Equipment security cameras

[Hay Dude]

Anyone have something like this?
I have been leaving equipment parked in the middle of nowhere, where there isn’t even a house nearby for years and have had 2 pretty bad vandalism attacks.
One was slashed tires, the other was someone jumped on the tractor hood and destroyed it. Would really like to catch the punks, then a knock on their doors with video evidence.

Looking for a camera that could be mounted in or outside the cab and would swivel to the approaching motion and send to my phone or maybe it would have to be stored in the camera itself?

What would be perfect is something that uses the tractors battery power.

I’m a novice at this stuff, so looking for suggestions or help.

 

[davrow]

I don't want to be a downer, but I think what you want doesn't exist.
1) the camera itself will become the primary target of vandalism
2) using the tractor battery will cause it to be dead in days
3) isolated location, does it have cell coverage?
4) generally only game cameras have cell service and game cams don't offer "follow the movement" options
5) cell service for cameras isn't cheap
6) you may be disappointed in the cameras ability to identify people unless they are right in front of the camera and facing it

With all that, I think 4 game cams is your best bet... no movement tracking but facing every direction

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I wonder if you could lightly modify the mounting of something like this to fit the need? Cheaper than a slashed tractor tire if it doesn't work....

https://www.amazon.com/REOLINK-Cellular-LTE-Solar-TrackMix/dp/B0DQ894R9L/ref=ast_sto_dp_puis

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

There are also a bunch of cellular game cam options as well.

 

[whitenorth]

The biggest problem I have found with game cameras (besides what was mentioned above about facial recognition) is that they don't always sense movement. I have one cam that I have set to take pics once a minute between 7pm and 7am. 99% of the pics that have an animal (including animals the size of deer) on them are on the timed pics and not motion detected. Matter of fact, I've had it where consecutive timed pics shows the dear moving across the field of vision. Not one was from motion triggering it.

With that said, I'd think you'd have to set it close to the equipment where they will see it and just trash that as well. Only saving grace would be is if it was able to upload the image before they trashed it. That will depend on how good of a cell signal the camera has. I know around here, the middle of no where, cell service is spotty at best.

 

[2manyrocks]

Look into car security cameras. There are some youtube videos of the LA home fires that were captured on the cameras on Teslas as an example.

 

[davrow]

I wonder if you could lightly modify the mounting of something like this to fit the need? Cheaper than a slashed tractor tire if it doesn't work....

https://www.amazon.com/REOLINK-Cellular-LTE-Solar-TrackMix/dp/B0DQ894R9L/ref=ast_sto_dp_puis

LittleBittyBigJohn, that negates a number of my points, good job.
Now all he needs is a way to power it, a way to protect it, and good cell service.

I don't happen to like Reolink due to their terms of service, but if they have this then others must, too.

 

[doneill127]

Not sure if these fit your needs but they’re cellular cams with solar . One thing I like about Eufy is no subscription costs.

https://www.eufy.com/blogs/security-camera/cellular-security-camera?q=cellull

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I wonder if you could lightly modify the mounting of something like this to fit the need? Cheaper than a slashed tractor tire if it doesn't work....

https://www.amazon.com/REOLINK-Cellular-LTE-Solar-TrackMix/dp/B0DQ894R9L/ref=ast_sto_dp_puis

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I have this camera. The 'tracking' feature is not very good. It does work, but the object it's tracking must be fairly close. Like within about 30'. Otherwise, I really like it.

It is powered with a solar panel. It will last about 3 weeks on the battery without the solar panel.

It needs cellular service to communicate. I buy a sim card for about $100 and it will last me at least 6 months. And I use a lot of data. There are options you can choose for data. My sim card is through EIOT Club and it will link to whichever of the big 3 cell services is strongest at it's location. AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile.

@Hay Dude you could mount one of these on a tree near your equipment and watch it anytime. It will alert you when it detects motion, within about 60-80'. And you can tell it to pan and/or tilt from your phone. It also records sound, and you can even talk through it to someone near the camera. You can also trigger an alarm on it. You can also record video or pictures and you can set it to take a time lapse video.

I have several of these that I put on job sites, mainly to monitor weather and progress of the job.

 

[Hay Dude]

I don't want to be a downer, but I think what you want doesn't exist.

They do. They are in heavy equipment all over the world. The problem is, they are very expensive.

1) the camera itself will become the primary target of vandalism

But if the camera is inside a locked cab, wouldn’t the vandal or thief be identified by the camera before he vandalizes it?

2) using the tractor battery will cause it to be dead in days

Why? The tractors have 2 or 3 pretty large 750-1000 cold cranking amp batteries.

3) isolated location, does it have cell coverage?

Yes we have pretty good coverage in all but maybe 1 field.

4) generally only game cameras have cell service and game cams don't offer "follow the movement" options

I don’t want a game camera. I want a security camera. From what I have seen, there’s lots of security cameras, but I’d like to see if anyone has one here on TBN

5) cell service for cameras isn't cheap

Neither is $8,000 worth of slashed tires, or a $2,000 tractor hood.

6) you may be disappointed in the cameras ability to identify people unless they are right in front of the camera and facing it

Which covers most vandalism situations. I agree that if someone wants to shoot my cab up from 200yds away, there’s little anyone can do.

With all that, I think 4 game cams is your best bet... no movement tracking but facing every direction

Dude, do you really think I have time to set up 4 game cameras everywhere I go?