Dekkia's Blog

Webcam Nesting Box

2024-03-07, 18:22:09

Maybe a fisheye lens is a bit overkill for a nesting box.

You live and learn.

A black and white picture from the inside of a nesting box, with a piece of paper on the bottom that says "Test Bird" with a crudely drawn Bird under it. The walls of the box are visible high up to even include the entry hole.
A black and white picture from the inside of a nesting box, with a piece of paper on the bottom that says "Test Bird" with a crudely drawn Bird under it. The walls of the box are visible high up to even include the entry hole.

18:24:38

I probably should've known better since I already built one with a "normal" lens.

Another picture from inside a nesting box, but it's clearly a different one. This one has a nest built into it and is way more zoomed in. On the bottom right is a timestamp of the current date and time 2024-03-07 19:22:36
Another picture from inside a nesting box, but it's clearly a different one. This one has a nest built into it and is way more zoomed in. On the bottom right is a timestamp of the current date and time 2024-03-07 19:22:36

18:25:23

I'll be posting more about this during the weekend when I get to install the second one I've built.

18:28:16

Let's just say the birds will have a better Internet connection than me in 2015.

Or at least that is the plan.

18:30:05

The box that has already a nest in it is leeching off the wifi in the house.

The other one will need some more work to get online.

2024-03-08, 19:21:43

Ok, so during the day I hung up the new nesting box. This is what It looks like in its net place in the garden.

A Wooden nesting box for birds with a gray box to the side of it. On the bottom of the box is a black antenna and a white cable coming out.
A Wooden nesting box for birds with a gray box to the side of it. On the bottom of the box is a black antenna and a white cable coming out.

19:22:18

But let's rewind a bit. "What's actually in there?" I hear nobody ask.

19:26:08

In the top is one of those ESP32 camera boards with a fisheye-lens camera and an IR-LED I stole off a Raspberry Pi camera.

Basically Whats described in the main text. Everything is placed in a gray 3D-printed box. The picture is taken from the top with all the electronics visible. There's also wires sticking out to the side and some hot glue holding everything in place.
Basically Whats described in the main text. Everything is placed in a gray 3D-printed box. The picture is taken from the top with all the electronics visible. There's also wires sticking out to the side and some hot glue holding everything in place.

19:32:04

The reason for the weird shape of that plastic box is the swiveling side panel of the nesting box. I bought it like that and couldn't modify it so I had to design around it.

The same 3D-printed box now installed in the nesting box ceiling. There's a conical cutout to allow the side panel to swivel open. It also has three holes, one in the center where the camera lens sits, a big one next to it with the IR LED and a lens to spread the light and next to that another small hole with a light sensor to control the IR LED.
The same 3D-printed box now installed in the nesting box ceiling. There's a conical cutout to allow the side panel to swivel open. It also has three holes, one in the center where the camera lens sits, a big one next to it with the IR LED and a lens to spread the light and next to that another small hole with a light sensor to control the IR LED.
A Screenshot from fusion360 in which I show the conical shape being cut out of an otherwise boring slab.
A Screenshot from fusion360 in which I show the conical shape being cut out of an otherwise boring slab.

19:35:28

Since there is no electricity in the garden, the whole thing is powered by a solar panel and a 2600mAh 18650 cell.

I didn't photograph the cell or the charger, but here's a picture of the panel.

A close up of a small solar panel mounted to the side of the same structure as the nesting box.
A close up of a small solar panel mounted to the side of the same structure as the nesting box.

19:37:41

The gray box that hangs on the side of the nesting box is where the battery lives.

On a full charge, it gives me a runtime of about 4 hours.

I call this a feature. That way the birds get some privacy too.

19:39:08

Initially, I wasn't sure if the internet in our garden would be good enough for this setup. The old access points I replaced last year in the fall wouldn't have cut it.

But the new ones cover that area just fine.

19:40:37

That is almost a bummer because I was planning on mounting a TP-Link cpe210 on the roof and having it point downwards to the garden.

19:41:41

I still might do that when/if I set up more camera nesting boxes. Especially in areas further from the house, I might need it.

19:46:47

Now, for reasons I'm not sure about yet, the camera is offline. It went out only one hour after sunset.

Maybe it stopped charging the battery 3 hours before sunset due to insufficient light.

