Hello group, I am looking into building an automated wildlife camera. There are bunches of commercial ones, but I'd like to do it as hobbyist project. What I plan on doing is using a signal from a passive infrared detector to trigger a cheap digital camera (less than $30 U.S. dollars) via an Atmel AVR microcontroller. Some time ago, I can remember reading a "wildlife camera" article somewhere on the Internet. This article would be a good place to start. But, Google has failed me. Does anyone know the location of this article/project? Thanks for your help, Matt Meerian
there was one such competition winner doing just that with a wireless link. The micro was mainly dealing with battery charging.
In reality a cheap camera and a cheap PIR detector should do the trick. Here in the UK it is possible to buy cheap low res cameras that have a passive infrared detector built in. Look for home CCTV installation equipment.
Unless you have some form of battery charging for a remote system or control of camera pan/scroll/zoom (not available on majority of cheap cameras) I fail to see what a microcontroller is needed for.
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How come you need a microcontroller? The signal from the PIR can drive the shutter button directly, though you might want to put in a delay with a 555 or something.
Remember not to buy a PIR sensor with pet immunity :)
I did something similar last year when my brother built onto his house.
A waterproof clear plastic box containing: modified 1.2 Mp camera 12V battery + switchmode regulator micro with light sensor
I mounted it in the garden where it sat for about 4 months and took one picture every 5 minutes.
The micro turned the camera on, waited, triggered the shutter, waited and turned the camera off. But only while it was light. The camera had to be turned off between pictures because the current drain is quite high.
I used a PIC micro on a GP board. The switchmode regulator drops 12V DC down to 6V DC for the camera.
The camera was modified with an opto-couple installed to trigger the shutter from a simple 3-5V signal from the micro.
Once a week the CF card was swapped out and about every 2-weeks the battery was swapped out.
The only problem is that the camera is not so good in low light. A better camera would be great but you have to consider the loss value if it's stolen.
I've currently got it configured to take one picture every 30 seconds for 900 pictures which almost fills the CF card) without turning the camera off until it's finished.
The micro has a trigger input which I plan to use via a simple RF link. One possible application has a remote vibration sensor to take pictures of trucks crossing a rural bridge.
The project in circuit cellar was the article I was thinking about! (Thanks!) You're right; putting a microcontroller on a project like this might be overkill. It might be as useful as an Internet enabled toaster. But, a microcontroller does add a considerable amount of flexibility to the design. According to the below site, some people have had trouble with their wildlife cameras being stolen.
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A simple home built security system might be a good idea, (or a car alarm) but nobody else besides the thief would be there to hear it. Mounting the wildlife camera far off the ground or a big warning sticker would be a good deterrent. Matt Meerian
It is never too late but if 8 years later you still are looking for valuable wildlife cameras, you will find in the number 4 and 5B of the Wildlife Rescue Magazine extensive articles about several cameras.
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