Video system for under $25

[problemchild]

Take a video and watch it. Adjust as required.

[Mike B]

I strapped one to my son's RC car and the camera lasted about 45 minutes. The video we did get was pretty wavy and I just deleted it.
Anyone need a micro SD card?

[Bob Coury]

Mike:

I take it that you were not happy with the quality of the video. Let me know how much for the card-I think my wife ordered one from J & R Music-I will have to check.

One You Tube example in this thread from a street vehicle looked good. All of the on-track ones have the "wave"

Thanks
Bob

[Stan Clayton]

My camera suddenly failed the other day. I took some video of the CNC process, then downloaded it fine. After viewing the video and deciding I wanted to retake the shot from a different angle, the camera would not power up. I've recharged the battery since and still no power. I think I'll disassemble the camera body to see if I can replace the battery, as right before it failed completely the LEDs were coming on momentarily, as if the camera would have turned on if there was good power available.

[Bob Coury]

Mike:

Never mind about the card-I am all set with a Class 4 card. Now I hope the thing works when it gets here.

Thanks
Bob

[Ananth K]

Are you guys talking about the md80 or the car keychain camera? I'd think that if you had the car keychain one mounted inside the helmet (obviously WELL strapped down), then your body would act like a massive damper and help prolong its life. I'm about to try it on my kart and will post back if it works.

[Mike B]

Are you guys talking about the md80 or the car keychain camera? I'd think that if you had the car keychain one mounted inside the helmet (obviously WELL strapped down), then your body would act like a massive damper and help prolong its life. I'm about to try it on my kart and will post back if it works.

Both. The MD80 failed on the RC car, and the keychain version never worked. I'm willing to try again so post some pics of your helmet set-up. Typically, the karting helmet cam video I've seen has been pretty nauseating and difficult to watch.

[Bob Coury]

Ok-mine just arrived and I have some questions as I did not find any instructions:

When I opened it, the blue light was on. The only way to power it down is to put a paper clip in the reset hole. The power button does not work. Anybody have this problem?

How do you know when you change modes from voice to video?

All I can record is voice.



Thanks
Bob

[Roux]

I have had it hang up twice and both times it reset with a push as you describe. Not yet tested in a vibration environment. Works fine so far carrying it around under test.

MD80

[Bob Coury]

OK-for those of you that have the same issues, I figured out the following :

1. The power button does not work only after it was plugged into the USB port. Then you need to use the reset.
2. There is no "voice only" mode on mine-the box read that it was a voice recorder as well-so when I only got audio, I thought I was in the "voice only" mode. As it turns out, I was indeed recording video , I just needed additional codec files downloaded on the computer in order to view video.

[revtom]

I finally got my cam on the car at Grattan a few weeks ago. Mounted it up on the mirror post, and the video is very good, and vibration free. Only problem is the sound starts before the car moves, and by the end of the session the soundtrack is downshifting into turn one, while I'm still going thru turn 10. Anyone else have this happen? Solution? Tom

[Roux]

Stan, did you ever replace the battery? Did you indeed take it apart?

My battery only lasts about 20 minutes and the card is not yet full so it would be great to run from a small external source and get mayb 40 minutes out of it. Not suer what kind of wiring job would be required

[Ananth K]

This link here explains more than you ever needed to know about one of these cameras:

http://www.chucklohr.com/808/

[Bob Coury]

I used one at Sebring in August. I was impressed with the quality (considering the low cost), until I got on track. The picture fluttered badly, and I don't think it was my mount. There must be some interference.

Oh well-the kids can play with it now.

[Mike B]

This link here explains more than you ever needed to know about one of these cameras:

http://www.chucklohr.com/808/

That guy has way too much time on his hands.

[roun0016]

I gave one a whirl, and at $15 figured that I had nothing to lose ($15 delivered < 2 gal of 110 low lead, right??).

That was until I spent an hour dinking around with a mount and then tried it out at the track. The LED's on top are so tiny that you need it to be pitch black in order to see them. I tried 6 times to take a video, and was only successful 1x cause the buttons are so easy to bump while mounting, belting in, etc. This was only at a track day, but I belted my dad in the car, and would have loved to have his laps on video. Now I got nothing. Once I finally had a successful run, my mount wasn't quite right, and the video quality went to cr#p once up to speed.

Considering that the non-hd gopro cam is only $89 these days ($250 for the HD on Amazon), I am upset at myself for tinkering with this as long as I did (even if it was only a few hours).

Here's a few laps (very poor quality) of the video I did get: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwy7PoJnHdI

Just my 2 cents...

-Patrick

[Phil Green]

I got some GREAt video from the roll hoop of a Formula Mazda this summer. I used the mount that comes with the camera, and just taped it to the hoop. I also taped around the camera and mount to ensure the camera didnt come out of the mount or that the mount didn't change angles.

At least on the FM, I didnt get ANY of the video flutter. I think this is coming from ignition noise of some sort, not vibrations.

I agree, the LEDs are nearly impossible to see in the daylight. I disassembled one to find that the tiny PCB mount LEDs are not aligned with the three little holes. I added a couple small holes to the case to easily be able to see the LEDs.

I will have up to 10 of these at the Runoffs if anyone wants them. I already have homes for some of them. All have been charged, tested, and modified to be able to see the LEDs better. I will also have a better instruction sheet prepared and printed for them.

I am not trying to make a big buck, just trying to cover my costs and time, and have them at the Runoffs for anyone that wants them. $50 each, without a memory card. I will probably have a few cards too if you are interested.

I will be in the Lake Effect Motorsports trailer somewhere behind Goodyear. Or find me zipping around on a bright yellow golf cart with slicks if you are interested.

Phil

[Roux]

I have two of the DM80's. One holds a charge great and will run for most of a 40 gig chip, so it can be started before belting in and going to grid, The other has always been iffy, sometime running out of battery after only a few minutes. I have wired that one to a 9 volt battery via a 5 volt Radioshack regulator and the USB input. USB is 5 Volt, the internal battery is 3.7. The trick is to hold down the start button and then apply the 5 volts to the USB and then start recrding within ~1/2 a minute. Instead of charging it will record as long as there is space on the SD all the while using the 5 volts from the USB and presumably ignoring its internal weak battery.

The wavy behavior is probably related to soft mounting the camera and it moving a lot relative to the car. I am experimenting with hard mounting this coming weekend. If vibration kills these, then I will pot the little circuit board on the next one with epoxy.

[Steve Demeter]

Could you give some instruction to those of us who are not as savvy as you in how to make the hook up using the 9 volt battery Roux.

Thanks

[Roux]

Kind of concluded that rigid mounting to the frame works best. This was double side taped to the firewall behind my helmet and then a tie wrap just to be sure. Forward facing unit needs a wide angle lens and better aiming, so did not post any of that video as it is mostly recording my helmet and hands.

Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0L-EAzJsrw

[Phil Green]

ROUX

Help the rest of us that are slightly electron challenged with the 9v conversion! My cam, mounted to one of the top FMs at the Runoffs died at 20 minutes....bitch is that i had about 6 more new ones in the trailer charged and ready...

I also proved the ease of destruction on these, as I had two of them mounted on the roll hoop of the FM that went on his head in T5. After the end of the day, the T5 safety guys helped me look for pieces. I was hoping to find one of the memory cards in tact. No chance of that, but did find some camera case scraps. They didnt hold up too well between the roll hoop and asphalt.....

[Roux]

Phil, destroying the cameras was probably the least of your issues!

Recipe: Typical rectangular smoke detector 9V battery. You can get a connector at radioshack that hooks up to those and have a red and black wire wire tail [SIZE=3]Heavy-Duty 9V Snap Connectors[/SIZE] Model: 270-324 | Catalog #: 270-324


While at Radioshack pick up a 5volt voltage regulator (VR). [SIZE=3]+5V Fixed-Voltage Regulator 7805[/SIZE]
Model: 7805 | Catalog #: 276-1770

They also sell holders for 9V batteries. I just tiewrap to a tube

This is the stuff that the cellphone salesman (clerk) will probably be clueless about, but it is in the back in the Lister cabinets. Just hunt around. If you opt for more than the basic solution you need some little switches. More about that later

Most basic solution:

