Looking to cobble up some sort of CCTV or surveillance camera

[Chills1994]

Hi gang,

So I went over to my mom's last night to mow the grass. She keeps it out of the weather by parking it under an overhanging porch roof.

Do you know how lawnmowers have that rod or handle that you have to hold down to get it started and to keep it running? It is sort of like a kill switch so that if you tripped and fell the push mower wouldn't run over you and chop your feet to pieces.

Well, I go to gas it up. Check the oil. Push the primer button. Then I get to the handle and there is NO rod thingey to hold down whatsoever.

I was able to cannibalize one from another push mower that runs kind of erratically. I installed that. When I went to start it up, I noticed the discharge chute was all messed up.

So, obviously somebody tresspassed and then tampered with my mom's push mower.

My mom lives on a dead end street. Her whole "homestead" is all fenced in too with a 5 foot tall anchor chain fence, with just a gate in the front to drive through, on the front, and then a walk-through gate in the back.

She is absolutely befuddled by this incident.

So my question to all you guys is, is there a good way to cobble something up say like with a wireless webcam? I have a spare computer (CPU towers and monitors) or two that I could leave over at her house that, I think, could act like DVR's.

What say you?

Thanks!

[Jeff686]

There's a lot of free video and image capture software with a 'motion activated' feature. I googled and found a bunch right away: http://3d2f.com/tags/motion/activated/software/

Most cheap USB cameras are sensitive to IR. Unfortunately, they usually have an IR filter too. I've read instrucitons online on how to remove the filter. Some USB cameras actually come with IR LED for night vision, but those cost a little more.

If your lawn mower area is lighted, just use a reglular cheap USB camera from Kmart. USB extension cables are good to 15-20 feet, but may cost more than the camera.

Wireless will drive the cost up some, and you might need to setup a wireless network (802.11) to get the image back to the computer.