Looking to get into FPV
12-22-2017, 05:34 AM
#1
Looking to get into FPV
I'm looking into the options for equipping my NTC3 and my dad's Mad Crusher with FPV stuff. Both of them are glow powered models, so the ever-present constant vibration and fuel spills are a major concern, as is the shocks and impacts associated with being on vehicles like this(My car is rally modded and, his being a monster truck, both of them are going to be literally tumbling around fairly often).
My requirements:
My requirements:
- Fuel, vibration, impact resistant components on the vehicle side
- 720p HD 30FPS minimum. Yes, I want sound. Don't need theater grade dolby or whatever, but I want it good enough that I can upload footage from it to YT and people won't go 'Needs music, your sound is terrible'. Quality wise, the sound from the keychain camera I used last time I recorded onboard is fine.
- Components on the car must be pretty small. NTC3 is a touring car, there isn't much room under the body for anything, especially with the enormous cooling fins on its engine's cylinder head.
- NO FISHEYE EFFECT(So no GoPros)
- Pan and Tilt/headtracking upgrades would be nice in the future but for now they'd just be rigidly mounted facing forward
- Super long ranges aren't a concern so a 5.8ghz system would be fine, however, I would want one with enough of a range overlap where video would be crystal clear out to a quarter mile while having to percolate through some fairly thick woods. You can get a decent idea of where I'll be doing most of my running with this system from this ancient onboard video I filmed with one of those crappy keychain cameras on my old monster truck(RIP)
- Reliable. I'm not buying cheaply made crap that's going to fail in six months no matter how babied it is. I'd rather save up over those six months and buy something that'll last forever.
- Affordable, if possible.
- In the distant future I might also find myself finally putting this NexSTAR .46 I've had hanging on my wall for a few years in the air. It, too, is glow powered, and if I've got FPV set up for my ground pounders I'd like to have a system that could easily receive signals from an FPV setup in this aircraft as well. This is an upgrade path I want to remain open.
12-22-2017, 07:04 PM
#2
My Feedback: (10)
the woods would be difficult to manage with 5.8 ghz at 1/4 mile. most goggles have video out so you can run the sinpgnal to a tv or a recorder. i do this all the time so people can watch on a portable tv. i would stick with an hs1177 cam. they work great and are tough. a little effort soft mounting to reduce the hard vibrations would make it last a long time.
12-23-2017, 03:33 AM
#3
Hmm. Looking into the HS1177 and I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. ESPECIALLY night time visibility...I'd have headlights and tailights fitted before running at night anyway but it doesn't seem like I'd actually need them vis-a-vis seeing what I'm doing through the camera while driving the models after sundown.
What's got me about it, though, is that some footage from it is fisheyed and some isn't. It seems that one can replace the lens, which would explain why some videos are fisheyed, some aren't, why the intensity of the fisheyeing is changing.
Any suggestions for a lens that will produce zero fisheye?
Also has quite a sizeable voltage range, 5-40 volts. I'm using a 2s LiFE Rx pack in my NTC3 and will soon have one in the Mad Crusher(Though for starters itt'l be 4 cells Alkaline until we can buy a proper Rx pack for it). Would powering that cam off the Rx battery be problematic? And what about its transmitter? Doesn't seem to include a transmitter, gonna need one. I don't mind the extra weight of another 2s lithium battery to power it if I need to go that route, but if it won't run me the risk of losing my Rx pack running the camera and its transmitter off the pack already in the car I'll go for that.
What's got me about it, though, is that some footage from it is fisheyed and some isn't. It seems that one can replace the lens, which would explain why some videos are fisheyed, some aren't, why the intensity of the fisheyeing is changing.
Any suggestions for a lens that will produce zero fisheye?
Also has quite a sizeable voltage range, 5-40 volts. I'm using a 2s LiFE Rx pack in my NTC3 and will soon have one in the Mad Crusher(Though for starters itt'l be 4 cells Alkaline until we can buy a proper Rx pack for it). Would powering that cam off the Rx battery be problematic? And what about its transmitter? Doesn't seem to include a transmitter, gonna need one. I don't mind the extra weight of another 2s lithium battery to power it if I need to go that route, but if it won't run me the risk of losing my Rx pack running the camera and its transmitter off the pack already in the car I'll go for that.
12-23-2017, 10:36 AM
#5
FPV systems are sensitive enough that even the tiny little motors in two standard size servos would affect the picture quality? I very much want to hear the motor noise from these two, I love the sound of nitro two-strokes screaming along, and I'm assuming you're mentioning that voltage filter because of the commutation noise typical of a large e-motor as one would use to propel a model outright which doesn't apply to either of these models.
12-23-2017, 10:01 PM
#6
FPV systems are sensitive enough that even the tiny little motors in two standard size servos would affect the picture quality? I very much want to hear the motor noise from these two, I love the sound of nitro two-strokes screaming along, and I'm assuming you're mentioning that voltage filter because of the commutation noise typical of a large e-motor as one would use to propel a model outright which doesn't apply to either of these models.
Video:
Last edited by ican3d; 12-23-2017 at 10:05 PM.
12-23-2017, 10:11 PM
#7
You can also use your smartphone as guest side FPV viewing and at the same time record the video footage, if your phone support streaming via hotspot you can spread out FPV footage to nearby guests too. Here are my FPV setup on smartphone and DVR for guest veiwing.
Setup smartphone FPV and DVR: https://www.supermotoxl.com/fpvuav-f...th-dvr-display
Video:
Setup smartphone FPV and DVR: https://www.supermotoxl.com/fpvuav-f...th-dvr-display
Video:
12-24-2017, 10:19 PM
#8
Mmm, I looked over your videos earlier in other threads. Mostly some good stuff, though the video quality from that 1/10th buggy left a bit to be desired. I'm assuming that's because you chose a camera that would embed within the driver's helmet and conceal the fact that the buggy was FPV at all rather than chose one for its picture quality(Which, by the way, came out amazingly, couldn't tell unless you looked right at the helmet's visor!).
I'm not overly concerned about concealing the camera in my own rigs, though.
I'm especially loving how you use your smartphone for a viewing solution. I have a BlackBerry PRIV which...if it worked properly...would be pretty ideal for that. Hell, in my dad's truck, it would be, as his PRIV is still more or less pristine(Mine has a cracked screen, a wonky USB port that only works if you look at it with the right tongue angle, and a myriad of other issues), and I'm sure I could find another Android device to run the screen(Maybe one of our tablets has recent enough hardware and software for it). That nips a major purchase out, though I would vastly prefer to record audio from the FPV camera itself rather than the device so I may need to find a different DVR program or a cable splitter to use something else(Dad's laptop probably, given its more portable than my desktop) to record the footage when I'm in the mood to do so.
The camera you used on your rock racer seemed to be good enough for what I'm after, the FOV is reasonable/not fisheyed, and it's compact enough to fit in the tight spaces I'm looking to fit it into(The cage of that rock racer is undoubtedly far more cramped than the 'cabin' of the '78 El-Camino shell I have on my NTC3!). Can you give me a list of parts you used on that end? Cam, lens, power cables, mounting hardware? Having the left/right head tracking would be nice too but at first I'd probably just rigidly mount it facing front.
As for power, I'm not all that concerned about needing a BEC here. i run a 6.6v LiFE 2S receiver pack and my models are glow powered so there's nothing there that would drain the battery voltage during normal operation. That battery has more than enough capability to supply two servos without dropping a significant voltage.
I'm not overly concerned about concealing the camera in my own rigs, though.
I'm especially loving how you use your smartphone for a viewing solution. I have a BlackBerry PRIV which...if it worked properly...would be pretty ideal for that. Hell, in my dad's truck, it would be, as his PRIV is still more or less pristine(Mine has a cracked screen, a wonky USB port that only works if you look at it with the right tongue angle, and a myriad of other issues), and I'm sure I could find another Android device to run the screen(Maybe one of our tablets has recent enough hardware and software for it). That nips a major purchase out, though I would vastly prefer to record audio from the FPV camera itself rather than the device so I may need to find a different DVR program or a cable splitter to use something else(Dad's laptop probably, given its more portable than my desktop) to record the footage when I'm in the mood to do so.
The camera you used on your rock racer seemed to be good enough for what I'm after, the FOV is reasonable/not fisheyed, and it's compact enough to fit in the tight spaces I'm looking to fit it into(The cage of that rock racer is undoubtedly far more cramped than the 'cabin' of the '78 El-Camino shell I have on my NTC3!). Can you give me a list of parts you used on that end? Cam, lens, power cables, mounting hardware? Having the left/right head tracking would be nice too but at first I'd probably just rigidly mount it facing front.
As for power, I'm not all that concerned about needing a BEC here. i run a 6.6v LiFE 2S receiver pack and my models are glow powered so there's nothing there that would drain the battery voltage during normal operation. That battery has more than enough capability to supply two servos without dropping a significant voltage.
Last edited by 378; 12-24-2017 at 10:31 PM.
12-25-2017, 11:11 PM
#9
.........
The camera you used on your rock racer seemed to be good enough for what I'm after, the FOV is reasonable/not fisheyed, and it's compact enough to fit in the tight spaces I'm looking to fit it into(The cage of that rock racer is undoubtedly far more cramped than the 'cabin' of the '78 El-Camino shell I have on my NTC3!). Can you give me a list of parts you used on that end? Cam, lens, power cables, mounting hardware? Having the left/right head tracking would be nice too but at first I'd probably just rigidly mount it facing front.
.......
The camera you used on your rock racer seemed to be good enough for what I'm after, the FOV is reasonable/not fisheyed, and it's compact enough to fit in the tight spaces I'm looking to fit it into(The cage of that rock racer is undoubtedly far more cramped than the 'cabin' of the '78 El-Camino shell I have on my NTC3!). Can you give me a list of parts you used on that end? Cam, lens, power cables, mounting hardware? Having the left/right head tracking would be nice too but at first I'd probably just rigidly mount it facing front.
.......
I did made review about the camera which include details of lens, power cables and etc. To mount i just use double tape. Btw you can read the review of 808 #16 HD camera for FPV here at my webpage: https://www.supermotoxl.com/designs-...8-16-hd-camera
Btw caution because there lots of fake 808 #16 HD camera but i did listed FAQ links, support/community forum and legit vendor inside the page so that you'll have handful of info before you can dig in for the camera.
Last edited by ican3d; 12-25-2017 at 11:14 PM.
