How to monitor tank level at remote bush..no electric?

[Trapper2]

I guess I should have read all comments before I posted mine. Seeing that you already have a cellular camera even though it doesn’t have a time lapse feature you can still use it. Just set the camera to send you a picture every 3-4 hours or what ever interval you desire and then set a bird feeder in front of the camera with your tank in the background. But me, I would use maple syrup production as as excuse to buy yet another Covert. Lol

[Amber Gold]

How well do these cameras see in the dark?

I'd like to put one inside my pump shed, so I can check vac. level, how fast it's coming into the releaser, and if the vac is running. I might be able to capture this in a single camera. Will I be able to see these if there's no light inside the pump shed? I can install a light if needed, but would prefer not to. I may also mount a second camera on my sap tank railing, so I can see how much sap is in the tank.

[tcross]

i'd say you could very well use it in the dark. the attached picture is using a Stealth Cam (i use only stealth cam and spy point) with "no glo" (basically infrared). they make cameras that have the option of using an actual flash, which would be better. My camera will detect up to 100' and take a pic... however in the dark it's hard to make out the object in the photo if it's more than, say 50-60 feet away. the deer in this pic is about 15-20 feet away from the camera. without all the vegetation to distract you, i'd assume you'd very easily be able to see sap levels. i'd say a short 5 - 7 second video would be even better.
round top ltl pond 1.jpg

[PARKER MAPLE]

So my question here is. And I believe these cameras will work great and are an inexpensive alternative to the smartrek units.
Here my question. So weather your running a mechanical or electric releaser. It should dump into a tank. If you positioned the camera in such away that every time it would pump out or dump, Would the camera then take a picture of the tank and level all at once? If so what if one would place a object that would float up as the level rises then you could see both if on a time lapse video.

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
Would a picture of a clear site tube with a indicator float it it tell you that the tank is at a certain level? Another way to try to get around this is to size the tank so that on the best run it still has some head room. I have 600 taps 30 containers at 35 gal each or about 1100 gallons of storage capacity. Approx 2 gallons per tap. I must say though, that I am close enough I can drive about 1/2 mile to the first container and get a feel for how the sap is running.
Good suggestions on here using the cameras.
Regards,
Chris

[wiam]

Here are some pics from my $20 camera. Black and white are taken in complete darkness (infrared) one of releaser dumping is a screenshot taken by camera in motion detection. When I had it set up like that it would send a notification to my phone each time it dumped. You can also watch live from your phone. 4FD771A0-4F0F-4838-AB1A-13842320996E.jpg037A9B0F-5AC1-46C8-B69F-A62E26484E8B.jpgE5851B3F-4440-4C62-B39C-D0518D0F4B83.jpg634699D7-ED1A-484A-84D2-714E308CEBDB.jpg

[Maplewalnut]

To close this out, here is what I did, again remember no electricity is available anywhere near. Bought a cellular camera that takes time lapse pictures. I have a milk tank so I used the 1 1/4 inch port that had a dip stick originally in it. Have a 6 " float (think toilet float) inside the tank and a 1/4 stainless rod threaded into the float. The top of the rod extends up through smaller hole where dip stick was and through the top of tank where I screwed on a 2" cork ball (similar to a fishing bobber) The cork prevents the rod from slipping back into the tank. As the tank fills, the float rises and pushes the cork bobber higher. Paint the cork ball a bright color so you can see contrast on the camera pictures. Cell camera send pics right to my phone or email

Mike