DIY Security camera electronics

[warsaw_hive]

Yes I know you can buy security cameras ready made, but for various reasons I've rejected them.

I sell all my honey from a little stall at the end of the drive. It adjoins quite a busy tourist footpath, but there are no passing cars and is generally off the radar of the local kids. Last year was my first year of selling honey and I went practically the full year without a theft. It all seemed so easy. This year has been totally different, something is being taken at least once a month. I'm pretty sure it is a local person(s), I know for a fact some smashed jars were due to a local troubled kid so they are one of my chief suspects. It is spoiling the enjoyment and something now needs to be done.

I'd like to put a hidden camera in the stall that records who is interacting with it. It just needs to save pictures to an SD card which I will only look at if there is a problem. For this I've been looking at an esp32-cam board that is triggered by an am312 pir sensor. What I'm unsure of (and the reason for this post) is powering it. People who use this forum seem to have a range of skills so I'm hoping there is an electronics whizz here.

A few months ago in anticipation that I might have to do something I bought a 4 pack of Lidl AA rechargable batteries when they were on offer for a few quid. So ideally I'd like to use them. 4 x 1.2V gives me 4.8V which is enough to feed into the 5V line of the esp32-cam. That seems the simplest way to do it, but I think probably not the most power efficient.

The esp32 actually uses a voltage between 3 and 3.6v. 3 x 1.2v gives 3.6V, but that'll probably be higher on fully charged batteries so something will be needed to bring it down a notch. Or I could boost 2.4v (from two batteries) up to 3v. Any ideas on what is the most efficient way to do either of these to save battery discharge?

I've also thought about ditching the PIR and putting a door on the stall that activates a push switch. I could then fully disconnect the battery when not in use, but the problem then becomes cleanly powering it down so I don't corrupt the SD card.

Anyone done anything similar?

 

[enrico]

Buy a wildlife type camera, a trail camera. They are great and will give you a set amount of video from the moment they are triggered.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Agree with enrico.
One thing comes to mind though
What would you do with any evidence? Confront the thief yourself putting yourself in danger or pass it to the police who would do nothing?

 

[JamezF]

Agree with enrico.
One thing comes to mind though
What would you do with any evidence? Confront the thief yourself putting yourself in danger or pass it to the police who would do nothing?

These days you probably post it on youtube

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

These days you probably post it on youtube

James

yes but then what?
I’ve had honey and money nicked at the gate. Stopped selling it there.

 

[JamezF]

Actually, around here I've occasionally seen people post such stuff (doorbell camera footage and suchlike) on FB groups for the local area.

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

These days you probably post it on youtube

James

I think I posted a bit on here a few years ago when I had a jar of honey stolen from my shelves by a group of young girls. They managed to hide the theft from a camera that is on the wall above the shelves but I also have another camera secreted in the WBC hive that acts as a signboard for my honey sales.
After discovering the theft I went on the local Facebook page describing the girls and indicated that I had film of the theft and it would be nice if the honey was returned.
Within 30mins there was a knock on the door with two parents and three girls apologising and offering to pay for the theft.

 

[robmort]

LiFePO4 cells at 3.2V are the best and cheapest for the ESP32 with a huge capacity. But a wildlife camera is the easiest to use.

 

[warsaw_hive]

LiFePO4 cells at 3.2V are the best and cheapest for the ESP32 with a huge capacity. But a wildlife camera is the easiest to use.

Thanks, I'd seen those. They still seem quite exotic and hard to get hold of? 1500mAh is about 8 quid for an unbranded battery?

There is nowhere I can really hide a wildlife camera or position it without capturing every passing walker.

 

[warsaw_hive]

What would you do with any evidence? Confront the thief yourself putting yourself in danger or pass it to the police who would do nothing?

This is the problem. The kid that broke the jars has been accused of some pretty disturbing things with a zombie knife. I know his mother though so in some ways he would be the easiest to deal with.

My other suspect has hyper protective parents, and I've been warned that I should not accuse their kid of anything.

But I think there is an adult thief too. Somebody is regularly leaving only 1 or 2 pounds for a jar.

 

[robmort]

Thanks, I'd seen those. They still seem quite exotic and hard to get hold of? 1500mAh is about 8 quid for an unbranded battery?

Plenty on Ebay for example, 6Ah for £7.00

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Yes I know you can buy security cameras ready made, but for various reasons I've rejected them.

I sell all my honey from a little stall at the end of the drive. It adjoins quite a busy tourist footpath, but there are no passing cars and is generally off the radar of the local kids. Last year was my first year of selling honey and I went practically the full year without a theft. It all seemed so easy. This year has been totally different, something is being taken at least once a month. I'm pretty sure it is a local person(s), I know for a fact some smashed jars were due to a local troubled kid so they are one of my chief suspects. It is spoiling the enjoyment and something now needs to be done.

