Today, my husband and I went on a very romantic anniversary trip to the lab for bloodwork, followed by a breakfast date. 😂
It was supposed to be a lunch date, but we were done too quickly, and the place we went to only had a breakfast menu. Ah, well. It was accessible, in budget, and my husband got to enjoy a rare time out of the house.
We were done early enough to stop at the post office before it closed for several hours over lunch. I knew the bulbs for my aquarium/grow light fixture would be in, but it turned out we had another package in early.
Part of it was more reflective cat collars (I’ve already removed all the bells) with breakaway collars for the fixed outside cats. We still have lots, but some of the cats have been losing theirs. While we’ve sometimes been able to find them again, undamaged, we’ve had to replace others completely. I want to have plenty available to use as we get more of the cats spayed and neutered.
I’ve had this brand of cat trimmer recommended to me, as something that is very quiet, so the noise doesn’t scare the cats. It was also highly rated on Amazon. Plus, it’s cordless. When it came on sale, I was finally able to pick it up.
The cat graphics on the packaging are rather terrifying, though. Yikes!
If you scroll through the images, you’ll see the contents. It’s got quite a range of clipper guards.
For our uses, though, we will probably have no guard at all, or the shortest one. This is to get rid of mats in the fur of some of our long haired cats. David, for example, will NOT let us brush him. We have mat cutting combs and have managed to pin him down at times to get some of the mats out, but with some of them, there’s just no way to hold him down in a position to reach and comb out the mats without hurting him. If we’re just trimming the fur right off, though, we’ll be able to get them.
So David in particular is slated for a hair cut!
Kohl, the lovely little long haired calico outside, has developed some serious mats. Her back feels some solid. When we brought Decimus in, she was badly matted, too, and we don’t want Kohl to get as bad as Decimus did! We had to snip so very carefully to get a huge mat off, and it wasn’t even the only one.
Other cats have smaller mats that we can tell, but they’re not as socialized as Kohl is. I’m hoping that, with some of the, at least, we’ll be able to quickly trim off mats as we are able. They might wind up looking very blotchy, but that’s better than having mats in their fur, pulling at their skin.
There’s no chance of doing this until things get – and stay – warmer, though! Especially overnight, when it comes to the outside cats.
For now, though, we’ve got the clipper on its charger, so it’ll be ready for when we finally get to try it out on David. Hopefully, it will work out!
I finally got around to editing and uploading a short unboxing video for the camera we now have in the sun room.
A few extra bits of feedback, since I recorded these clips.
Near the end of the video, you can see the camera moving around with the motion detection tracking. One of the major benefits of this camera is that I can set my phone up on a stand beside my keyboard, have the app open and keep continuous eye on the sun room. The old camera would only do that for a few minutes before I’d get a “continue?” request and, if I didn’t tap fast enough, it would discontinue the life feed. To have continuous live feed running, we would have to buy a subscription. That one difference makes the purchase well worth while.
The problem is, with so many cats moving around, the tracking would be all over the place, sometimes even sending the camera to do a complete rotation. Since the camera is mounted against a wall like it is, that meant getting views of the ceiling! It would move around so much that, even just in my peripheral vision, I was feeling almost motion sickness. The movement was just non stop!
So… the motion tracking got shut off.
I can move it around manually on my phone, though, to look at different parts of the room. Syndol noticed it moving and climbed up onto the shelf under the old kitchen window, standing as tall as he could, trying to get closer to the moving camera! He can’t reach it, but it was quite funny to adjust the camera so I could look directly at him while he was looking direction at the camera!
It has the ability to auto record. If it detects motion, it can start recording video automatically, saving it to the micro SD card. What I didn’t realize at first was that it was set to continuous record, which meant there were a series of 20 minute long video files saved to the micro SD card! With files that large, it takes forever for it to load to do a playback. It can be set for shorter times, but I’m not bothering with that. There’s simply too much movement in the sun room to have all these automatic functions running. As for files on the memory card, if the card is full, it simply discards the oldest files, while storing the newest ones. So if I had anything I wanted to keep, I’d have to make sure to download it. With the motion sensor off, however, there is nothing being recorded onto the card.
