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Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

Old 11-04-2003, 09:46 PM
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yardflyr
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Default Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

Hello everybody. I was hoping someone could help me. I am looking to eliminate the RCA jacks on the system to save wieght. Any idea of what type of wire and connectors I should use or how I should go about it? I don't know very much about electronics but I do have a Radio Shack nearby. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Old 11-05-2003, 01:38 AM
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Fubar-One
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

I used, speaking of Radio Shack, the wire that comes in a pack of several colors, red, green, black, etc. I think its 18 gauge. I also used Deans 4 pin plugs but you only need to use 3 of the pins. Power, Neg, Video.
IMPORTANT!!!
There is a 5v regulator for the camera in that plastic bead that is part of the camera lead itself. Remove that and you will let the magic smoke out of the camera. The tx runs on 8+v but the camera operates on 5v. I simply shortened the lead between it and the camera. If you slice the bead in half along the shallow side, you can access the little PC board if you wish. The connections are marked on the board itself.
My setup after the butchering:

Hope this is of some help!
ORIGINAL: yardflyr

Hello everybody. I was hoping someone could help me. I am looking to eliminate the RCA jacks on the system to save wieght. Any idea of what type of wire and connectors I should use or how I should go about it? I don't know very much about electronics but I do have a Radio Shack nearby. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Old 11-05-2003, 05:53 AM
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yardflyr
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

Thank you Fubar-One!!
Old 11-05-2003, 11:08 PM
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CenTexFlyer
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

Just wondering.... how come you didn't change out the power plugs too?

CTF
Old 11-07-2003, 12:38 AM
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

Didnt have any others handy and these work fine for use with the 9v transister battery. When I go to a Li-Poly pack, Dean's Ultra Plugs will be used.
ORIGINAL: CenTexFlyer

Just wondering.... how come you didn't change out the power plugs too?

CTF
Old 11-14-2003, 10:07 PM
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rdc767
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

Fubar
I just got my 800mw system.
Whats a good battery to run beside the 9v durcell? I used a cheap 9v and it lasted about 30 seconds!! Could I run a 8 x 1.2 to 9.6volts. or is this too much. I have some light 270mil amps 2/3 AAA's I could solder together. I looked on ebay and they have 9volt rechargables but not sure if it could take my .900c charger. I need to keep it light 2 or 3 oz max.
Thanks
Ron
Old 11-14-2003, 10:21 PM
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

Cool!
The problem with a 9.6v pack is that it will put out more than that when fully charged. Big possibility of smoking the system. I have no idea what the upper voltage limit of the system is and am too chicken to find out the hard way.
What you CAN do, and this will come in handy if you upgrade the camera in the future, is use a 7808 IC 8v voltage regulator between the pack and the tx. The tx itself operates on 8v. They just take advantage of the voltage drop you get when powering both the tx and the camera with the one 9v transistor battery. In the camera lead there is a 5v regulator already installed since that is what the camera actually operates on.
What I am about to do is use a CX-161 CCD camera (5v) from BlackwidowAV with my spylinker tx. I have both a 5v and an 8v regulator and will wire it all together to use with one of the many 9.6v packs I have laying about. The 5v reg goes between the pack and the camera and the 8v reg between the pack and the tx.
I will be taking pics of how it all goes together (Fates willing), and post the results hopefully by the end of the weekend.
I figure a KR600AE pack should provide more than enough juice to power it all.
The 270mAh packs you have will provide enough for the stock system after a little rewiring. I assume you plan to dump the RCA plugs?
Dinner time, gotta run!
ORIGINAL: rdc767

Fubar
I just got my 800mw system.
Whats a good battery to run beside the 9v durcell? I used a cheap 9v and it lasted about 30 seconds!! Could I run a 8 x 1.2 to 9.6volts. or is this too much. I have some light 270mil amps 2/3 AAA's I could solder together. I looked on ebay and they have 9volt rechargables but not sure if it could take my .900c charger. I need to keep it light 2 or 3 oz max.
Thanks
Ron
Old 11-18-2003, 09:27 AM
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rdc767
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

