viper1

What causes this guys?

I'm talking about the diagonal lines in the video, sometimes more or less, see captured screen shots.








Thanks in advance,
Gert.

David Cutler

I bet it's the vibration from the engine beating with the camera's frame rate, much like two audio notes will beat if they are close but not exact frequency.

-David C.

viper1

Noop,

Also present with motor off, absolutely no movement,

My best guess goes in the direction of power supply.....?

David Cutler

Maybe it's the interlacing?

Or possibly video noise?

[sm=bananahead.gif]

-David C.

JGspeed

Viper, It's hard to pinpoint without knowing something about the setup. What equipment are you using? Can you post a pic of the setup? It looks like RF interference, but I'd need to know more about the setup to offer any advice.

Jeff

kd7ost

Can you describe your set up in more detail? Also symtoms?

It does this without engine even running.
What about turning the RC system on and off?
How are you powering it? (Like you stated above) 12 volt batteries going to a switching regulator to power a 5 volt system?
If yes, what regulator from where and what camera and from where?
Did it work clearly on the bench before installing it?
Does it work in some geographic locations but not others. (Suggesting local RF inteference)

Dan

yb2normal

It looks like noise from a switch mode power supply.

How are you powering your video system?

Bill

viper1

JGspeed;
OK, Some more details:

BWAV 200mw tx (5V) on 4 nimh cells directly,
Cam is 12V, powered by same battery via PT5041 ISR with correctly (according to datasheet) installed caps.

The whole lot (TX and Reg) installed in a recycled battery housing , only survivor from my sony photo camera crash few years ago
Very compact fit, but it could interfere with each other...?

Ground station = bwav rx with 8Dbi patch









kd7ost;

As far as symtoms, It looks like the lines scrolling/rolling, or moving up -and down slowly, switching direction approx. every 4 secs also the the intensity increase -and decreases.

RC system not relevant, as it does the same at home, not installed in a model.
for power see above details.

Update:, by isolating/bypassing different components from the set-up, I found that a lesser amount of quality is lost by the wireless link (still more than I thought it would) but I can live with that.... More significant quality loss is indeed caused by the switching reg, if I can improve the quality there I would be happy.

Bill;

First; How's this for some free advertising!



Thumbs up for the service & quality, range is perfect, hardly any drop-outs.

Yep, as stated above, I pin-pointed it down to the switch reg, just would appreciate any help regarding fitering the noise more.
Thusfar I went by the datasheet:




Thanks for your time every one !

kd7ost

It looks like Mr.RC-cam covered it for you. You also likely nailed it. Good work. Now just to find a resolve. Switching regulators can work. I use one from dimension engineering to a 5 volt BWAV 600 mw transmitter and I use a 12 volt camera from the same battery pack.

http://www.rc-cam.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=986

Dan

viper1

I looked before at their "AnyVolt Mini" , is that what you use? if no interference I might order one of those, saves me the hassle.

Thanks for quick reply Dan!

kd7ost

Actually I use the fixed 5 volt unit here. http://www.dimensionengineering.com/DE-SW0XX.htm
It has a part number of DE-SW050. It's the same pinout as a fixed unit and provides me with very clear video.

Best of luck

Dan

viper1

Thanks Dan

Currently still under Mr.RC-Cam's wings, I'll try 1st if we get any further , if not that would be my alternative

kd7ost

Then you are in very good hands.

Dan

viper1

As long as nobody mentions how to get rid of the voltage- ripple -emf -rf -low -ESR efficiently, I guess I'm OK

I just need to know which color wires I can 'bake' together !

kd7ost

I think baking yellow and blue makes green but watch out for the red and black which makes smoke. [X(]

Dan

bruce_lee

wow nice carry box. how did you make the patch antenna post? looks nice...

EDIT: also what video camera is that?

very nice setup, hope you get it all working ok

viper1

Thanks, post is alu tube, I machined some threaded inserts so it splits in 3 sections to fit in the box, top end just squeezed & bend to screw the patch antenna on

I told the neighbours this afternoon that I expected an invasion from Mars, the look on their faces, priceless

Panasonic NV-GS15

viper1

Something like [link=http://phil.ipal.org/electric/switch-arc-2.mpg]THIS[/link] ?

bruce_lee

good idea,.. lmao i can imagine the neighbours faces. lol

bruce_lee

nice video..... thats cooooool..

kd7ost

Yeouzza,

That made my hair stand on end from here. [X(]
Could be the actual source of your RFI and EMI.

Dan

bruce_lee

off topic but check this out..

http://electricsubstationsafety.com/...Tranexplo.mpeg

bet thats well loud in real life... wouldnt like to be near that!

yb2normal

Excellent box! But perhaps the logo biases me

The problem is caused by your low starting voltage... the 12v up converter has a long way to reach to get from 4.8v to 12v and the current mode noise is going to be significant. A better option would be to start at 12v and then down convert for the transmitter.

When I used to use the PT5041 it was in a system rated to run at 8 to 11v.... the upconverted 12v went to a 12v transmitter and then I used a linear regulator to down convert for the camera. The jump from 8v to 12v is smaller so taming the noise was easier.

Hope that helps.

Bill

viper1

Thanks Bill,


I ordered both the fixed- and the AnyVolt mini reg from Dimension Engineering. That way I can do some experimenting both ways, converting the voltage up- and down.
I hope they arrive before the summer holiday here is finished.
Looking at the test footage again, the downlink is good, (compared to my initial 10mW system with Cmos cam)
Just want to get more out of the video quality, the hi-res cam (620 lines) has more potential in it (picture is stunning on separate batteries) and I want to get the max. out of it.
Doesn't matter, we get there,.... eventually..... (tapping fingers on table, impatient)
I feel I was so close to a solution with Mr-RcCam's help, but due to my my electronic lack of knowledge I was unable to understand what he was saying....

Anyway, that's part of the hobby. If it was that easy we wouldn't be doing it, is what I always say.




Happy New Year to y'all,
Gert.

JGspeed

From the pix and info you provided, the most likely source is the regulator generating some noise. A quick fix might be to shield the camera body and or your power distribution board. You could try it with aluminum foil insulated on the electronics side and bonded to the power common. If the noise is a byproduct of the regulator try adding a choke between C2 and C3. Something like this might help. http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...-12&type=store