6 replies to this topic

[avarakin]

I am planning to stay at a beach house in a very dark area and of course want to do some imaging while there.

Question is: how do I monitor my rig during the night: given that it is not my house, I can not setup permanent cameras and security system as I have at home.

I will have access to wifi, so I can probably build a mini HomeAssistant system with motion sensor which would call me over twilio in case if someone approaches my rig, but I feel it is an overkill.

I don't want to get into subscription service.

Camera is probably not feasible, given that it is a very dark place with very little ambient light and camera with IR LEDs may potentially impact my images due to camera light leak. In case if it makes any difference, my camera is Touptec IMX571.

Any thoughts or ideas?

 

Alex

 

[scottdevine]

I use a Wyze camera and link to Alexa to lest me know if it detects a person. Never had any issues with light leak. Camera with station is ppl retty cheap and very mobile. 

[daveco2]

I set up on the sidewalk in front of the house, and secure my mount to a steel hand rail with a 3/8" diameter flexible steel cable and padlock.  Good thing, because when I went out to check it one night a few months ago, the tripod had been moved to the curb until the thieves discovered it was tied to the railing.  They tried to cut the cable with shears, but the the braided cable jammed them, so the thieves gave up. 

 

You could put a motion detector directly on the mount (to detect motion of the mount itself) with an alarm in case it's moved.  The alarm could be audible, with a light (or not), and a wifi warning to your phone.  This would be easier than installing a common vicinity motion detector.

 

I would feel secure with the combination of cable and directly mounted motion detector.

Edited by daveco2, 27 March 2023 - 09:46 PM.

[avarakin]

Thank you for ideas. I am more and more leaning towards setting up a Home Assistant server on a Raspberry pi and have an ESP32 module with Panasonic motion sensors connected via Esphome to HA.  I already have similar setup at home so there is not much learning curve and I already have all bits and pieces. This will also be a good starting point for automating my observatory. 

[SteveL42]

I set up on the sidewalk in front of the house, and secure my mount to a steel hand rail with a 3/8" diameter flexible steel cable and padlock.  Good thing, because when I went out to check it one night a few months ago, the tripod had been moved to the curb until the thieves discovered it was tied to the railing.  They tried to cut the cable with shears, but the the braided cable jammed them, so the thieves gave up. 

 

You could put a motion detector directly on the mount (to detect motion of the mount itself) with an alarm in case it's moved.  The alarm could be audible, with a light (or not), and a wifi warning to your phone.  This would be easier than installing a common vicinity motion detector.

 

I would feel secure with the combination of cable and directly mounted motion detector.

Yikes.  I guess living on a dirt road in the forest has advantages... my worry is more about deer or bear knocking my scope over!

[CharLakeAstro]

Could use a 110db doorknob alarm, secured to the tripod

https://www.amazon.c...d/dp/B01L3R5LXE

[darkstar3d]

Could use a 110db doorknob alarm, secured to the tripod

https://www.amazon.c...d/dp/B01L3R5LXE

A meridian flip may set that off. But, I like the concept.