Catching A Peeping Tom With A Propeller - Looking For Suggestions
idbruce
Posts: 6,197
Hello Everyone
Over the last several years, there has been evidence around around the residence, that someone is occasionally taking the time to peer through my windows. Although I am not afraid, it still gives me an uneasy feeling to know that this person is lurking, so I want to catch this person either in the act or take a snapshot.
I do believe the Propeller chip could be a good monitoring device to catch the culprit
Of course there are all kinds of ways to do this, but I want to do this as cheaply as possibly, so I am thinking about an extremely thin copper wire, used as a trip wire, and of course these trip wires would be placed at various locations around the residence. The trip wire would be a continuous loop back to a Propeller pin for monitoring. If the wire is broken, the pin goes high for notification.
Any other ideas???
Bruce
Over the last several years, there has been evidence around around the residence, that someone is occasionally taking the time to peer through my windows. Although I am not afraid, it still gives me an uneasy feeling to know that this person is lurking, so I want to catch this person either in the act or take a snapshot.
I do believe the Propeller chip could be a good monitoring device to catch the culprit
Of course there are all kinds of ways to do this, but I want to do this as cheaply as possibly, so I am thinking about an extremely thin copper wire, used as a trip wire, and of course these trip wires would be placed at various locations around the residence. The trip wire would be a continuous loop back to a Propeller pin for monitoring. If the wire is broken, the pin goes high for notification.
Any other ideas???
Bruce
Comments
Trip wires are cheap and cheerful. I might guess you'll be endlessly alerted by all the furry critters running over them. Then having to find the break and fix it.
How about getting a few Raspberry Pi and their cheap camera modules? Use the Motion software to detect happening at locations in the image you expect anyone to pass by. Not only do you get an alert but you can check the pictures from the comfort of you bunker/home.
1) Better curtains (drapes)
2) Steel trip-wire(s) connected to the mains via 10K resistor
Camera won't be much good if the perp is masked.
There is only a couple places at the residence, where a person can peer in without the assistance of a ladder. In two situations, there are casement windows with shrubbery in front of the windows (this is one of the locations where evidence of peering was located). In another instance, there is a balcony, with two sets of stairs for accessing the balcony (evidence was also found here).
@Peter
Network of Props??? Gee this is going to get expensive
As mentioned above, there is a total of four locations with peering access. I was thinking of a trip wire surrounding the shrubbery, in front of each casement, and a trip wire going across each set of stairs, although the wire would not actually be strong enough to make a person trip
Now each of these four trip wires would go to a different Propeller pin. An endless loop would constantly cycle the state of these four wires. If a trip was indicated on a pin, it would set off a barely audible alert within the house, and flash a specific color LED for the specific location. For example:
However it would be nice to have a camera take a pic, but I believe that would be money better spent on my other efforts.
LOL... Yea that would teach him not to look inside an electrician's house.
ESP8266 + PIR + wall wart will be about $20 per sensor. Have them all report activity to the Prop, connect the Prop to various relays for lights, alarms, flame throwers, WAV audio players, phone dialer, etc.
It seems to me it would be easy to get inside the average criminals mind and scare them with a little creativity. You could have EMIC 2 say, "Facial recognition complete, uploading data to county police." Have laser scan the room at the same time. I think they'd bail, just make it look like a movie and chances are they would believe it haha.
Also non-lethal force, taser, pepper spray, baton, all things everyone should have at home. It's not just for crazy people, sometimes other animals can be a threat too.
You have been conspicuously absent for a while (AFAIK).
You sure you haven't been hanging around some crazy chick that's decided to stalk you? :-D
I had one like that once, it was like something out of the movie Fatal Attraction. I decided it was less stressful just to have her move in
https://www.parallax.com/search?search_api_views_fulltext=PIR
Yea, I have been keeping a low profile lately. mostly because I have been gearing up for the production of my tin can furnaces. They have come a long way since I first started the discussion about them. VERY SOON I will be posting photos of the furnace and the assorted tools.
At this point, I believe it is probably the best designed tin can furnace in the world, but I am just speculating. Besides the easily replaceable tin can, these things are as solid as a rock, even more so, because there is some very serious steel used for construction.
Anyhow, the last crazy one I dated is long gone, both her and her mind
I think it is most likely someone in the neighborhood.
Leon
How often do you think this potential peeper is peeping? Do you have an idea about why they are peeping? Could they be casing your place for a theft? Or, do they wonder about "that guy who makes stuff next door?" Fixated / obsessed woman? Kids? Pranksters? What gave you the idea that there is peeping?
If it's frequent, you might consider just setting up outside your home to watch. Get a nice lens and wait it out. But using some tech is way more fun!
Some time back in the early 90's, we had people mooching gas from the cars in my neighborhood. I slept in one for a few days and managed to catch them setting up on the car I was in! Got a picture, but it wasn't enough. When I saw them, they had a hand pump and would ride up, get it set, pump a gallon or two and drive off quick. They had it down to a nice routine. Slick! I popped up, and in the time it took to get focus, they were already moving away. Amazing. Their car was ultra quiet too.
They came back repeatedly and even a bit more frequently after that. Seems me having a photo and nothing happening egged them on. (can't win sometimes) I was pretty sure it was kids just mooching for thrills, and maybe to maximize their date / party money.
So, I doped the gas in the car. And yes, I disconnected the main gas inlet and was committed to cleaning / replacing the tank, but it was all worth it. Really didn't need to use that car for a month or so, so I just let it sit, nice and full, easy mark. I gambled on a light doping, so they won't be impacted too soon, and that I was pretty sure they were hitting multiple cars a night for the thrills.
They didn't return. "bad gas"
Was a bit worried about retaliatory actions. Nothing ever happened, and I've long since moved.
The frustrating thing was a picture wasn't good enough! I could make a report, and it would be taken under consideration, but that's about it. If they were caught, that report would help though.
Anyway, be careful Bruce! Once they know you know, the dynamics of things may change. And good luck on your furnace. I'm very curious to see what you've come up with!
A photocell-controlled (darkness-only) IR detector module at each window tripping bright lights & sound is your best bet. IR modules are $1 on Ebay. Cheap & easy.
And the answer is occasional footprints in the fresh snow below the windows and leading to the balcony, footprints in the mud, and off brand cigarette butts. Someone is definitely watching. As for scaring them with fake stuff.... I don't want to scare them until I know who it is and then I want to scare them enough so they will never return. (EDIT: Added for Bruce humor.... "If you are found here tonight, you will be found here tomorrow
I am afraid the PIRs will provide a lot of false triggers from critters and such.
@potatohead
This furnace will be perfect for pouring in a campground setting, because the fuel source is charcoal and the blower fan operates off of 12 volts from either a wall wart or battery attachment. Battery attachment cables will be sold separately, however I am now thinking I should provide a regulator for car battery hook-up. Perhaps I should look into regulated 12V PSs from an automotive cigarette lighter.
If you like the idea of a portable, but durable furnace for melting aluminum, then you will like what I have developed.
I will be doing an initial production run of 20 furnace and blower units, but I will probably not make as many hand tools. Even if they don't sell, I will have one heck of a foundry and will be able to produce furnaces on demand.
If she smokes you definitely don't want her in the house!
_Mike
I never confront anyone, unless I believe I have the winning hand. 12ga. 00 buck makes it an almost certainty.
One of those any deeper or a different direction could have been deadly things. That whole side of his face was black and blue and swollen for a couple weeks.
C.W.
Deer-cams would be my choice. Ultrasonic sensors, stills or video, IR illumination or flash, weatherproof, good battery life, etc.
since you know the locations (cigarette buts, etc.) just set up cheap WIFY security cams from Walmart/Target/whoever.
Look for those who provide infrared light. Usually they provide some software to just record if something is changing in the scene recorded. This is then send by email or to a ftp server you can provide.
Just mount them somewhere looking at the places and provide WIFY password and a wallwart.
Last time I got some there where from a company called AirLink as far as I remember, under $40 each. They simply worked and integrate nicely into a windows network.
Putting a tripwire there connected to a shotgun might get you in trouble.
Enjoy!
Mike
How about a pistol?
Might depend on the state you live in. Here in CA they seem to be picky. Even if it is called 'tourist season' you are not allowed to shoot them.
But, there is that paint they use to mark money in bank robberies. At least I heard of it. Not sure if it really exists. It is supposed to be very hard to remove.
How about some trip wire and a paint ball gun or some other disposal method for paint? Alternative you could use some fluid witch really stinks. And spray the area when the wire gets tripped.
Or both!
Mike
The legal alternative to pepper spray in the UK is gooey die. Totally harmless but can temporarily affect the subject's ability to see and breath. The die is very difficult to wash off so the subject's skin and clothing will have this red color for a while.
My wife in the US would never agree to using a firearm for home protection when I was away so I thought that I had found the perfect alternative; a paintball gun with pepper-spray filled paintballs, only to find that they were prohibited. So it was okay for me to own shotguns, a Ruger Mini-14, a Remington 7mm Ultramag, etc., but I couldn't legally own a non-lethal pepperball gun.
Deer cams are not a good choice, easley tampered with or stolen. Camera's out of reach of perp's has to be a priority, camera's in view of other camera's is a good idea.
Since you know which windows are used for this put a camouflaged camera inside the house in those windows. A camera that records when the scene changes would be ideal, but some other triggering method could also work.