How we perform trigger time testing

Now that the folks that are using scouting cameras are becoming experts with their own equipment, we keep getting hit with the question “how do I do a trigger time test”?

Here is a list of things that you will need:
Clock with a sweep second hand. Quartz type clocks will not work because it steps every second thus you could be off as much as a second.
A portable stand to hold the clock and another to hold the camera at the same level as the clock. This must be portable because many cameras (for example MOULTRIE M-999I MINI GAME CAMERA ) have a big difference in trigger time when flash is used verses non flash pictures. So a trip into the sunlight is necessary once you do the flash test in a dark room.
A series of different types of filters to cover the flash during the inside tests because at close distances the flash will wash out the picture of the clock. I use cloth sometimes and masking tape other times. Experiments are necessary to reach the desired brightness, so I just keep changing the filter over the flash until I reach the desired brightness for a good clear picture of the clock.
A lot of patience because it has taken as long as six hours to finally accomplish just one test. Because of the delay period of the camera it can be as much as three minutes between pictures then you must shut down, and walk to the computer to view the card to see that things are right.
Make sure the camera is on minimum delay and single shot mode.

Setup and Technique

Once you have everything in place, you place the camera on the stand and fire it up to begin taking pictures. Cover the flash with whatever filter you choose to use to start with. Set the spacing to the clock at about 4 feet. Turn the lights off and stand alongside the camera and move your hand in front of the PIR sensor and get it to trigger and flash. This first trigger will be without regards to where the second hand is. (you will need enough light in your room to safely move around and still be able to see the clock but be dark enough that the camera will still flash)

After this first trigger just walk away and come back about 30 minutes later. Approach the camera from the side so that the sensor will not see you and then watch the clock for the second hand to reach the 12. Be ready and when the second hand approaches the 12. You can wave your hand and trigger the camera but have it out of the way so your hand is not in the picture.

This first trigger is to test for sleep mode and if it is present (usually 3 to 5 seconds) then wait 2 minutes and repeat and wait another 2 minutes and repeat again. If the times appear to be much less than the first trigger then you will know that this camera is designed with the dreaded sleep mode and further testing is of no value. If the times remain the same as the initial trigger then you know there is no sleep mode and that is the true trigger time. Many trips back and forth to the card reader are necessary before you can know the actual trigger time. These trips also allow for the adjustment to the filter for good clear pictures.

We do as many as 50 triggers before we can definitely see an accurate pattern and give a proper evaluation. We disregard any that are obviously out of range as due to human error. If you are not going to publish the trigger time pictures then as long as the picture quality is good enough to tell you what the camera is doing you will not have to play with the flash filtering like we have to in order to publish the pictures.

A Warm Hand

One of the aids that I have where my trigger time station is set up is this is where my cordless battery area is and the tops of these batteries that are being charged is somewhat warmer than my body temperature. I just place my hand on these waiting for the second hand to reach the 12 and this seems to aid in the triggering. I have even used a large spoon that I had standing in a glass of hot water to do this also but made a mess if I was not careful. Now that all the inside testing has been done then move outside and repeat the same test without the flash going off. Some cameras will except the inside light as enough light to keep the flash from going off but my shop is very marginal so I must move outside in the heat to do the without flash testing.



PRESENT DAY TESTING THE CHASINGAME WAY

The day of the hot spoon has slid away and the cameras have become much more sophisticated. We still use the old sweep hand clock for most things to get us an idea of where we want to set up the additional equipment. The lab now has climate control so now this nice cool environment that is put up against a highly sophisticated triggering mechanism. Having the control of temperature and environment was our biggest and most costly task. We needed to have things set so we could control not only where the camera was to operate but to control what it was suppose to see electronically. The years past and it was it seemed that the equipment inventory grew not only in number but in cost. Moving into the digital world where our data could move parallel solved most of our problems when it came to repeat-ability. To accomplish this technology we had a lot of high level advice and help along with some new devices that were adapted for our purpose and work extremely well. Limiting anything dealing with human control was accomplished and the setup procedures were standardized. Repeat-ability was key and became second place. Throw a couple of wrenches into the cameras circuits like adding light metering of maybe a faulty intermittent component and now out few minute task becomes days. If the repeat-ability factor is not there, we now have enough confidence in our system that we know now to look somewhere else. We have had cameras that we returned and had the factory look at them and return them to us but for some strange reason they seemed to work?????(but nothing was changed at the factory).

To put it very short and sweet, we have a computer controlled fairly automated testing station that will do both day (with filter controlled halogen lighting) to produce trigger times with out flash and have light metering control on those cameras that are so equipped. Trigger times can be slid one way or the other by re arranging the light metering function. This is very much in play on the IR cameras both black and red flash. Having the ability to watch the flash go off black/red/strobe/WIR and being able to scientifically measure the duration is also of interest. This system can tell us when the electronic/mechanical shutter has opened and when it closed and measure the time of that event. There was a push by some to try to carry the decimal point out a number of places but we feel to the hundredths of a second should be far enough. The old clock served us well and we had very little complaints as to the results we displayed over the years. We are now upgraded and will start to show part of our digital readout.

Having to do a heavy load of prerelease testing on cameras we report our findings back so improvements cam be made so when these units hit the market they will work properly. Many of the cameras that have come in here have gone back and were never released because of flaws we have found. This manner of testing required that we have the repeat-ability of testing to prove accuracy in the results. The nuts and bolts of this system is under cover and because a lot of individuals would like to have that insight we are forced to have a degree of secrecy. The engineering and development along with a great deal of expense has been put into this endeavor, and we have to protect it.

3 best portable chargers

You’ve switched onto low battery mode, your phone brightness is turned down all the way and you’re praying to the smartphone gods that your ever-dwindling battery survives until you make it to within reach of a plug socket. But despite your best efforts, your phone gives up the ghost.

If this sounds like an all-too-familiar scenario, a portable charger (for example: SUNJACK HEAT BANK ) would be a wise investment. From lipstick-sized packs that can give your phone – or any USB-chargeable device, for that matter – an extra bit of juice to see you through the next few hours, to larger, but still portable options that will revive your device many times over, the range is huge.

Just how many times over a pack can recharge your device depends on its capacity, and the capacity of the device itself. This is measured in milliampere hours (mAh). An iPhone 7, for example, has a battery capacity of 1,960mAh, while the Samsung Galaxy S8 packs a 3,000mAh battery. Larger devices, unsurprisingly, have much larger batteries – the 12.9in iPad Pro’s battery is 10,307mAh. To work out how many times your charger will recharge the device, divide the charger’s mAh rating by that of the chosen device. (So, a 10,000mAh charger will fully revive your iPhone 7 around three and a half times, considering no charger is fully efficient. To be sure that your device will get at least one full charge from the charger, make sure the phone’s capacity is no more than 70 per cent of the charger’s capacity).

And remember, depending on what device you’re looking to charge, you may need to carry round a separate charging cable, as not every charger is compatible. Check your connections before you buy.

1. Aukey 20000mAh Power Bank: £19.99, Amazon
This has an excellent capacity of 20,000mAh, which should give your iPhone 7, for example, around seven full charges, bearing in mind efficiency. Two USB ports give 2.4A output individually, or can combine for a speedy 3.4A, so it’s good for charging multiple devices at once. The charger itself can also be powered up by a lightning cable, which means you may only have to carry one cable around with you, device-permitting. There’s a built-in flashlight – you never know when you might need it – and although it’s not the best looking device around, it’s still perfectly portable at 388g. The power button lights up different colours to indicate battery level.


2. AmazonBasics Portable External Battery Charger 10,000 mAh: £16.99, Amazon
This charger is available with a range of different capacities, going from 5,600mAh to 16,100mAh – the former giving most smartphones at least one full charge, while the latter will deal with a hefty tablet. We found a happy melium in the 10,000mAh model, which strikes a balance between power and portability (it weighs 215g). There are two USB ports so you can charge two devices at once, and the 3.4A output means your devices will be charged quickly. Four LED lights on the front clearly show how much juice is left in the pack.

3. Proporta Stripe TurboCharger 12000: £40, Proporta
With a 12,000mAh capacity, this charger from Proporta will give multiple charges to all smartphones, and has two USB ports. Thanks to the 2.1A output, your devices will be revived quickly – Porporta goes large on its TurboCharge technology, and it seemed to have an effect on our devices. It’s durable, too, having undergone multiple drop tests in production (when we dropped it a few times in the office, it was entirely unscathed).

Supervised Child Centers

Creating Child Custody and Child Visitation

Creating child custody and child visitation arrangements in a divorce or alternative separation are usually the most difficult challenges parents must face. Courts determining child custody and visitation issues will consistently make a choice on the basis of the needs of the child.

What exactly Does "Best Interests of the Child" Mean?

Deciding what the top interests of a child depend upon many variables, such as the:

• Kid's age, sex, mental as well as physical health
• Well-Being of parents
• Lifestyle as well as other societal variables of parents
• Love and emotional ties between parent and kid
• Parents capability to supply food, shelter, clothes and medical care
• Quality of schools in certain locale
• Kid's taste in the event the kid is over 12
• Ability and readiness of the parent to nurture a healthy relationship between child and another parent
• Equilibrium of the surroundings
• Various Kinds of Guardianship Organizations

There are numerous kinds of child custody. The most frequent:

Legal Custody – Legal custody is the right and duty to make determinations concerning the rearing of the little one. Including problems like schooling, religion, medical care, and subject. Courts usually award joint legal custody, enabling the parents to share these rights.

Physical Guardianship – Physical Custody is the right of a parent to really have a child reside with her or him. Most courts order joint physical custody, but the precise time-schism is usually something aside from 50/50.

Sole Custody – A sole custody arrangement supplies one parent with overall guardianship rights, enabling another parent only visitation rights.

Joint Custody – A joint custody arrangement enables the parents to synchronize their agenda and share decision making responsibility within the little one.

Bird’s Nest Guardianship – A bird’s nest guardianship arrangement happens where the child stays in a single house along with the parents rotate in and from your home and take turns caring for the little one.

How you can Create Child Custody and Visitation Rights

Parents can create proper child custody and visitation arrangements in 1 of 2 manners:

By Arrangement – Ideally, both parents will come to an arrangement involving visitation so that each parents' programs can adapt their visitation rights. Some states require the parents to speak to a court mediator in hopes that they're going to come to an understanding, but others will only leave it up to the parents as well as their lawyers. The courts don't normally interfere having a reciprocal understanding.

By Court Order – When an arrangement isn't reached, the court will hold a hearing to establish a proper visitation program. Both parents are going to have a quick time to present their case. As the judge isn't knowledgeable about the intricacies of the parents’ work, societal, and commuting program, the judge may impose a visitation program that's not perfect for either parent.
Kid Visitation Rights

The parent who will not have physical custody of the little one is ordinarily given "reasonable visitation" rights together with the little one. Visitation rights permit the non-custodial parent (the man without child custody) a scheduled time to invest by using their kid. Kid visitation programs may be set either by the court or left to the parents to agree upon.

Adjustment of Child Custody and Visitation Arrangements

Child custody and visitation arrangements could be changed together with the permission of both parents or by court order. Any part of the arrangement may be altered so long as it's consistent using the needs of the child. Typical reasons for an alteration in supervised child centers or visitation are:

Move – Some states permit parents with physical custody to relocate regardless of what space is included.

Significant change in conditions – Anything important that disturbs the equilibrium of the kid 's life (i.e. parent's loss of job, move, sickness) may justify a change.

Change in lifestyle – Change is warranted if significant changes in a parent's lifestyle endanger or damage the little one.

Family courts prefer to not change visitation arrangements as this could cause new difficulties, but when a suitable reason appears the court will give a modification.

This is why everyone should be careful about making this decision otherwise one can be easily mistaken and make the mistake over and over again. For more information use Google or any other search engine system as it will be easier to find a solution to the problem if you try to do a little research by yourself.

Do I Want a Household Attorney?

In the event that you happen to be seeking to establish or modify child custody or visitation rights, it's usually a good idea to talk to a family law lawyer. A lawyer has experience dealing using the complex court system and certainly will work to safeguard your relationship with all the kid.?@See these posts for additional details about Child Custody Laws and Child Custody Guidelines.

6 Best Tips for Building a Successful Shipping Business

One aspect of all business procedures that will probably never change is the delivery of physical goods. This business in itself only used to be a luxury of the wealthy. But the internet has made it financially accessible, more competitive and more lucrative for the middle class.

Consider the $5.02 billion that was made by different shipping and delivery services from Amazon in 2015 alone. This shows the enormous opportunity that exists in the shipping industry.

Whether you are freight forwarding, drop shipping or using any other method by land, air or sea, the prerequisites, for the most part, remain the same across the board.


If shipping is your thing, then the few tips below will certainly help you get your shipping business set up.

5 Proven Strategies to Break Out With Your New Business

Before customers buy your idea over (or in addition to) another company’s, you must show them why your product or service is different and/or better. If you can show why you’re unique, you’ll attract just the right customers who are perfect for your business. They are the clients who will buy from you time and again, and continually refer you to their friends.

This point of difference between you and your competition is called a USP, short for “Unique Sales Proposition.” Here are five examples of how to stand out with a Unique Sales Position:

Your business may be small, but a business website is no longer optional -- even if you serve a local customer base, and have no intentions of selling your products or services online.

Here are five essentials every small business website should include: