tim777jet
Posts: 146
Score: 100
Joined: 8/14/2007
Last Login: 10/22/2009
From: Maidenhead, UNITED KINGDOM
Status: offline
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Ok guys, been using the flycamone2 for a while now and had shut down problems. When it first came out, we all had problems and were posting on the manufacturers website forum, but seems it has gone.
We tried everything, but nothing was conclusive, you could put the cam in the fridge and it worked ok, but on a plane it shut down after 2 mins or so. Sometimes you could not stop the recording, so anything you had, was wiped when the battery ran out, or if you switched it off. some said it was the camera working overtime, when we flew, as a oppposed to recording a stationary scene, like inside your fridge, that caused it to shut down. Some said it was freezing due to wind chill on the battery and others said it was the LiPO low voltage shut down protection circuits.
Well I designed a heater circuit and fitted it inside the cam. Then wrapped the whole thing up in some thin foam and ally underfloor heating linning. This worked great in temps hovering around zero last winter, got some really good inflight footage on my jet model.
Went to use the cam a few days ago and probs returned, if it did last more than 1 minute, i could not shut the camera down.
I think I have cracked it now,,,,,,
I down loaded the latest firmware from the manufacturers site, (web address on someone elses post on here). After this, I now have the revised menu. Only problem was, when testing ( not on the plane), it would not last more than sometimes 10 secs and sometimes about 1 minute of recording.
Opened the case and checked the voltage on the wires where they are soldered to the circuit board, had zero voltage. Tried a recharge for an hour, still zero, so assumed battery dead.
searched for a replacement battery and found Maplins sell ipod replacements. They are in 4 diffent styles dependant on age of your ipod. I chose the 850 mah battery, which is nearly 4 times the capacity of the original. It has been reported that the original bateries are weak.
Got home and firstly tried the camera again, low and behold, it powered up and worked for about 1 minute. Checked the voltage on the circuit board again and it was zero, strange.
Next, the ipod replacement bat, had three wires. The voltage across the red and black was 4.25 volts ( fully charged). Votage across red and white was just less. Dont know if the white wire is used for battery overtemp protection, or low voltage shut down protection or for charging.
I peeled the tape off the battery top, to reveal the wire connections and found there is a printed circuit board at the top, containing 2 IC's and a couple of capicitors.
I peeled the tape off the original battery, and found a similar set up, with 2 IC's and couple resistors.
While apart, I checked the voltage across the original bat terminals and found battery was good, 4.25 volts, but still zero volts at the cicuit board connections.
Right, next up, got a torch bulb and powered it from the original battery and the new one. Results the same. The original battery is good. I then put an electrical motor across both batteries, it ran at the same speed. SO this proves the battery was good, so must be the low voltage protection circuitry telling the cam to stop.
Now tried the cam again with origianal battery and it started recording for around 45 secs. I waited till it shut down and touched nothing, then i took power from the new battery terminals, direct on the circuit board connections, and hey presto, it powered up and ran great, so I am pretty sure it is a problem with the circuit board components on top of the original battery.
Many people have tried connecting an external power supply to external terminals which has not helped matters, but it could be that even that power goes through the circuit board and is controling power to the camera, I dont know for sure.
Now the next big problem, is how do i wire the new battery up. I dont know what the circuit boards on the batteries do, and dont want to connect the red and balck wires on the new battery only to the cam red and black wires, as it might blow the USB power supply on my camera. But I might need to connect the cam to the laptop for future updates!.
Well my cheapo LiPo battery charger can charge 1, 2 or 3 cells, so i can chrge the new battery remotely and without a laptop.
I want to keep the original battery and circuit board in tact for USB connection.
I therefore cut the red and black wires which are connected to the circuit board of the cam and removed the complete original bat and cicuit board complete.
I cut the 2 main power connectors on the new battery, where they connected to its own circuit board.
I fitted a male miniture two pin plug on the camera circuit board red and black power wires and filed a small slot in camera case leading wires outside and closed the case. I now have power plug on the outside of the camera.
I soldered two wires and a two pin female plug onto the new battery terminals, and like-wise soldered a two pin female plug onto the original battery assembly red and black wires.
I can now connect the original batery and connect it to the laptop for updtaes and then use the new battery to power the cam for recording and i can charge it without a laptop.
Obviously the new battery is bigger and only a touch heavier than the original, but it can be tapped to the outside of the case no problem and dont forget that you have removed the original battery so weight increase isnt great.
SOOOO, does it work,,
you bet, had four flights yesterday on the jet, it was two coats and wooley hat weather and the camera never missed a beat. I have removed the heater circuit but kept the foam wrapping. I can not get it to fail, so i am 99 % sure this is the cure, but never say never.
I see the manufacturer is selling an additional battery pack for longer recroding but not sure if this will work as like said previously, guys have fitted external supplies and it has not worked.
Is that the end of the story, well no. When I unwrapped the paper wrapper on the new battery, it states that it is a LiPo replacement battery. In the instructions it says it is a Litium Iron battery. I am not sure what it is exactly, but it did have exactly the same charged voltage as the original battery.
My concern is charging it with a LiPo charger. I charged it outside on concrete floor and it took about 45 mins to fully charge from out of the packet and was cold to the touch, no heat build up, but can you electrical boffins give me some info on diferences between lipo and lithium iron charging. Obviuosly I treat all bateries with the respect they deserve.
So if this is the fix for this excellent camera, then what a shame the manufacturers havnt identified the problem and fixed it. The camera has too many functions for my liking, I just want a video camera to fit on my plane, not interested in security features etc.
Anyway, back to the cost, I saw phone batteries selling for under 10 pounds, but went for the ipod replacement at 17 pounds sterling. Sounds a lot, but if i get 100% reliablity out of it, then i am happy, what else would i do with the nonfunctioning camera i had?
Working away from home for few weeks so cant test it further till i get back,
Hope this might help some of you, not saying this is definately the fix, but it seems to have worked on mine. Also I might not have low voltage shut down protection, but remember the battery will last probably 4 times longer, so dosnt matter, you will be out of memory well before voltage is an issue.
All best Tim
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RE: Experience with "FlyCamOne2" Micro Video Camera - 
