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laurangutan

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Hello,
Can anyone recommend a webcam for use in a National hive please, and where the best place would be to place it? If my hive is not near electricity / a router is it going to be possible to have a web cam at all :/?
Thanks Laurangutan
 
You probably need to look at an iP cctv camera.

As it's waterproof and designed to go outside.
Runs off 12 v (so battery maybe with small solar panel)
Can link via wifi

If you have no router , wifi

Then you will have to go, standalone I.e Record to sd card type camera or a camera with similar card phone link very expensive.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk
 
is it so you can watch at home? or just to look when you there?
as a small webcam will work, just have the lead exiting the hive, plug it into a laptop which provides the power and you could watch and record whilst at the hive, your downside is the bees will probably cover it in propolis or comb
 
Thank you for the replies so far. The idea is to have a live TV in a local school and a few other places too (If I can connect to wifi). As you can see I have no clue about this sort of technology, so any help is very much appreciated.
 
Thank you for the replies so far. The idea is to have a live TV in a local school and a few other places too (If I can connect to wifi). As you can see I have no clue about this sort of technology, so any help is very much appreciated.

in that case, look in maplins, they do cctv sets that are wireless, but am sure their techs could talk you through a set up
 
The issues is that i need a very small cam that can be place within the hive as opposed to outside it; one with IR / night-vision as I guess it will always be dark in the hive.
 
you might want to think about a cage that can easily be soaked in soda as you dont want to scrape propolis off your lens...
 
The issues is that i need a very small cam that can be place within the hive as opposed to outside it; one with IR / night-vision as I guess it will always be dark in the hive.

thats why I suggest a usb facecam, as some come with lights attached, I saw a clip once where the camera man simply drilled a hole in the side of the hive and pushed a bullet camera in, flush with the inside, then removed it every other day for a wipe clean
 
The issues is that i need a very small cam that can be place within the hive as opposed to outside it; one with IR / night-vision as I guess it will always be dark in the hive.

You won't buy this off the shelve. I stream video remotely for something else using an external camera over the Internet, that bit isn't hard. Putting an IR camera inside a hive and having any useable images would be tricky.

Why not build an observation hive and put a camera on that?
 
ok, another idea, you could use a trail camera, set to video rather than picture, it has IR on it, and can either be set for movement detection, or at set intervals, now you couldn't stream it to a tv, but by saving it all onto the SD card, you could then take the card home (replacing with another) and edit all those 20 second clips together to create a short film, which you could then show to the kids weekly, it would capture everything nicely,

heres what I mean, this film was made using 20 second clips, on a pheasant feeder, you'll see though that when using IR its black and white
a trail camera can be bought for around £70 an upwards

http://youtu.be/JYrr_Pivfy4
 
The issues is that i need a very small cam that can be place within the hive as opposed to outside it; one with IR / night-vision as I guess it will always be dark in the hive.
Any camera inside will have a limited vision (looking down one bee space) and quickly be covered in propolis and probably wax. There are examples of cameras pointing at entrances or into an apiary in general, the usual weatherproofing questions apply.

Your choices are either general security cameras which might not focus close in but are often designed to be mounted outside or something similar to what people mount in bird boxes. The picture could be analogue, either by a co-ax cable (like a television aerial but RF signal) or wireless (not usually wifi) that would be to a monitor, a CCTV recorder or specialised board in a computer. Or it could be a digital signal. Digital could be a computer network cable (cat5, say), wifi (if there's a decent signal) or USB cable (webcam style). All the variants apart from webcam need their own power supplies, a webcam has a limited cable length from a computer (5m or so, but there are extenders). All come at various price points and weather resisting qualities. More variants than could be covered here. As suggested Maplin is a reasonable starting point to see what CCTV, webcam and other camera setups actually look like.
 
Any camera inside will have a limited vision (looking down one bee space) and quickly be covered in propolis and probably wax. There are examples of cameras pointing at entrances or into an apiary in general, the usual weatherproofing questions apply.

Your choices are either general security cameras which might not focus close in but are often designed to be mounted outside or something similar to what people mount in bird boxes. The picture could be analogue, either by a co-ax cable (like a television aerial but RF signal) or wireless (not usually wifi) that would be to a monitor, a CCTV recorder or specialised board in a computer. Or it could be a digital signal. Digital could be a computer network cable (cat5, say), wifi (if there's a decent signal) or USB cable (webcam style). All the variants apart from webcam need their own power supplies, a webcam has a limited cable length from a computer (5m or so, but there are extenders). All come at various price points and weather resisting qualities. More variants than could be covered here. As suggested Maplin is a reasonable starting point to see what CCTV, webcam and other camera setups actually look like.

EBay is your friend. A very basic small infra red cctv camera with inbuilt illuminator as used in nest cams can be as cheap as £8.00, plus a suitable cable and a 12 v power supply would give a package sub £20.00 The output can be viewed via a tv composite input. You can add a dvr and router at extra cost
 
Hi
Anyone using a webcam to monitor the comings and goings at the hive entrance and inspections
I would like to stream the activity at the entrance and our inspections to some monitors around our place of work. There is a power supply and an option to connect to the works intranet via a cable.
Anyone with any suggestions or experience in setting one up.
Thanks
 
Hi
Anyone using a webcam to monitor the comings and goings at the hive entrance and inspections
I would like to stream the activity at the entrance and our inspections to some monitors around our place of work. There is a power supply and an option to connect to the works intranet via a cable.
Anyone with any suggestions or experience in setting one up.
Thanks

Not specifically with bees, but I've had decent luck with the Hikvision security IP cameras, can be cabled (poe or wall wart) or wifi with wall wart. My only concern would be how close/focusing in enough detail
 
my advise would be to look at making one using a raspberry pi, that way you can get a small camera to go inside the hive then have the wires runing outside to a box.
As it's going to a local school they might be able to help with the programing (if not they is enough guides on the internet for raspberry pi web cameras)
 
I've tried a USB endoscope camera inside a hive as it comes with tiny LED on the end. But it hooks straight to a phone or laptop, don't know about wireless ones. But as far camera ideas goes, it might be worth a look.
They are only about £7 and good fun, even just looking in your ears or up your nose, lol.
 
Have a look at this on FleaBay

SJCAM SJ4000 WIFI 12MP HD 1080P Sports DV Action DV DVR Camera CAM Camcorder

May be of use
 

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