Okay, an update about what is going on with our cam system.
Right now we can*t move the camera, the ptz controller isn*t working so it needs to be tested by our techs.
The mic also went on the fritz after that huge storm.
Apparently all sorts of things on Hornby were turned on & off & got damaged by that storm.
One man lost the $800 controller of his water pump!
If you watch that fabulous video cali made for us of the footage of the storm via the cam, you can hear the static of the lightning being picked up by the cam after each lightning strike.
You can also see that we must have lost power a couple of times, as we lose the mic sound & we get the blue reboot screen of the cam.
Then towards the end, we get that strange black & white horizontal line thing which i have never seen before, & we have no cam or mic for 20 minutes.
When it comes back on by itself 20 minutes later, we have lost that blue startup screen & the mic sound is now just a buzz.
We also cannot move the cam, the ptz doesn*t work any more.
So it is looking very likely that something happened to the mic & cam during that storm.
We need to get both down to be looked at by our techs.
They are repairing & replacing a LOT of their cams, after that storm!
So it isn*t just us.
Yesterday we had our Tree climber booked to go up there & take down the cam & the mic.
But.
We had technical difficulties.
We used to leave the good climbing rope in the Tree, but this deteriorates the rope because of sun & wind & rain damage, & makes it unsafe to use, very quickly.
This rope is what keeps the climber from falling from 200' up in the Tree, where our cam & mic are.
So we had to buy a new expensive rope, which gets stored in a tub between climbs now.
A fine black line is left in the Tree to pull up the climbing rope.
This has worked great, BUT....
This time, a branchy green branch has broken off & fallen from above, & it got tangled in the black line & the black line got rubbed through & worn out & it broke yesterday when they tugged on it to try to untangle it!
So no way to pull up the good rope now!
He next tried climbing a spindly Tree beside Gregg*s Tree.
It is a LOOOONG way up to the first branch in Gregg*s Tree, & it is the next big branch ABOVE that where the end of the black line is caught.
Our climber had a small heavy sack tied to a line that he wanted to toss over that second highest branch so that he could attach the good climbing rope over that branch.
But when he got up there, he couldn*t get at that second highest limb, he could only reach the first.
When he came back down to contemplate the situation, he decided he wants to get his slingshot, in order to be able to get the line over that second branch, & the slingshot is broken, so now it will be friday before he can try again.
i am hoping something can be fixed in the gray box in the Tree that we see on the cam.
That is where all the connections are.
But our climber highly doubts this.
So, that means the cam & the mic need to be disconnected & brought down, then sent to Vancouver Island to be *bench tested* by our techs.
We are hoping that both can be repaired, but the techs tell me that they are replacing quite a few of their cams, after that storm.
So, wish us well!
Everything is a bit up in the air right now.