Sportwerks Mayhem Onboard Minicam

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rocknbil

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Today I strapped a mini spycam on the wing of my Sportwerks Mayhem and took it for a spin. :D

WARNING: THIS VIDEO SUCKS. But if you wonder what the spycams can do, here's a first peek:

5.90 MB mpg2
2.5MB streaming wmv

Some of you may have seen these cheapie spycam/nanny cams on eBay and wondered if they'd work in an RC. I've been experimenting with one for a couple weeks and although the results are poor, the potential is GREAT.

For what you pay for them the image is pretty clear and the range is up to 300 yards. You can't mess around with voltage or current though - if the power source for either the receiver or camera begins to fade, so does the signal. This applies to both the transmitter and the receiver. I've had excellent luck powering the camera with two 160 mah lipos in series, which I found only at maxamps.com.

Most people think the vibration of a nitro is a big problem, but it's not, it's glitching and static when it's moving. Notice the clarity of the image when I'm refueling - this is with the .26 engine idling. When still, these cameras are fine, but when they start to get knocked around, they glitch like crazy.

I post it only so you can see what these things **can't** do - and also so you can compare it against the videos I'll be posting over the next few weeks as I resolve the glitching and interference. Tonight I picked up this cam, which is the same camera but with a little better signal and is lighter (to fly in my BCX. ::D)
 
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Day Two: Isolation . . .

. . . of vibration, static, and mud. :D

I found a relatively loose wire inside the cam, pulled it all out and soldedd it up, and also put a heat shrink tube on the antenna to stop if from bouncing around.

Bouncing wires seem to be the source of the problem. Additionally, I needed a way to isolate it from mud as well as vibration.

Found an old ripped up Tyco charger wall wart perfect for the purpose, so out comes the Dremel and off we go.

I mounted the lipos in the bottom (back) with padding and the plugs sticking outside the box. This allows me to charge them and balance them without removing it from the unit, and adds easy access to the main plug to conserve battery time.

The cam itself is then mounted on that with a piece of curcuit board, about 1/2" from the window to protect it from mud. You can see two tunbickle shafts I found in my rc box, these protrude through the front of the box and two pieces of fuel tubing slipped over them provides easy access to the camera for adjusting focus.

The front has a 7/8" square cut into it, and from the inside I hot-glued a piece of microscope slide for a clear window. Doesn't look too pretty but the window does not interfere with the camera angle. A healthy dollup of hot glue seals all the holes, and around the lipo wires to stop vibration.

Attached to the wing with zip ties, last step was to tape U-shape of the wires so they don't vibrate and put the Mayhem antenna through the slot in the wing.

Here's the pics of the process, the charger just beeped so I'm off to see if this worked! :D
 

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thats pretty kool be awsome to put this on a savage or cybermaxx and do some jumps.
 
i was actually just looking at those the other day, thanks for that video. Its interesting. I seen those cameras for like $30 shipped on ebay.
 
I would be concerned that the entire unit would bound around alot on top of that wing. With the added weight/mass of the box/batts/etc 2 zip ties dont look like it would cut it. Youd prolly need a much sturdier mounting position.
 
Woo Hoo! Check This Out! :)

I think I GOT it! :D

I was using a 12v 400 mah adapter on the first tests. Today I just used a fresh 9V transistor battery and with all the things above, almost NO glitching and NO fading. I should have a 500 mah adapter come in soon with the other camera. The RX needs at least 400 mah to get a good rance reception.

But it's all working, and almost NO glitching, NO posterizing, it KICKS ASS! Check out THE BUGGY CAM! These are identical videos in two formats:

18.8 MB, mpeg2

5.5 MB, streaming WMV

If you watch closely and rewind a lot, you'll see some pretty good air from a buggy's eye view, and what it looks like to land on your lid . . . hahahaha

Here's one more - I cut almost 2 hours of usable video today, but it's all pretty much like these, going round my little bash track. :D I have a sucky upload connection, while these DL in a matter of minutes they take forever to upload, so only have the WMV on this one. Goes the other direction around my track, with a few . . .extras. :D

6.5 MB streaming WMV

I even did a couple laps just looking through the viewfinder of the videocam without watching the Mayhem. You can't turn your head around the corners though, but there are pan and tilt cams, I was thinking hmm, what if you could control the pan of these with the signal from the servo . . . <EG> hahahaha . . .

NOW I gotta get this cam on a TRACK with other RC's! The possibilties are endless! :D

Lastly a couple pics after the run today - I had to keep wiping off the glass, but so glad it was there. The mud just blurred things a little, aparently it was enough out of the range of focus to not totally screw the image.
 

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wow that unit is smaller then i thought it looked in the first clip it would be pretty kool to get one of these in a on-road car in a race too.
 
thats cool. the video made me dizzy. is there a site besides ebay that sell them.
 
the cam i have (had truth has it now) i built a box out of a radio shack project box. i made a lexan cover for it, cut it down to fit under the roll bar of the savage, installed a switch, and squeezed the camera, plug, and a 9v battery in there. I'm thinking about getting one like the other one on your heli thread and making a new box with the lipos or some other rechargable battery, a charge jack, and switch. I'm not to worried about weight on my rcs, (not nearly as much as you are for a heli) so i can use some full size batts.

but i want it all inside a sealed, waterproof box. (at lease splash proof). then i can get vids of my treeclimbs and maby even a garage jump!! lol thanks rockin now i GOTTA get me a new cam!! darn expensive hobbys.
 
his camera will work for that. :D But . .. the other one I'me getting has an onbuard microphone and can do sound. :D
 
beason's gonna need a waterproof one for his savage/submarine! ;)
 
Pretty cool man. The 2nd one was alot better than the 1st. I bet that would be pretty kick ass on a onroad. Cool vid either way!
 
Yeah my practice track is really rough and there's not enough room to get a frame of reference before you're turning . . . plus the Mayhem is moving so damn FAST . . . we have a BMX track here that's closed most of the time, going to see if I can get the owner to let me take a spin on it. It's smooth, wide, and has 12' jumps, now that might be pretty awesome. :D
 
pretty kool vids man. yeah it would DEFINITLY look awesome on a track or on a more even peice of bash area. Even just a wider area. It seemed mostofthe time was spent turning. lol.

but kewl ass camera man.
 
Thats neat! But now you need sound, it just seems weird watching something without sound.
 
This cam doesn't have audio and I left off the sound track to keep the file size small. I was thinking Offspring, GodSmack, something metal? :D
 
I know I have something similiar, but now you need a mini mic.Then throw in some music. :devious:
 
i think if u had a mic it would be way to loud and not worth it. Imagine having your ear next to the engine while going WOT.
 
You can see the heat waves off the mill while it was warming up.
 
while were on the subject of cameras.

i stuck my phone in back of my old eleccy rustler. (the slot where the old speed controller went was perfect for the purpose!)

mine has sound, and i didnt realise how loud the car is!.

unfortunatly i can't find my phone (duh)so i can't show you them.
 
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