some jackasses dumping crap on my property.  got a cellular game cam its not getting anything I guess they are coming at night with lights off and the on-board IR just isnt cutting it.
heres what regular daylight pics look like



Its roughly 75ft from the camera to that fire hydrant.

how big a battery/charger and IR illuminator would be required?

depends on how handy you are. You could buy something like this and replace the LED for an IR module. The runtime being IR would be quite a bit more than a regular LED. I have those exact ones and a fully charged (sunny day) will get 7-8'ish hours on high so I'd say you can get all night covered with an IR.

If you're handy you may be able to use the power for the on-board IR light of the game-cam to control a relay that powers on the bigger illuminator. This way the light is only on when the camera is preparing to take a pic.

The question is how much of a red glow will be put out which might be noticeable to the dumpers who may turn thief.

How far from home? Install a camera and 5.8Hz transmitter and a decent battery, panel and IR LED where it's most obvious.

It will act like a deterrent and you can record the video remotely, as well as observe it to watch for what is going on. You can also install motion alarms and other functions remotely as well.

You may even be able to install a tilt/pan/zoom setup, or put it on a fixed pole at a height at obvious entry points.

Cameras are a very good deterrent. Most people doing stuff wrong will take the easy way out and dump elsewhere. Even if the camera is a decoy and doesn't actually record anything, a camera/panel/antenna setup about 15ft up a pole will deter just about anyone.

David

if you are handy with electrical stuff, you could wire

a 940nm light panel - on amazon or ebay
10-20M Waterproof Invisible 940nm WideAngle 6 LED IR Light Illuminator 60 Degree No Red Light Fill Assist Night Vision IR Lights by EVERSECU

to a 12v motion sensor on ebay like this
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Outdoor-DC12V-Automatic-Infrared-PIR-Motion-Sensor-Switch-Detector-LED-Lights/222948188019?hash=item33e8bf5f73:m:mv9xIbvb-m4--MMvkl3tRag:rk:6:pf:0

to a 12v seal lead acid battery.

if you want to add solar to that, you need to pick up a solar panel, and a solar charge controller for it to charge the battery properly

wow all thanks much for all the ideas