Hobbico Electristar Select
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Seller:Cody85 Details:
$1,400.00
| 8/10/2008
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Posts: 33
Joined: 2/23/2002 From: Acushnet,
MA, USA Status: offline
Im wondering about the wireless cameras they sell cheap on ebay. The ones that cost 35 to ship but sell for less than that. Im wondering if these cameras are any good? 2 things I am Concerned about are 1. The range only being a few hundred feet and 2. What do you downlink to? It says you plug the reciever into the vcr but you cant have a vcr at the field so would a camcorder work? Thanks.
Posts: 1774
Joined: 3/1/2003 From: Canyon Country, CA, USA Status: offline
[QUOTE]Originally posted by hollewud7 Im wondering about the wireless cameras they sell cheap on ebay. The ones that cost 35 to ship but sell for less than that. Im wondering if these cameras are any good? 2 things I am Concerned about are 1. The range only being a few hundred feet and 2. What do you downlink to? It says you plug the reciever into the vcr but you cant have a vcr at the field so would a camcorder work? Thanks. [/QUOTE] If its the 800mw system (separate camera and tx)from "Spylinker" its an amazing system for the money. I bought one, used it on one of my slope combat gliders then bought a second one. I have purchased and tried a couple of the "all in one" (camera and tx in one unit) cameras and was unimpressed. Video I shot with the Spylinker setup can be seen on my website. I connect mine to my digital camcorder at the field but you dont need digital at all, just a camcorder with an AV input. My camcorder has an LCD flipout screen that you (well, your fellow fliers) can watch while you are in flight and I also have a 5" BW TV that I split the signal to sometimes. The system can be seen mounted to my Super Scooter in the included picture, the video can be seen on my website. The actual video shot by the camera is not as dark as seen on the streaming video, it darkened up during rendering. I have since learned to correct that. Video I shot with one of the all in one cameras can be seen here: [URL=http://fubar1.freeservers.com/RC/Movies/Slope%20Wired.wmv]Slope Wired Video[/URL] The video shot with the 800mw system is here: [URL=http://fubar1.freeservers.com/RC/Movies/Grass%20Wired.wmv]Grass Mountain 800mw system[/URL] The first system cost me over $100 bucks and is crap. The 800mw system cost me half that including shipping and works great, in my opinion. Sure cant beat the price. Ive also got a $400 high end system (Super Circuits) but I havent gotten that off the ground yet.
Posts: 33
Joined: 2/23/2002 From: Acushnet,
MA, USA Status: offline
I do like the 800mw transmitter with the camera and reciever. Good price and if thats what you used to shoot the video it is great quality for the price. But does it come with the cable to connect the reciever to your camcorder? That seems to be the one thing lacking according to the add
Posts: 1774
Joined: 3/1/2003 From: Canyon Country, CA, USA Status: offline
[QUOTE]Originally posted by hollewud7 I do like the 800mw transmitter with the camera and reciever. Good price and if thats what you used to shoot the video it is great quality for the price. But does it come with the cable to connect the reciever to your camcorder? That seems to be the one thing lacking according to the add [/QUOTE]
You get the camera, tx, cabling to attach one to the other, a 9v battery connector (misremember if you get two or not), the rx and a video cable. The rx will run off a 9v battery but I power mine off the tractor battery in my E-flight box. Also power the BW tv with it too. One mod I made, if you can call it a mod, is that I mounted the rx on a length of PVC pipe to give it some altitude. Mainly I wanted it above head height to prevent interference from bodies wandering between the tx and rx. On my second system, I rewired the tx/camera hookup to remove all the RCA connectors and shortened the lead to the camera itself. It now uses 4 pin Dean's plugs which saves a lot of weight. Note: there is a 5v voltage regulator for the camera imbedded in the camera lead as the camera runs on 5v and the tx on 9. My father modified his and didnt know about the regulator and smoked his camera which is how I know about it. There is a mic attached to the camera but there is no audio input to the tx which is a bummer. I would love to get the sound of the wind and the smack of EPP being bashed together but you cant have everything.
Posts: 33
Joined: 2/23/2002 From: Acushnet,
MA, USA Status: offline
one more question about this system from spylinker. The camera that comes with the one im looking at is advertised as a "Free gift" in addition to the system. And it is a pinhole camera. Is this the same camera you got?
Posts: 1774
Joined: 3/1/2003 From: Canyon Country, CA, USA Status: offline
[QUOTE]Originally posted by hollewud7 one more question about this system from spylinker. The camera that comes with the one im looking at is advertised as a "Free gift" in addition to the system. And it is a pinhole camera. Is this the same camera you got? [/QUOTE]
Yes. It is the camera I used to shoot the video also. The important thing with these cameras is to make some kind of glare shield. For some reason, the camera can look directly into the sun with no problem other than a big white dot but sunlight hitting the lens at an angle does all kind of weird purple flash effects. That pod on the nose of my glider is both to protect the camera from combat impacts and to prevent glare. The camera is recessed a good inch into the foam which is bored out just big enough to stick the camera into. If you have watched both videos you can see the difference.
Posts: 254
Joined: 5/17/2003 From: Telluride,
CO, USA Status: offline
I bought one of those cheap spy cameras.
They're kinda ok. You can get better cameras from Supercircuits or else where. Look for CCD cameras instead of CMOS.
Watch out for the really cheap ones on Ebay. They might be shipping from Hong Kong and the shipping could be more than what you're paying for the camera.
BTW Fubar-One, thanks for the warning about the 5v regulator. I cut my RCA plugs off and noticed that there was three wires coming out of the camera module. Looked a little closer and found the 5v regulator INSIDE the RCA plug itself. Whew! Almost fubar my camera!
Posts: 1774
Joined: 3/1/2003 From: Canyon Country, CA, USA Status: offline
[QUOTE]Originally posted by RC-Archer I bought one of those cheap spy cameras.
They're kinda ok. You can get better cameras from Supercircuits or else where. Look for CCD cameras instead of CMOS.
Watch out for the really cheap ones on Ebay. They might be shipping from Hong Kong and the shipping could be more than what you're paying for the camera.
BTW Fubar-One, thanks for the warning about the 5v regulator. I cut my RCA plugs off and noticed that there was three wires coming out of the camera module. Looked a little closer and found the 5v regulator INSIDE the RCA plug itself. Whew! Almost fubar my camera! [/QUOTE] I have one of those Supercircuits camera systems but havent gotten it airborne yet. Ground tests show a VERY good picture. I was interested in the teeny tiny cameras for putting on a slope plane and bought one of the spycameras with the built in tx. $100, light but junk. Bought a second one from somebody else at a real cheap price. REALLY junk. The damned thing was B/W but the jerk wouldnt own up to it. Only negative feedback I ever got on my Ebay profile. The shipping on the Spylinker cameras is more than the camera cost and the dude wont combine shipments which kinda stinks. We figure he is padding his profit by doing this. Still very cheap for how the system works. I bought a second one. I plan to buy a Panasonic CCD camera from Black Widow AV to use with the Spylinker system. It also runs on 5v. 3 drawbacks with Supercircuits' systems. Expensive, customer service is like a bad joke (my dad can rant for an hour about the "service" he got), and the 12v needed to power it. The nicad pack Im using for mine is an 1100MaH 10 cell AA pack which is pretty heavy. Too heavy for any of my gliders especially the combat ones. Wanted to keep the glider competitive in combat while getting video from the thick of things. Looking into a LiPoly pack in the near future.
Posts: 1774
Joined: 3/1/2003 From: Canyon Country, CA, USA Status: offline
[QUOTE]Originally posted by RC-Archer I'm having just enough fun with my cheapo spy camera that I may just go ahead and bend over and get one of the Black Widow AV systems, myself.
One question, My camera module gets pretty warm. Is this normal or is my camera about to burn out? [/QUOTE] If its one of those spy cameras that is all in one (has an antenna sticking out of it), then its probably normal to get warm. The transmitter is what is creating the heat. It is probably ok.
Posts: 33
Joined: 2/23/2002 From: Acushnet,
MA, USA Status: offline
could the 800mw system with battery reciever and camera be carried by my 30 sized easy sport? Or would it way it down so much it would be a handful to fly? (I have an 46 FX in it)
Posts: 1774
Joined: 3/1/2003 From: Canyon Country, CA, USA Status: offline
[QUOTE]Originally posted by hollewud7 could the 800mw system with battery reciever and camera be carried by my 30 sized easy sport? Or would it way it down so much it would be a handful to fly? (I have an 46 FX in it) [/QUOTE]
I wouldnt think it would have any problems at all. My Electra is just a Gentle Lady with a motor on it and it flew with the system with no problems at all. That camera system has been modified, however, with all the RCA connectors removed, not so much for weight as convenience in attaching it to different planes. I figure I could mount it on my Uproar but the resulting video would be vomit inducing! My Uproar is powered by an OS .32SX. My Super Scooter EPP combat glider (59" wingspan) carries the system as it comes stock with the addition of an EPP foam hood to protect the camera from collision and glare. It flies pretty much the same as without the camera and is still fully combat competitive. I was able to just turn on the system and fly like "normal". The normal is in quotes because I am anything but normal. Hehehe You will probably need to isolate the camera in some kind of foam to reduce vibration although you could try it first without.
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