Construction WebCam.

Update:  Now that the real construction activities have moved inside, I'm relocating my WebCam to follow that work.  Please bear with me while I re-run the phone line & attach power to the cam.

Since my house is being built in Western Maryland, and I live and work in Annapolis (3 1/2 hours away) , I just HAD to build a camera that I could use to monitor the progress at my site.  The latest picture is shown to the right --->>>>

Although there are lots of WebCams on the market, they nearly all require a PC to operate, and if they don't need a PC, the definitely need continuous power.  Unfortunately, until the walls are up on my house, I won't have power to run a PC, or even a small camera.

I set out to find/build a remote viewing system, that only needed a phone line.

My exhaustive internet search resulted in the MiWatcher-II.  This remote viewing system is designed for un-attended use via a standard phone line.  I took the basic unit, and built up a special enclosure that also contained a 6V motorcycle battery, a Solar battery charger and a custom control circuit that I designed.

Since the MiWatcher consumes about 600ma of power, and the Solar Charger is only good for about 60ma of charge current, I needed the custom circuit to turn on the power when I called the camera, and turn it off again when I'm done.

Here is the original prototype for the control circuit. When the phone rings, the circuit detects the change in line voltage, and turns on the Camera. About two minutes later, the circuit turns off the power. Eventually I want to replace the simple timer with a "Stamp" MicroProcessor to also control a Radio Control servo to pan the camera.

Here is the "custom" camera case I found ($5.00), along with the MiWatcher and Solar battery charger. I stripped the two solar cells from the charger unit and wired them directly to the battery.

Here are the major components together, ready to be mounted in their enclosure. I found a clear plastic "Pasta" container that fit all the parts and allowed the camera to pan about 30 Degrees. The solar calls (not shown here) mount to the inside top of the container. Under the camera, you can see the Radio-Control Servo that I intend to use to pan the view.

Here you can see the camera box mounted to a post (with a Phone Interface) at the edge of the house. The camera has been in-place and running un-attended since 9/9/2002. Soon I'll be able to relocate it "under roof" for an "inside view".

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This site is all about building a cool, energy efficient house, that makes maximum use of earth sheltered design, passive solar heating and cooling, geothermal exchange energy management, and right sizing of the house for it's designated use. The home's placement is on a south-facing hillside in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. This site describes the design process, the technologies used and the expected results. We also have a comprehensive Links Page for anyone who is also interested in designing a similar project.