Due to recent events, I am researching what the cost will be to install some cameras outside my home with motion sensors to catch the morons who have now vandalized our home twice. Does anyone here have experience with this?

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Do you have motion-sensor floodlights? That might be a good start (and in my opinion are just a good idea anyway).

Some bright, obnoxious motion lights go a long way.
Though perhaps since this seems to be aimed at your daughter...find out what the hell is going on that is causing it in the first place?

You can get security pretty cheaply these days...but you'll wanna come up with something small they cant see...or the cameras will simply get painted first. I believe Sam's club even had some fairly small cameras that also had nightvision LED's on them. The webcam option is decent until you get into low light...framerate goes to hell and you'd be lucky to even be able to tell if they were male or female. If you had motionlights and the webcam placed in an area you'd expect traffic...it would likely work.

Hell you can get a simple motion sensing chime on remote that would announce someone had come into your yard. Turn it on before you go to bed and if you get a chime at 2am....

**Edit** I just thought of something else that you might already have if you are a hunter: Trail cams. My dad has trail cameras all over his property to track deer activity for the hunting season and they take both day and night time pics and are motion activated. High resolution..both day and night.

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Larreth Wolfsong (long retired)
Lanys T'vyl, Everquest

Zinky, Lvl 60 Warlock
Thunderhorn, WoW

Trip wires and punji sticks.

Rabid pit bulls who haven't eaten in a couple weeks should do the trick

Dude, don't leave pit bulls outside. People will steal them - seriously.

Hmm.. how about exploding pit bulls?

We are trying to find the source of the problem of course.

the trail camera is an option I am going to explore some. The issue is there is one side of the house where there are no windows so an indoor webcam is impossible.

... exploding pitbulls... really?

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You could buy a wireless webcam and just put a thin plastic shroud over it to shield it from the elements.

I suggest you dig a deep pit, say 12 feet or so, line the bottom with crush glass, bales of barb wire, sharp sticks and a angry bear. Cover the pit with a chunk of astro turf and watch for results.

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Jake Rivers - Senex Legio
Get off my Lawn alliance

As luck would have it, I have an angry bear for sale.

Could try some empty camera housings at first and see if that is enough to scare them off.

If you don't want to go with the pit idea go with a wireless IP camera and some security software. A whole bunch on tigerdirect, but these IP cameras are all over the internet.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4033231&CatId=1924



Logitech Video Security Master System
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Jake Rivers - Senex Legio
Get off my Lawn alliance

hah!

I still like my exploding pit bull idea.

Maybe find a crackhead to defend your property - would be another idea worth considering. Cheaper labor than Mexicans.

Get a tweaker. Crackheads are less focused. Meth creates very singleminded addicts. Also, they seem to love watching security cameras for some reason. Set him up in your garage and you've got 24 hour surveillance for the 3/4 of the week when he isn't crashed. /nod

google : X10 camera and motion detector, VCR Commander

I have 3 cameras outside my home set up to activate and record to a VHS whenever motion is noted.

I know it's old technology, but it's cheap as hell and not too hard of a learning curb if you keep it at 3 cameras and down.

Ebay is your best shopping ground for anything X10, they have low light B&W camera, color, wired, wireless, even pan and tilt's that u can preset to scan specific locations.

Best of luck.

Friend of mine had a neighbor that was taking their dog to shit on his welcome matt. He set up an x10 wireless motion detector webcam that worked pretty well for him at catching the dude.

http://www.x10.com/key_products/wireless-webcam.htm

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