If I did see something I wanted to record, though, there are icons I can tap while the app is running, to get stills or video. There’s also the microphone icon that I can tap and hold to talk into the sun room – which rather alarmed the cats when I used it to break up a fight! All in all, there is quite a bit of functionality on there, most of which I have no reason to use, with it being a critter cam.
As for the network connect, there has been a couple of times where the network lost contact with the camera. Normally, I would have hit the reset button, but it’s too high to reach without a stool or household step ladder, so I just unplugged it and plugged it back in. That seems to have done the trick and now I seem to no longer be having that problem.
The only real downside is the tilt limit. The camera can turn 360°, but there’s only so far it can tilt. Which means that I can tilt it “down”, and get a great view of the wall and door under the camera, but I can only tilt it “up” far enough to see the very bottom of the doorway to outside. If I rotate the camera while it is at max tilt, the platform the cats use, or the bathroom window, can be seen, but they appear sideways. It cannot tilt enough to see the south facing windows, which is where the cats like to hang out. This is all because the camera is mounted sideways on the wall. If it were flat on its base, or even at an angle, it would be able to capture more in its field of view.
Oh, that reminds me; I noticed in the settings that the view can be flipped, if the camera is mounted upside down.
The field of view issue in regards to the tilt is not a camera issue, but a mounting issue for our space. If we could mount it level, it would work fine, but we don’t have a space where we could mount it in the sun room that would be work – and be out of reach of the cats! They’d be all over it, as soon as it started moving! So the few issues we’re seeing are not camera issues.
Which means that this camera passes the test. I can see getting more of these to monitor other indoor areas, such as the pumps in the basement. If we were to set one up to monitor the well pump and sump pump corner, I could see an issue with being able to plug it in; that power cable is awfully short, and there are not a lot of outlets down there! For the septic pump, I would want a type that screws into the light socket, and has a built in LED light. Which is what the first one I tried buying was, but we could never get it to connect to our Wi-Fi.
I would also want to have some outdoor ones to monitor the isolation shelter, for example, or other key areas in the inner yard – as long as we can access power! – but there is very little hurry on that. Mostly for budget reasons. Plus, I know my brother will want to set up security cameras around the outer yard, so I will probably leave most of that for him to do. He has something in mind, and I’m content to let him do it as he sees fit. My priority right now is more about being able to monitor the pumps in the old basement.
Overall, I would be okay with recommending this indoor camera.
Today has turned out to be a lovely, warm day! The forecast ranged from 1C/34F to 3C/37F, depending on what app I looked at. It seems the temperature we actually hit was in between, at 2C/36F.
Even when I headed out to do my morning rounds, we were at a balmy -1C/30F. The outside cats were quite enjoying it, and were running around all over the place!
I even had several following me up the driveway when I went to check on the gate!
It’s been a while since I’ve had that many cats following me around.
With the temperatures expected to go above freezing, I made sure to break out the ice chipper to scrape the sidewalk, and the concrete in front of the sun room, clear of ice and snow, so that it would melt clear faster. Tomorrow we’re supposed to reach a high of 0C/32F, so hopefully that will be enough for the sidewalks to dry clear, rather than just ice over!
The truck was booked at the garage for this afternoon, but I headed out earlier, so I could stop at the post office before it closed for a few hours around lunch time, since I wasn’t sure how long I’d be gone. I even remembered to grab the empty water jugs for refilling, too. While opening the garage door to put them in the truck, though… well…
The middle of the garage door frame is slowly sagging. There is a metal piece attached to the top that is there to sort of guide the handle inwards, but as it slowly sags lower, I try to remember to push the door in a bit so the handle will clear the frame.
