OT surveillance camera for a car?

My wife left her car for 5 minutes and returned, only to find a GPS stolen. I had a truck window smashed a year or two ago as well.

I would like to find a surveillance system for a car.

Requirements are:

1) 12v power supply and low power consumption 2) Unobtrusive look or, better, designed to be hidden 3) Good recording capability to a flash drive 4) NOT BULKY 5) Ability to survive 60 degrees C or so inside a vehicle.

I have looked a little and everything I found is kind of ridiculous, huge in your face things and huge tape recorders, etc.

Any suggestions?

i
Reply to
Ignoramus6391
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Never leave bling in view. I keep a gps under a shirt on the passenger seat that I use every day. No see, no steal. Also, no NRA or pro gun stickers. There could be firearms inside my vehicle and I'm not advertizing.

Constant streaming to a flash device is going to burn out the cells. You need a triggering system if you want to use flash.

You need a ultrasonic glass break detector or an ultrasonic perimeter alarm.

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They make small very small PC's for embedded applications. You can run them no-headed. I

*assume* you will run a *nix OS. I suspect I could find a few boards in any recent copy of Circuit Cellar.

Put it in the trunk. I suspect it is cooler there since there isn't any glass. I *hope* you can deselect the inside the car trunk release. My car has a lever on the trunk lock I set when carrying arms or other valuables. That car battery is huge compared to a laptop battery. Thinking of laptop, some cheap fleabay laptop likely fills the bill. You only need enough PC to record video and even old crap has 60MB of disk. You can use a USB web cam too.

It sure sucks to be violated. Been there before but not too often.

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Reply to
Wes

Lots of possibilities. These links should get you started.

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Wayne

Reply to
wmbjkREMOVE

Maybe something here you could use.

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RogerN

Reply to
RogerN

I had full video from motion detecting overlapping cameras of a break-in. The guy broke through a skylight as the video shows first the cloud of dust that set off the camera then you see him drop into view and go about his thieving. I thought the police would be thrilled to have all this documentation. The cop says to me: "OK, we'll get right on it and issue an APB in the ghetto for a 20-40 year old, 140 lb Black male. You'll hear from us REAL soon!

Reply to
Buerste

As others have pointed out, a photo of the perp after the fact doesn't necessarily do you much good. You really want to discourage the break in. Before anyone will break in they will peer inside. Have a something inside that looks like a camera, maybe with a blinking light to attract attention. Next to it should be a sign saying something like "Smile, wireless web cam. See your face at somefakeurl.com"

Reply to
anorton

And he opens up his stolen iPhone, checks the URL, and says "nice try" as he breaks your window...?

Reply to
Glenn Lyford

On Wed, 7 Jul 2010 01:42:22 -0400, "Buerste" wrote the following:

Ah, isn't it lovely to hear those words from a caring representative of your local gov't?

Were your pictures as grainy and sucky as all of those captured by the high-tech, expensive systems used in our banks, Tawm? I cannot believe the crap I've seen on TV and in the newspapers. A cell phone in the

-dark- could have taken better shots than those hi-rez pics, wot? Could the banks have figured out what you just did, that the cops don't care and the system is broken, so they put only the minimum dollars into a system which isn't really utilized anyway?

Just another one of those things that make you go "Hmmmmmm?"

-- It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that's sitting right here right now, with its aches and its pleasures, is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive. -- Pema Chodron

Reply to
Larry Jaques

On Tue, 6 Jul 2010 23:10:24 -0700, "anorton" wrote the following:

[Hover one of these over the vehicle wherever she goes, Ig.
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music would cause the perps to look up, too, capturing their faces. (Sing it, Norah baby!) ]

You assume too much, sir. Things like that would be entirely lost on illiterates and illegal aliens, 2 groups which make up a sizable portion of the criminal population.

[billboard] "Illiterate? Write to us for help!"

-- It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that's sitting right here right now, with its aches and its pleasures, is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive. -- Pema Chodron

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Buerste, maybe you can post that video publicly? Maybe that would help?

i
Reply to
Ignoramus12585

Drive a crappy dirty car. Leave the right rear window rolled down. Get some McDonald's wrappers and Big Mac cardboard containers and sprinkle the interior. Put a rolled up baby diaper in the back window filled with some newspaper stuffing. Put a terrycloth towel over the front seat like it's covering a hole. Whenever you get out, turn the rearview mirror very askew. Remove diagonal hubcaps. Smear a little lard on your left rear window, then dust with fine sand. It will pick up a nice umber tone as it ages.

Works great for me. I've had people throw dollar bills and free car wash certificates in the open window.

Steve

visit my blog at

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watch for the book

Reply to
Steve B

Called when someone tried to steal the Pathfinder from our driveway when we were in the pool. Broke some scissors in the ignition, so could not start the car. The man said that I needed to come to the station and do a station report, as I had disturbed the crime scene, and they did not send officers out for attempted thefts. They would only send them out if the perp were still in the car. And they tell you to drive to the station, sometimes an impossibility if your column lock has been jammed.

Steve

visit my blog at

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watch for the book

Reply to
Steve B

Strap sez:

"You assume too much, sir. Things like that would be entirely lost on illiterates and illegal aliens, 2 groups which make up a sizable portion of the criminal population."

Right on Strap! The criminal element is not deterred by laws. They got here by ignoring laws. They only understand examples made of themselves.

Bob Swinney

Reply to
Robert Swinney

And open myself up to all kinds of litigation?

Reply to
Buerste

What kinds of litigation?

i
Reply to
Ignoramus12585

Such as what?

Gunner

One could not be a successful Leftwinger without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of Leftwingers, a goodly number of Leftwingers are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid. Gunner Asch

Reply to
Gunner Asch

LOL .. One of the major reasons why I don't wash my car or clean it out much. It's dirty on the inside, but just from ashes and plastic soda bottles.. Oh, and those damn ATM / gas receipts.

Reply to
tnik

What's that Lassie? You say that Larry Jaques fell down the old rec.crafts.metalworking mine and will die if we don't mount a rescue by Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:11:54 -0700:

I was told once that they look fine when viewed in their native format. The conversion to NTSC or PAL messes them up.

That and over re-using tapes.

Reply to
dan

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H.

Reply to
Howard Eisenhauer

You need an active security system, not a passive one-

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H. :)

Reply to
Howard Eisenhauer

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