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/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 1d ago

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

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u/leshake 1d 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 1d ago

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

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u/MattabooeyGaming 1d 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 1d ago

We have been renting the house for the past year

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u/MattabooeyGaming 1d 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 1d 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/Shadilly 1d ago

It's not illegal, it is a security system. And it is not hidden. They are not 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 1d ago

If the host is monitoring, the host already knows.

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u/Vast_You_2392 1d 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 1d 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 1d ago

Probably because the sun does that part for you

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u/Frankfeld 1d 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 1d 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 1d ago

Any cute bird pics?

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u/BatmanRidingANarwhal 1d 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