Hardware deployment best practices

Tips for installing camera traps in the field

Equipment to bring

Materials

• t-posts - or tripod, pole, and hardware mesh

• Hose clamps / hose clamp fabricating materials

• Pressure treated wood wedge spacer (if the camera needs to be angled down towards the ground)

• Gear ties

• Zip ties (the reusable kind are a plus)

• Rescue tape

• Electrical tape

• Electrical conduit (if you need to place cables on the ground)

• Desiccant packs (e.g. silica gel packs)

Tools

• sledge hammer

• ratcheting screwdriver or socket wrench with sockets (for tightening hose clamps)

• pliers and tin-snips (if fabricating your own hose-clamps)

• box-cutter

• screwdriver

• cordless drill, titanium drill bits (if you need to drill through metal)

• hack-saw (if using electrical conduit for cables)

Positioning solar panels

Ideally, solar panels should be south facing and in plenty of light, but in our experience you can get away with solar panels positioned in pretty shaded areas.

Hardware / mounting recommendations

We found that using heavy duty T-posts as a stake, and attaching the camera/repeater, batteries, solar panel, and antenna to the post directly via hose clamps worked well in most conditions. In order to angle the camera more towards the ground (for detecting small rodents for biosecurity purposes), we will often place a wood wedge fabricated out of pressure treated lumber between the camera and the T-post.

If it is a particularly windy location, it’s safest to install two t-posts side-by-side: one with the camera, and one that can sway freely in the wind with the battery and solar panel.

A camera set up on two T-posts (camera on one, battery and solar panel on the other) to reduce wind-sway-induced motion sensor triggers.

Dealing with impenetrable ground

If the ground is too hard to pound a stake into, we have had luck wiring a ~3’x3’ sheet of hardware mesh to the feet of a tripod and piled rocks on top of the mesh, and that seems to provide enough stability:

Beneath the pile of rocks is a sheet of metal hardware mesh that the feet of the tripod are wired to. The tripod is not physically fixed to the ground.

Wire management

Try to keep the wires as tidy as possible. You should always leave a little length to create drip loops anywhere the wire is entering a camera/repeater/battery, and be sure to apply rescue tape and then a layer of electrical tape at all connection points.

The tape should be wrapped around the wires starting at the bottom (closer to the ground) and spiraling upwards (to the sky). This layering effect will allow the tape to act like shingles or siding on a house, keeping the water running down the wire and not infiltrating any cracks in the tape. As an extra precaution, a final small zip-tie around the top of the taped section will help prevent the electrical tape from unwinding over time due to exposure to the elements.

Also, many animals will chew on the wires if they’re too low to to the ground, so try to keep all cables at least ~14” off the ground, and if you must lay cable on the ground (for example, if the solar panel is mounted on a different post than the camera and battery), use a length of conduit to protect the wire.

Dealing with humidity & wet conditions

We recommend adding fresh desiccant packets to all battery and camera housing before leaving. For cameras, where the space within the housing may be limited, we recommend using desiccant sheets sold by Reconyx.

Before you leave the newly installed device

• Write down the camera/repeater’s Serial Number

• Note down the Lat/long of location

• Take lots of photos! They can be an very helpful to reference, months from now, when you can’t remember what the set up looks like and need to perform maintenance on it. You won’t be sorry!