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Quick weatherproof camera box.

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Offline ahull

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #190 on: 18 / February / 2014, 18:12:54 »
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Quote from: Microfunguy on 18 / February / 2014, 16:20:46
Just starting to build a total of eight timelapse enclosures and incorporating some new design features.

Spring is on its way at last.

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This season, the cameras will turn on for just eight hours a day.
that means a 6V 12Ah battery should last three weeks before changing.

How are you arranging the eight hour on power cycle? Do I detect yet another use for a microconroller, or are you using some sort of mechanical timer? What rate are you taking the pictures?

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I may visit the locations more often than that just to check for any problems.

What problems have you had in the past? The main issue round here is the weather, things tend to blow around quite a lot at this time of the year.

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The power button will be permanently depressed.
The attached image shows a way of doing this.

The 3mm thick pvc channel has just enough give to open up and locate two pads on the channel inner surfaces into the viewfinder front and rear windows.

A 3mm screw presses the shutter button.

Neat idea, I hadn't thought of doing it that way, I've used cable ties, but they are a little hit and miss, not to say fiddly.
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #191 on: 18 / February / 2014, 18:27:19 »
Quote from: ahull on 18 / February / 2014, 18:12:54
Do I detect yet another use for a microconroller

Yes.

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What rate are you taking the pictures?
For the woodlands, last year was every five minutes, one day played as 3 seconds.
I may make it every 15 minutes so that one day plays as one second.

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What problems have you had in the past?
In the field, none really except on one occasion the window seemed to have condensation for a short time and maybe something crawled over it.
Memory card filling up some days before I visited.

The rain shield had slots that fitted over the raised lugs on the food container and this made fitting the lid difficult and with the danger of moving the camera.

The bird boxes on Ebay that I ordered had incorrect published dimensions so I got a 50% refund.

That means I will have to make my own boxes ............ very soon.
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #192 on: 20 / February / 2014, 10:03:55 »
A word of warning to those considering long-duration, unattended timelapse.

When changing the battery today on my garden snowdrops timelapse, I noticed the last photo was taken five days ago rather than just ten minutes ago.

Could be worse but long durations are risky.

(I reconnoitered the woodland today where I will be installing five 'bird boxes'.
Will need a roof rack for my car so that I can take a ladder and mount the boxes out-of-reach.)

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Offline ahull

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #193 on: 20 / February / 2014, 11:28:31 »
Quote from: Microfunguy on 11 / February / 2014, 12:33:31
Have not decided if there will be a filter.

It occurs to me, a filter will keep out the wildlife and the weather. We don't want any birds mistaking those bird boxes for er... bird boxes now, do we. 
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #194 on: 20 / February / 2014, 11:40:17 »
Quote from: ahull on 20 / February / 2014, 11:28:31
a filter will keep out the wildlife and the weather.

A tricky call  ......... it is more likely to get rain on it  and I cannot imagine any crawling things two metres up a tree trunk taking an interest.

In addition, the hole will be pointing downwards at 45 degrees and there will be a roof overhanging it.

I have used downward facing cameras without a filter before.
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Offline JvdP

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #195 on: 27 / February / 2014, 16:14:07 »
Quote from: ahull on 18 / February / 2014, 07:35:45
:D I like it.. particularly the "safety harness" (bit of string) to stop it falling on unsuspecting passers by.

Any chance of sharing a few of the results?

How "weather proof" has it proved to be?

How did you get on with sealing the filter hood, or did you just use friction (which seems to work reasonably well, even in not so sunny Scotland)?

Here it is:

http://youtu.be/pQ40B1FZPII

As you can see, I live in a rather wet city.  Sometimes they call it the "Capital or Rain". But when I opened the box after several days there was not even a single drop inside! Surprisingly good.

I have put silicone between the lens hood connection and the box, just to be sure. It doesn't have to be pretty and I didn't want to take any risks. I even dismantled the filter and put silicone between the glass and the metal frame ring.

Rain on the lens is quite an annoying problem. Hope to test my hydrophobic filter soon. It has arrived! I'm scared to test it and get disappointed. For the money I paid it I expect amazing results...


I'm also thinking of using HDR lapse since there are rather big contrasts at sun up and sun down. The lights in the parking place are also quite overpowering. But I'm not sure if I want to use HDRlapse, it doesn't have as much cool functions as ultimate.lua has.
« Last Edit: 27 / February / 2014, 17:08:08 by JvdP »
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #196 on: 27 / February / 2014, 19:11:11 »
Quote from: JvdP on 27 / February / 2014, 16:14:07
I'm also thinking of using HDR lapse since there are rather big contrasts at sun up and sun down. The lights in the parking place are also quite overpowering. But I'm not sure if I want to use HDRlapse, it doesn't have as much cool functions as ultimate.lua has.
As the author of both scripts,  I can say that it would be pretty easy to add the "HDR" function to ultimate.lua if you are interested in going down that route.
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Offline JvdP

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #197 on: 01 / March / 2014, 09:59:32 »
Quote from: waterwingz on 27 / February / 2014, 19:11:11
As the author of both scripts,  I can say that it would be pretty easy to add the "HDR" function to ultimate.lua if you are interested in going down that route.
Would definately improve ultimate.lua. You might have to start calling it ultimate^2  ::)
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #198 on: 05 / March / 2014, 11:31:57 »
Well, it took longer than expected to make eight new timelapse rigs.

I hope to fit the four DIY 'bird boxes' tomorrow.

Today, I installed the first of the four 'lunch box' rigs.
I dropped the power cable onto the ground and the jack was clogged with mud.
Will fit the cleaned connector on Friday.

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Offline JvdP

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #199 on: 05 / March / 2014, 12:11:30 »
I've also noticed it takes quite some time to make the boxes. These "quick" camera boxes I've made turn out to be not so quick at all.  :-[ But I think it has a lot to do with my level of perfectionism.

What battery are you using? How long do you expect the camera to run?

The camera seems quite accessible by anyone, are you not afraid that people will take it or perhaps touch it and therefore move it?
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