Thief attempts to open car door

[mocodi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1gS3goMe6A

Was motivated to set up cameras after one of our car's tyres was apparently vandalised a couple months ago and, more recently, some items were stolen from it after a visiting relative borrowed the car then forgot to lock it.

Got a little bit of a pay off overnight - curiosity-wise at least - as the camera captured someone attempting to open one of the doors at 3am. Wife and I were a bit creeped out because it's one thing to suspect this sort of thing is happening, but another to actually view a thief in action on your driveway while you were sleeping. Thankfully, judging by the lack of effort, we suspect they just walk along streets looking for easy pickings.

The video does highlight some of the Arlo's limitations, mainly the angle the camera had to be placed at to avoid triggering motion detection too often and running down its battery, which resulted in the subject's face being out of the frame. It also had to be mounted quite high (to avoid the camera itself being an easy target for theft) which increases the distance from the subject, meaning there's not a lot of detail and IR light.

[JamesC]

mocodi,

Glad to see it was a failed attempt. Thanks for sharing.

JamesC

[TomMac]

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mocodi wrote:

It also had to be mounted quite high (to avoid the camera itself being an easy target for theft) which increases the distance from the subject, meaning there's not a lot of detail and IR light.

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I know its after the fact...

but If you want a more Covert camera, there are many ac power IR flood lights ( 850nm ) that will light up the car's area bright as day ( and then you can turn off the cameras self contained IR lights and battery will last longer). 

I use the external flood light that was from version one of arlo; Vuezone.  Lights up about 20x more area.  Ebay/amazon have many IR floods in the $50 range.

OR if want more Overt, just put in a set of motion activated regular flood light...nothing chases thiefs away more than the flood going on full blast.

[mocodi]

That raises the issue of why we chose the Arlo wire-free system in the first place - we're in Australia (where tradespeople are expensive and an electrician is required by law for anything wired-in  - mains-powered cameras, floodlights, etc.), and are probably moving house in about a year, so didn't want invest in a wired camera setup. Otherwise, wired is what we would have gone with given the benefits.

Did mount a Mr Beams motion-activated spotlight above the driveway shortly after the incident - like the Arlo, it's battery powered. It's mainly for deterrence and our own benefit; the MB370 model I chose isn't really bright enough to add much to the Arlo's IR.