just went to Fry,s electronics and they had a lot of gadgets, almost too many to pick any particular one.
Spy camera wanted, motion activated, wireless, etc.
by FatFreek 2005 17 Replies latest social entertainment
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Simon
Ah, my theory was wrong (while I was typing it).
Another approach is a Dropcam - have it point at the cabinet from the room and set a detection zone to record / alert when needed. It's amazing how "invisible" they are, even though they are not really spy cams.
Local spy / security / electronics stores have amazingly small cameras though. Find one of those and have a look round.
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FatFreek 2005
Thanks, Simon and Baker. Oh, how I wish we lived in a metro cuz I love Fry's.
Dropcam is very interesting.
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LV101
I have Dropcams (by Nest) and they alert you and for a small fee per yr. store the recordings. I've heard good things about one called Arlo. You can install it up high and our of the way pointed at whatever you want or just sit it out in the open. Just google best rated security cameras. Also, the door ring one that's highly advertised for the front door will allow you to add/install a smaller sized camera(s) in additional places - so I'm told. I think it's easy to install and you'll have the app on your phone for alerts like the Dropcam and many others on the market.
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FatFreek 2005
Thanks, LV101.
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Fisherman
Your best bet is to buy something on ebay from China. They are cheap -under a hundred bucks, not a brand name item. The great thing about china is that you get all the bells and whistles and more for a great price.
These home security alarms come with normally closed and normally open switches that transmit to the main board when triggered, which can also be programed to turn on a security camera that also transmits to your phone over the net. They also come with sound and motion activated switches. The main board contains a dialer which uses a sim card. The dialer calls your cell phone when any switch is triggered. All switches have an antenna, but you can try to improvise something if you want to hide the antenna/switch. You can activate or deactivate the alarm, turn on or turn off devices attached to the alarm from your phone.The only problem is that it is easier to read Chinese than the "English" instructions but with common sense it is not difficult to set up.
They also sell dvr camera systems (cheap also) that record 24/7/363. You can connect a wired or wireless hidden camera to it. They also sell ultra small wide angle dvr spy cameras (cheap about 70.00) from china The battery lasts about 8 hours or you can connect to a power supply 24/7. They record to a micro sd card.
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FatFreek 2005
You're the man, Fisherman. That's a wealth of information. Thanks for those tips.
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Fisherman
BY way of a router, you need to go into the router and configure ports ( port forwarding: open the designated ports) you also need to configure the program you are using on your android (QEye for example) to work with the ports you opened on your router. IF your router is a separate unit from your modem, you are in luck . IF you have a combo router modem, you need to contact your ISP to help you set it up. Don't tell them too much about what you want to do. BY way of a dvr connected to a router, ports and passwords have to match and you must set up the dns as static. Most ISP's dont change the DNS that often and you can try and use it as if it was static. For a small yearly fee you can get a static DNS from a provider on the internet, Dyns I think is one.
BY way of the dialer, you need to put minutes on the sim card, with the right plan it costs about 20 dollars a year.
The hardest part of setup if you use the router in the system you decide upon, is configuring the ports on the router and getting the router to work with the dvr.
IF you just want to monitor an area and dont need to be notified right away if they open a door etc, they sell household objects that are actually dvrs activated by motion, so the battery will last a very long time -weeks or more.They record to a micro card. IF you get one that records to a slower fps and or resolution you can record hours of video on a 32 gig card. THese units are cheap 40 or 50 bucks -or more. THey sell all kinds of things that people would never suspect is a camera. A lot of options. Everythng you need need is on ebay for less than 100.00 plus the time you need to compare everything and decide what you need.