Received partial order (awaiting monitoring items) So set up pan camera and have been happy with how it works. Went to set up outdoor camera today and ran into a problem:
I wanted to aim the camera at the two doors on the back of my house. One is a sliding glass door and the other a standard 36" metal exterior door leading into the back of the garage. They are both under a roofed concrete floored porch on the back of the house. The obvious place is on the telephone pole in the back yard. I purchased some very large zip ties about the same size they use for plastic cuffs and was going to attach two around the pole; They attach to a small piece of cedar that the straps can be attached through. But I neeeded to find the right postition so the camera could see under the roof porch. Yest still have the widest area covered while keeping the camera high enough above ground to prevent a passerby from just grapping the camera and walking away. My house is bordered on the back by a Pocket Park I just used a small nail to test the location of the camera without activating it then went down the ladder to my porch by a door and make sure camera could see the doors under the roof of porch. Finally got the camera to a position where it looked like it would work. Was going to place it on charger, hadn’t done that yet. Then check the view with the camera active. Then the local Gray
Squirrels got involved there are quite a few in the park and neighborhood. Actually it is only one, big and quite territorial concerning it’s prime free food spot. The squirrel comes early every afternoon, never in the morning as the birds get very angry and the squirrel has learned there are plenty of sunflower seeds left from the daily addition the neighbor makes to the old fashioned bird feeder that is one of two on their porch. Down the telephone pole came the Gray squirrel as usual except wait! What is this new observation post added to the pole; the Gray one was interested enough to check it out. At first I was worried the Wyze Outdoor Camera would fall off as it was temporarily mounted on a small nail. (The permanent mounting is more complicated but is being done to comply with the utilities requirements.) But the nail held on, What did happen led to why I am writing this. The camera tilted on its base as the Gray one departed. I was sure that the camera would fall 10-11 feet to the ground and be destroyed before even having the chance to add it to my Wyze App. Then it snapped back on the base as the magnet overcame the force from the Gray ones mighty paw. That paused me, then I retrieved the camera with base. Got me to thinking I had to find a solution to this conundrum. The camera is held to the base with a magnet only. There is a threaded brass insert in the camera body but no obvious way to utilize the insert with the supplied base unless a hole is drilled through the middle of the magnet and a threaded screw installed (loose no clamping force maybe a thread exposed) as a failsafe. To partially squirrel proof the camera from the Gray ones depredations. But I don’t know if that would void my warranty. So looked for alternative mounting on the Wyze site. Shopped for a mounting solution; nothing for outdoor, well okay; for v2 and v3 still just a alternate magnetic base. Pan Cam has a screw in mount but it is still a magnetic detachable base. No joy! Has anyone else had a problem with inquisitive squirrels? If so what was their solution? For Wyze my question is: Did you ever consider this could be a problem? You show a lot of outdoor scenes with Wyze Outdoor cam. What is your solution to this problem? (Please let me mill a hole for a screw on my mill/dril) It is actually funny ---- however I don’t want to mount this camera on the pole until I can be sure I will not have to use the one they just shipped today from Wyze as a replacement and purchase another to sacrifice to the Gray ones crafty ways. Any help out there?
Excellent idea. If you click on the "Park’ link in my post. After the first squirrel got chucked. I am pretty sure that the local CSO (code enforcement officer) would be parked at my curb pretty soon. Folks who let their dogs chase the squirrels without a leash (against code in park) would be on the phone in a second if they saw anything like a squirrel chucker being used. But that still leaves that darn camera busted on the ground and there is a lot of squirrels in that park. On the video you posted a link too the voice on the video, which said; “They just never learn”. Thanks for the effort though. It is quite humorous.