Help

[sirenwerks]

My car has been broken into twice and the perp has dumped sand in my motor.  I need to catch this guy.  The first time, the car had some years on it and the incsurance company totalled, so I used the payout to buy a brand new replacement.  So this has gotten serious and I doubt the insurance company will be happy, especially if this happens a third time without results.  I bought a two camera Arlo system and am trying to figure out the best way to make it work, or if I should just return it.

I rent in a condo complex, on the third floor.  Setting the cameras on my balcony is just going to get me an image of a blurry figure performing the act so I opted to put the cameras in the car; actually both cars becase I have a rental right now while my vandalized car sits in front of my building waiting for insurance investigators to come.

Alll of the settings on the two are the same.  The cameras are stationed under the headrest pointing directly towards the front windshield, allowing the driver's side interior to be captured and the hood area.  But the motion sensing is wonky.  First, it is catching movement from behind and to the sides.  When someone walks directly in front of the car, it doesn't always trigger.

Second, both cameras seemed to perform the same the first night but varied signficantly the second night.  The strange thing about that is, the first night they were parked well apart.  The second night they were parked right next to each other.  And last night one only went off twice and the other dozens of times.  That last part seems to indcate a defective camera were it not for the fact that they seemed to work in tandem the first night (I didn't actually check to make sure both cameras went off at the same time each time the first night)

The plan is, once I no longer have two cars to monitor, I will place the second camera on the tree next to the parking areas, so I can monitor from the outside as well, but for now I need the two cameras in the cars for best results.

How can I optimize this set-up?

[jguerdat]

A Model T ignition coil would work well here.  It's just a vibrator so it's always active rather than needing the engine on. A wire from the coil to the ground and the high voltage to the car chassis allows the perp to complete the circuit with one hell of a jolt.  I've seen it work...

Sorry, not a solution for you, just had to put it out there...  😛

[sirenwerks]

I may look into that.  I'd still like to solve the camera problem though.

[jguerdat]

Sorry, I was just "in a mood".  🙂

Most motion detection issues require trial and error for best positioning.  Your situation sounds potentially problematic unless you have a choice of locations to try.  You might also try using motion detection from one camera to start recording on another - set up a new rule (or more than one) and assign that/those to a mode.  Perhaps that would help.

[TomMac]

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snip

The plan is, once I no longer have two cars to monitor, I will place the second camera on the tree next to the parking areas, so I can monitor from the outside as well, but for now I need the two cameras in the cars for best results.

How can I optimize this set-up?

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If you have two cams, one inside car called 2 ( that won't detect motion thru the glass of the car ) and one outside in tree called 1 ;

set up rules in this order

First Rule; CAM 1/1 -  Select Motion is detected on camera 1 and to Record Video on camera 1.

Second Rule; CAM 1/2 - Select Motion is detected on camera 1 and to Record Video on camera 2.

Make them active in a new MODE called CAR.  Start mode CAR.  This should have both cams record at same time outside and inside.

Problems possible are 1) window reflections of IR illuminators inside the car from camera washing out that camera ( as it goes into night mode so maybe mask off front of cam),  2)you may not see the person if at backside of camera ( as it only points one way )

IMO tho, you need a camera zoomed in on your car from your 3rd floor condo with a long time record option , in order to get a possible ID shot.

Anything done from a distance will give you a time it happened but not much more for ID.