Skycam41

Preliminanry testing on mine has been OK. Snow on the ground here right now and cold so in flight testing will have to wait. Have it hooked up to my wireless camera for one source of video and a digital camera for the other source of video.

Fubar-One

My Feedback: (1)

So far I have only bench tested mine. I came up short on cameras due to having 2 good 5v cameras and one good 12v camera so powering all three is giving me conniptions. I was going to try to use the 5v FMA regulator I have but am afraid that a fully charged 12 nicad pack might smoke it. Somebody told me that particular reg is for LiPo only and I cant find ANY of em on the FMA site now.
As a compromise I hooked up the 2 good CCD cams and 1 of the original Spylinker CMOS cams to the switch and they all work powered by a standard rx pack. I had to play with the channel trim settings on my 9C to get the center cam to switch on properly and have them set on the 3 position switch. So far they work fine but now I gotta figure out how to mount em on my Kadet Senior video test bed. Fore, Aft, and Down is the plan with the CMOS being the one looking down to minimize sun glare and the inherent CMOS problems there. I am hoping to get some airtime with the system this weekend.
Another delay is that I am set on keeping all my airborne video gear "Plug N Play" so that I am not commited to one aircraft or another. I am also planning to use the 900mhz tx that is currently in the plane so that is yet ANOTHER connection problem to solve since it has RCA connectors.
ARGH!!!![:@]

mklarich

Dan, I suggest converting to colored servo connectors. As far as power regulator goes, the camera won't draw enough to burn up a decent regulator. I have used a standard radioshack 7805 regulator with a heatsink on my cameras without problems.

Also, I can make a couple converter cables up to go from the servo connectors to RCA connectors with power hookup.

Give me a yell,
Matt Klarich

Fubar-One

My Feedback: (1)

Unfortunately, all my BWAV gear is set up on Deans Mini Plugs already. I converted the included servo leads to Deans so that isnt a real problem.
My original Super Circuits 900mhz system is RCA for everything since the extra weight wasnt an issue for the Kadet Senior especially when considered along with the 10 cell AA 1100mAh nicad pack that powers both the tx and camera on that plane. I originally wanted to use that 12v camera (460 line res!), the SC 900mhz tx along with the CX161 5v cam and the other, more narrow focus CCD 5v camera that I already had. I figured I could power the 12v cam directly from the nicad pack and pass thru the 5v from the FMA regulator thru the cam switch to the other 5v cams.
About here is where my brain phlebed out in addition to my plug/wire/widget component supply coming up short.[sm=bananahead.gif]
I am not worried about the cameras drawing too much current as much as the power pack itself overloading the reg since it puts out over 14.5v when fully charged. I was told that voltage reg is not supposed to be used with nicads for some reason.[sm=confused.gif]

kd7ost

Well the high pressure moved in ridding us of the rain but caused an inversion. We're under so much fog I can't even see down to the end of my block. Thats two days of fog. Rats. The in flight testing is on hold till the weather clears.

I'm pretty novice at using this site. Can someone tell me if there's a way to post a photo in the text of one of these messages? I would like to post a picture of the camera setup.

Thanks all

Dan

mklarich

I think the only way to post a picture on this site is to have it on the web somewhere and then link to it using the image button above. (When you are composing something that is, it doesn't show up normally). I save most stuff on my website and then link to it. Some websites allow you to upload pictures under a certain size, I don't think you can do that on here.

Matt klarich

W4UAV

Im working on a multiple camera ship using the 3way video switch, Ive been busy with the helicam business lately.
Ill post pics and details as I get it buttoned up.

Fubar-One

My Feedback: (1)

You can either click the "Image" button to link to a picture on your website or hit the "Click here to upload!" link at the bottom of the reply box. They allow 3 images per post, 3000kb limit.
I question that 3000kb limit size. Isnt that 3 megs? I seem to remember there used to be a 75kb image size limit but maybe they have increased it.
For the "Image" button, you insert the URL in between the Image scripts. This will put the picture right where the image script was such as:

Pic of my Ultra Stick 60 with a Video unit strapped to the top, by the way. It is no longer with us...
Or you can just do the "Click here to upload!" which will give you the picture at the bottom of the post like this:
It seems that if the file size is too big, it just wont upload.

kd7ost

OK, I'll give this a shot. I used my Wife's camera which is only a 2 megapixel unit. Then cropped it down to a smaller size. I'll see if that works OK. I'm going to use the "Click here to Upload" function since I don't have a website to store it on.

Dan

OK, That worked well and was painless to boot. Thank you for walking me through that.

This unit is mounted in the bottom of the fuselage in a Sig Rascal 110 powered with a Zenoah G-26. I get 1 hour of flight time with a quart of gasoline. You can see the servo that rotates the camera pod. It can be slewed to look from straight ahead to slightly behind the plane in flight. The color board camera looks out through the clear acrylic cover. A few balsa blocks were carved to smooth out the airflow just a little in the front of the square pivot mount and servo. A plastic spoon was cut and shaped to serve as an air scoop to provide some outside airflow to the 900 MHz transmitter mounted inside the mounting plate. You can see the rubber duck antenna sticking out through the plate too. In this module, I can remove the four nylon screws, unplug a few wires and I have the whole camera, transmitter and GPS overlay board unit out. The Camera motion servo rotates from a spare channel set up on a knob so I get proportional motion with respect to the knob. (It's not one side or the other)

To the right I have my Kodak 5 mega pixel DX4530 mounted inside. That big black lens sticking out is an after market add on lens that effectively doubles the field of view. The Camera by itself isn't very wide angle. The oblong hole is to open up the mount to light from outside so the light detector on the camera body can adjust shutter speed to the right conditions.

OK, now the reason we're even here on this topic. I have a video output from the fixed mounted kodak camera going into Matts Video switch. Naturally the Board camera goes into it as well. I did that trigger mod described a few posts ago. Now as I fly, I have the board Camera looking ahead so I can see and start to line up on my photo target. As I move over the photo target, I am rotating the camera to keep lined up on it. I have the servo command that is slewing the camera Y'd to the Video switch. I adjusted the trip point so that just before my Kodak has the subject in frame, the Video switch hands video off to the Kodak. Now I can see through the Kodak and see what it see's. As I decide the picture is framed up, I snap the picture using a spare channel that rotates a servo wheel against the shutter button. Once done, I simply start rotating the camera pod back forward and video transfers back to the board camera for flight to the next photo point. I haven't flown it in the air as of this writing but have it dialed in pretty close in my shop using my garage door openner on the cieling as a test target. (The plane is upside down) The one thing to be aware of is that the digital camera goes into sleep mode after a couple of minutes of non-use. I'll have to make sure to bump the shutter a little ahead of the photo target to avoid switching to a black screen.

mklarich

Dan, that is an amazingly clean looking rig. Nice job. Post some pictures when you get it in the air.

Matt

Fubar-One

My Feedback: (1)

That is beyond slick.

kd7ost

I got the plane in the air today to try to get some pix. The weather was still crappy but the fog was clearing in the late afternoon. I took this one at the corner of the Lake bed I fly off of. There's nothing dramatic about the shot. It's what I had as a subject though so it turned out OK. There is a variety of surface textures to look at so it has some interest. We have some Lake bed in the lower left corner with dump truck after dump truck load of old destroyed Dairy getting filled in. There is an Ag field in the lower right corner with some tanker vehicle of sorts. There is tracks and mounds in an old holding pond with eroding dirt road built up between to separate them.

The big issue is the Video switch. I had the trip point set pretty well in the shop. Maybe just a bit too close between cameras. I could have used a little more prep time before taking the photo and will adjust for that for more testing. (Mine is the only unit with that adjustment feature) I did find that I would have to switch to my Kodak still camera ahead of time to make sure to wake it up in time to get the shot. But, the switching worked flawlessly. I intend to get back out soon to fly to greater range and see if I still get my 1 mile video range.

Dan

randall1959

My Feedback: (11)

I wouldn't mind trying one of those switches also.......I want to install a second camera facing rearward.........pm me if you have any left to try..........

mklarich

get on www.blackwidowav.com and get bill strong email address and email him. There are still some left.

Matt

randall1959

My Feedback: (11)

Thanx Mk. Got mine ordered I just bought an Aiptek DVII camera that has video output leads. This fellow has me thinking I can hook up mine to work just like that setup. My aiptek will be to the side and slightly behind the cam on the nose and I can run both of those through the beta switch. Hmmmmmmmm......I can see what I'm about to photograph.....

IA-Flyer

Hi Bill,
Any idea of the price and weight, or when the switch will be available?
I’ve been saving my pennies and stopping back to the thread (and your site) eager to see some video of it in action.

Jim

yb2normal

Hi Jim,

I've been busy with some other stuff and haven't had as much time to finalize the design as I'd like. Sorry for the delay!!

I still have a couple beta units that I can part with cheap

Bill