alex

Freeze warning out for tonight back home. Meantime, heat index of 98 here in Florida. Wish I were home! Some fun t-storms yesterday afternoon though

Drive another 10 miles West and you'll get some decent (certainly not peak but decent) color at Bretton Woods (and a free chair ride). It hasn't been that dry. The rivers are actually not that much below normal - water flow this time of the year is normally quite low in the notch. I spoke with the guy that did my wetland mapping (and published several studies on the Ammo River) and the flow of the Ammo (sure, that's not Crawford Notch but I have to imagine similar conditions) is actually just slightly below normal for this time of the year. September has been somewhat dry - 2.13" of rain, 0.4 today - but it's really not that dramatic.

Much appreciated!

My weather station will probably report 12

It's Amazon, so I have 30 days; I was planning on ordering another one for delivery as soon as I get back, and checking the difference. Might also try a Nest Cam just to see the difference... the zoom feature does sound nice, and it would be cool to have a side by side comparison. I'll try your tip on the contrast too when I get back, but it's more than just that, as you mention. The left side blurriness is really bothersome!

No that's awesome info, thank you! I might get one just to try, and decide what to keep. Either way, there's definitely something wrong with the current one, the image quality just doesn't make sense.

Hi guys - Sorry I've been quiet, we're launching a new product next week and work is crazy! Also, left home last night to come down to Boston, then off to Florida on Thursday for 12 days for work. Yes, it's Florida but I really wish it wasn't in the middle of fall! At least I can look at the camera. I definitely want to exchange the camera when I get back. Something just doesn't seem right (great tips, BTW). I agree that the IR does seem very very good. I also appreciate your comments on standard vs wide angle; I see the point. I do wish we could get more of the side view in though. The mountain on the left is not very high, 3600 ft, just happens to be very close. I'd happily take some dynamite to it lol! But I don't think that's in the cards. If I got a wide angle you might also be able to see the ski area, which is on the right (but covered by trees in the summer). Some chainsawing is definitely possible but not much... a lot of the area in front of the house is National Forest; most of my land is behind the house and to the sides, up to the river. I'm currently getting permits to add cabins, maybe some day we should an American Weather weekend! If all goes well, I can stop working in Boston and do vacation rentals as my main job + some consulting... but for now, still gotta head into Boston 3 days a week, which is painful but heck, better than starving! But I need a good camera for those 3 days.

Just driving down to Boston so I was paying a bit more attention - you definitely want to head towards Bretton Woods. Even Franconia Notch/Cannon for some reason has much less color, it seems very localized.

Hmm... maybe I need 2! Had an interesting response from Sharx recarding the lack of sharpness: You could benefit from raising hue and contrast to 55 or 60 for a slightly more vibrant view, but beyond that, we don’t recommend changing anything from here. This confirms that the camera is not defective and does not need to be replaced. The focus is pre-set to a range that is most effective for security. In your case it seems that maybe you want to emphasize the view of infinity, and while it is somewhat tedious, it is possible to make a slight adjustment to the focus to improve it for the mountains and woods in the distance. Basically you’d unplug the power, then unscrew the front of the camera as shown in the user guide, then remove the IR LED board that is held with the immediately visible philips screws. It can dangle from the cable as long as the board doesn’t touch the camera body. Then you see the single lockscrew on the lens, which you would loosen without removing. You would then try rotating the lens a little bit. The initial turn might stick due to the threadlocker adhesive but can be carefully broken loose without damage to the lens. Making sure that the IR LED board doesn’t touch the camera body, with power connected back to the camera you can then have someone else observe the camera while making very slight adjustments. When you achieve perfect focus, you’d tighten the lockscrew. Sometimes tightening the lockscrew moves the focus a little bit, so you’d back off the focus by the corresponding amount so that it is in perfect focus after the lockscrew is tightened. After you’re done with that, remove power again while re-attaching the IR LED board and closing the camera up. We also have a new professional model HTNC4404M that has motorized zoom and focus. It is $599 with an introductory price of $549 And we have industrial 5 MP cameras that have razor sharp images and a manually adjustable lens, but these are indoor cameras with optional outdoor enclosures and require a local PC. The camera itself is $449 but this adds up to $699 with our premium outdoor enclosure. Some samples from our HDNC5501 are attached for your information, but we believe that with slight adjustments the SCNC3905 should work well for you especially on days that are not as hazy.

Hmm... down in the lower elevation - say by the Notchland there isn't much yet, but you'll be close enough for a short drive. The chair at Bretton Woods is free, btw - and the view is awesome. If you feel like a little hiking, Middle Sugarloaf off of the Zeland area just past Bretton Woods also has great views and decent foliage...

Not sure where you're going, but it's getting quite nice around Bretton Woods. For some reason the colors don't really show up on my iPhone but they are there. I imagine if you went up the Kanc it should be quite nice. Click to choose files

Been working with them. They actually suspect it might be a bad lens... but we are still working back and forth with the customer service. They've been great! I am still debating the wide angle vs non... The camera has dual purpose - weather monitoring but also check out wildlife (we get moose and bears in the front yard quite often) as well as people coming and going...

So I took the weather station apart to see if the fan inside still works. It does - though of course it only works in full sun so it won't help with the low temp readings. This is a picture of it BTW.

That's a great tip but the problem is that the issue is not really accuracy - I've checked many times and during cloudy, windy conditions it's within a half degree of the other weather station at Bretton Woods. The problem is when it's in full sun, when it can read several degrees above actual temperature, and at night, when it goes too low - so I think it's an issue with the shield. I wonder if there's a way to improve the shielding?

I got it from Amazon so returns are quite easy... but you have a great point. Gotta think about it. And i gotta think about the weather station. I'd love something more accurate but $199 vs $650 is a big difference, and really the time I care the most is when it's precipitating, when radiation is not a factor. Hmm...

OMG I looked at the Davis, it's SO expensive! Grr... I need to ask for government funding lol! The camera is outside, not through glass or anything. Good point on losing some detail going to wide... gotta think about that! I sent a support request this morning, I imagine they won't get to me till tomorrow. I'm the buy in blue BTW! But yeah, even at full screen (which I haven't figure out how to get other than through the actual Sharx interface - the public site is through Angelcam), it's blurry and that's annoying. Streaming is set at 1920x1080, and it sends snapshots every 5 minutes

I figured most things out... but I'm still not entirely in love with the quality. Maybe it's a matter of expectations - this is what it looks like (Mt Washington is in the back but it's in the clouds). Is this quality normal? I feel like it could be a bit crisper... Model is Sharx SNCN3905 (but I will switch to the 3904 for the wide angle) Public link is http://1800cam.click2stream.com/

Ok, just talked to Amazon. They are letting me return it! What should I get that provides better shielding? Main thing - I don't run a computer at the house so it needs to have its own server capabilities...

Interesting. Yes, we probably got right around 32F. Bethlehem is not far, maybe 7-8 miles, but lower in elevation and not quite as sheltered as BW, so it makes sense that if you shave off a degree or two you'd be pretty close. Argh I wish I had spent the extra!

Exactly! Is there any way to "fix" that or just a matter of getting a better product? The shielding just doesn't seem to cut it...

Yes that's correct! We are on a 32 acre lot bordered by the Ammo and the National Forest, 1.1 mile from the base lodge of the ski resort.

Yeah I'm learning. I think I'll get a small greenhouse some day and for now I'll stick with kale, spinach etc. beets came out pretty well too. The corn I planted too late, it got frozen but was close to being ready, but I didn't plant it till early July.

Sure - just google "1800 rt 302 Bretton woods". I don't think it got that cold, I think we just radiate very well which makes not having a FARS problematic. My elevation is 1550 but it's also the lowest spot in the valley, which is I think what makes it particularly cold. You are already decently elevated, but also get cold drainage from the surrounding mountains. I doubt it was 29 though. I don't know how cold it needs to be for tomatoes to get killed but I imagine 34 is probably enough. Even that is a 6 degree difference from my station which is annoying. I wish I had gotten the Davis

Cool thanks, I'll try those. I don't have a computer that's always on - is there a cloud option that would do the same that you know of?

Hi guys - I got my Sharx camera - turns out I got the standard model instead of wide angle, so I will swap, but I'm having a hard time figuring out next steps. 1. How can I easily connect to the video stream? Right now, I have to use a different URL if I'm home or if I'm away, and then it requires a password. Is there a site that would simplify that? My old logitech just had an easy website you went to, wherever you were 2. I tried IPTimeLapse but it doesn't seem to do what I was hoping. Does the software have to be running all the time in order to create a timelapse? Is there a true cloud based option that will just get a picture every x minutes and put it together into a timelapse, all in the cloud? 3. Sharx apparently doesn't have its own app. It says you can just bookmark it - true, but I really don't want to have to enter username/password every time. is there a good app that would work with it? I think that's it for now... Thanks for the help! --Alex