New webcam now online!

[6288]

I should have mentioned the dome is actually plastic. Also, the camera gives off a fair amount of heat and it would not be unusual for the interior to be several degrees higher than the exterior of the encloser. I did put quite a few (5 or 6) mothballs in there.

[Gorque]

I don't think glass reacts with anything. Like Patrad mentioned, it may be mineral condensation.

A quick net search returns few agents that react with glass.

Sodium hydroxide slowly reacts with glass to form sodium silicate, so glass joints and stopcocks exposed to NaOH have a tendency to "freeze". Flasks and glass-lined chemical reactors are damaged by long exposure to hot sodium hydroxide, and the glass becomes frosted.

I realize it's Wikipedia and should be taken with a grain of salt, however the same Google search did bring up other links of certain acids that react with glass.

[6288]

here is a picture (as taken by the webcam) of the crystals.

[Gorque]

Those are some serious crystals! How long did it take for them to form to that size?

[Brad]

It looks like 6288 is in NEED of a trip to Maine to fix the camera.

We went to the graduation at Lesley Univ in Boston yesterday. Then I got to Maine late last night. With work today I did not get a lot done around the house - but will get to it shortly. However, I did get the house network running - web cameras accessible - images getting to my personal Fotki account - and I mounted the new web camera down at the lake. Images from it are being sent to my site also. I was running it initially at 320x240 and my son complained already about the quality. So, I changed it to be at 640x480. It can go to 1280x960, but that would use up a lot of bandwidth. Inside the house it works just fine. At 640x480 the refresh rate does slow down.

I will try to leave it at "sunrise" so the Fotki site will have images of sunrise over the lake.

Here is am image from it.

[Brad]

9:21 PM and it is totally dark out. Some lights in the distance are from Portland about 40 miles away. I am pleased with the way the camera "sees" at night!

[6288]

Those are some serious crystals! How long did it take for them to form to that size?

That is within 2 weeks of placing the moth balls in the enlosure, actually I began seeing some in a few days.

Brad, that camera is beautiful! It makes me really want to think about PoE and a "tree cam". Did Time Warner come through for you? It seems like they did. Or did you put in a new router?

[Brad]

Before the Time Warner man came to the house (the day before) I saw them make changes in the network. So, when he came to the house things were probably a lot better. I did replace the wireless router (Linksys - which I really like) with a Buffalo Technologies unit (we have their Terastation 1 TB network disk storage units and have been pleased). So, it is set up and most things have been figured out - but there is one major difference. With the Linksys unit an external URL to get to a camera inside the house would work. With the Buffalo unit you have to use an internal house address if you are in the house.

The outside network is still not great. There are periods of pretty good - and some times things are very bad. It is off and on.

One concern with web cameras is the bright sun (sunrise in my case). Over time it will degrade the sensor in the camera. Some cameras come with a tinted globe which would help. I have a tinted replacement globe for this camera (since it is the same housing as the one it replaced). When the warranty expires I will swap the globes to put the tinted one in (hmmm, never checked maybe the new one has the tinted globe already - must go check).

The sunrise this morning was very nice to see. In the summer we waterski before breakfast. The conditions this morning are typical.

[Patrad Fischroy]

here is a picture (as taken by the webcam) of the crystals.

This does look to me like it is mineral condensation/deposition. I don't see any signs of etching on the surface that would indicate to me some reaion with the cover. I assumed at first that you kept the enclosure heated. From your comments I take it that is not so. Another possible solution is to give it a little ventilation. Of course that would give the spiders a better form of entry, but it might make the enclosure a little less hospitable for them as well.

[Steve M]

Brad, that is a very nice image. The quality is great. Your position on the lake is also cool. I want to see sunrise vids from your camera as well!!