Long range wireless or other solution?

[Joe Bramblett]

Looking for something in a battery powered or 12V low-light camera with at
least 500ft range, or at least 6 hours built-in recording at no less than
10fps. No need for pan/tilt/zoom or anything else fancy, just good enough
to get a license plate on a slow moving (25mph tops) vehicle when placed
so that it will be directly behind the vehicle. Based on the road layout,
the vehicle should be within 20-30yards of the camera and facing almost
directly away at one point, and the plate should be within a roughly 10'
wide area unless they run off the road completely. Adding in the desire to
get the mailbox itself in frame, and we can call it 15' minimum required
FOV at 60-90', with resolution good enough to read a (most likely) Texas
black-on-retroreflective-white license plate.

We've been hoping to ID some mailbox vandals, but they seem to be bright
enough to avoid any boxes that are close enough to the houses to make them
easy to catch. I've considered the digital wildlife cameras with IR
flash, but I'm not sure that they would record enough to get the vehicle
as it turns away.

Of course, they never show up when I'm sitting in a camouflaged blind with
a nightvision scope and flash camera. I'd hate to use a visible-flash
camera unattended and find the mailbox smashed and camera stolen, though.

 

[Bob Worthy]

What is your budget and do you realize that even with the best equipment the
catch rate is only guaranteed at about 70-80%? With mediocre equipment, the
rate drops drastically with moving vehicles (even at 25 miles per hour). You
may want to consider something that gives you a negative image of the plate
to eliminate any light from washing out your picture at night ie tail and
brake lights. This could get relatively expensive to do it properly. You
could still spend alot of money and not get the result your looking for if
you cheap out. You could buy alot of mailboxes for what this could cost you.
Did you piss someone off or is this through out the neighborhood?

 

[Jim]

Looking for something in a battery powered or 12V low-light camera with at
least 500ft range, or at least 6 hours built-in recording at no less than
10fps. No need for pan/tilt/zoom or anything else fancy, just good enough
to get a license plate on a slow moving (25mph tops) vehicle when placed
so that it will be directly behind the vehicle. Based on the road layout,
the vehicle should be within 20-30yards of the camera and facing almost
directly away at one point, and the plate should be within a roughly 10'
wide area unless they run off the road completely. Adding in the desire to
get the mailbox itself in frame, and we can call it 15' minimum required
FOV at 60-90', with resolution good enough to read a (most likely) Texas
black-on-retroreflective-white license plate.

We've been hoping to ID some mailbox vandals, but they seem to be bright
enough to avoid any boxes that are close enough to the houses to make them
easy to catch. I've considered the digital wildlife cameras with IR
flash, but I'm not sure that they would record enough to get the vehicle
as it turns away.

Of course, they never show up when I'm sitting in a camouflaged blind with
a nightvision scope and flash camera. I'd hate to use a visible-flash
camera unattended and find the mailbox smashed and camera stolen, though.

I had this problem a number of years ago. I was hell bent on finding
out who
was doing it re; low light cameras, infra red lights etc. until I
realized that I'd probably get arrested for what I was planning to do
to them. I took another approach. Much less costly too.

I made my mail box out of a piece of 12 inch cast iron pipe, welded to
a 6 inch
cast iron pipe, 8 foot long, (4 feet in the ground) filled with cement.
The pipe in
the ground is in a 3 foot diameter sonatube that I filled with 15 bags
of sackrete.

I smile at the thought of someone coming along, riding in a car with a
baseball
bat, hitting mail boxes.

I just hope no one ever runs into it with their car.

 

[Bob Worthy]

I smile at the thought of someone coming along, riding in a car with a
baseball
bat, hitting mail boxes.

I just hope no one ever runs into it with their car.

Many years ago, I lived in a very rural part of northern Michigan. A
neighbor, which was actually quite a ways down the road, made something
similar but used a "I" beam piece of steal and cemented it in for the
support. He too was fed up with loosing mailboxes. About mid January when
the snow was at it's peak, the road crew would come by and dress the snow
banks to keep the roads open. These banks got very high and they would have
to dress them back further and further. Since they were not actually
plowing, they would do this at a good clip. One of the county plows caught
his blade on that mailbox and put that big plow into a bunch of 360's. The
banks were high and packed enough it kept the truck on the road for the most
part but driver was not a happy camper. Scared the crap out of the driver
and it was the talk of town at the coffee shop. There was talk of
prosecution etc. but I don't think anything ever happened.

 

[Steve Foley]

I smile at the thought of someone coming along, riding in a car with a
baseball
bat, hitting mail boxes.

Someone I know bought two mailboxes. They were both flat bottom
semi-cylinders, but one was a small one (about six inches across) and the
other was larger (about 12 inches across). He put one inside the other and
filled the space between them with concrete. He simply mounted it on a 4x4
post.

It looks like a standard mailbox, and won't cause plows to do 360s if they
hit it, but he did find a broken bat on the road one morning.