I forgot to do that this morning, and slammed the handle right into the frame. This is a replacement handle, too. I can now see how the old one got so broken!
So, we’re going to have to pick up another handle. No hurry on that. We don’t close the door all the way, anyhow, as one of the latches on the sides doesn’t retract far enough when the handle is turned. When the door gets closed all the way down, it can only be opened again from the inside, by manually pulling the cable to that latch. When we get a new handle, we should be able to just tighten the cable on that side to fix it, though I don’t know why it became a problem in the first place. The cable is as tight as the day I installed it, still.
Anyhow…
I’m more concerned about figuring out how to straighten out the frame, then support it to keep it from sagging again. Given the larger size of the opening, it would likely have to be supported from above
We’ll figure it out.
I made sure to give the truck’s engine time to run before I headed out. Everything was fine during the short drive to the post office, just like last time. I had a couple of packages to pick up, including some kibble the Cat Lady was able to get with coupons from Amazon for us.
From there to town, I kept an eye on the oil pressure gauge. It actually last longer than I expected, and I almost got to the garage before the needle dropped and the alarm started sounding – just as I had to stop behind several cars to wait for a tiny train to go by! It was basically about a block of driving with the alarm and warning lights going.
I was quite early to drop off the keys, but I also made a point of booking the truck for next week. That’s when the MAF sensor and block heater cable will be replaced. He has to order the parts in, first.
After that, I popped into the motel next door and had lunch at the Chinese restaurant there, before running a couple of errands. My appointment was at 1pm, and I got back about 20 after. He was on his own, though, and hadn’t had a chance to look at it yet, but I just wanted to grab the keys so I could put away my shopping bag.
Before I headed out, I mentioned doing errands, and he suggested I check out a nearby store. A customer had told him the entire store was 50% off today. I pretty much never go there – I can’t afford their prices, normally. About the only things they have that would interest me is clothing, and it would be a rare thing for them to have my size. Still, I figured it was worth taking a look.
Ha!
I got in the door, and that was pretty much it. There was a line at least 20 people deep, cutting through the area I would have wanted to look in. This is not a large store, so it doesn’t take much for it to get overcrowded! The other side of the store was mostly empty, but that was where the shoe and jewelry sections were – nothing I would be looking at.
So I left. I was happy to see how busy they were, though. For a lot of retail companies, these last few weeks of the year are what puts them in the black for the year, and it’s even harder for a small town like this.
After putting my bag in the truck and giving the keys back, I had a bit of time to kill, so I swung by the hardware store across from the store that was having the big sale. A hardware store is much more my style! I ended up getting a couple of small items, but mostly wanted to look at some of their equipment. They actually had some utility pumps in stock – and on sale! Not the sort of pump we need to replace our septic pump, though. One of the staff came over to help me and I showed him a picture of the pump we have, and he agreed that the one I was looking at was not what I needed. He admitted, he wasn’t the one who knew septic pumps (not a surprise, since the system we have isn’t really done anymore), but that was okay. For now, I was just looking at prices. I think I should probably consult with my brother about getting a new one. My SIL was sure they actually have a spare, somewhere among the things now stored in our barn, but I think I would prefer a new one, if I can swing it.
I was just leaving the store when I checked my phone and discovered a message from the garage had just come in. The truck was ready.
When I got there, we talked about the problem for a bit. All he did was take the sensor apart and clean it out, so he just charged me for labour.
It is going to happen again. Even if he replaced the sensor again, it wouldn’t make a difference.
The problem is, with the temperature fluctuations this time of year, moisture gets into the system, but doesn’t get a chance to evaporate completely. He suggested doing things like letting the truck run for about 15 minutes before going anywhere and, if I’m just running inside a store briefly, to leave the engine running. This would give it a chance to heat up enough for the moisture to evaporate. Meanwhile, keep checking the oil levels. As long as they’re good, we know that it’s the sensor again, not an actual problem with the oil pressure.
