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Rob's REBVAIR Project
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Date: 4-1-2020
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Number of Hours: 4.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: VLOG camera system install part 2
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The solution was to borrow some ideas from the RC world: FPV 'split' action cameras used on drones. We're talking about offerings from Runcam, Caddx, and Foxeer. These are action cameras stripped of all extraneous bits: casing, batteries, and anything else to save on weight. The result is a basic camera capable of good resolution, able to start recording when "powered on", able to use 12V (or 5V) power, and ridiculously inexpensive.
So with the flip of a single switch in the cockpit, and with no bluetooth or wifi signals to mess with, I can instantly start capturing video simlutaneously on all 5 cameras. The only significant drawback was the fact that I wouldn't be able to record on a single DVR as originally desired: I would have either had to have the video OUT travel a very long hard-wired path back to the cockpit (sometimes as long as 15 feet, and with only 5V, potential for significant losses over that distance), or use a wifi transmitter to send the video feed to a central recording device.
Ultmately, each camera would just record on it's own micro-SD card. It was a compromise I could live with.
Since I was already under the panel for the CO detector wiring, it wasn't any extra work to feed 18 G wire to power these 5 camera positions (in parallel). Each camera housing (project boxes off ebay) is equipped with a 12V BEC to stabilize the ship's voltage, soldered to a late-model runcam split micro. These cameras don't have sophisticated stabilization software, so they sit on mechanical vibration dampers. The circuit board is mounted near the edge of the case so the sd card can be easily removed.
How convenient is that? The cameras just sit there, ready, all the time. Imagine...you're just flying along and you see an impressive cloud formation, or a scenic approach to an airport....and you say "Hey...let's get this on film!". Click...cameras are rolling and you don't have to think about it again until you want to shut them off. Wired into the batt bus so I can record introductions before e
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