Video surveillance?
 

Since the recent "relocation" of my stereo system I have been thinking on how I can avoid this kind of thing in the future. Beyond a good aftermarket alarm one of my friends gave me this idea.

What I would like to do is to hide a tiny b/w camera somewhere in the car. This camera would be hooked up to a laptop hidden somewhere in the car. How I hope it would work is that whenever the "picture" changes it would take a snapshot and record it to disk.

I looked around in the car and found 2 decent places to hide it. One would be to replace one of the rear tweeter openings with the camera, the other would be to mount it on the back side of the third marker brake light.

So what does everyone think?


"Steal from me once, shame on you - steal from twice, shame on me"

Brake light. Should give you the best view of the entire interior of the car, depending upon the "width" of the lens.

you could get one like right next to the rear view mirror...or comin outta the vent in the middle ...we'll figure somethin out gordy...

With my dash currently out I looked thru the front end. There wasn't a spot I could hide it without obsturcting something, makeing it to obvious, or lay wiring to. I think from the rear looking forward is my best bet. It will give me the best angle at everything too.

but if it ever happens again you might not get a face view...to catch the SOB

It sounds like too much money/time to me to do it again. Hide a laptop in the car? Somethign else to steal, you'd also have to worry about it's power, your battery, securing the laptop, etc. I think any decent security system, a faceplate you removed, and a deck that requires a card or something (blaupunkt comes to mind) will help more. Get one of those security systems from crutchfield with the pager if something happens. But i think there are other options for video recording compared to a whole laptop, which you don't want to mess with. But then you'd have an MP3 server too....

Well, as for the laptop, I have approx 5 sitting at home right now. They are mostly old ones worth very little. So the cost of the laptop would be $0.

A decent camera would only cost aroud $50 for one small enough to hide in the car. The only piece I have yet to work out all the details is the video capture device for the laptop.

If I feel amitious I have ways of makeing the pics broadcasted thru a wireless link to either a handheld pc that I have or to my home lan.

Considering what I have already I might try it just for fun. :P

personally
 

Just get the loudest alarm that goes off when somthing lightly touches the car... You can get windows that set off alarms when they brake... hide another battery in the trunk... usually just putting a "protected by..." sticker on your car will warn off predators... and put a flashing LED on your dash... buy a big dog :roll: ... I think if you did all of that you would be hours ahead of trying to place a camra in it.

-oh and if your parking in a 'rough' place turn down your music a few blocks from where you park..

Yes hook up a chain on a track that goes around the bottom of the car for a ver big german sheppard. And then a trailer for him when his job is done... Wireless link on a PDA... I've had a PDA with built in WiFi, and it wasn't enough for video really, and yes the outgoing connection was just fine. Maybe you could make it motion sensitive?

id almost say go for the video..cuz it would be fun to help put in...but you could store a MASSAVE amount of songs on it...and the pic thing would be sweet...and it would be easy as hell to hide it...and w/ the 200 amp alt you have you could almost add a 2nd battery to keep it goin for a while...

jason...quit lookin at crutchfield...lol

gordy...many places out there w/ pager alarms with window and door shock sensors that could go off...custom build one...would be a fun project...and have a very very very loud alarm on it...and have a buzzer or somethin if you get outta your car and leave the sunroof open...haha..we'll think of somethin good

Crutchfield rules, they give you all the wiring you neeed for stuff free, and al the diagrams free too. Not to mention great buys. Mr. Ebay!

Camera I say is a good idea but a laptop and camera are going to drain a battery fast. If I'm not mistaken there are RF type cameras that can transmit pictures and sound to a receiver and can also be turned on or activated by motion. You could have the reciever in a nearby building like the house or garage or even a dog house. You might also consider one that can see with infrared because they most likely are going to hit the car at night. Also for a stepped up security it should run on a dedicated battery and or have a backup battery.

This is loosely based on some research I did about year ago or so for possible security around the house.

But above all remeber that all a security system does is keep the honest people honest, by that I mean if they want it and have the experience they'll get it.

What about those little hidden cameras that you can buy to spy on the babysitter or whatever that you always see on 20/20 :roll: I can't imagine they cost to much and I'm sure there is some kinda website that pitches em for dirt cheap. Come to think of it the computer gets a bunch of popups for those blasted things.

Just an idea...hmmm, where does it record too? :?

But camera's also don't do anything. They are passive. You need somethig to scare the intruder away, or keep him out altogether. I mean a camera caught the guy this time, and he's in what jail? :wink:

But this camera didn't catch him in the act. It just caught a "suspect". :?

Getting a tiny camera is not a problem. I have found a few for as cheap as $50. What I would need to work out is the recording. I would want the recording device in the car and not a wireless transmition to a house or something. If it were a laptop I could then just use my wireless lan to connect to it if needed.

..
 

If you catch a suspect and the stuff is like in his garage.. its theft under $2000... whats that? 2 weeks in jail + 60hours of community serves?

Re: Video surveillance?
 

Okay, here's my $.02...talk to someone who does wiring for police cars...cruisers have a camera (color even) permanently wired into their cars so why can't you? You'd just aim it in instead of out. Maybe the cops on the traffic enforcement forum will have some ideas...http://www.trafficenforcement.org/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.pl

Good luck. :D

Gord..I have deleted your post here, it appears that you simply replied to Haileys post and didn't add anything furthur of your own

Just a heads up for you bud 8)

SSEi95, have you looked into getting a two-way communication alarm system for your car? I've got a CompuStar on mine.... it basically lets me know if anyone touchs the car (up to 2kms away).

Also, put lots of LEDs on the car. Mine has 3 blinking ones, and one scanner. Basically it says "this car is too much trouble, go bother another car".

Again.... the 2-way comm system is a nice setup, the remote has an LCD display, and you can run quick diagnostics on the car. Cost of the system installed is around $600 Cdn.... way less then a camera and a laptop.

Anyways... that's my 0.02cents...

Do you have a link on that car alarm setup? The local stores have a lot of nice ones, but I didn't see any with pageing capabilities. ..or if you know a good site to look up the various models that can do that. Thanx

http://www.compustar.org/

The newer models really rock... lots of neat add-on features too.