Fishbonker
Life Member
As some of you know I have been working on a couple of home brews for about 4 years. I put a “trial” cam together with all the parts (board, camera, power supply) in a cheap 25 cent pencil box the first week that I had them. I just wanted to prove that I could make it work before I spent the money on a decent case. The camera worked, I got some photos, but I had flash bleed through and the flashlight lens I was using was pretty scratched up.
So I had proven to myself that I could figure out how to build it. I put it away thinking I’d build them for real that winter, but it wouldn’t be until this past spring that I ordered pelican cases and bought a couple of six volt batteries.
I worked on them a little this spring; I’ve had all the holes cut for a couple of months. When I measured for the mounting holes for the board I measured and centered the hole between the IR sensor and the motion sensor so when I dry fit the board the motion sensor was not in the middle of the hole. So last Monday I put it all together and wired it all up. Every thing worked fine. Then I glued in the lenses and it was a dead camera. It would not take a picture.
I eventually took the board out and it didn’t work every time so I swapped out camera cables. It worked great. So I put it all back together, nuthin. Dead camera. The power light came on but the board wouldn’t “sense” and trigger the camera.
Now remember the camera worked fine before I put the lenses in so the problem had to be in the Fresnel lens. It was right side up, but the motion sensor was about 3/16th to 1/4th inch away from the center of the Fresnel lens so my assumption is I need to move the board to center it on the lens. At that point I put the thing down and went to Scheels and bought the Moultrie D40.
I put it out Tuesday and checked it today. Looks like I have what I paid for, a camera that takes photos, but not the best photos. Lots of animal-less shots and some whiteish photos from an east northeast facing camera.
I didn’t know I had so many rabbits and squirrels. Coons I knew about because the cat food pan is always empty.
Here are the three photos of deer it took:
Like I said, I got what I paid for, but I’ll work on the home brews, someday.
The ‘Bonker
So I had proven to myself that I could figure out how to build it. I put it away thinking I’d build them for real that winter, but it wouldn’t be until this past spring that I ordered pelican cases and bought a couple of six volt batteries.
I worked on them a little this spring; I’ve had all the holes cut for a couple of months. When I measured for the mounting holes for the board I measured and centered the hole between the IR sensor and the motion sensor so when I dry fit the board the motion sensor was not in the middle of the hole. So last Monday I put it all together and wired it all up. Every thing worked fine. Then I glued in the lenses and it was a dead camera. It would not take a picture.
I eventually took the board out and it didn’t work every time so I swapped out camera cables. It worked great. So I put it all back together, nuthin. Dead camera. The power light came on but the board wouldn’t “sense” and trigger the camera.
Now remember the camera worked fine before I put the lenses in so the problem had to be in the Fresnel lens. It was right side up, but the motion sensor was about 3/16th to 1/4th inch away from the center of the Fresnel lens so my assumption is I need to move the board to center it on the lens. At that point I put the thing down and went to Scheels and bought the Moultrie D40.
I put it out Tuesday and checked it today. Looks like I have what I paid for, a camera that takes photos, but not the best photos. Lots of animal-less shots and some whiteish photos from an east northeast facing camera.
I didn’t know I had so many rabbits and squirrels. Coons I knew about because the cat food pan is always empty.
Here are the three photos of deer it took:
Like I said, I got what I paid for, but I’ll work on the home brews, someday.
The ‘Bonker
