Hi Ivar, 

Continuous video demands considerable storage capacity and battery power. To my knowledge trail cameras are not designed for continuous video over time.

However, time-lapse as low as 1 fps could be an alternativ solution, if this low frame rate is sufficient for your needs. I have used Brinno tlc200 to continuous monitor a nest at a rate of one image every third second (1 fps is the lowest possible) for 2-3 days, although this camera is not IR compatible. There are many models of trail cameras (w/IR) that have the timelapse option, but usually the frame rate is not high enough. Some do have schedule video recording, but there will be a considerable time gap between intervals.  

What is the power draw (mAh) of the monitoring system you are using now? Could you offset the power consumption by using solar power during daytime?

Hello Ronny,

Thank you for your response, the low time-lapse might be an option worth considering. Right now, we are able to record for 14 hours straight with a Gopro IR connected to a recorder and the recorder connected to batteries. It is however quite a lot of work to install and to power (we use 150amp batteries).

Solar power is also an option worth investigating. At least at one of our sites it is open enough to get power from the sun. 

Thanks again

Hi Ivar,

as it was previously stated, trap-cams are not intended for this use. Instead they are made for long term "monitoring" a field recording events triggered by the presence of an animal moving across. However, I recommend you to just select some trap-cams based on the quality of their video (main issue since they tend to be low on resolution), and download their manuals to check the recording modes. I am familiar with Bushnell, and their cameras have a "Field Scan Feature" that allows to do what you look for. This is to record video/or stills, during a preset range of hours each day, for a preset interval and duration (video) without requiring the trigger from an active animal. If there is an animal, during the "interval" it can trigger as well the record.

To my knowledge you could setup the camera to work between a start and stop time, with a short interval (1') and a duration as long as possible (60").  This would provide a cheaper and simple solution, but again you have to check if the video quality of these cameras is enough for your study.

Another solution may be to use an action camera (e.g. GoPro or cheaper clones), replacing the lens and removing the IR filter that covers the sensor (there are some companies that do this / or check tutorials on youtube). This would allow the camera to record IR, getting high resolution in a smaller factor than a modified DSLR or CCTV setup. You still would need to provide external IR light (plenty of cheap options on eBay / e.g. IR led ring).

EDIT: another option that may help you is to move from IR into Thermal video. Doing it, would avoid any need of external lighting. A very simple way to implement this (and avoiding "Flir" costs) is to use an android phone (easy to supply with additional energy + microSD mem cards) with a thermal camera. I recommend you to check the small Seek CompactXR camera (about 200 USD) for this purpose.

kind regards!

Hi Ivar,

I have some experience of working with solar powered cameras (although not IR) and I think that might be the good option if you can manage to get it done. We had to use a bulky solar powered battery, but it worked wonders for us as we were using flash cameras that were to be put in the forest for long duration. A person who specializes is solar equipment had designed that particular camera trap which was basically combined the sensors and the battery to a market-bought digital camera (something like Nikon coolpix). Here are more details http://www.reap-india.com/digital-camera-trap.html

I have also used trail camera to record videos of  terrestrial mammals, but it was the usual way, the animal triggers it and the video gets recorder for the time you set it for. I used Moultrie and had kept the duration very small (few seconds). You can of course also use video mode like time lapse where you can set it up to record a few seconds at specified time interval. But even that is so energy consuming! 

Maybe you will need to mix different components as the responses above suggest, good luck for the challenging and exciting times ahead!

Warm regards

We used cameras like those you may find in shops or gas-stations. painted them camouflage, used some extra IR-Spots and built a recorder box. You may use PIR or leave them running. On the recorder you may change the speed (N pictures per sec).

However, You need Batteries (for cars or lorries) with at least 50Ah/day and will have to change batteries and storage every few days...

However, it works!

Hi Ivar,

I'm experienced with camera-trapping and I can tell that Reconyx can be of use when it comes to video recording. They can record, indeed, for half a minute and setting them to stop between each recording session for as long as you want.

If you want them to video-record for a certain amount of time (say 10 hours) straight I advise you to test for how long they can work. For instance, turn one camera on and set it to record. Leave it for 10h and check in the end if it is still on; if it's out of battery you can in the video file for how long it recorded.

Hi Ivar (and all),

we have been using intensively for the past 2 years custom adapted Brinno cameras for IR timelapse video recording. As they are not provisioned for this you'll need to modify the system to make it IR compatible but it is not overly complicated. Depending on your needs you can then adapt your IR lighting system and battery to it (we use Li-Ion batteries) at reasonable costs and then test the optimal number of frames/minute. You can get several days of continuous video recording and if needed you can additionally supplement the IR light levels to adequately capture fast-moving species such as bats. Of course, it will depend a lot on the distance you need to cover but if you can set the camera close to the bat roost then it makes it a lot easier. We use it for amphibians (paper in preparation but you can see poster on one study on my page) and the entire equipment can all be fitted in a small box. With our current setup we get 5 days of video recording at 4-6 frames/minute which is enough for slow moving species. Additionally, we then use a custom script to do motion detection analysis on the video afterwards to reduce the time needed for analysis. Hope this helps.

Silviu  

We used bushnell for video-observation (behavioural observations) .

Just as Gian described the settings. Worked really well!

Thank you all for your reactions, they are very helpful. It will definitly try some of the proposed cameras/setups!!

I have worked with Reconyx HC500 time-lapse cameras before and know that you can set a time-lapse mode of up to 15 seconds. There is likely a video option as well.

They use 12 AA batteries but if you are recording for hours on end, you can get a plug-in cable and attach it to an external battery. I used a motorcycle battery and it was quite easy with minor wiring and worked well in the field in harsh condition (Antarctica). Let me know if you need more details. Cheers!

Ivar, have you tried a continuous surveillance camera powered by two motorcycle batteries w/recharger, an external IR bank and a local recorder? This should give you 24/7. Good luck and please post an update when you are operational.

Reconyx Ultrafires can record 30 s video clips, with a 5-6 s gap between videos, but if they are on a high duty cycle (30 s video followed by 30s off) the infrared light source heats up the whole camera to 40 C, so I doubt that they could sustain 30 s videos with 6 s gaps.

Hi, I used Scoutguards about 6 years ago to record 60s with a few seconds interval, continually retriggering when animals arrived overnight. The batteries would run down over the course of the night, so we had a complicated system with lots of rechargeable AA batteries, charging trays, and swapping out SD cards and 8 AA batteries on every camera, every day. We were using this set up to get a sample of how bandicoots were behaving at foraging trays, so it would only trigger when an animal was actually there. There's probably better tech available now, but I couldn't advise you on that unfortunately

Hi Ivar,

I have been using Cuddeback blackflash to record rhino behaviour at middens. They recorded 30 second videos with a re-trigger speed of ~2 seconds.

Some nights, a rhino would sleep there for hours, other days, impala herds would stay around the camera causing, both continuous filming. I'm away from my external hard drive at the moment containing all the data, but we can chat about it more if you would like? I could send you some examples of blackflash night time footage (the quality is lower than other flash cameras, but it comes down to your filming/data needs).

I used 32GB memory cards, and non-rechargable AA batteries (longer lasting than rechargeable) in the cameras and only checked cameras every 2 weeks which was sufficient. I can dig out the details of longest running time etc, but I have a feeling they could work for you.

Courtney

What I know is that Ltl Acorn 6210MM (Shenzhen Blueskyocean Technology Co.,ltd., China) can continuously record for 60 seconds and reset within 10 seconds. Maybe there are more advanced versions available now.