Take one of your USB to MD80 cables and cut it in half so that you can use the small plug that goes into the camera. Strip those wires back so that you can solder to the red and black wires on the half that has the mini (5 pin) plug on it. Trim away the other unused wires. The Voltage regulator has three pins (look at the package for diagram). For now you need to know which one is the common/ground pin. Solder the following three together. The black (-) from the battery and the common/ground from the VR and the black from the mini USB all go together. Now solder the battery red wire (+9v) to the input pin of the VR. Solder the USB red to the 5V output pin on the VR. If you did it right you should see 5V between the ground and the wire that goes out to the camera. If you plug the mini into the camera the lights come on as if the camera is being charged from a USB. This is useless, you cannot get the camera to record unless you do the following. Unplug the mini. Hold down the record button on the top of the DM80 and plug in the mini while the record button is held down. As soon as the lights come on you can stop holding down the record button. The blue should be steady and red will flash once or twice. Now if you press record it will record till the 9V is dead or the card is full. One thing to remember, you only have about 1/2 a minute after you power up to start the recording, otherwise she shuts off automatically

12V Solution

Same hookup to USB and VR as above but hook up 12V from the racecar battery instead of the 9V. The VR can handle up to 35V on the input side

My Solution

Open up the camera. I took a soldering iron and sharpened the tip on a grinder so that it is needle sharp. I then soldered VERY thin wires to the two solder joints of the camera's record switch. This is very tricky. Tin the wire. Just barely touch the solder joint with the hot iron tip to make the joint. You cannot spend any time pumping heat into the board! Once you get a good joint, test functionality by touching the wires together while powered up and recording should start. If OK then pot the wires to the camera board to imobilize them. I use JB 5 minute epoxy but a hot glue gun should also work. You can KILL your camera doing this so be very carefull with the heat while soldering. I run the two wires (~6ft) to the dashboard and put in a small push button switch from Radioshack. I also put an on/off swith into the red line from the 9V to the VR and mount it next to the pushbutton. Now I can use a 2GIG effectively by only powering it up and starting to record as the warm up lap begins. Start up means holding down the pushbutton and turning on the power, and releasing the pushbutton. Then I count to maybe 5 and push the pushbutton one more time to start the recording. Don't wait too long between power on and start or the thing shuts down.

Let me know if I fumbled something here and wasn't clear enough

Happy recording. My next camera is going in front of the rear tire. i want to see if it is crowning/graining. The one after that is going in the footbox perhaps with a small lightbulb to augment the ambient light around the pedals!

[JohnPaul]

so has anyone figured out how/where to mount this POS so you don't get the wavy video? I had the mount riveted to the bodywork to the right of the cockpit and it was a wavy mess, unable to watch and then it just shut down after a few minutes.

[J.D. King]

How 'bout $26 for two? Ebay, $.01 plus $12.99 shipping each.
Of course you need a decent card, the $12-15 sandisk 4gb seems pretty stable (rear view cam), front had a generic $10 4gb target special in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN1KJlGS25U

[Steve Demeter]

I get a whole bunch of 1 - 2 minute snippets in my CFC.

Take the same camera and mount it in a street car at a pdx and it runs for 80 minutes.

What besides possibly vibration am I missing?

[J.D. King]

I think the quality varies as these are basically throw-away devices at this price.
But it seems a little velcro and zip-tie'ing them to the rollbar is what they like.

I'm guessing any vibration of the data card is what interupts the recording length.
My front camera worked fine until behind the vees, wherupon I hyothesize that a stone hit the camera case judging by the deep knick in it.

Roux has eliminated the power issue by hard wiring the camera, which works well in my bench test too.

I may try to put a dab of silicone right over the card opening to see if this improves reliability by eliminating some card vibration.

[Roux]

JD had great results with that. I had mixed results and double side tape and tiewrap were used on my pretty decent rearward shots at Limerock

One thing JD did not mention was the concept of filling a grease gun with freshly mixed epoxy and filling the little suckers so nothing inside can move. Of course a joke, but the idea of a one time use of a Walmart grease gun gave us a chuckle. I will try more ideas on these, as the one JD used last week gave excellent video. No shake. We just need to understand why.

A good testbench might be strapping it to the quill of a milling machine or some other shaker. Maybe even a grinder or had drill with an imbalance could give the needed feedback on what works and what doesn't. Not intending to spin the camera, but to attach it to something that has a shake to it

more later

[Dick R.]

GoPro recommends one layer of bicycle inner tube between the mount and the roll hoop as a vibration dampener. That an a new camera and lithium batteries seem to have tamed vibration issues with my latest warranty replacement GoPro Hero Wide.

Dick
85 VD FF1600

[Jean-Sebastien Stoezel]

Are they any new cheap models available since last season? Maybe with higher resolution?