TP Cam, version 1.0

[TimberPig]

3 weeks, about 1,000 hours on Hags House, and 50 trips to the hardware store later its about done. Now all I need to do is box it up and send it off to Vman for soldering. Funny thing, to look at it I would think it only took about 3 hours! I think the next one will be alot faster.
The downside is that I can already see these things are just like treestands, you will never have enough until you have one more than you can find a spot for. This could get expensive...

P41-BG2-Pelican 1040
Redneck camo courtesy of Krylon (I considered painting it pink with flowers, who would want to steal that ?)

 

[Shredder]

Looks good. Vman got me addicted to these things about 4 years ago and I guarantee, you will build as many of these as you have the cash for. Looks great for a first hack/build.

 

[dbltree]

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(I considered painting it pink with flowers, who would want to steal that ?)


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Dang it TP that's not fair! I don't even have all my "stuff" yet!

Maybe you should send it on down here and let me "inspect" it...

Great job...just wait til you get your first pics from it!

 

[bjkpharmd]

I like the security cable and placement of the lens/flash/sensor holes. Been thinking about how to secure these dumb things. Have a couple of expensive lessons.

 

[150 Class]

Looks good! I am still too chicken to build one myself but since the hack has been offered by vman, I have been considering building some myself.

I do have a question about your camera position in the case. It looks like it doesn't quite fit so you notched out the case a bit. Do you loose any of the sealing properties of the case or is it still good at keeping out the weather and ants? Iowabucks showed one in another post that has the case modified similar to yours too.

 

[Skully]

Looks great, now BRING ON THE PICS!!!!

 

[vman]

For that orientaion you do have to grind the sides some. I dont do that because ive been worried about cams leaking, but there are plenty of people that have without problems.

 

[Shredder]

150. As far as grinding out the case to make the camera fit, you should not lose any of its waterproof seal if you do not put the case in a bind or get into the rubber ring seal.

Here is a pic of a couple of the last 2 I had built. One thing I had done was removed a portion of the rubber liner so I did not have to grind as much out. Since then, I have noticed a few problems with flash bleed. One reason, the 1/64 inch that the rubber was I removed decreased the camera seal with the lens on the front of the case and two, if you guys are getting these film dipped cases, take a fine grit sandpaper and make the area in front of the camera black again. The light color was allowing the flash to bounce around inside the enclosure and give the pics a haze in the upper right corner.

 

[TimberPig]

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It looks like it doesn't quite fit so you notched out the case a bit. Do you loose any of the sealing properties of the case or is it still good at keeping out the weather and ants?

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Well, I sure hope its still waterproof! It doesnt look like the seal will be effected by the modification to me. The lip in the lid that actually makes the seal is about 1/16th inch away from the cuts I made. My bigger concern is that the case will leak around one of the other 12 holes I made in the case. I dont plan to put it in any high water areas so hopefully it will survive rain and temperature changes.
Grinding the case the proper amount was the hardest part for me, not knowing how much material to remove. Using a clear case was somewhat handy there, as I could sort of see how much material I had left to work with. A Dremel tool is about mandatory for building these cams.
I already want to build another one and this one doesnt even work yet!!

 

[dbltree]

Look out TP...my P41 just arrived!

I'll be right behind ya...if my other stuff ever get's here

 

[pete]

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My bigger concern is that the case will leak around one of the other 12 holes I made in the case. I dont plan to put it in any high water areas so hopefully it will survive rain and temperature changes.


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The trail cam looks great! As long as you Marine Gooped all of the holes good you shouldn't have much to worry about.

 

[TimberPig]

Whats the holdup Dbl? My stuff showed up in about a week, yours should be there soon I would think. Then get to stuffing that junk in the case and get it out there so we can see what monsters are roaming your foodplots! You just know they are there...

Pete, I did use the Marine Goop, thats some messy stuff! I started to feel like the air traffic controler from Airplane, "I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue".

 

[pete]

On your next build get a small syringe, with no needle, fill it with the marine goop and then apply it. It takes alot of the headache out of it.

 

[ironwood]

[ QUOTE ]
Looks good. Vman got me addicted to these things about 4 years ago and I guarantee, you will build as many of these as you have the cash for. Looks great for a first hack/build.

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Ditto

 

[TimberPig]

[ QUOTE ]
I guarantee, you will build as many of these as you have the cash for.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, I can see thats going to be a problem. I already have a spanking new Sony S600 sitting here in front of me. Bought the wife one for X-mas for regular use too, it might get "lost" in a year or two.

I want to try the S600, probably with a wide angle PIR, and see how I like it compared to the P41 setup. And then I'll probably build another of which ever one I like better. Then of course I needed some new Powerex rechargable AA's and a MAHA charger and more memory cards.
Crap, this is really going to get expensive...

 

[Dmacbow]

TP,
I like the look of your setup. It appears very clean and easy to use. How are you attaching the camera to the case? Or is the camera just sitting on a platform and held in place by the closed case? I have a P41 enroute, and this will be my first attempt. I'll probably take V-man up on his offer to do the hack, sounds like a reasonable deal.

 

[TimberPig]

The camera is sitting on a small shelf. At the time I took the picture the camera had not yet been hacked. The shelf now has a a small hook on the bottom which the bungee attaches too. None of that is absolutely necessary as the case itself holds the cam pretty tight. I just added the shelf and bungee to keep the cam more level and to prevent it from falling out when I open the door to check it.
The cam is out right now sitting directly under my commercial cam. I am anxious to see how the pics compare.