar/redwood bird house condo's on top with camera below and all that jazz. For now, I'm just trying to get things in operation and will fill in the details later.

 

[Old Timer]

I drilled a larger hole, and stuck the camera where it was partially out of the hole.
I used a plastic box, so it was thinner, so the camera was closer. I tried to use double sticky tape,
but it let go the first wind. I ended up cutting it the size of the lens and the IR led, then stuck it down with
gaffers tape. Gaffers tape does not lose the adhesive, so I use it for all sorts of things duck tape would goof up.

 

[Holbs]

btw, lots of other birdhouse camera placements and mailbox methods. I'll be doing a search after work to see some inspirations, do's/don'ts.

 

[Old Timer]

Otherwise, you could use one hole for the lens, and another hole put a IR in it.

Any surface will refflect IR, just depends on the surface how much, that's how we get the image at night.

 

[Old Timer]

btw, lots of other birdhouse camera placements and mailbox methods. I'll be doing a search after work to see some inspirations, do's/don'ts.

I have seen some deep mailboxes that have plenty of room for cameras, and still hold your vacation mail.