I was fortunate to be selected to receive
The Bundle & the Challenge
For the purposes of this "RoadTest Plus", we have bundled the Pi NoIR camera with these other products:
- Raspberry Pi 8 GB Bundle with NOOBS
- Wi-Pi Wifi Networking Module
- PiFace Control & Display
- Carbon Fibre Enclosures for both the camera and PiFace Control & Display.
Due to foreseen problems the products didn't ship until Dec 27th, so some action was required.
You can read about it here
http://www.element14.com/community/roadTestReviews/1677
While this was coming, I was asked to do something using the RPi and NoIR camera for security to include in The Shed magazine
It provides a perfect solution to those expensive and very obvious security cameras.
I chose to use an outside floodlight and modified an outdoor movement sensor to run off 12v, as the trigger device.
These were mounted on a board for testing, but can be fitted seperately, along with lamps that never come on...
The text of the article has been generously provided by the publisher and is attached.
(and yes it uses the normal camera image rather than the black NOir camera, its called poetic licence)
The conclusion was the Piface CAD is a very useful addition to any RPi, and the NoIR camera allows images to be captured without a human being aware he can be seen.
As the article says, I (and others) had problems with the WiPi , but hopefully its now setup, although its not happy if it can't find the network and tends to go to sleep.
There is some fine tuning to be done on the IR light source to improve its output, and I can see some other uses for this, so this may not be the only entry.
Mark