14 thoughts on “Just put together and tested Naturewatch Daylight Camera us…

  1. Hi
    Did you have a problem accessing ‘http://naturewatch-cam.local/’. I keep getting ‘server IP address could not be found’.
    any suggestions please.

    regard
    Royston

    • Hi Royston, The only time I’ve seen that is when I’ve not connected to the ‘naturewatch-robin’ wifi. Once I’ve got a connection the web page has always worked for me. You seem to need to be pretty close to the pi to get a signal.

  2. HI John,
    I just put together my Pi zero W and camera as recommended in the online “Daylight Camera Instructions”.
    Powered up correctly and then used my Samsung Tab3 to connect to the Pi. (all OK so far)
    When I tap ‘Start Recording’ the top button changes to Stop Recording and the whole system freezes.
    I am then ‘locked out and have to power down the Pi only to power back up and reach the same impasse.
    Are you supposed to be able to see a ‘live video feed’ once you press ‘Start Recording’?
    How do you know the system has taken any pictures?
    If the first button I press (after power up and wifi connecting) is ‘View pictures’ I get a message no pictures to view. (Understandable as I haven’t taken any!)
    If I then press Start Recording, then the whole system freezes.
    This was supposed to be a ‘foolproof’ naturewatch camera and now I’m stuck.
    There seems to be scant information on how to operate the Naturewatch camera or how to troubleshoot it.
    Is there a ‘dummy’s guide’ online somewhere?
    Do I have to enable the camera in a .ini file somewhere.
    Where is the help when it doesn’t work out of the box…sigh
    I am lost….
    HELP!!!
    Dave

    • Hi Dave,
      I didn’t have to enable the camera, all worked fine for me.
      When I connect to the camera and load the webpage I see a live view of the camera.
      After I press start recording I see red squares on the image that indicate movement is detected and I presume picture is taken.
      I can see and download the images from ‘View Pictures’ page.
      I’ve connected with iPhone, iPad and mac to 2 different Raspberry Pis. The only bother I have is I have to try connecting to the WiFi a couple of times.
      It might be worth trying a different device (but I doubt that). There is some code on github:
      https://github.com/interactionresearchstudio/NaturewatchCameraServer
      You could raise an issue there? I did contact
      https://mynaturewatch.net/support/
      by email with a question and got a very quick response.

      I see there is a forum too.

  3. HI John.
    Thanks for your swift reply.
    I seem to have sorted the problem as I now have the naturewatch camera working as it ‘says on the tin’
    The problem seems to lie with my Android device running Android 4.4.2 (Kitkat).
    I too was getting the ‘double’ try to connect the wifi. The first time it rejected the badgersandfoxex password and presented the password box again. The second time I entered the password it logged me in but then presented the issues I described in my earlier message.
    Whilst waiting for your reply I suddenly thought to try my laptop running Win10 and ‘hey presto’ it worked first time!
    So it could be that the wifi on the Samsung Galaxy Tab3 (or Andriod 4.4.2) doesn’t implement the wifi in a way that Raspberry Pi Zero likes?
    So your suggestion of ‘Try another device’ was indeed inspired.
    Many thanks
    Dave

  4. HI John.
    Thanks for your swift reply.
    I seem to have sorted the problem as I now have the naturewatch camera working as it ‘says on the tin’
    The problem seems to lie with my Android device running Android 4.4.2 (Kitkat).
    I too was getting the ‘double’ try to connect the wifi. The first time it rejected the badgersandfoxex password and presented the password box again. The second time I entered the password it logged me in but then presented the issues I described in my earlier message.
    Whilst waiting for your reply I suddenly thought to try my laptop running Win10 and ‘hey presto’ it worked first time!
    So it could be that the wifi on the Samsung Galaxy Tab3 (or Andriod 4.4.2) doesn’t implement the wifi in a way that Raspberry Pi Zero likes?
    So your suggestion of ‘Try another device’ was indeed inspired.
    Many thanks
    Dave

  5. Hi everyone,
    Been experimenting with my Pi Zero since I found it didn’t work with my Samsung Galaxy Tab.
    It seemed to work with my laptop running Win7 but always stopped (losing connection and freezing) after a few minutes.
    Reading about problems with overheating I prised off the PiHut’s heatsink and used a large noggin of brass rod stood on end with white heatsink compound. (just as a temporary test)
    Now the PiZero naturewatch system seems to be stable.
    So my questions are.
    What heatsinks do you all use on your naturewatch camera Raspberry Pi Zero to absolutely stop this overheating problem.
    and
    What ever was anyone thinking running the processor as such full stretch that the naturewatch camera is soooo flaky?
    Springwatch intimated this was a stable product and that it just worked out of the box…….
    Comments please.
    Many thanks in anticipation
    Dave

  6. I don’t know what processor the Pi3 uses is it a faster machine than the Pi zero?
    The Pi Zero processor gets extremely hot very quickly and I now know that other’s with the same Pi are experiencing exactly the same problems. Maybe the Pi 3 CPU can easily cope with the data it is handling so doesn’t get so hot?
    Have you ever tried a Pi zero with the camera software?
    Daveb

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