As he was telling me this, I could tell he was really frustrated. He’s mentioned to me before, that this is very much a GM thing. He doesn’t see this problem in other brands. Some sort of design flaw, is his thought on that. When I mention having it go off like this, it leaves you not knowing if it’s just moisture in the sensor again, or an actual problem, and he completely agreed.
Then there’s just the problem of driving around with an alarm dinging, warning lights and the onboard computer telling me to SHUT OFF ENGINE. It is really quite stressful.
Hopefully, cleaning out the sensor will do the trick for at least a while. I have to take my mother for a scan on the 1st, then a medical appointment on the 6th, and I sure as heck don’t want that alarm going off while driving with my mother!
As an aside, I spoke with my mother last night, and she asked about the truck. She is still talking about buying “herself” a brand new car. She doesn’t drive, of course, and anything she gets would have to be half in my name, as that’s the only way I’d be able to get it insured. I don’t expect her to be paying for the insurance (nor any other vehicle expenses), and it would be parked here at the farm, anyhow. I did try to warn her that a brand new car would be very expensive, but she’s okay with that. In fact, she’s almost excited about the idea. I really, really hope my brother has a chance to talk to her about that. She doesn’t have *that* much money squirreled away! As great as it would be to have access to a back up vehicle again – and a new one, too! – we would have to do something with her current car, just to have someplace to park it (which means it would have to be quite a small car!). Having to pay the expenses for two vehicles again, while having payments on the truck at the same time, would be very painful on our budget. *sigh*
Anyhow…
After reclaiming the truck (he’d even left it running, since I responded to his text so quickly), I popped across to the grocery store, picked up a few things and refilled a couple of water jugs. From there, it was a quick stop at the gas station, then home.
I’m happy to say, the needle on the oil pressure gauge stayed right were it was supposed to. It did seem to start dropping when I was driving slower on the icy gravel road, but still inside the acceptable range on the gauge.
Once everything was unloaded and put away, I got to do an unboxing.
Our new solar charged trail cameras were in!
The cats really, really wanted to see what was going on, too!
I was specifically looking for a camera where the solar panel directly powered the camera, with regular batteries as a back up. I settled on this brand, which came in a 2 pack. We only need one right now, so the other is still in its box.
I had to retake the photo of the outside of the boxes. When I laid them out on my bed, Layendecker leaned over and used one of them as a pillow!
Silly boy.
The camera comes with a tree strap for mounting, plus a USB cable for the first charging of the solar panel’s internal rechargeable batteries.
The USB cable is mostly hidden under a curious Mitsy in the photo.
After opening it up, it took me a while to find where the battery cover was. The clip is partially hidden by the cover, as it’s right near the bottom cover hinge.
One substantial difference between this camera and any others we’ve had is that it uses only four AA batteries. Most take eight. We did have one camera (that got stolen) that held eight batteries, but could operate on only four, if necessary. This one has room only for four batteries. They will only be used if the solar panel doesn’t have enough charge to power the camera.
The solar panel adjusts slightly, and it does not come off. The one we have now, the solar charger is a separate unit that can be removed, so the camera can be used on batteries only. I like having that option, if necessary, but the camera we have now is no longer available. The current camera’s solar panel angle cannot be adjusted, so there are trade offs both ways.
While the camera does have a tree strap, it also has the screw in port for a plate mount, which is what our current camera is on, now. This camera did not come with a mounting plate, while the old one did.
I find it really bizarre, however, that the screw in port is in the battery cover. I would have to either remove it from the mounting plate (which I have to do now, for a different design reason) or, in theory, open the mounting plate and swing the camera down. I wouldn’t want to do that, though, as it would put too much stress on the hinge of the battery cover.
I plan to use both the mounting plate already on the stand, and the tree strap to hold it in place. With the current camera, the top heavy weight of the solar panel is a bit too much for the mount, so I’ve got a small bungee cord supporting it. Over time, though, the bungee is starting to stretch out and not support as well. The solar panel on the new camera is not as heavy, though, so it might not be an issue. We shall see.
One thing about this camera is that it does NOT have a wide angle lens. The solar camera we have now is wide angle, which I really like. Without a wide angle lens, we will probably have to move the stand it’s mounted to. The base, with its weight to keep it from blowing over in the wind, is buried in snow right now, so that likely won’t happen until spring!
The USB cable is for pre-charging the solar panel’s internal batteries, which is recommended to do before first use. After going through the menu and setting up the date, time, etc. and putting in a memory card, I hooked that up, so it will be fully charged and ready for tomorrow. When I do my morning rounds, I’ll switch cameras instead of memory chards!
The other solar camera has been working again, which is good, but when it fell open into the snow, one of the cover clips broke. So there is just one clip holding it closed. That would make it slightly less waterproof, as condensation could get past the seal by the broken clip.
The non-solar sign cam is still working, but it’s quite a bit older and sometimes glitches out. Depending on how this new camera is, I might use the spare to switch out the other one. It’s under a tree, but it does get enough sunlight to support a small solar panel. Especially at sunrise.
Either way, we’ll still have a couple of back up cameras, if we ever have troubles again.
I look forward to seeing the first files on the new camera, and what the quality is like.
Which is rather fun and all, but it sucks that we need to have to set up trail cams as security cameras in the first place.
Well, the predicted thunderstorms did hit us last night! What a light show, too. Once I started seeing the lightning out my window, I went into the sun room to tie off the doors, then drop a bit of kibble around the room to attract the cats indoors. We got quite a deluge.
Some time later, I started hearing someone going through the old kitchen doors, which was rather odd for the time of morning, so I went to see what was going on. It turned out that one of my daughters heard what sounded like a kitten in distress through the bathroom window and went to check.
There were plenty of cats and kittens, but the creature in distress turned out to be a young racoon. It had jammed itself on top of the table and miter saws, which are stored between the counter shelf and the door, under a built in shelf between a pair of windows. There’s not a lot of room, there!
Thinking it might be stuck, a daughter managed to move the table saw away from the wall a bit. They also untied the doors and opened them wide. There were so many cats and kittens milling about in the doorway, the raccoon would have had a hard time getting through the tied off doors. Even when they were open, there was a lot of cat traffic. I watched on the critter cam for a while, then finally got up and put out some kibble, both inside and out, to lure the cats away from the doorway. The raccoon squished itself as small as it could, while watching me and giving the odd warning growl.
I monitored the critter cam for a while, but the raccoon was out of frame, so I couldn’t tell what it was doing. It was gone by morning, though, so that’s good.
While today is at least a little bit cooler than yesterday, we’re at 77% humidity, making our 24C/75F feel quite unpleasant, even though the humidex is only at 26C/78F. As I was coming back from the post office this afternoon, and got out of the truck to close the gate, I was surprised by the sudden fog.
Then I realized the fog was on my glasses, which were cold from being in the truck’s AC. 😄😄
As for my trip to the post office, I got a new toy!
We picked up a grass whip. I’ve seen them in use in one of the YouTube channels I follow, and am quite excited to try it out.
I had plenty of attention as I attached the blade to the bottom of the handle, then used the thread glue before screwing on the top of the handle.
Then I took the blade off and put it back on again, facing the right way… 😄😄
The thread glue needs 24 hours to cure. After that, I can test it out!
This thing is very reasonably priced and has good reviews, and will be able to clear areas that are too much for our weed trimmer or lawn mower – and be much faster than working by hand or using loppers! It should even cut through small trees, like the poplars that keep trying to take over, everywhere. I should be able to clear a path to the barn with this. Just a path will be enough to allow us to mow – assuming it gets dry enough. More importantly, it can be used to clear in the main garden area, when it’s time to continue building more raised beds.
