Motion Triggered Spy Cam

by Kipkay

136K53292

Intro: Motion Triggered Spy Cam

Now you can do secret surveillance with this "caught-in-motion" spy video cam that records covert video and audio.

See it in action and the test results!


STEP 1: What You Need...

1. Motion Sensing Door Chime. Radio Shack Part #49-426
2. Mini Spy Cam DVR from Ebay
3. 200uF Capacitor
4. Any Reed Relay
5. Diode 1N4001, 1N4007, etc.
6. Momentary Switch

STEP 2: Prepare the Motion Sensor

Disasemble the Motion Sensor. There is opnly one screw under the battery compartment. Remove it and then pry apart the case. Cut or desolder the speaker leads and the external output cable and connector. This should leave you with just the circuit board and the 9V power connector.

STEP 3: Assemble the Components

Time to assemble the components that link the motion sensor and the DVR.

Follow the included schematic.

1. Solder the diode to the reed relay paying attention to the cathode (-) position. The purpose of the diode is to prevent voltage flow back into the circuit when the relay is triggered.

2. Solder the capacitor to the diode. Again, pay attention to the striped (-) marking on the capacitor.
The purpose of the capacitor is to turn the relay into a temporary switch by limiting the voltage pulses to a single pulse rather than the continual pulses the alarm gives out.

3. Make your connection from the (+) side of the cap to J2 on the circuit board. J2 is the trigger point for the motion sensor.

4. Make your connection from the anode (+) side of the diode to ground located where the 9V wires are at J5 on the circuit board.

5. Run two wires from the outside contacts on the relay to your switch. The switch allows you to stop recordin and power off the DVR.

STEP 4: Prepare the DVR

This is tricky. On the end of the mini DVR is a super-micro push button switch that must be de-soldered and removed. This may require an assistant to carefully lift up on each side with a tiny screwdriver as you heat the contacts. Once the switch is removed, solder two leads to the two contacts. Then wire the two leads to the outside contact on the reed relay. Done!

STEP 5: Test It Out

At this point you should be able to press the momentary switch and the DVR should power up (yellow indicator) and begin recording (blue indicator).

Then attach a 9v battery and slide the switch on the motion sensor to the alarm position. (towards the 9v wires). There is a built-in 15 second delay when you turn it on to allow you to place the sensor and walk away. After that you should be able to wave your hand across the sensor and the DVR should power up and begin recording. While the sensor lens increases the range to around 30', eliminating it will reduce that distance so keep that in mind when you place it in service.

The DVR is USB based. The movie files (352 X 288 12fps) are located in the "movies' folder when you plug in the DVR to your computer.

Have Fun, Be Safe and use responsibly.

88 Comments

homemaker2 8 years ago

this was posted in 2009. The part Motion Sensing Door Chime. Radio Shack Part #49-426 is no longer available can you plz update using available parts????

Thanks in advance

_soapy_ 14 years ago

I think I'll do this with a still camera, as that will give more useful results for my application, and with a multi-gig card it will take high quality pictures non-stop (every second or so) for the whole "detect on" time then stop. Then it will do it again once the trigger goes again. Another way to do this might be to make a small timer circuit that gets toggled on by the sensor and that then sends an off signal a few seconds after the sensor stops detecting. A 555 timer should be enough for that. Once you've got the circuit wired up, you could use a mains circuit to power it for as long as you want.

JaesonFricke 10 years ago

did you have any luck wiring up the 555 timer with the DVR? I'm going to give this project a start but would really like it to shut off after a few seconds.

jack852 13 years ago

I bought the dvr a few months ago and it worked great, i finally got around to buying the rest of the parts but when i went to try the dvr out again, before i altered anything on it, it wont record anymore! i press power once and the yellow light comes on but nothing i do will turn the blue recording light on. so strange, i was able to figure out how to get into the system files (hold down power while plugging it into usb) and i was just wondering if anyone knows how to tell if anything is corrupt or how to fix this issue. there is nothing physically wrong with the dvr. please help KipKay, or anyone by that matter.

flashmahn 12 years ago

I had same issue.. I got conned on two, and the same thing, one worked and later mysteriously died and the other came in with lens glued in place out of focus. Neither ever worked past 1 week or so

cliffyd 13 years ago

same thing happened to me, I think a SM resistor went and threw it for a loop, sucks cause I really liked that little thing too!

bblack03 14 years ago

does any know where I can find the 5mm Pinhole Mini Spy Device DVR Voice Recorder 4GB USB? Ebay does not have them any longer

flashmahn 14 years ago

Ebay has them time to time. When I tried to order from Kip Kays link the ebay account was closed temporarily according to Ebay. They had a 2nd link the next week and I ordered on the mid Sept and rec'd my cam last week. It works great. Only complaint was the bubble wrap packaging was a bit thin and possible that it could have been crushed in shipping. Contact WAI BING CHEE JENNY" in order to get a camera

flashmahn 12 years ago

I have had 2 of these and both faulty. Second one has lens permenantly glued in place out of focus. The Chinese con men that sold them swear they are all checked before shipping. Needless to say I would be happy if at least one had worked. I am happy Kip Kay got a good one. I feel conned by the seller in Hong Kong. They keep changing their account name in E Bay be warned... Neither will even charge or boot

Sandisk1duo 14 years ago

dealextreme.com has them but just type "spy camera 4gb" in the search box

oanderson 13 years ago

Hi I was wondering if it needed to be a door chime or could it be a motion sensing light?

cliffyd 13 years ago

yup,its a motion sensor!

christinablonde 13 years ago

i bought this dvr camera from the ebay guy now i am in the process of making this. can someone please maybe make one that stops recording once motion stops and goes to standby mode ready for next motion ??? please

xdingelitox 13 years ago

this DVR is a pen DVR stuff, here the link where you can purchase them http://cgi.ebay.com/4GB-Mini-Spy-Pen-Camera-Video-Recorder-USB-DVR-AVI-/150421550215?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2305d2b487

mattyboy_900 13 years ago

does any one know where to get the DVR? ebay keeps turning up 0 results

d3voln1k 13 years ago

hey this thing has movement sensor and i was wondering if i cans uses to make this motion cam?

MikeSekarlis 13 years ago

Kipkay,
Hey- I have everything but the motion detector/chime I have uses three AA (1.5V) batteries.... can I use this motion detector or not? If so, what  design modifications do you recommend? Thanks for your reply dude!!

youknow1998 14 years ago

How long will it record after motion is deteced?
More Comments