If you don't know what this blog is about, go back to Part I to find out.
By now you have a fully functioning camera unit. You have formatted the SD, built the Pi, connected the lights (for nocturnal use), tested the OS, made it all wireless and installed scripts for running your lights. The final step is to make the housing for your Pi unit.
Get yourself some cheap plastic containers; the ones that have the rubber seal and clip on lids will work best for 'waterproofing'. You will need to find a 35 mm hole saw (for nocturnal) OR a 1/4" (6.35 mm) drill bit (for diurnal).
Use the hole saw or drill bit to slowly drill through the container in the area where you want your camera to be. Because of the design of the containers I used, I placed my camera and light hole in the bottom of the container.
To provide some rain protection around the camera and/or lights, I used a glue gun to attach a portion of a mini solo cup.
Small sections of sticky velcro strips were attached to the camera side of the camera mount, and the area around the camera hole. These ensure that the camera stays in place. Another section of velcro was glued to the side of the container, and to the battery pack, to keep that in place. The Pi unit is held in place with velcro also, but I used a cable tie to attach the unit to a cardboard backing first. This cardboard backing provides an area for the velcro to stick to. I stuck my Pi unit to the lid of the container. This ensured that I had enough space to plug in the various cables and still be able to add USB sticks or a fan etc.
If you were adding a fan, you would need another hole and cup to mount and protect the fan. You could also add a smaller hole to ensure to a circular air flow while operating a fan.
Simple really! Now you have an operational, largely weatherproof, cheap, motion detection system that operate during day or night conditions.
You can attach the container to wooden stakes in the field using cable ties or bungee cords... or whatever works.
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