Technical > Electronics > Possible to buy or build a cam for the car for surveillance?

Possible to buy or build a cam for the car for surveillance?

why not a DVR set up in your residence with some cameras pointed at the car? seems much easier and more reliable. plus cheaper, and it won't kill your car battery.

..........or i guess you could rent a garage from someone.

reply to carcam
Perhaps one of the cheap backup cameras? Not sure how to record with one tho.

reply to carcam
I've seen many Russian videos of car dash cams that record while the car is off and parked, so what you are looking for does exist, but I'm not quite sure where to get one.

These cameras typically record in a loop, discarding old video as the memory fills up to make room for new video.

My advice would be to go ask a Russian. They practically all have dash cams in that country, due to insurance fraud.

reply to carcam
Unless it's a reasonably well lit area, night time recording is difficult since dash cams in general don't come with IR LEDs. And if they do, the LEDs would most likely to be visible to those looking into them.

As it was already suggested, why not set up a camera from elsewhere? Alternatively, there are silent alarms that can notify you when your car is disturbed.
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Wacky Races 2012!

reply to beck

reply to carcam
You could consider a trail cam. They have night vision and record either still shots or video on a memory card. Possibly strap it to a headrest for installation. The ones I bought from Sam's have night vision but you don't see any light coming from them.

I'm somewhat surprised that trail cams would come with night vision, but why not. However, one function I'd also want is the ability to make a very low fps video, or making periodic pictures, like one every couple of second or so instead of a video.
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Wacky Races 2012!

This one from Walmart is similar to the ones I have except it has higher resolution. The no-glo technology works. You don't see anything even if looking directly at the camera. This one even has a time lapse mode.

»www.walmart.com/ip/Stealth-Cam-U···ications

reply to carcam
I should have noted that the car is parked in a carport, I cannot see the car from my home. The camera needs to be positioned from inside the car unfortunately.

I'll search some Russian websites to see what they offer.

I have no idea what trail cams are, I'll look into that as well.

Thanks for the tips.

Check the Walmart link I posted.

Basically a trail camera is designed to photograph wildlife using a trail. Hunters use them, but so do others like myself who just want to know what kind of wildlife they have on their property. The camera is a water resistant, self contained unit that triggers based on motion detection. There are different settings so you can take only a few pics or a lot or a video. For instance, when my cameras trip there are a total of six pics taken about two seconds apart and then it rests for a minute (so the batteries don't get drained by a deer or some such grazing and just staying in front of the camera for hours). The cameras are designed to go for weeks or months without any input by the user (mine use eight aa batteries). Typically everything is date and time stamped. The case usually has a nylon strap for securing the camera to a tree trunk. Most of them have ir illumination built in for night photography although admittedly that is always of a lower quality than daytime but still quite usable.

reply to carcam

reply to robbin

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Check the Walmart link I posted.

Basically a trail camera is designed to photograph wildlife using a trail. Hunters use them, but so do others like myself who just want to know what kind of wildlife they have on their property. The camera is a water resistant, self contained unit that triggers based on motion detection. There are different settings so you can take only a few pics or a lot or a video. For instance, when my cameras trip there are a total of six pics taken about two seconds apart and then it rests for a minute (so the batteries don't get drained by a deer or some such grazing and just staying in front of the camera for hours). The cameras are designed to go for weeks or months without any input by the user (mine use eight aa batteries). Typically everything is date and time stamped. The case usually has a nylon strap for securing the camera to a tree trunk. Most of them have ir illumination built in for night photography although admittedly that is always of a lower quality than daytime but still quite usable.

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reply to aurgathor

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Can't you mount it under the roof of the carport in one of the corners?

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reply to carcam

reply to robbin
Infrared illumination and motion detection is quite difficult through typical auto glass. Trail cam on a nearby tree is the most practical solution.

Technically, this can be done from inside the car using complex image analysis software and very expensive low-light cameras. But it will be obvious and could cost more than my car.

reply to carcam
fasten the trail cam to the ceiling of the carport aimed down at an angle. no one says it has to be perfectly level, as long as it can get a pic of said scumbag.