I built the battery pack last night. I went down to 7 cells instead of 8. Voltage after charging was 9.42volts. I ran the camera for about 15minuts and it held a nice picture. I found a 110ac transformer for the receiver, that advertised 9 volts. I put a meter on it and it said 9.4volts. The polarity was wrong so I reversed it and it worked good. All is left is to mount the camera.
Ron
Old 11-22-2003, 03:05 PM
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Kamikazi
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

I just bought one of these 800mw systems too. Total was $32.99 with shipping - it was another Hong Kong eBay seller. I was amazed the thing even worked for that price
I got rid of the Y connector and the RCA cable mess too. Unfortunately, I must have missed the voltage regulator in the cable "Y" when I ohm'd it out. I've got to double check that. I did power up the camera with a 9 volt battery and it seemed to work fine. The the missing regulator may not smoke the camera immediately.

I plan to mount the camera and xmitter on my Sky Scooter Pro II sometime soon. My thought is to just tap into the 8.4v NiCd pack that powers everything on the plane.

-Greg
Old 11-22-2003, 06:11 PM
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

The voltage regulator for the camera, at least in mine, was not in any of the "Y" connections. With mine there was a plastic/rubber "bead" about an inch and a quarter long about midway up the cable between the camera and the RCA connectors. I think all I found in the "Y" was a big blob of solder where all the shielding was soldered together.
My setup, mounted on my Super Scooter, looks like [link=http://fubar1.freeservers.com/cgi-bin/i/RC/VideoScooter.jpg]this[/link].
My most recently [link=http://fubar1.freeservers.com/rc/movies/equipment.html]modified system[/link] uses a BlackwidowAV CCD camera and a 5v IC regulator all powered by a 9.6v KR600AE nicad pack.
Works well on the bench. Have yet to field test it.
ORIGINAL: Greg_Granville

I just bought one of these 800mw systems too. Total was $32.99 with shipping - it was another Hong Kong eBay seller. I was amazed the thing even worked for that price
I got rid of the Y connector and the RCA cable mess too. Unfortunately, I must have missed the voltage regulator in the cable "Y" when I ohm'd it out. I've got to double check that. I did power up the camera with a 9 volt battery and it seemed to work fine. The the missing regulator may not smoke the camera immediately.

I plan to mount the camera and camera & xmitter on my Sky Scooter Pro II sometime soon. My thought is to just tap into the 8.4v NiCd pack that powers everything on the plane.

-Greg
Old 11-22-2003, 10:19 PM
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Kamikazi
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

ORIGINAL: Fubar-One

The voltage regulator for the camera, at least in mine, was not in any of the "Y" connections. With mine there was a plastic/rubber "bead" about an inch and a quarter long about midway up the cable between the camera and the RCA connectors. I think all I found in the "Y" was a big blob of solder where all the shielding was soldered together.
Interesting. Mine had no "bead" on the cable. Maybe my camera has an internal regulator, or maybe no regulator at all. It does say DC8V 200mw on the back of the camera. In any case, it seems to work fine on 8 or 9 volts.

Mine looks like this now...
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Old 11-23-2003, 01:59 PM
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Fubar-One
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Default RE: Question on eliminating RCA jacks on Spylinker 800mw system

Very interesting.
I suppose there could be a regulator internally. Sure makes things easier. All the cameras I have seen seem to run on either 5v or 12v so I would assume there is a reg inside the camera. I could be wrong, of course!
Nice clean setup you ended up with.
ORIGINAL: Kamikazi

ORIGINAL: Fubar-One

The voltage regulator for the camera, at least in mine, was not in any of the "Y" connections. With mine there was a plastic/rubber "bead" about an inch and a quarter long about midway up the cable between the camera and the RCA connectors. I think all I found in the "Y" was a big blob of solder where all the shielding was soldered together.
Interesting. Mine had no "bead" on the cable. Maybe my camera has an internal regulator, or maybe no regulator at all. It does say DC8V 200mw on the back of the camera. In any case, it seems to work fine on 8 or 9 volts.

Mine looks like this now...

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