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Post by johnb2023 on Nov 7, 2023 17:33:31 GMT
Hello, No rooster yet, but a bit of spider eating action recently. This lucky tit found two big juicy ones in exactly the same place in the box a week apart. I am currently in the process of setting up a second box with a Raspberry Pi set up. Proving a bit more tedious than I thought. Current stage is sorting a circuit with an LDR daylight LED and an IR LED, which should just about get enough power from the 5V Pi itself. I have cut a "skylight" in the roof, so the LED just gives a little bit extra (I'm not really a fan of the intense LED light of below and have a nagging feeling the birds can't be either). I will post pics of the completed project herein, aiming for mid Nov install.    |
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Post by karenupnorth on Nov 8, 2023 8:33:46 GMT
Good luck with it all John, hope you have a great season ahead.
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Post by johnb2023 on Nov 17, 2023 12:10:25 GMT
So box 2 went up last night (after much faffing over the last two weeks) and have a visitor already. I will spare you the pictures of the setup internally as it's not very attractive, but as follows: - Green Feathers side view box with a skylight cut myself (as the ready made ones like this were not available). - Pi 4 Model B 4GB with Motioneye running within the OS - 5MP motorised IR cut cam - Circuit powered from PI with a daylight LED (controlled via automated script) and an always on IR LED. After initially having the daylight LED controlled via an LDR it was causing issues with the LDR on the camera itself which controls the IR filter. - Video is 720/25fps currently. The Motioneye software in this set up A) has poor frame rate at 1080 and B) is a concern for CPU temp even at low frame rate, not to mention storage. - USB mic Still have to tidy up the wiring externally and I guess from here time will tell how robust this all is. Condensation is the primary concern.  |
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Post by matt on Dec 1, 2023 15:17:03 GMT
Looks good John. What is the camera? I run all raspberry pis as well but I never got on with MotionEye. Now I run iSpy on a desktop and just have the cameras acting as dumb network cameras which seems give much better results.
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Post by johnb2023 on Dec 2, 2023 10:39:40 GMT
Looks good John. What is the camera? I run all raspberry pis as well but I never got on with MotionEye. Now I run iSpy on a desktop and just have the cameras acting as dumb network cameras which seems give much better results. It's an Arducam 5MP. I had considered just having a Zero in the box and doing what you say, but I'm pretty happy with MotionEye, albeit at 720p. The increased frame rate and lack of compression over the Green Feathers cam, for me, makes it a better setup. I'm currently playing with live streaming the MotioneEye stream to YouTube, using ffmpeg on another Pi. What's your acquisition setup on the Pi and which Pi is it? |
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Post by pete11 on Dec 10, 2023 22:07:42 GMT
I will spare you the pictures of the setup internally as it's not very attractive Don't hold back John  - would always be curious to see your electronic innards if you can bear to post them. I have a couple of pi 4s sitting here looking at me waiting for me to do something useful with them...and both a v2 and a v3 camera. But I've put all that stuff on hold, and am instead starting to look at POE mini dome security cameras instead. In the meantime I'm stumbling on with my flaky GF wifi camera for the time being. Good luck with your boxes - will be very interesting to see pics/footage if you strike it lucky in the spring! |
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Post by johnb2023 on Dec 11, 2023 8:48:56 GMT
I will spare you the pictures of the setup internally as it's not very attractive Don't hold back John - would always be curious to see your electronic innards if you can bear to post them. I have a couple of pi 4s sitting here looking at me waiting for me to do something useful with them...and both a v2 and a v3 camera. But I've put all that stuff on hold, and am instead starting to look at POE mini dome security cameras instead. In the meantime I'm stumbling on with my flaky GF wifi camera for the time being. Good luck with your boxes - will be very interesting to see pics/footage if you strike it lucky in the spring! Thanks Pete. I may post a video of the project soon and offer up the Raspian image. I did have a scare after a couple of days of it being up because the Pi kept shutting down. Turned out it was the USB extension cable getting water ingress. The GF and equivalent are brilliant pieces of tech which I have more appreciation for after this project, but the framerate does bug me. My biggest concern at the minute is how wet both my boxes are inside after torrential rain here, I can't believe it. My first box has been up 10 months and never had a wet floor before now and the new one is soaked wall to wall. |
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Post by johnb2023 on Dec 11, 2023 13:11:03 GMT
So here is the current state of affairs. Thinking this project could be a write off soon...  |
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Post by pete11 on Dec 12, 2023 23:45:10 GMT
Sorry to hear of your water problems John.
Could it be wind-blown rain coming in thru the entrance hole? I had that with mine when it was angled just a bit too keenly into the prevailing wind....just a few degrees of turn away from that seemed to fix things or at least vastly improve them.
Or perhaps it's your daylight perspex window poorly sealed?
Geocell or Sikaflex polyurethane sealant on all the box joints might help.
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Post by johnb2023 on Dec 13, 2023 12:48:48 GMT
It's getting under the perspex the window on top yes and running down the back wall, but I can't believe it as I have indeed put sealant around it and it has 8 screws and looks flush. 3mm thick as well so not like it's flexing much. The ready made window boxes only have two screws yet nobody seems to have problems!
I have now cut a channel along the back of the base piece to allow it to run out of the two holes a bit better. I have even cut a crude gutter around the window on the outside but that probably needs to be much deeper to have any real effect. Really annoying but I think I have done all I can before I start breaking things. It's dried out pretty quickly at least.
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Post by Ann70 on Dec 13, 2023 13:28:11 GMT
John where theres a will there’s a way. I hope you have sorted it out now and it all runs smooth for the future nesting 🤞🏻😊
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Post by johnb2023 on Mar 15, 2024 10:31:22 GMT
Yes the issue was sorted in the end. Fairly frequent visits to both boxes currently.
However, there are two cats taking shifts near one of the boxes, sat there ALL day taking swipes at everything that passes 😢
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Post by suep on Mar 15, 2024 16:43:41 GMT
Sounds as though the birds are interested John, let’s hope the cats lose interest and you have a successful season  Sue |
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Post by pete11 on Mar 16, 2024 12:40:31 GMT
Frequent visits sounds promising at this point in the year.
I think if they're driven enough by hormones or whatever to be in nesting mode, cats won't necessarily bother them (although the cats might be their ultimate downfall nevertheless!)
I saw someone's nest box on YouTube last year that had anti-pigeon spikes screwed to the roof to deter cats. Birds were coming and going as normal.
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- would always be curious to see your electronic innards if you can bear to post them.
