Quick weatherproof camera box. - page 22 - Hotwire! Hardware Mods, Accessories and Insights - CHDK Forum
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Quick weatherproof camera box.

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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #210 on: 07 / March / 2014, 21:07:52 »
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Quote from: jules on 07 / March / 2014, 21:04:37
In the end I had to make my own boxes - a very SLOW process - and they are much less elegant than Microfunguy's lovely bird-house design!
External battery box for these?
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Offline jules

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #211 on: 07 / March / 2014, 21:23:17 »
Yes, the battery (12v Sealed Lead Acid) is external with improvised cover, not a box per se.  !2v chosen because I already had other 12v equipment. For these cams I need to investigate 6v alternative that might be more efficient.

The gear recently had its first real-world use, worked okay but room for improvement. Box had extra covering, first a 'cap' (recycled plastic containers) and shade-cloth cover over that, as you can see in pic attached.

Ideas welcome, especially for easier ways to check cam and change card, and change battery less often. External battery is a separate issue to boxes though.

I need to check/change without dismounting everything and with least possible disturbance to the nesting birds being monitored (that's the objective, not true timelapse). The places they choose to nest make for very awkward access!

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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #212 on: 07 / March / 2014, 21:33:12 »
Quote from: jules on 07 / March / 2014, 21:23:17
Yes, the battery (12v Sealed Lead Acid) is external with improvised cover, not a box per se.  !2v chosen because I already had other 12v equipment. For these cams I need to investigate 6v alternative that might be more efficient.
I'd be surprise to find much difference in efficiency if you have a good switching mode power supply.


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The gear recently had its first real-world use, worked okay but room for improvement. Box had extra covering, first a 'cap' (recycled plastic containers) and shade-cloth cover over that, as you can see in pic attached.
More pix please !

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Ideas welcome, especially for easier ways to check cam and change card, and change battery less often. External battery is a separate issue to boxes though.  I need to check/change without dismounting everything and with least possible disturbance to the nesting birds being monitored (that's the objective, not true timelapse). The places they choose to nest make for very awkward access!
I have a couple of different brands of wifi cards I'm playing with.  If I can get it right, there will be no need to open the camera enclosure (assuming the battery is remotely located).  And with a remote battery,  12v is probably better than 6v (marginally) assuming some voltage drop on an extended battery lead.
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Offline jules

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #213 on: 08 / March / 2014, 04:01:49 »
Regarding external batteries, I also thought (for the same reasons) 12v would be better than 6v. However Microfunguy posted earlier in this thread:

" Six days if always on, screen blanked and shooting every 15 minutes from 8am to 4pm."
That was running an A620 from SLA battery 6v 12 AH - if I understood correctly.

I'm assuming it's 6 days safe run time i.e. until need-to-recharge battery state, not draining the SLA battery to the point of damaging it. If so it seems about the same as I get from 12v 12 AH.

It's not an exact comparison of course. Different cameras and  I was shooting every 5 min, 5.30am to 7pm. However, I measured the draw (12v amps) during testing a while ago, and concluded a modest difference in shooting schedule is really minor in terms of extra power used. Most of the power gets used just keeping the camera on for 24 hours/day (screen off of course). What's more, the A620 that I tried actually had a slightly higher power draw than D10 - in both cases using ultimate intervalometer and the best screen blanking option I could find, and using the same voltage adaptor (best of several I tried).

I didn't do a continuous run with the A620 but from the power draw I concluded my A620 would probably run shorter than D10 if using the same 12v 12 AH battery. So now I'm thinking enviously of Microfunguy's 6-days with 6v 12 AH ... and wondering whether I've been lugging a much heavier battery around for no real benefit :(



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Offline jules

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #214 on: 08 / March / 2014, 04:21:08 »
Wifi card sound really interesting waterwingz. Do you download to a laptop? How far from the camera can you access the card?

You asked for more pix of the boxes... these show the external "weatherproofing" but I'm not sure if that is what you wanted to see?
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Offline JvdP

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Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #215 on: 08 / March / 2014, 04:33:43 »
For transfering photos outside the box I have had several ideas with mixed success. I want an easy solution that doesn't requires another device (hence more cost and more power draw) so I tried an SD card extension for a while.

Unfortunately, I have intermittent crashes on one of my cameras. See this thread.

So now I made a shorter one and I'm running a new test.

You could run a cable (you'll need at least 9 cores) from the box to a second small box where you keep you SD card. You'll have to try for yourself if your camera will work well with it, but they are not too expensive on eBay ($6). Use cable glands to keep the box reasonably watertight.

If you're going to add equipment I'd actually rather use a USB cable and PTP for photo transfer than Wifi. Although the wifi card has its advantages too!
« Last Edit: 08 / March / 2014, 04:35:59 by JvdP »
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #216 on: 08 / March / 2014, 10:50:58 »
Quote from: jules on 08 / March / 2014, 04:21:08
Wifi card sound really interesting waterwingz. Do you download to a laptop? How far from the camera can you access the card?
I have two brands (Toshiba & Transcend forum threads) of Wifi card but I have not really tried either out.  There is a recent link on the forum to some code Rudi post on the CHDK-DE forum that lets you load script and CHDK updates directly to one of the brands.   And there is code built-in to CHDK for Eye-fi cards - no idea yet if that works with the other two brands.

There is also this : http://hackaday.com/2013/09/19/advanced-transcend-wifi-sd-hacking-custom-kernels-x-and-firefox/ if I ever start running out of other things to do.

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You asked for more pix of the boxes... these show the external "weatherproofing" but I'm not sure if that is what you wanted to see?
They are perfect - thanks.

Quote from: JvdP on 08 / March / 2014, 04:33:43
I want an easy solution that doesn't requires another device (hence more cost and more power draw) so I tried an SD card extension for a while.
<snip>
If you're going to add equipment I'd actually rather use a USB cable and PTP for photo transfer than Wifi. Although the wifi card has its advantages too!
I'm not sure what effect using a wifi card will have on battery life.   One more test to run.  The idea if USB port on the bottom of the box is intriguing though.

Other links : 
http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=10724
http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?topic=11082
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #217 on: 08 / March / 2014, 14:41:12 »
Quote from: jules on 08 / March / 2014, 04:01:49
A while back I tried 'quick' lunchboxes but they leaked in tropical deluge conditions (simulated for testing, real for my CHDK camera project).

Hmmm  ........... sounds like a very difficult situation.
Did the rain come through the back, gasketed lid or the hole in the front ?

You can extend battery life if you are able to turn the camera on-and-off each day.
I am told that a crystal-controlled microcontroller is sufficiently accurate without using a realtime clock.
Of course, you or someone else has to build and programme it.
You also need to permanently depress the power button.

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I also thought (for the same reasons) 12v would be better than 6v.
It unecessarily increase the physical size of the battery.
What external voltage does your camera require ?
The switching regulators are typically 90% efficient.


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I'm assuming it's 6 days safe run time i.e. until need-to-recharge battery state, not draining the SLA battery to the point of damaging it.

I cannot remember the final discharge voltage but it was less than what is recommended.
For calculations, I think you assume only 70% of amp-hours are available.


David
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #218 on: 08 / March / 2014, 14:44:43 »
Three more rigs, this time of the lunchbox variety.
The one pointing at the mini pond will need an external polariser.
Even so, the roofing-felt 'rain canopy' should protect it.


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Offline JvdP

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #219 on: 08 / March / 2014, 16:48:28 »
Great stuff.

I suppose the voltage regulator is in your boxes? Those leads seem quite long and you don't want to have too much of a voltage drop.
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