New experimental WebCam on Rattlesnake Island

[IslandRadio]

I put up an experimental WebCam looking directly West from our place on Rattlesnake Island.

We'll see how it goes throughout the winter, when I can't check or fix anything!

Here is the site: http://rattlesnakeisland.net/cam.htm

[raydoe1]

I also have been experimenting with a cam. You have a nice clear picture.
I don't seem to have as clear of a picture. Also I have it working off wireless wifi.
Is your cam connected directly to a cable wire or is wireless wifi?
I am using a Panasonic cam that cost $550. Not sure if yours is more
expensive and better cam.

[Lakesrider]

Wow. That is a nice picture.

[brk-lnt]

Looks good. Given the 4:3 aspect ratio I'm guessing it's a 3MP?

[Pineedles]

Nice web-cam picture. Also, very nice pictures of your property, and found the RIA web pages very interesting read. Thanks.

[Tackleman]

I put up an experimental WebCam looking directly West from our place on Rattlesnake Island.

We'll see how it goes throughout the winter, when I can't check or fix anything!

Here is the site: http://rattlesnakeisland.net/cam.htm

Are you using MAC or PC. I'm having a hard time finding a good wireless camera that works with a mac. Any ideas?

[IslandRadio]

Well, we'll see how long the Internet connection (DSL) hangs in! That will most likely be the deciding factor in the reliability of the system. If the DSL modem, phone line, router, or any hardware fails or requires a reset for some reason, that'll kill things pretty quickly.

The camera is an Axis M1013 that I picked up (new) off Ebay for around a hundred bucks. It's pretty much their low end unit. Axis makes a whole host of network cameras like this one, many with real PTZ, wireless internet, PoE and other features.

This is a network camera, and does not require an external computer or any external hardware other than an Internet connection (router, etc.) to work. I configured the camera to automatically upload an image to the server on a periodic basis.

It is also possible to view full live video in various formats. There is a web interface for administration and viewing.

Assuming everything hangs in, it'll be interesting to see the ice form, snow fall, etc. and ice out in somewhat real time.

So far, so good - but it's only been one day ;)

[dpg]

So if I understand you correctly it dies the first time you lose power? Shouldn't be long. :eek:

[IslandRadio]

A power loss is OK - everything will come up by itself no problem. It's just if something actually fails (or hangs) where things may be rendered inoperative. Time will tell !! I have a small Unix machine running up there, and the camera operating system, network equipment and router are also all based on Unix and this typically has been VERY reliable. There's a big Unix based machine at a network I set up that's been continuously up for more than than 3 years! Go Unix :-)

[Rattler 4 life]

Being just on the other side of the cove from you, I can't say thanks enough for the view. Fingers crossed all keeps working, would love to watch the ice build and then melt.

[BroadHopper]

My dad built a number of A frames in your area and on Bear Island facing Meredith Neck back in the early '50's through the 60's. I am wondering if you may by chance bought one of these A frames. I notice last summer there are a few left standing and they were modified for more accommodations.

At the time the lots had perpetual leases and my dad will build on an empty lot and 'sell' his lease.

[IslandRadio]

The one we have was built in the 80s,and I think it might have been a kit of some kind. It's very well built and has a full 2nd story as well. No insulation - maybe someday, but after all it *is* a summer place :D

[CBR451]

Enjoying the web cam! Thanks for posting this!

[Lakesrider]

I have a camera that is set up on my computer at my place that I turn on when I am on vacation. The first time the power went out, of course the computer went out and that was that. However I soon learned that there is a setting in the bios that you can set to have the computer turn itself on when the power is returned. Worked like a champ the next vacation. so after all that I finally jumped into the year 2012 and went an got me a network camera, and everything is on a UPC now.The power company came to Suissevale and cut all the trees off the power lines. I haven't had so much as a blinking light at my house in months now. Keeping the fingers crossed!

[IslandRadio]

Glad people are enjoying the new cam :) Hopefully, it stays up through the winter!

I made some enhancements to the web cam page. There are now images available for each hour of the previous 24 hours. It's interesting to watch the progression of the weather, etc. throughout a day across the hourly images.

[Senter Cove Guy]

Glad people are enjoying the new cam :) Hopefully, it stays up through the winter!

I made some enhancements to the web cam page. There are now images available for each hour of the previous 24 hours. It's interesting to watch the progression of the weather, etc. throughout a day across the hourly images.

It would be neat if you could put the hourly pictures in a time lapse window like our webmaster does with the WeirsCam.

[webmaster]

It would be neat if you could put the hourly pictures in a time lapse window like our webmaster does with the WeirsCam.One easy (and free) way to do that is to add the camera to the Weather Underground webcam service. They'll capture the image from every few minutes, archive them, create timelapses and organize it all in calendar form. They also provide an embed code to put the timelapse movie on your website. Here's the Weirscam page:

http://www.wunderground.com/webcams/winnipesaukee/1/show.html

[glennsteely]

Great picture from your new camera.

[jazzman]

My webcam reliability solution is to put my dsl router + wireless access point, on a timer which kills the power for 15 minutes every day. I suppose I could power cycle the camera every day too, but they seem to run forever. This will get you through the typical DSL/wifi issues where the "solution" is to power the damn thing off. This also gets you a new IP address everyday, but that's not an issue if you use a DNS service. Last year I made it until March when the power on Barndoor went out for a month.

I use FOSCAM cameras... Pretty inexpensive, but the documentation is clearly in very poor Chinese/English. They do come with a free DNS address which is very easy to setup. The only hard part is punching the right holes in your router to get inbound access to the camera.

This years experiment is enabling the alarm function on a camera looking inside the house. If it senses motion the camera emails me a series of shots. I just need to teach it what I look like so it doesn't send me pictures of myself.

[HellRaZoR004]

jazzman, that sounds interesting. Are you able to do that with multiple cameras? That would eliminate the need for storage to record data or a pricey plan to do it for you. Do you have any pointers/tips?

[Phantom]

Memo to mind ...... stay out of jazzman's house this winter :D

[IslandRadio]

The cam is back! Opened up on Wednesday and fixed the problem.

Should be good for the duration.

Internet problem. Everything else was fine.

[jazzman]

My cameras made the winter faithfully uploading a picture every 10 minutes. The power cycle the modem/router every day trick is key... Weather be willing, I'll get to see the place for real tomorrow:)

[IslandRadio]

Yes, the power cycle usually works. In this case, the problem was on the non-island end of the connection!! A back-up connection would be nice - then there would be something available to diagnose the main connection. Maybe I'll be able to arrange something by the end of the summer...