Having some fun with a CCTV camera at one of our feeder locations - I playfully call it CornCAM.

I was not hunting this spot last night - Man oh Man I wish I was now!

This may be the biggest pig we've had on our property, I won't get to challenge him anytime soon as work calls early tomorrow.

Enjoy the show - Let me know what you think of CornCAM

Sure looks like one you need to "hunt up and take down and out!"

Wow that's a nice'un!
Definitely needs a dirt nap.

Very cool.....how'd you rig the camera up?

It is a monstrosity right now -

I'm using a low resolution loop recording bullet camera that I screw into a fence plank and intertwine it to the hog panel or barb wire were have around the deer feeders.

Here is a link to the camera:

Coomatec Loop Recording Camera

I connect the camera to a 12 volt feeder battery and run an inline 5v converter with USB connection to mate the two.

Overall cost per camera is about 45 bucks

Does is record to SD card or internal? Can you post some pics of the actual setup or build by chance? I'm not that mechanically smart, but can follow pics pretty easily.

I'll take photos of the setup this weekend and post next week

Thanks. I'd be interested in giving this a shot. Does it record in the camera or to SD? Where'd you get the converter and other parts? Thanks!

So here is a parts list:

12 volt 5 amp batter will give you continuous overnight recording on 1 camera

The battery has typical spade style connections so to adapt it to USB and to provide the correct amount of voltage (5v) to the camera I installed this part between the battery and camera

12v to 5v converter with USB

The camera has a built in microSD card slot and accepts up to 32 gigabytes. In order to install and access the slot you have to unscrew the front of the camera housing. In my tests so far I am getting 4 - 5 days of continuous runtime on a 32 GB card before the oldest videos become over written (hence the loop recording name).

So I setup a camera, converter, battery on a feeder for the evening and the next day I unplug the USB from the power and plug the camera end into my laptop and transfer the video files over. They are in 3GGP format (some obscure format) so you need VLC player to view them. Takes about 8 - 12 minutes per camera to transfer the video files.

Photos next week - have fun playing around with your setup share the results here

P_P, any idea what mah the camera draws. I have various battery packs around here already USB compatible, but I would like to not have it go out on me just before the hogs came in, LOL.

Add a decent solar panel and you'really cooking with gas. :-)

Thanks for the parts list. Going to be ordering some here soon. May rig them up on some ammo cans and install with a solar panel. Can't wait to see some pics as well.

I am getting more familiar with the PROs and CONs to operating these styles of cameras afield.

First the whole idea in my head was to have a super mobile product to "stake in" the ground over a baited area that provides built in IR lighting and onboard recording for at least 12 hours (a typical overnight set). There are a ton of products out there, mostly individual components, but nothing turnkey. Having something as a 24/7 solution would be optimal but not a requirement.

So when I bought into these initial components I was able to use a 12v battery to power the cameras, I am not sure on the maH draw of each camera, the manufactuer simply lists power consumption as 5v. In my testing at the workbench a 12v 1 amp battery didn't last but a couple of hours whereas a 12v 4 amp battery lasted 12 hours. I tried some Moultrie Power Panels to try and keep the batteries charged however the panel wasn't large enough to run the camera and simultaneously build a charge. So to this point I haven't found a suitable solar panel to go 24/7.

I'm using parts on hand for these early tests so while there may certainly be a better option, which I hope others can provide some ideas or expertise on the topic, I using what I have to keep costs low.

Below are photos of the area I baited and filmed this weekend, the 12v (unknown amp) deep cycle battery can run 4 of these cameras for a few days without a solar panel attached.



Notice I use a fence panel slat intertwined into the barb wire to mount the flat base of the camera to, this allows me to adjust camera height and put a camera anywhere, heck I nailed one to a tree recently. The battery could be better hidden from the range of fire but I didn't have enough wire to do that.



Camera hooked to USB end of power converter, I duct taped in a plastic ziplock as weather protection for when I remove the cameras and leave the wiring intact. At this time I don't have a nifty solution for weather proofing the USB connection, I figure heat shrink and tape would suffice but when you need to dock into the camera to retrieve the data it would be a pain to remove and reinstall. P.S. the micro SD card is hidden in the camera and could be pulled without disturbing the connections but it is also a pain. All wiring is zip tied to the hog panel or barb wire - if you don't have any of that around your bait area a quad setup to a sole battery probably isn't the best choice, you'd be better suited to hang a single cell power supply to the fence slat for each camera.



Battery connections

Pros and Cons

I'll just mainly hit the Cons:

The data transfer is taking way too long, Im averaging at least 30 minutes per camera to transfer video to the laptop.

The sound quality is no good - wish I had the skills to open this puppy up and install a high fidelity microphone

The IR lights are way too bright inside of 7 feet which will wash out the details in recorded subjects. Again I wish I had the know how on opening up the camera and installing a resistor to knock down the power feed to the IR lights

USB for power and data is cool for PC computing but not so cool for outdoor all weather usage - I assume the first camera failure will be at this location at which time I intend to cut the cord and rewire another USB connection...

That's all I got - if somebody ends up patenting this or making a product that works good on ya.

The purpose of this video is to demonstrate the capability of CornCAM in various day/night situations.

The entire video is sped up to 8x normal speed with sections cut to keep the time below an hour.

Besides birds and squirrels the first 10 mins is pretty dull - you do get a general idea of how the sunshade works to keep the sun from completely washing out the image.

Raccoons begin to appear about the 10 min mark with a high point in activity around 13 1/2 mins.

At 19:28 you will see my IR light from the hunting stand shine from the distance, surprisingly it doesn't effect the image quality all that much due to angle and distance (about 100 yards out).

The perfect triple kill shot was a possibility at this point however I was hunting for the big boar so I passed on this opportunity. I will attempt to work on the scope view video and post here on the thread so you can see the view through a Sightmark PhotonXT with and without IR. Pretty interesting effects when you have IR in the feeding area.

Dawn is about 28 mins with cows and squirrels and birds rounding out the activity.

All in all a pretty slow evening of animal activity however I am learning the nuances of using these cameras in the environment.

Video from the hunting stand 100 yards away using digital NV

Easy pickins.....

You need to shoot those trophy corn thieves!!!