Maybe it couldn't fully charge up in a little less than half a day.

I guess I'll see what happens tomorrow.

A screenshot from home assistant with two timelines. The upper timeline displays the time when the sun went down. The lower one displays the time the camera went offline. They're about one hour apart.
A screenshot from home assistant with two timelines. The upper timeline displays the time when the sun went down. The lower one displays the time the camera went offline. They're about one hour apart.

19:48:00

I don't have any telemetry for the battery. This is something I might add in a future revision.

A few more sensors in general would be nice I guess.

And maybe a battery that's at least on paper capable of running the thing over night.

19:48:28

Oh, and a different lens.
Fisheye is way overkill.

19:49:17

But I'm already browsing Digikey for parts, so I might just build myself a custom PCB for this exact use case.

Or not. We'll see.

2024-03-09, 08:36:18

Aaaand it's still offline.

Great.

08:37:48

According to the proper solar panels on the house the sun is only really up for about 90 minutes.

Let's give it another hour or two to see what it does(n't).

10:51:03

Still offline.

Nothing ever is easy.

11:45:46

Turns out the USB-C breakout I was using to plug into the Battery Charger had 5V and GND swapped on the silkscreen.

Swapped over the leads and now I've got a charging light.

The ESP didn't go online immediately, let's give it a few minutes.

12:41:34

One hour later and it's still offline.

13:01:58

Looks like it's reboot-looping and triggering Tasmotas reset feature.

I guess the panel just sucks ass. I now ordered a bigger one, hoping this does the trick.

14:44:59

Look what I found in my Workshop.

It's a 24V Panel. Sadly the sun is so low (and partly obstructed by a tree) that it drops down to basically nothing as soon I put a load on it.

A 4A sized solar panel propped up on a rock ontop of the tarp that serves as "fix" for the leaky roof of the greenhouse I mounted the nesting box on.
A 4A sized solar panel propped up on a rock ontop of the tarp that serves as "fix" for the leaky roof of the greenhouse I mounted the nesting box on.

14:55:19

So I guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow to figure out if it actually is enough for this setup or If I need the better panel I ordered.

15:00:04

According to Amazon, I bought the panel in 2021 and It should output 12V at a max of 1.2A.

So either there's something wrong with this panel or my multimeter, or they changed the listing.

15:06:00

Good news everyone!

They changed the listing and the one I have is borked.

Both the old and the new Listing titles call it a 12V 10W panel.

The current image from the product page. The Panel is more square shaped and the cable are displayed on the bottom.
The current image from the product page. The Panel is more square shaped and the cable are displayed on the bottom.
The Product image from 2021 copied out of the order email from that time. It's very low-resolution but it's still obvious that it's a different panel. The panel is rectangular, with a somewhat similar aspect ratio to a piece of paper. The cables are displayed to the right of it.
The Product image from 2021 copied out of the order email from that time. It's very low-resolution but it's still obvious that it's a different panel. The panel is rectangular, with a somewhat similar aspect ratio to a piece of paper. The cables are displayed to the right of it.

15:06:28

This is why I don't delete old emails.

17:34:29

Hey, look: the thing went back online for like half a minute about one hour ago.

Maybe the panel trickle-charged the battery just enough for 38 seconds of runtime. It only took a bit over two hours to do that.

A screenshot with the following text: Connected March 9, 2024 at 5:31:23 PM March 9, 2024 at 5:32:02 PM Duration: 38.864
A screenshot with the following text: Connected March 9, 2024 at 5:31:23 PM March 9, 2024 at 5:32:02 PM Duration: 38.864

2024-03-10, 08:39:15

Guess what:

It's cloudy today. So I'm not sure if that (probably broken) solar panel is able to generate enough juice to achieve anything.

Let's wait and see.

2024-03-17, 13:07:44

Update: I installed the new panel and now it seems to work.

Screenshot of a status-panel showing that the esp32 went online at 1:37:19PM today and has been online for 28 minutes and 36 seconds.
Screenshot of a status-panel showing that the esp32 went online at 1:37:19PM today and has been online for 28 minutes and 36 seconds.

13:08:00

It still might die as soon as the sun goes down, but let's wait and see.

13:10:50

Funfact: I'm using the ping integration in Home Assistant to monitor if it's online or not.

The average round-trip time is
102 ms. Not great not horrible.