My C120-based smart bird feed
Thought I would share, because I think it's too awesome.
I had an old coffee maker (made terrible coffee btw) lying around:
and I've found a new purpose for it - smart bird feeder. I thought it would make an excellent bird feeder because of the coffee maker's transparent tank. Birds need to see the seeds.
A few pics from the process:
Installed:
A few bird pics. Nothing too exciting yet, still waiting for the more colorful ones to come around - blue, yellow, etc. But I know it will work.
wat wat chicken b#tt:
A bit about the process itself ...
The camera out of the box is not suitable for bird feeder because of the fixed focus distance. You need to bring it closer and the process voids the warranty obviously.
Make sure you don't have an SD Card in there, or you'd break it (ask me how I know). You open it from the front, sliding something thin and metal between the black cap and the white plastic body. You need to know that there are 3 "points" that hold it together, one on each side and one on top, sort of a Mercedes pattern. Aim for them and take it slow. Then you take off the heat sink, it's held by two screws. There are two small screws holding the camera. You'd want to unscrew the top one, almost to the end, this brings the focus as close as it's going to get. While at it, I also removed the microphone on the back, which gives it a bit more space inside the body for heat dispersion. I don't need to talk to the bird. Then you put it all back together, carefully. It's possible that by the time you put it back together, the focus is again not where you want it. Repeat. I've used a dummy bird placed exactly where I anticipate the birds to land, to aim for focus while adjusting. You can adjust the screws while the camera is on (careful, the chip on the back gets hot). There's another method to adjust the focus, which involves using a heat gun and ungluing the camera itself.
The DIY work itself wasn't too difficult. I had to get the incline under hole on the bottom of the water tank just right, so that gravity refills the box on the bottom, when the birds eat the seeds.
I think it turned out quite alright, given it cost me the price of a budget camera. Similar bird feeders go for 150+ bucks. I get notifications, outlet power, recording... everything I needed.
@Riley_S Hi,
you're asking all the right questions. What I meant above was, when you take down the heat sink, you have to be careful not to touch the bare chip, as it gets hot, but that's normal. I had some worries about the heat and possible fire hazard as well, so I very closely monitored the camera the first two days. Seems like the heat sink + the extra space where the microphone was (or even without that mod) is more than sufficient to manage the heat. Also, here in the Midwest, "winter is coming" so that's even less of a worry right now.
Thanks for the hint about the lighting. I had something similar in mind, and tried to setup the camera in such a direction, that the sun would light the subject from the side and/or behind. I catch directly in front only the morning sun. I think a "cap" would help the light management further.
In my opinion, you may have a market for sub-models of C120 with a closer out-of-the-factory focus. A lot of people want to use them for bird feeders and 3D printer monitoring.
A few more shots
@Riley_S I feel the big bird shots don't do the camera justice, they're too big and easily get out of focus. I've specifically designed the ledge of the feeder to be at the exact focal distance, after "tuning" the camera.
As far as the feeder itself goes - it's just a somewhat crude prototype, but works. The part I really like is the transparent container/tank, which attracts the birds by allowing them to see the seeds. The hole I drilled in it was done using a 2-1/4" forstner bit.
The Tapo cameras are not bad for close distance subjects, right out of the box. As a matter of fact, I use a C120 to watch my guinea pigs 
But my use case called for focus distances as little as 5", so I had to mod it a little bit.
I was planning on powering it by solar + battery. I did all the calculations, using your estimates of power usage over how many hours during the day time I'd expect it to capture events, etc. It ended up being cost-prohibitive, due to the expensive equipment necessary. So I thought, why not just plug it in, since I'll be keeping the camera close to an outdoor outlet anyway. But as far as feasibility goes - it is possible to power the camera off a battery, charged by a solar panel.
Tapo cameras are great, that's why I have so many of them <3
