Monday, October 10, 2016

PI Critter Cam Day 12: Enclosure

I've been slowly and methodically planning the enclosure for the critter cam.  I want something that can live outside, can hold a battery, and,obviously, the Pi's enclosure, but with the wifi dongle plugged in.  My ultimate goal is to have the Pi take pictures and post them automatically to Twitter.

Since I'm attempting to do this on the cheap, my enclosure plans started with a leftover container about the size of a few servings of mac and cheese, which should be the equivalent of all the components.  It's got latches on the side, which I'm hoping will keep it enclosed enough to keep the rain out.  


Due to my frugality, I'm attempting to use a freebie battery to power the Pi before investing in something more substantial.  This battery is small, but is intended for cell phones, which means you can plug the Pi into it via the mini USB port.  That really simplifies things significantly.  I tested it out and the Pi was able to boot  and take a picture with it as a power source.  Awesome!

Lastly, it has a tiny vent hole on the top that's about the same size as the camera lens.  To utilize this hole, but prevent rain from getting in, I bought some tack stuff via Amazon.  Here's what the completed enclosure looks like.


In order to fully utilize this case, however, I still need to figure out how to have the motion detector initialize on startup and figure out how to test this thing outside.  I'm thinking a tray with some birdseed might be a good test.  Until next time...

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