Outdoor surveillance cameras

[Robert_in_NY]

Does it matter if the neighbor knows you are filming him/her? Maybe a 'dummy' camera would suffice

How much profit do you really expect to loose? a cheap game camera, or dummy camera might be enough to deter the theft

Actually, I planned on telling him it was a dummy camera anyway. This way if he still wants to steal I will know for sure just what type of neighbor he really is. Some people you just trust automatically, others make you uncomfortable and this neighbor makes me uncomfortable. Yet almost any of my other neighbors have access to my barn and equipment and vice versa. There are just two neighbors that don't fit in well out here and they both recently moved here from town.

The main thing is to have a camera watching the barn, driveway, stand and possibly the back yard or inside the barn. This system isn't just for the stand and it would probably cost more then it was worth to go after some of the people that steal from pay and take stands but the idea is if you have a camera up then it makes people think twice about stealing when they think they are being watched.

 

[dbdartman]

Does it matter if the neighbor knows you are filming him/her? Maybe a 'dummy' camera would suffice (a) dummy camera might be enough to deter the theft

Cheap & excellent suggestion! I did just that at my last house in the suburbs. We had a problem with (I'll assume) kids messing with our old cars. Two different cars had their passenger sides keyed, front to back, on two different occasions. First was the '68 Barracuda, which needed the whole side of the car repainted (was just painted a month or 2 before). Second was my 68 Dart, but the scratches were not deep enough to go through the paint & most of it compounded out. After the second incident I mounted the "cameras" out in the open for all to see, then taped notices in all the cars that said, "Smile! You are being recorded on video!" The vandalism stopped!

 

[Robert_in_NY]

But wouldn't it have been great if you installed an active camera after the first time and caught the idiots the second time.

 

[1bush2hog]

If you install a dummy camera first you will also find out if someone intends to damage them without incurring alot of cost.

I would set up a dummy first and let them think it was a real one without saying anything - but that's just me. If they are not trustworthy, they may also not like being filmed

You could always set up a live concealed camera to record the area where the dummy camera is located.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Robert,
I know your over in western ny but over in eastern ny there are pay and take stands all over. My buddy has a small farm over in Hartford,Ny and quite often when I go over to see him I will stop at some of the stands in that area. No one seems to have any problems with money or produce disappearing ! Before I spent any amount of money, I would set up the stand and see what happens. Your neighbor would have to steal a bunch of produce to equal what a camera would cost. JMO !

 

[dbdartman]

Rob, sorry I didn't include this but there was a couple years between the first & second incident. It's moot now as the cars have their own sanctuary large enough to store 5 or 6 of them with room to work, or if one could "pack them in" would probably hold 8 or 10 (but only 6 if they were all the size of the '64 Imperial ).

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Mornin Robert,
I know your over in western ny but over in eastern ny there are pay and take stands all over. My buddy has a small farm over in Hartford,Ny and quite often when I go over to see him I will stop at some of the stands in that area. No one seems to have any problems with money or produce disappearing ! Before I spent any amount of money, I would set up the stand and see what happens. Your neighbor would have to steal a bunch of produce to equal what a camera would cost. JMO !

Hi Scott, my neighbor ran this stand almost all of his life. He raised 7 kids and kept the stand going until just a couple years ago when he passed away at 85. Every year he would have people stop when they had the pay and take going and take things. Also at night people would stop and steal. There are not a lot of pay and takes anymore as this area is being developed and the old farmers and passing and the land is sold. If it is good land it goes into vineyards or subdivided and built on. The more people the more crime.

Also, I planned on using one of the cameras to keep an eye on the stand camera until I find another place to set the fourth camera.

 

[MossRoad]

I can't see spending 2K on a video system to protect a few dollars of veggies. Look into a video capture card with 4 ports for a used PC running XP. Then get some wired or wireless X10 cameras and plug them into the video capture card. Then download some free motion sensing software that will record when movement is detected in any of the frames. It saves screen shots and/or video clips to the hard drive. If you have internet access, it will even e-mail you when something's up. There are several vendors out there. X10 is cheap junk, but it actually works well for the price. You could also look into used DVRs on ebay.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The system would be more then for just the stand. It would keep watch over the barn as well as the driveway. My truck has roughly $4k worth of tools on it, some days more. The barn has a lot of tools and equipment. I also thought about setting a camera towards the back yard so if Ava is out playing and I have to go inside I can keep an eye on her.

 

[bones1]

Take a look here Robert.4-Channel Digital Video Surveillance PCI Card w/Audio
They have camera setups too.