Close

Thoughts on Version 2.0

A project log for Mighty Lighty

If you can change a light bulb.... You can install this security camera

kelleykelley 05/30/2016 at 04:250 Comments

While I was sourcing parts for this build the pi foundation released an updated version of the pi zero that now includes a ribbon connector for the pi camera. They also updated the pi camera to an 8 mega pixel Sony. I still went with the older version because it was cheaper and worked just fine. The only thing I didn't like about the camera was the ribbon cable. For a project like this the ribbon cable doesn't offer much in the area of flexible positioning. Its kinda stiff and doesn't like being twisted. Fixed camera placement could be an issue. The next version could get around that by having 2 cameras ... one that points out and another that looks down.

The pi 3 worked very well its just a matter of size and that many of the features it has just aren't necessary. I do like that it has wifi built in though. For the next build I will go with either the new pi zero or the chip if it actually starts shipping.

With a version 2 I will probably spend more time on the power supply. It would work out better and save space to have an adapter that goes straight from the light socket to usb. This way it wouldn't require 2 adapters near the socket where space is the most limited.

I would also like to spend more time on the software even though MotionEyeOS is very capable as far as camera functionality goes it doesn't do much beyond that at this point. While it is basically just a gui for the underlying motion software that does the actual image manipulation. I would like to have something that is node / javascript based and more versatile web app where you can control everything in a more seamless experience and offer compatibility with things like push notifications, IFTTT , and Openhab.

Discussions