Trailcam built on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and Pi NoIR Camera V2
My trailcam code has been pushed down to the trailcam folder. This is while I work on a quick project to try and capture some bat motion, which requires a different model of videio capture. So this code is a bit of a hack for pro-active video capture and deletion on footage, as opposed to re-active for the hog-cam.
Configure setup in settings.py, plus any secure configuration in config/config.json
Initiate using:
python3 trailcam.py -t <testmode> -s <service>
Currently setup to default to testmode=True so I don't have to keep entering -t True when testing. Also setup to service=False, since I also run this as a service.
The code checks to see if it is already running as a service, and exits if it is. Comes of developing on the same platform as I'm operating on and me forgetting to stop the service when testing. My service is setup like this:
[Unit]
Description=Trailcam
After=multi-user.target
[Service]
Type=idle
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/Trailcam/trailcam.py -t False -s True > /home/pi/Trailcam/log.txt
User=pi
Group=pi
KillSignal=SIGINT
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Integrates with Plex and Slack
- Plex - Uploads video and still to my NAS which my Plex media server is pointing at, then initiates a library refresh for the specific library
- Slack - Posts a notification on motion detected, and the video to my slack channel. Therefore you need 'slackclient' installed
pip3 install slackclient
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B
- Pi NoIR Camera V2
- wittyPi Mini (Real Time Clock and power management/scheduling)
- Adafruit PIR (motion) sensor
- BW 48 LED Illuminator Light Lamp CCTV IR Infrared Night Vision
- Naturebytes Cam Case
- Anker PowerCore II 10000
botcontrol.py monitors a second slack channel, which allows a limited set of commands:
- stop - Stops the Trailcam service
- start - Starts the Trailcam service
- still - Take a still and posts to the botcontrol channel
- plex - Updates plex library
- shutdown - Shuts down the Pi
sudo shutdown -h now - reboot - Reboots the pi
sudo reboot
Service for this is:
[Unit]
Description=Botcontrol
After=multi-user.target botcontrol.service
[Service]
Type=idle
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/Trailcam/botcontrol.py
User=pi
Group=pi
KillSignal=SIGINT
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Because the Model 3B that I was given has an unshielded WiFi card on it, this can affect the PIR sensor giving false positives. There are two possible solutions:-
- Use ethernet (and potentially POE) to provide network connectivity, and turn off the WiFi on the Pi
- Use at least one (I have two) Ferrite Ring Core(s) around the ground and sensor wires to the PIR, then make sure these are pushed as close to the GPIO end as possible
In theory the Model 3B+ should solve the problem, since it is shielded. However changing to a 3B+ does not seem to have fixed it completely, I still get false postives when I access the Pi via VNC.
Major credits to Chris Johnstone for documenting out how to do the basic setup, from which I have then extended to meet my own needs:
- From 2016 - [https://peaknature.co.uk/blog/how-to-build-a-raspberry-pi-trail-cam--part-1-introduction]
- From 2018 - [https://peaknature.co.uk/blog/how-to-build-a-raspberry-pi-zero-trail-camera--part-1-what-you-need]
Also Naturebytes for their work on developing a full trail camera kit and making the case available as a seperate purchase: