Live maple sap cam

[DaveB]

I've been working on getting a camera setup pointed at a bucket I have setup so I can check on how the sap is flowing and I think I finally got it working right. For the moment, you can see it here:

https://youtube.com/balsamwoods/live

I've also done some 360 degree VR videos while we were tapping, etc. so hopefully it gives people who can't come to the sugar house a different experience.

The camera is near my sugar house in Somers, CT.

Enjoy!

[BSD]

pretty neat, didn't know you could do live videos on YT. I need a camera feed on my stock tank so i don't have to drive over to check on it.

[Run Forest Run!]

That's really cool Dave. I've already checked it out last night and again this morning.

[5 Oaks]

And there goes production for me at work today. ;)

[lenp]

that's cool

[DaveB]

Thanks guys for the comments. The biggest issue I'm having is keeping the stream going but I had the camera setup so I figured why not? This was I can see how the sap is flowing while I'm doing my "day" job and folks would be able to see how it actually flows from a tap.

I'll try and keep it live but no promises. :D

[DaveB]

FYI, I updated the URL in my original post because I didn't realize that I had posted a link to the video as opposed to the live stream. The live stream can be found here:

https://youtube.com/balsamwoods/live

I had some issues initially but I think I've stabilized the stream by getting a better WiFi signal to the camera.

Not only does it help me know how the sap is flowing but I figured if people are going to tune in to see corn growing in Iowa, they might tune in to watch sap dripping in New England!

[Wanabe1972]

Dave that is awesome but I'm pretty sure you need to seek medical attention after the season is over.

[DaveB]

I was kind of surprised to see that my sap cam made EarthCam's top 10 list:

http://www.earthcam.com/topten.php

Everything has been frozen up here for a week and now the bucket is more snow than sap but next week looks like it might be a good week. I should take bets on when the first drips re-appear...lol

[Urban Sugarmaker]

That's pretty amazing.

[wmick]

Not sure what the prerequisites are for the "Top 10"...
"Action" apparently isn't one of them... :rolleyes: (the way the weather's been lately)

But congratulations, anyway.... I think it's a neat idea.

[Run Forest Run!]

That's really great Dave! As if it wasn't bad enough that I'd sit staring at your sap dripping, since I clicked on the link you provided I think I'm going to be watching the cats playing in the Russian shelter far too often! As for the link to the webcam at that Swedish hotel's parking lot......I'm not sure what you would see by watching that one - and I'm kind of afraid to ask. :confused: :o

[DaveB]

That's really great Dave! As if it wasn't bad enough that I'd sit staring at your sap dripping, since I clicked on the link you provided I think I'm going to be watching the cats playing in the Russian shelter far too often! As for the link to the webcam at that Swedish hotel's parking lot......I'm not sure what you would see by watching that one - and I'm kind of afraid to ask. :confused: :o

lol...I guess I have some tough competition.

I'm not sure how I got picked but I think it falls under the "unique" category. I just wish there was something to show (and boil!). I'm glad people are getting something out of it.

[Waynehere]

FYI, I updated the URL in my original post because I didn't realize that I had posted a link to the video as opposed to the live stream. The live stream can be found here:

https://youtube.com/balsamwoods/live

I had some issues initially but I think I've stabilized the stream by getting a better WiFi signal to the camera.

Not only does it help me know how the sap is flowing but I figured if people are going to tune in to see corn growing in Iowa, they might tune in to watch sap dripping in New England!

Yep, guess you and I had the same thought. I wanted to watch my sap puddle grow in my tank that is next to my sapshack, which has internet. So I ran about 300' network cable out to it and mounted a cam under the tank lid. It is an outdoor cam with night light. Works great when I am work and wondering if the sap is running. Of course all froze up right now. Enjoy.

https://www.microseven.com/tv/lv/4cjzg9ts1zk/waynehere.html

[CampHamp]

Sure beats what I can find on TV these days. But, yes, seek help.

[saphound]

That's really great Dave! As if it wasn't bad enough that I'd sit staring at your sap dripping, since I clicked on the link you provided I think I'm going to be watching the cats playing in the Russian shelter far too often! As for the link to the webcam at that Swedish hotel's parking lot......I'm not sure what you would see by watching that one - and I'm kind of afraid to ask. :confused: :o
Hi Karen. You got my curiosity up with that one so I checked it out. Nothing ever happens watching that Swedish hotel parking lot, lol About the same as watching that frozen drop of sap on Daves cam.

[DaveB]

Yep, guess you and I had the same thought. I wanted to watch my sap puddle grow in my tank that is next to my sapshack, which has internet. So I ran about 300' network cable out to it and mounted a cam under the tank lid. It is an outdoor cam with night light. Works great when I am work and wondering if the sap is running. Of course all froze up right now. Enjoy.

https://www.microseven.com/tv/lv/4cjzg9ts1zk/waynehere.html

Awesome! Gotta do what you have to do. I'm thinking next year I might add some other things as well. I've also done some 360° VR videos of different aspects of the maple season like tapping, filling the evaporator and adding wood so people who aren't near a sugarhouse can get the experience. I haven't figured out a way to get the smell to come across. If someone has any ideas on that, let me know. :)

[bigschuss]

I'm thinking next year I might add some other things as well.)