 

[Jim]

Many years ago, I lived in a very rural part of northern Michigan. A
neighbor, which was actually quite a ways down the road, made something
similar but used a "I" beam piece of steal and cemented it in for the
support. He too was fed up with loosing mailboxes. About mid January when
the snow was at it's peak, the road crew would come by and dress the snow
banks to keep the roads open. These banks got very high and they would have
to dress them back further and further. Since they were not actually
plowing, they would do this at a good clip. One of the county plows caught
his blade on that mailbox and put that big plow into a bunch of 360's. The
banks were high and packed enough it kept the truck on the road for the most
part but driver was not a happy camper. Scared the crap out of the driver
and it was the talk of town at the coffee shop. There was talk of
prosecution etc. but I don't think anything ever happened.

Yeah, I thought about the snowplows hitting it also. I built a planter
around the bottom out off CVA wood . I'm hoping that they might see the
planter or hit the planter first. I also painted the box and the
planter dark brown, hoping it would contrast with the snow.

It just occurs to me ( in you story above) that if they prosecuted and
won, then what would stop people who's mail boxes they were able to
knock down, from filing against them for replacement? I can imagine
that was at least part of the reason they didn't persue it.

That event must have been the talk of the town for weeks. The driver
was probably more embarrassed, then anything else.

 

[Bob Worthy]

It just occurs to me ( in you story above) that if they prosecuted and
won, then what would stop people who's mail boxes they were able to
knock down, from filing against them for replacement?

The few that lived out in the boonies (I was eleven miles from town and
thirty one miles to the nearest McDonalds) didn't have much clout against
the county. I am sure people bitched, but that was at the coffee shop too.
Most mail delivery during the winter was canceled, because the mailboxes
were either buried, knocked down, and in alot of cases the roads would be
impassable for a day to two until the plows made it down. So 4 wheel drives
or snowmobile to town to get mail and grocerys was the way of life.

I can imagine

that was at least part of the reason they didn't persue it.

And the fact that it is all family anyway. They probably thought it to be
funny when they took down their cousins mailbox.

That event must have been the talk of the town for weeks.

Anything other than getting up in the morning and going to bed at night
(unless it was suspected that it was with someone elses wife) was the talk
of the town. Everyone knew everyone and everyone elses business. Two traffic
lights, both blinkers, and the stop signs read "Whoa". Places named Chimney
Corners, Indian River, Wolverine, Bliss, Pontuange, Burtis, Topinabee. Does
that paint a picture for you?

The driver

was probably more embarrassed, then anything else.

Probably, but I'll bet he brought up at one of the local redneck bars on a
cold winter Saturday night. The locals would fight over anything and if no
one else was there they would fight their own brothers for entertainment.
Funny how long winters effect people. Glad I am in Florida.

 

[Stanley Barthfarkle]

I made my mail box out of a piece of 12 inch cast iron pipe, welded to
a 6 inch
cast iron pipe, 8 foot long, (4 feet in the ground) filled with cement.
The pipe in
the ground is in a 3 foot diameter sonatube that I filled with 15 bags
of sackrete.

I smile at the thought of someone coming along, riding in a car with a
baseball
bat, hitting mail boxes.

I just hope no one ever runs into it with their car.

Holy Retribution, Batman... !!


I would score a deep line on the 6" pipe with a dremel tool just above the
ground, then caulk and paint. Might cause the pipe to break in the right
place if a car were to hit it at speed. Could save someone's life.

 

[Joe Bramblett]

What is your budget and do you realize that even with the best equipment the
catch rate is only guaranteed at about 70-80%?

The budget is somewhat variable, and partially based on how irritated the
landlord is when I approach him with something. (He lives next door, and
they usually hit his harder than ours.) If I can catch him the day after
one gets trashed, he may be willing to split the cost of something fairly
nice. (Of course, the problem then would be getting him to agree to take
it to the Sheriff, rather than forming a lynch mob.)

With mediocre equipment, the
rate drops drastically with moving vehicles (even at 25 miles per hour). You
may want to consider something that gives you a negative image of the plate
to eliminate any light from washing out your picture at night ie tail and
brake lights. This could get relatively expensive to do it properly. You
could still spend alot of money and not get the result your looking for if
you cheap out. You could buy alot of mailboxes for what this could cost you.

I've been playing with the camera system at work to figure out what it's
capable of, and it seems to me that, with having the pertinent info inside
a 15' wide area at the relevant time, it could be done. The lights are an
issue, but I've been able to read plates even with some of the older
cameras in that system. My main issue in this case is the desire to
avoid running a 500+ foot cable, or have to remember to go swap/clear a
memory card in one of the wildlife cameras every day.

Did you piss someone off or is this through out the neighborhood?

Bad placement is my main guess; they hit several boxes most times, but if
anybody's gets hit, ours will every time.

 

[Joe Bramblett]

I made my mail box out of a piece of 12 inch cast iron pipe, welded to
a 6 inch cast iron pipe, 8 foot long, (4 feet in the ground) filled
with cement. The pipe in the ground is in a 3 foot diameter sonatube
that I filled with 15 bags of sackrete.

I considered something similar, using an old driveshaft for the post, and
welding it to some large, misshapen chunk of metal to be buried in cement.

Snowplows aren't an issue here, since there hasn't been over a six-inch
accumulation in over 30 years. Most areas are hard pressed to keep sand
trucks ready to go during the winter.

OTOH, I'm the vindictive sort, and they just ignore anything that's not a
standard box due to several folks out here using similar methods. I want
them caught. Anything less, IMO, is like decriminalizing burglary and
just saying it's the homeowner's responsibility to keep them out.