NC Bowhunter's Trail Camera Page

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NC Bowhunter's Homebrew Trail Camera Page

After several months of working, I finished my first trail camera which you can see above. It uses a Canon Owl PF Date Camera and a Radio Shack PIR sensor. The enclosure is a 3" x 5" x 7" RS hobby box. The switches are for power, LED, and camera. There is a 30 second delay between pictures from using the alarm mode of the RS sensor. I want to thank everyone at the Tennessee Deer Talk Forum and at Jesse's Hunting Page for all of the information because I would never have been able to build this without them.

It was a lot of fun learning how to configure the camera to make everything function properly. I really had no previous experience with electronics like this, so I was somewhat amazed by how well it came out. I plan to display some of my favorite pictures here and anything else I think of. By far the most exiting and gratifying part of this was getting to see the pictures that were taken by something that I put together.

7/8/01 - I checked my first camera after it had been out for two weeks, and the Owl PF had locked up for some unknown reason. It had only taken three pics, so I fixed it and put it back up in the same spot. I havn't had much time to work on my second camera, but as luck would have it, it stopped working properly when I put everything in the enclosure.

6/26/01 - I got my fourth roll back and the pics came out great. Look under the 4th roll of pictues to see them.

6/20/01 - I think I got the second camera figured out. After adding a diode to the counter, resoldering a loose connection, and replacing the batteries, everything worked perfectly!!! I still have to cram it all into the box and test it in the woods, but it's looking good. Thanks to Tinhorn for the very helpful instructions. Here is a look at the finished timer:

6/16/01 - This timer is starting to get to me now. I was so proud of myself after putting it all together correctly, because the first test that Tinhorn mentioned in the instructions worked. But now that I have tired to wire everything together, nothing is working right. The camera takes pictures randomly, the counter counts about 5-10 times per picture, the LEDs come on and off randomly... Click here to see the jumbled mess I have.

6/13/01 - Well, I still havn't gotten another role processed. When I checked the camera several days ago, it hadn't finished the role. I've started working on my second camera, which will use the same basic design, but be slightly improved and have a timer. My current plan is to try to build Tinhorn's two stage timer. We'll see how well it turns out.

5/30/01 - The camera had only taken two pictures where I had left it, so I moved it to where the third role was taken. I'll check it this weekend, so I should have some more pictures then.

5/16/01 - I got my third role back and the changes I made worked perfectly. There was only one false picture, and all of the pictures were taken during the day. I put the camera back out over a dusting spot with the hope of getting some good turkey pictures.

5/1/01 - So far I've gotten two roles of pictures from the camera. About 5-6 pictures on each role had nothing in it. I think that this was caused by animals that were too wide to be seen in the camera. I've modified the camera to have a narrower sensing beam to hopefully prevent this. I also have added a daytime only feature using a photo resistor, so when my third role is finished, I'll see how well those changes worked out.