How about a cam watching the grass grow. Or maybe a a cam watching paint dry. Those could be real hits too! :)

Seriously though, as mundane as that sap cam might be, I am more curious about the technology. Curious what goes into having a live cam and then how it is posted to Youtube? That I find pretty cool. How is the came powered 27/7? Solar? Battery with solar charging? And then how is the feed posted to Youtube?

Pretty cool stuff.

[Run Forest Run!]

Hi Karen. You got my curiosity up with that one so I checked it out. Nothing ever happens watching that Swedish hotel parking lot, lol About the same as watching that frozen drop of sap on Daves cam.

You mean you missed the parade???

[DaveB]

How about a cam watching the grass grow. Or maybe a a cam watching paint dry. Those could be real hits too! :)

Seriously though, as mundane as that sap cam might be, I am more curious about the technology. Curious what goes into having a live cam and then how it is posted to Youtube? That I find pretty cool. How is the came powered 27/7? Solar? Battery with solar charging? And then how is the feed posted to Youtube?

Pretty cool stuff.

It was harder than I thought but I work in IT so I good foundation to overcome some of the obstacles. The camera is about 200' from my sugarhouse and my sugarhouse is about 200' from my parents house which had Internet available.

At first I checked to see if I could get the WiFi signal from the house where the camera was and I could, but it was pretty weak. My first thought was that would be enough but I didn't think about the bandwidth needed to stream a 1080P signal but that was enough for me to buy an outdoor WiFi camera.

My next issue was how I was going to allow the camera to see into the bucket. I chose a bucket because I felt that was something that most non-maple people could relate to and would want to see. For that I fixed a clear piece of plexiglass over the camera and bucket.

The camera came in and I configured it for the WiFi and ran a couple of extension cords out to the tree to power it. It connected to the WiFi from the house and I was able to see it on the network through my phone so my next issue was how to live stream it.

In order to live stream you need a feed from the camera that supports that called RTSP but you need a piece of software that takes that and sends it to YouTube. That took a little searching to find one that would work. I didn't want to use a dedicated PC and found a project that someone had done using a Raspberry Pi device and I tried following that but I couldn't get that to work.

Being an IT guy, I've worked with an application called ffmpeg and I was able to use that to take the stream and send it using a different approach. The problem was that it would work for a little while but then the connection would drop so I tweaked it as best I could but it would still drop after a day or two.

It dawned on me that it takes a certain amount of bandwidth to send a full HD image and that without it the stream could fail. So, I then set up a WiFi repeater at the the sugarhouse to take the main WiFi signal and create a new WiFi hotspot so the signal would be stronger. That did the trick and the stream runs fairly reliably now but I can have some issues.

I suppose I could have run a network cable out there as well, but the cable would have cost more than the extension cord and the repeater.

I hope that's not too much detail but when I brought up the 1080P image on my 36" HDTV in my house miles away, I felt like I landed a man on the moon. Technology can be so cool and really like being able to see how the sap is flowing.

[Waynehere]

How about a cam watching the grass grow. Or maybe a a cam watching paint dry. Those could be real hits too! :)

Seriously though, as mundane as that sap cam might be, I am more curious about the technology. Curious what goes into having a live cam and then how it is posted to Youtube? That I find pretty cool. How is the came powered 27/7? Solar? Battery with solar charging? And then how is the feed posted to Youtube?

Pretty cool stuff.

Well, we plan on setting our cam up for the spring and fall to watch the wildlife back in our swamp. Summertime, well, our neighbors have a tiki bar next to their below ground pool. Lets just say we will be watching the neighbors... LOL

Mine, I had buried a outdoor network cable to our sap shack when I buried the water and ele. lines. Of course I also ran TV cable too. Hey, when the trench is open, bury it... :) So I have a router providing wireless and also another cam in the sap shack. Our friends and neighbors were always wanting us to "let" them know when we are boiling. So I just gave them a link and told them if they were not busy, check the cam and see if we were boiling. Sorry, not giving that cam address out... :)

So from there, I was able to use Google maps and see how far the tank was from the sap shack. Turned out to be just under 300', the max is suppose to be 100 meters, so I simply strung more outdoor network cable, crimped on some ends and plugged it into my router. My wireless will not reach out that far either. Then just a matter of hooking up to a website.

Looks like my tank is just starting to crack open and leaking sap. When I get a thawed puddle in there, I will get the bypass line working and really start pulling sap.

I didn't know about Youtube either. Will have to look into that too.

[3GoatHill]

I might just have to share this! Perhaps set it to some nice meditation music.

[bigschuss]

Thanks DaveB and Waynehere. Great description. Thanks for taking the time to explain that. I was wondering how all that worked. Very cool!

[CTSap4Maple]

Like the nostalgic touch with the 1970's date stamp on the cam.

[DaveB]

Like the nostalgic touch with the 1970's date stamp on the cam.

That happened because I lot power/connection to the camera because of the storm and for some reason it defaults to 1970 when it does that. Why I don't know but I will be out there tomorrow and fix it.