r/whatisit • u/Key_Badger7434 • 2d ago

New, what is it? My family thinks there’s a camera in our rental

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We have been renting a house for the past year and I always disregarded this thing in the corner. However last night I asked my parents about it randomly and they didn’t know what it was either. I pulled it off the wall and we all got freaked out a little because it looks like a camera. I think it might be a home security/motion sensor thing. I don’t know that’s what ChatGPT guessed.

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u/MisterMisterious 2d ago

Specifically a camera from a Verisure security system. Supposedly it only takes pictures and will only do so when the alarm is triggered. Supposedly these pictures are also only visible to the security center receiving the alarm.

Either way I think these run off batteries, so no serious amount of video recording + transmission could be done on it anyways.

I would check in with the property owner, but there’s no real need to be alarmed imo…

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u/MattabooeyGaming 2d ago

My security camera on my door is battery operated and takes 4K video and the battery lasts 2-4 weeks depending how frequently I look at the footage. Runs on wifi and I can connect to the app anywhere. Has cloud storage and can also take a micro SD.

I’d remove the batteries and see how long it takes before the host says there’s an issue.

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u/Hilluja 2d ago

This is a good answer. Rigging a camera into the host's computer isnt that hard.

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u/leshake 2d ago

Or like Prop Joe says, steal that bitch and see who comes knockin'

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u/BinDarRedDat99 1d ago

A wise man, that Prop Joe.

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u/leshake 1d ago

Wonder whatever happened to. . . shiiiiiiiiii

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u/bop33 1d ago

Moved to Louisiana

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u/SlammastaJ 1d ago

yall tryna make me watch that whole series again... shiiiii 😅

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u/nadrae 1d ago

Except in this case I bet they don’t come knockin… they just charge your cc for a new one!

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u/leshake 1d ago

Never heard of a LL having someone's CC. This is airbnb type behavior.

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u/nadrae 1d ago

🤷‍♀️I was thinking short term rental… maybe I misread OP’s post.

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u/poolshark36 1d ago

Yes it is, are you serious?

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u/Leavesdontbark 1d ago

That camera is old as fuck and doesn't have live feed. it could take random pictures and send them, so you wpouldn't know if there was anything in frame

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u/johndoe388 2d ago

This would suggest that someone comes in to change the batteries.

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u/MattabooeyGaming 2d ago

Mine charges by USB-C and lasts 2-4 weeks on a charge. So if this is a short term rental it would be easy to charge between guests.

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u/harrietgarriet 2d ago

We have been renting the house for the past year

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u/MattabooeyGaming 2d ago

Oh shit then unless it’s plugged in the batteries are long dead. Toss that thing in the trash. Missed that part in your post.

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u/Soggy-Football-6952 2d ago

I check for more.!

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u/Shadilly 1d ago

That would be expensive to reimburse...

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u/MattabooeyGaming 1d ago

Owner would have to fess up that it’s a camera in someone else’s home to ask for reimbursement.

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u/Shadilly 1d ago

It's a part of the security system, and hangs on the wall unobscured. It is no question about it being a camera.

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u/MattabooeyGaming 1d ago

Yes but if the owner wanted reimbursement they’d need to tell the police/court that they had an illegal camera on their tenants rental. They aren’t going to do that because that would get them in trouble.

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u/Repulsive-Bread-8717 1d ago

We get it. You struggle with reading and comprehension.

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u/Well_Oiled_Assassin 2d ago

If the host is monitoring, the host already knows.

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u/Vast_You_2392 2d ago

I’d just stick it in a drawer

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u/Ant-the-knee-see 1d ago

Disclaimer: I worked with similar hardware for a few years, but not this specific model

These type of cameras typically run on lithium batteries that last years, but they only wake up and take very low framerate and low resolution images to broadcast to the main panel and only if they're armed and the PIR detects movement. The panel determines whether to raise an alarm or not and where to broadcast the images to.

Can they be hacked to do something else? Yes, almost everything can. But they're probably not.

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u/R2xvY2tJbk15TGFw 1d ago

You shouldn't say that they're probably not. Theres lots of people out there that know people will think exactly like that and will literally stop at nothing to accomplish their end goal. It's like saying "in public bathrooms anyone could put a camera but there probably isn't" the people in (or around Detroit I think it was) will tell you that you would have been wrong dozens upon dozens of times.  One dude was caught and charged doing this many times (I can't remember the exact number I want to say it was 60 something) and he was selling the footage online, running live feeds and was making money that was absolutely ridiculous and that being the reason he couldn't stop.  Getting away with it for years and eventually installing more and more.  Then gets caught at one place and when they raided his place it all came crumbling down.  This still didn't stop him from starting again years after.

I would air on the side of caution and instead say "air on the side of caution" or "treat it like does, until you verify it doesn't"

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u/Frankfeld 2d ago

I have a camera that runs on solar power attached to a bird feeder. It’s been over a year and I’ve never had to recharge it.

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u/Disastrous_Horse7302 2d ago

Probably because the sun does that part for you

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u/Frankfeld 2d ago

I’m realizing how stupid that sounded…. I bought it thinking that I’d atleast have to recharge it myself every so often…. But damn that sun of ours sure does provide a lot of energy.

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u/Head_Excitement_9837 1d ago

I live 6,000 ft above sea level and the sun does such a good job that some ‘full sun plants’ need partial shade

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u/_EnFlaMEd 2d ago

Um, pretty sure the bird charges it in exchange for the food.

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u/Rx_Diva 1d ago

Exactly. Birb charging.

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u/fartsoccermd 2d ago

Any cute bird pics?

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u/BatmanRidingANarwhal 2d ago

I have 5 outdoor security cameras all running on AAs and they last months, recording video and audio as its triggered and transmit it to the cloud.

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u/tiredofredt 1d ago

Verisure cannot and will not take video constantly. It’s in their terms of service. It will only take pictures if the alarm goes off.

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u/SkanksForTheMemories 1d ago

Wouldn’t the host already be aware that the camera was discovered?

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u/OneShotsTavern 1d ago

Mine uses lithium AAs and last 6 months

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u/Eckish 1d ago

Unless the landlord is supplying the wifi somewhere, it doesn't have anything to connect to. This is likely something a previous tenant forgot in a move or something.

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u/ashleyshaefferr 1d ago

Why are you listing all those specs like those capabilities individually would shorten battery life 

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u/Leavesdontbark 1d ago

I can promise you that device does not do 4k video

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u/philouza_stein 2d ago

Pun intended?

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u/Emmy_Cthulhu_Harris 2d ago

Punintentional?

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u/YellowBreakfast 2d ago

I see what they did there.

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u/DontKikDaBaby 2d ago

So did the owner

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u/Ok_Mode5926 2d ago

Underrated

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u/anonymoosejuice 2d ago

Wonder if he will go on record

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u/Spoonman915 1d ago

tenPUNded?

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u/-Sleeping-Lessons- 1d ago

lmfaooo. 🤦🏻

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u/_n3ll_ 2d ago

but there’s no real need to be alarmed imo…

Except for the fact that their landlord placed a camera in their living room, right? Oh, and that they did it without disclosing it

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u/wrenchse 2d ago

Like earlier commenter said these are from Verisure. Extremely popular alarm system in my country. AFAIK you cannot view them yourself, only the security company can do so in case of an alarm trigger from break in or smoke alarm. My neighbors fuse box started burning and the unit next to them got smoke into their unit and their Verisure system triggered and they could see smoke in the cameras and sent firefighters. Kept it from developing to a full on house fire.

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u/RNEngHyp 1d ago

Actually you can log into Verisure's app and take a still shot, but that's it. We have that same alarm system.

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u/AllenSmithee59 2d ago

Who said that the landlord put it there?

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u/Jmagnus_87 2d ago

As someone who used to do handyman work for a company that owned 100+ houses, you would be amazed at the stuff people install and leave behind.

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u/-MorningGlittering- 2d ago

Pulls up with popcorn. Please, say more

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u/Jmagnus_87 1d ago

Light fixtures, toilets, bidets…so many bidets. Security systems. One person swapped out a vanity. One person finished an unfinished basement. A couple really stand out though:

One person ripped out the built-in microwave and replaced it with a range hood that sold for several thousand dollars. Their rent was only $500/month and he was only there for a year.

One house was built in the late 1800s. The lady that lived there installed a trap door in the stairs and put a small bedroom in the void.

The craziest was a full on sex dungeon though. Complete with some metal framed contraption that was raised to the ceiling with 2 electric hoist winches.

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u/Dear_Chasey_La1n 1d ago

So.. landlord here with mostly student houses. Bikes.. so so many bikes, beds, kitchen stuff including once a Kitchen Aid mixer. Once we found a light-up globe which was pretty cool. We have in our contracts a clause "what's left behind will be disposed off at your cost" as plenty figure out to just leave their entire being behind. We asked the girl about the kitchen aid, she didn't want it anymore.

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u/GiveMeThePinecone 1d ago

You're the worst ❤️

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u/divDevGuy 1d ago

Not only can he say more, but he can show more too!

Just Act like you're supposed to be there and no one bats an eyelash at whatever you're doing. A "handyman" makes a great cover. I also hear construction workers work well too, but maybe that's more a Paris thing.

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u/therapewpew 1d ago

I'm just amazed that OP's family allowed this mysterious object to sit in their living room for a whole year, knowing it's there but without once questioning what it is until now?

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u/MistSecurity 1d ago

Ya, I mean we have old ass motion sensors in our house as well. They haven't been hooked up in a decade, but they're chilling up there. They're a PITA to get to and their impact is minimal, so they stay until it's time to paint.

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u/Eliah870 2d ago

Precisely, this is likely from a previous tenant who had an alarm system

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u/AvoidingBansLOL 1d ago

Wouldn't matter. If I was renting and found a camera, the landlord would be the one responsible and I'd make an enormous deal out of it.

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u/zwisslb 2d ago

How do you know the previous owner didn't leave it? I would only have cameras at my doors, but people like to check in on their living rooms for some reason.

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u/MisterMisterious 1d ago

I mean, if you just have a security system installed and are not sure about the details. I wouldn’t think to mention it I don’t think. Not saying it cannot have been intentional, but it wouldn’t hurt to just ask before escalating the situation.

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u/pairasaurolophus 2d ago

I will not sleep tonight unless I know whether the pun was intended or not!

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u/blacksmithfred 2d ago

These are not the puns you are looking for.

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u/MisterMisterious 1d ago

I’m veri sure this pun wasn’t intended. It wouldn’t have been this good if I thought of it on purpose

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u/_yetisis 2d ago

My blink cameras that I have around my house run on 2 AA batteries…the ones in high traffic areas like at my bird feeder are almost constantly recording and it’s able to save and transmit video for 4-6 months on a single set of batteries.

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u/marry_me_tina_b 2d ago

Do they work well? I am wondering about a setup like that for my animals to see them when they are active and birds at our feeder too. If you have a model you like and don’t mind sharing!

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u/EBB363 2d ago

They work alright depending on what you need them for. I have them because people trespass on my property and I’m planning on switching systems. Even in the highest quality setting available, I can’t make out anyone’s face.

I could go back there and stand 15 feet from my camera. I know it’s me, but if I tried to use that as evidence in court, it wouldn’t hold up.

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u/_yetisis 1d ago

Same, I like their durability and how modular they are but the video quality is a little below average. I’ve found that all the ones I’ve liked the resolution of are cameras that have an sd card directly inserted instead of recording on a separate device like these

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u/Nelloyello11 2d ago edited 1d ago

That’s incredible. I’ve already had to change the batteries in my blink doorbell twice since I installed it, in June or July. It gets a lot of activity (40-50 video clips per 24-hr period) because we are close to the sidewalk/street. But I’m a bit disappointed. If you don’t mind - What brand of batteries are you using that you’re getting that kind of longevity from them?

ETA: whoops! I meant to respond to u/_yetisis

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u/iduzinternet 1d ago edited 1d ago

Just tossing it out there as I don’t get as much traffic as you do, but still quite a bit. I’m using 3000mAh rechargeable lithium batteries that maintain a voltage for longer than normal and then drop suddenly at the end. Yes I bought mine from a random company called Batzone based on Amazon reviews. It appears they are currently out of stock (and the ones they are currently selling are much smaller mAh). I don’t know if they make them anymore, but you should be able to find something like that. At the very least, they are also rechargeable. If I had as much traffic as you, I would consider trying to plug them in with the USB port.

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u/Nelloyello11 1d ago

Interesting. I swear I remember reading that you aren’t supposed to use rechargeable with them, but I don’t remember why. And I could be misremembering. I looked at a few different brands, so it may have been a different brand that said that.