Which, given the heat and humidity and rain we’ve been having, is going to be a slow job!
It will also allow us to clear the underbrush to access the dead spruces we need to cut down, much more easily.
I’m really looking forward to testing it out! Twenty four hours from now, however, we won’t have reached the hottest part of the day, yet; that’s supposed to happen around 6pm. Which means I probably won’t test it out until the next morning. The lowest temperature of the night is actually supposed to be at 6am or so. We’ll have, at best, a 2 hour window of pleasant coolness before it starts getting hot again.
At least with this thing, it shouldn’t matter if everything is wet with dew or rain!
I actually made this video shortly after we got the camera, using the still-new-to-me Movavi software. There was a new update when I opened the software, which I downloaded first. I made the video – disappointed to discover music files I had been using before had been completely replaced with new ones, but everything worked fine.
Until it was time to export the finished video to a format that could be uploaded, and I kept getting error messages.
After many failures, I sent a message to customer support that never got answered. I also saw in their beta community that others were having this problem, and the recommended solutions did nothing.
Today, I opened the software to find a new update. I downloaded and installed the update, and now it’s working just fine again!
Since this was made, the camera has been moved slightly, but that’s about it. So far, everything is working just fine.
I have been really looking forward to this new trail camera!
This brand is not available in any of our local stores. The ones I’ve seen are pretty much the same design, if not the brand, of what we already had. I was perfectly willing to go with the same brand to replace the old camera which, after 2 years of constant use, has become finicky. I’ll talk about the features that convinced me to choose this camera, but ultimately, there were two things that really convinced me to get this one. The first was watching the video review, and the reviewer commented on how little battery power it uses. That is a big one, since I have found our current cameras – especially the older one – just suck through batteries. Especially in colder temperatures.
The other thing was the price. This camera uses micro SD, so I had to buy those (I got three 32 gig micro SD cards, though I only needed two), but the total still came out to just under CDN$90. The cameras we have now, which were bought for us by my wonderful brother, cost far more. He was able to get them on sale, as they are older models, so that helped, but if I were to get a new model of what we have now, we’d be paying anywhere from $150-$250 in the stores.
For us, we are using the trail cams as security cameras, so that is what we kept in mind when it came to the features that were most useful.
Let’s take a look at what’s in the box.
Along with the camera itself, there is a USB cable that allows you to hook it right up to your computer. There is the hardware to set up a permanent mount, or an alternate strap. For now, we will be using the strap, though the mount would be much more convenient. The camera will be mounted on a fence post, and we plant to take that fence out at some point. Once that’s done, we’ll have access to trees that will be much better to mount it on. It might be a couple of years before we get to that point, though!
There was also an instruction manual. I just hadn’t found it yet, when I took the picture! :-D
Here is one of the design features I like. It opens like a book. The side latches are easy to open and close, and you can even attach a very small lock, if needed. The seal is waterproof, which is essential for this design. Our other cameras open from the bottom and, while it is very quick to change out the memory cards, it becomes an issue when the batteries need to be changed.
With this design, the batteries can be changed without having to take the camera down. With our old cameras, the batteries are changed from below. Once the cover is popped open, they fall right out, but you can’t get fresh ones in without moving it.
The batteries were more trouble to put in than I expected, though. The springs seem a bit delicate, and move quite a lot. Hopefully, that will not be an issue. I won’t find out if it is, until it’s time to change them.
At the base under the batter case is the 1/4″ tripod thread for the mount. The DC connection is something I’m quite thrilled to see. If this camera works out, we might want to invest in a solar panel kit, which would plug in here, and not have to change batteries at all!
At the based of the cover half, there is the slot for the micro SD card. That was surprisingly hard to get in until it clicked in place. Switching memory cards is something I see as a potential problem. It is so tiny, and if I drop it, finding it again it going to be a challenge!! I will have to get into the habit of carrying something I can hold under the camera to catch anything that slips out of my clumsy fingers! :-)
There is an AV jack, the USB cable port, and the power switch.
The older cameras have small digital display for set up, but this one has a small screen and a mini computer, really. You can preview files, as well as use the camera as a manual camera.
The settings are another area with additional features that are important for our needs. Both our older cameras can do still shots or video. This one can do that, plus be set to do a burst of up to 3 still, then take a short video. I have it set to take 3 stills, then video. The length of video is also more flexible. Our older camera took videos at 30 seconds long , the newer one could go down to 15 seconds. We could set them for longer, but not shorter. Which is okay, except that when the motion sensor gets triggered by a car going by too fast for the camera to actually catch, we’re left with videos of dust or snow settling to the ground.
It’s the delay between shots that is going to make a huge difference. In the other cameras, the shortest delay is 15 seconds. A lot can happen in 15 seconds. Particularly when you’re recording someone vandalizing a gate. :-( The best I was able to set them at was 15 seconds of video (or 30, on the older camera), followed by a delay of 15 seconds. Even when doing stills, there’s that 15 second gap between shots.
This camera’s delay can be set as short as 5 seconds!
I now have it set to take 3 stills, followed by 10 seconds of video, with a 5 second delay.
There are a lot of other setting options as well. Photo and video qualities have quite a large range (I have those set to best quality for now). Motion sensor sensitivity can be adjusted for high, low and medium. I’ve left it at medium.
Oh, and while going through the settings, there is the most annoying beeping sound.
That can be shut off!
It can even be set to take time lapse photos, or to take recordings within a set time only, as well as being able to record audio. It can also be password protected.
Once I got the settings to where I wanted, it was time to attach the strap.
It has a simple locking buckle to hold it in place. The newer of our other cameras has a strap as well, and the locking buckle on that is of higher quality than this one. I don’t expect to be undoing it often, so that should not be an issue.
Finally, it was time to set it up.
Here is the old camera on the left. If you look at the bottom, right corner of the camera, you can see the latch to open the bottom. When the memory card is removed, the display screen turns on automatically, while the control buttons are protected inside.
This older camera came with a pair of elastic cords to attach it. It used to be on a tree, which was just small enough for the cords to wrap around. I like how easy the elastic cords are, for taking it on and off, but they limit what it can be attached to. On this fence post, they had to be wrapped extra around the post an to get it snug. The straps are more flexible as far as the size of what you can wrap it around, but it’s more of a pain to get in place. So there’s a trade off, there.
The camouflage pattern on the new camera is… not very camo. :-D
One of the other features on this camera is the “setup” mode. The power switch has “on”, “set up” and “off” positions. When it set up mode, lights flash when the motion sensor is triggered, so I could walk back and forth at the gate, and see exactly when and, more importantly, where I was triggering the sensor. Once it was set, I could open it up again and switch it from “set up” to “on.”
This camera has a wide angle lens (the camera it is replacing does not, but the newer one does) and the motion senor is also wide angle. This is important to me. With having two cameras on the gate, I was able to see just how much one camera or the other was missing, simply because the motion sensors weren’t being triggered in time. I think this one is going to be a solution to that problem.
After using the set up function to position the camera, I set it to the “on” position and left it. Tomorrow, we shall see what we got!
Besides me walking around and fussing with the camera. ;-)
The down side is, once it’s been set to “on”, there is nothing to tell me if the camera is actually working. With the older cameras, after switching the cards, I would make a point of triggering the motion sensor, so make sure they were working. I could tell, because there is a small red light, just to the left of the motion sensor in the photo, that would blink. A few blinks for a still short, or continued blinking for the duration of a video. They also made a quiet shutter-type noise. This camera is completely silent. It’s also too bright for the infrared flash to turn on, so I don’t even have that to go by.
Since there is nothing to tell me it’s doing anything, a part of me can’t help but think it’s not actually on.
The Re-Farmer 