I'd like to put a hidden camera in the stall that records who is interacting with it. It just needs to save pictures to an SD card which I will only look at if there is a problem. For this I've been looking at an esp32-cam board that is triggered by an am312 pir sensor. What I'm unsure of (and the reason for this post) is powering it. People who use this forum seem to have a range of skills so I'm hoping there is an electronics whizz here.

A few months ago in anticipation that I might have to do something I bought a 4 pack of Lidl AA rechargable batteries when they were on offer for a few quid. So ideally I'd like to use them. 4 x 1.2V gives me 4.8V which is enough to feed into the 5V line of the esp32-cam. That seems the simplest way to do it, but I think probably not the most power efficient.

The esp32 actually uses a voltage between 3 and 3.6v. 3 x 1.2v gives 3.6V, but that'll probably be higher on fully charged batteries so something will be needed to bring it down a notch. Or I could boost 2.4v (from two batteries) up to 3v. Any ideas on what is the most efficient way to do either of these to save battery discharge?

I've also thought about ditching the PIR and putting a door on the stall that activates a push switch. I could then fully disconnect the battery when not in use, but the problem then becomes cleanly powering it down so I don't corrupt the SD card.

Anyone done anything similar?

Not for bee related matters but a few weeks ago I bought a trail camera on ebay plus 64Mb TF card, some lithium batteries and charger. All together came to around 60.00 The unit had obviously been tested as there was a 2023 date set in its memory which took some figuring out to remove and set right. It works just fine and the batteries are supposed to last months between charges. I've fixed it to a tree to look for deer in the far paddock.

 

[warsaw_hive]

Plenty on Ebay for example, 6Ah for £7.00

I'm pretty keen not to burn my house down so I won't be buying batteries, chargers etc off eBay. I also suspect they'll be a pain to recycle. But thanks for the suggestion.

I was hoping I could do something simple like lower the voltage from three AA rechargeable batteries with a schottky or geranium diode.

 

[robmort]

Nothing wrong with most Ebay suppliers. Batteries are as easy to recycle as any others.

Diodes are a bad choice, but voltage regulators boards are efficient and cheap.

 

[Erichalfbee]

This is the problem. The kid that broke the jars has been accused of some pretty disturbing things with a zombie knife. I know his mother though so in some ways he would be the easiest to deal with.

My other suspect has hyper protective parents, and I've been warned that I should not accuse their kid of anything.

But I think there is an adult thief too. Somebody is regularly leaving only 1 or 2 pounds for a jar.

It’s very discouraging. You act in good faith and this happens.

 

[warsaw_hive]

Diodes are a bad choice

Could you expand on that? It's been a few decades since I messed with electronics and that was at a very basic level.

but voltage regulators boards are efficient and cheap

Well I think I've read the built in regulator uses something like 6mA. Assuming my cheapo 2500mAh batteries actually give me something like 2/3rds of that, then they'll be flat in 10 days or so. If I turn it on and off every day i could eek it out to a month maybe. Pretty rubbish when the blink camera can theoretically last 2 years.

Searching for an LDO regulator doesn't immediately throw up an ideal candidate. The MCP1700 would be great (uses micro amps) except it only has a maximum current of 250mA. That I think rules out WiFi if I ever want to go down that route. Even with WiFi off I'm not sure if I'd maybe temporarily exceed that. More research needed.

The LF33CV can handle 500mA, but uses 0.5mA. It would need 4 AA batteries to be connected, which actually suits some chargers better since some operate in pairs.

The MCP1825 is a 3V regulator and uses 0.2mA. Not sure if 3V would potentially inhibit the range of WiFi if I was to go down that route.

Any suggestions? A regulator also needs 2 capacitors so we're into designing circuits territory.

 

[warsaw_hive]

It’s very discouraging. You act in good faith and this happens.

Yes but there are way more honest people.

 

[JamezF]

If you have a higher voltage supply than you need, could you use a Buck converter? They're supposed to be fairly efficient as far as I recall and they're sufficiently widely used for these sorts of projects that I'd hope it wouldn't be too hard to source one with the correct outputs.

James

 

[warsaw_hive]

If you have a higher voltage supply than you need, could you use a Buck converter? They're supposed to be fairly efficient as far as I recall and they're sufficiently widely used for these sorts of projects that I'd hope it wouldn't be too hard to source one with the correct outputs.

James

Thanks for that. Searching eBay for buck converter came up with an adafruit MPM3610 TLV62569 board. That would probably do the job.

 

[Anduril]

Alternatively you could go to this site and ask questions.

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/