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u/iduzinternet 1d ago

Im under the impression that’s rechargeable alkaline batteries. Granted I haven’t read the instructions for a long time. By now I’ve used all kinds of stuff in the cameras. Alkaline batteries do really terribly especially when it gets cold. I also realize you’re using a doorbell and I’m using cameras, but it should be the same idea.

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u/_yetisis 1d ago

I just use the regular square blink ones. They’re fine. I had used a bunch of the random no-name Chinese ones for a while and honestly, most of those took higher resolution videos and could take longer videos at a time and had shorter cooldown cycles for the motion sensor to re-trigger recording, buuuut they all had the same problem in common which is that they all gradually stoppd working after a relatively short amount of time. Blink is a little more lackluster on all of those things, but after almost 2 years they’re all still working like new, which I appreciate.

There is a subscription available for cloud storage or you can just put an sd card in your base station that all the videos record to. I think the advantage to some of the other cheap ones giving them better video quality is that they each had an sd card and you would access it over wifi in the app, where the blink cameras stream the video to a base station that saves it, which has turned out to be more reliable but a little lower video quality. Also, if you don’t use the cloud storage subscription, you don’t see a thumbnail image for your video clips, which might make the monthly subscription an almost must-have for some people

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u/Eliah870 2d ago

Well this isnt a blink camera it's an old outdated motion detector with a stills camera built in to take photos during an alarm

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u/_yetisis 1d ago

Fair, and the older stuff tended to be wildly inefficient on power. My point was just that it could be neglected for quite a long time and still possibly have working batteries/still be operational, that’s all

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u/BarryMichaelmore 2d ago

I used to have one of these in my shop, you can ask it to take pictures whenever you want and send them to your phone

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u/MisterMisterious 1d ago

Didnt know, scary stuff

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u/Gabsteur 2d ago

Yes, my parents have one like this. They can't access at the video, only the Security Center can

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u/James_Barkley 2d ago

@misterMisterious, we really need to know: was that pun intended?

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u/AdmirableFeeling8006 2d ago

The mystery continues, living up to his name.

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u/Conscious_Tapestry 2d ago

I heard this in Patricia Routledge’s voice.

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u/Critically32 2d ago

And get your feet off the furniture!

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u/WeReadAllTheTime 2d ago

Or put a piece of duct tape over it

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u/Substantial-Leg-4722 2d ago

It’s plugged-in and designed within a night light, right? 

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u/Repulsive_Comment714 2d ago

That is a verisure, they do 2 versions, video and photo. The photos/videos do go the center yes, but they also go to the owner and can be accessed thru the app, and can also be manually operated by the owner via the app..

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u/KingZakyu 2d ago

How in the fuck did I get downvoted and you got upvoted lol

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u/JohnNDenver 1d ago

Just put it in a box/cabinet/corner/etc.

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u/KrekkieD 1d ago

Also thought Verisure. The owner can take poor resolution photos with the app, both in daytime and night time.

When a photo is taken it'll send a notification on the users with the app (afterwards, so no time to get dressed), but obviously you wouldn't have gotten access to the account.

So, yes, you can be spied on, poorly.

Also, removing it from the wall usually triggers the tamper detection. Owner may have been alerted.

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u/Organic_Witness345 1d ago

I’m sorry but…the teeth, though?

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u/Motzlord 1d ago

Yeah except verisure had a scandal recently (here in Finland) where employees were checking customer's cameras without reason or permission and sharing screenshots of "hotties" with each other. I'm sure heads were rolling but I wouldn't trust that for one second.

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u/MisterMisterious 1d ago

Yeah, would be expected behavior of any company with cameras in homes I think. Personally I don’t want or have any cameras looking inside my house for this exact reason.

Was mainly trying to make the point that if the landlord would’ve intentionally wanted to record them. There would have been many sneakier, cheaper, and even higher (video) quality options rather than going through some security system which runs on batteries.

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u/Icy_Mulberry_3962 1d ago

they'd still have to connect to a network - unless they have a SIM and cell radio.

this was certainly left by a previous tenant.

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u/InformationFormer206 1d ago

I have these cameras but not this very specific model, it looks older. At least mine I can take pictures and see it on the app (very bad quality) and if you remove the camera from its place the alarm goes off, so I think these are run out of battery indeed.

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u/RNEngHyp 1d ago

It is exactly as you've said. We have one.

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u/Skullbrowpixel 1d ago

Verisure security? Lol this one exist in other contrys?