Stolen GPS

Last night my GPS was stolen out of my trucklet.

Entirely my fault to!
I had picked up a few essentials at WalMart, unlocked all the doors and put them in the back seat. I was waiting on a guy to get home so I could pick up an Oscar fish from FreeCycle. I called him, still at work, so I decided to wander around Walmart to kill some time until he got off work.
I locked my door how I always do. The lock touches my knuckle when I open the door, so I just lock it as I push the door open. Quick, Easy, and I always lock the door when I get out of my vehicle. The trucklet locks all the doors every time you drive it, so all is good in the world. Except, I had unlocked all doors since I had last driven. DOH!
Somebody musta tried the passenger side door and grabbed my GPS. Nothing else. Not the Nokia 770, bluetooth headsets, power inverter, winter coat with radio scanner, FM power transmitter, etc. Just the GPS.
I called the cops, filed a report. We where hoping that Walmart security camera got it on film. Nope.
I went home to get the serial number so they could check with craigslist & pawnshops.
You know how I am a packrat. I keep everything. Boxes included. Wouldn’t you know, I tossed the box a month ago? I kept all the paperwork, expecting the serial number and such to be on the warranty card, etc. No card, no serial number. How frustrating.
There could be several lessons learned here:
  • Don’t leave GPS out in plain site
  • Always lock all the doors and not just mine
  • Never, ever throw anything away. Ever. I always seem to need it a month later.
  • Keep a google spreadsheet document with all the serial numbers of all the electronics I have.

So, I have a problem and I intend to fix it.

Wouldn’t it be cool if the GPS could tell me where it is.
Wouldn’t it be cool if I could take my own photo of the theif?

This got me to thinking…

I’ve been wanting to build a security system for my trucklet ever since the ‘OEM’ unit was installed in mine. It royaly sucks!

I haven’t done it because it would be pretty spendy – I really want a cell based internet connection for it so I can ask the truck where it is, it can tell me where it is, and send me photos of who’s driving it, etc. I can’t justify $50 a month for a internet connection even if I can use google maps on the fly on a computer I would replace the stereo with.

A little thinking ‘outside’ the box, I think I found my solution. It’s 2 peices, but I didn’t find anybody that has put them together like I want to.


An Eye-Fi Pro is an SDHC memory card with a built wi-fi card. It will take photos that are saved to it, geocode them, and upload them. How cool is that? You don’t have to stick the card into the computer to get your photos.
For $15 a year, it will connect to a paid, public wifi connections including the ones at McDonalds. My data-plan woes are now addressed, $15 a year is very reasonable!

The other half is the camera. A search revealed the following.


A Defender STEALTH1 Covert Security DVR w/ Hidden Surveillance Camera. It is a motion detector with a built in camera. It can take photos and video which it saves the the memory card.

The freaking awesomeness comes when you combine the two together. You now have a motion detection surveillance camera that automatically uploads photos to a place where you can see them when your away from home. No wires to run half way across the house, just plug it into the nearest power outlet. It can email, text, or even twitter you when it’s triggered. It runs for 17 hours on battery if the power goes out. Put your modem and router on a battery back up, and your set!

How sweet is that?

I got to thinking, all the motion detector is, is a hunter’s trail camera in a house-friendly looking enclosure.

I can get one of these for the trucklet instead. I was going to shell the camera unit out and install it into the dash anyhow, so why not use a cheaper camera that does the same thing?

So, for around $260 I can either build a really slick house security camera or one that I can cut into the dash of my trucklet that works anywhere.

Home


Features:

  • Nice looking ‘normal’ security motion sensor.
  • Automatic uploading of photos/video using home network.
  • Ability to view photos even if home computer or security camera itself is stolen!
  • Notification of events via email, text, twitter.


Vehicle


Features:

  • Less expensive camera that I can take apart to install into vehicle
  • Automatic uploading of photos/video using home network or any of 10,000 public wifi accesspoints.
  • Geocoding of photos.
  • Ability to view photos even if they steal the vehicle – they just need to slowly drive/park near a wifi access point.
  • Notification of events via email, text, twitter.

Now, to find a few extra hundred dollars, because I need a GPS, a couple of motion camera, and a couple of memory cards….

My House, My House, My House is on fire!

Last weekend, somebody decided to try to burn my apartment complex down.

Actually, it was a smoker who missed the ash tray. Went, and fell into the bush, and by the time he got his glass of water to put it out, he needed a truckload of water.
The heat blistered all of the siding. Only suface damage to the building. Still scary though.

They are going to replace all the dried out juniper bushes.

Posted by Picasa

DIY Homemade Hydroponics Basket Pot

I decided to try setting up a bit of hydroponics tonight. Actually, it’s aquaponics, because it’s based off of my fish tank.
I am having a bit of algae problems on the 75 gallon tank. I am hoping that growing some basil out of the tank will help soak up some of the nutrients and slow the algae growth.
I don’t have one of those fancy pots that they use in hydroponics, so I decided to make one of my own. I have a bit of plastic grid that is used for that hook & latch projects. I rolled a bit of it up, and sewed it together with fishing line.

I cut out the base, making it into a circle. This took a bit of trial and error, and it’s a bit small.

To hold the pot I made a support span that the pot would sit in. I sewed two boxes together to force the curves in the supports.

Here you can see base in the pot and the assembled span.

This stuff is kinda handy to make things out of like this.

The pot sewed into the span. You can seen I needed to use a tweezers to get the knots tied in the fishing line. This is designed to hold the bottom of the pot in the water on my microtank. Note the notches in the bottom of the span.

Here you can see the empty pot sitting on my microtank. Yeah, the same tank that has given me so much grief with overflowing and leaking. The notches hold the pot onto the tank without fear of tipping (in theory).

Here is an LED lamp I picked up after Christmas for $10 on clearance at Menards. I am hoping that by adjusting the lamp very close to the plants, they will get enough light. I planted Basil seeds in the pot. I have a bit of rock in the bottom, then a lot of perlite, then a bit of rock on top to hold the perlite down.

WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux