Pinhole Camera installation.

D

Detman101

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
153
Okay, lets start off with the fact that I saw someone else on this forum do this mod but he didn't explain how he did it or answer my PM.

I bought this.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190000323672&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1

1118117030533_wired_mini_cam02.jpg

1118580144714_wired_mini_cam01.jpg

1117724679788_wired_mini_cam04.jpg

Code: 
Specifications:

    * TV System: NTSC
    * Definition: 380 TV Lines
    * Scan Frequency: 60Hz
    * Minimum Illumination: 0.5 LUX for Black/White, 1.5 Lux for Color
    * Effective Element: 510x492
    * Picture Area: 4.69x3.45mm
    * Viewing angle: 30 ~ 35 degrees
    * Iris: Automatic
    * Exposure: Automatic
    * Focus: Adjustable
    * Viewing Distance: 50 mm to infinity
    * Full Motion Real Time Color Video without delay
    * [b]Operating Voltage: 9-Volt Battery or AC-DC +8V 200mA Power Adapter[/b]
    * Operating Duration by Battery: 10 hours on Duracell or Energizer Alkaline Battery
    * Operating Duration by AC-DC Power Adapters: 24-hour non-stop

And this is my capture card.
15-116-606-10.JPG



Okay, I figured out how to wire in the Camera to the PSU molex connector.
The yellow wire is 12V, red wire is 5V and the black is ground.
Simple as soldering the wires together and mounting the camera somewhere in the case.
I am concerned with overloading the Pinhole camera and having to shell out another 50 bucks.

It came with a 9V dongle so that you can run it off of a battery. Is there any way I can step down teh 12V line so that the camera can use it at 9V? Or does the "AC-DC +8V 200mA" mean it can handle anything higher than 12V within reason?
:confused:

My question now is how do you capture the video feed?

Detman101 said:
(Edit: Found solution below after reading what I wrote and thinking a second about my parts inventory...)
Click to expand...

The camera works great going to my tv or camcorder with an RCA cable. But cannot get it to route into my Hauppauge WinTV-401 due to differences in the DVI input of the card and the difference in the RCA->DVI cable for the camera.
The RCA->DVI cable that I have for the camera has 8 holes in the center whilst the DVI-IN on the capture card only has 4 holes.


SOLUTION
WAIT!! I guess shouldn't use the cable that came with my ATI X800GT and must find the RCA-DVI converter that came with my WinTV card!!! That should fix the problem...if I can find it.
:(
 
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ArtByTroy said:
From left to right in the picture below, first up is a custom cable created to plug into a PSU molex and power the top lighting and pinhole camera surveillance system
Illusion139m.jpg
Click to expand...

I have NO idea how he did that cable...that is the key to squashing the fears I have of ruining the camera or the PSU in my computer. :(

ArtByTroy said:
Illusion158m.jpg

Illusion119m.jpg
Click to expand...

I think I want to go with a more inconspicuous method of mounting the camera so that it's not so obvious that its there.
 
Can anyone help with my questions on the wiring?
That is the most important part I think.
I can figure out the video and audio feed issues.

Thanks in advance,
Dm101
:)
 
As far as power, it will probably run off 7V. You need the dongle that came with the capture card to capture from that camera. It's just RCA video (yellow) and mono audio (white).
 
thewhiteguy said:
As far as power, it will probably run off 7V. You need the dongle that came with the capture card to capture from that camera. It's just RCA video (yellow) and mono audio (white).
Click to expand...

Okay, I get you on the answer for the "signal" part of the reply.

Where do I find a 7V source inside my computer?
:confused: :confused: :confused:

Edit: As far as I can tell, my PSU only outputs: 12V and 5V.

Or is the solution as simple as wiring that 9V dongle that came with the camera to a yellow 12V line coming from my Modular PSU?
I'm guessing that whatever is needed to step down the 12V to 9V is located within the dongle that came with the camera?

I'm so lost.... :(
 
You connect the positive wire to the yellow 12v on the PSU and the ground to the red 5v on the PSU. 12-5=7

BTW you should have a 3v output on your PSU and I don’t see any reason you couldn’t tap in to that rather then the 5v to get your 9v.
 
If you wire that camera straight into the 12v from your powersupply you will almost certainly destroy it. The dongle doesn't do anything to the voltage from the battery, it just feeds the 9v from the battery to the carmera as 9v.

To get 7v from the powersupply, use the yellow 12v as your positive lead, and the red 5v as your negative lead to the camera. I'm pretty sure that is what artbytroy did with his adaptor.

EDIT - I was beaten to the punch :(
 
If it doesnt take 7V, just measure the current when its running off of a 9V battery and do the math to find an appropriate resistor to use the 12V rail. It should just be 3/i=the resistance that you need if I did my math right.
 
Legion© said:
If you wire that camera straight into the 12v from your powersupply you will almost certainly destroy it. The dongle doesn't do anything to the voltage from the battery, it just feeds the 9v from the battery to the carmera as 9v.

To get 7v from the powersupply, use the yellow 12v as your positive lead, and the red 5v as your negative lead to the camera. I'm pretty sure that is what artbytroy did with his adaptor.

EDIT - I was beaten to the punch :(
Click to expand...

Wow, I didn't know that it was possible that way!
:eek:

I will wire the connector to the molex adapter in the fashion that you have described.

Here are photos of my parts.

This is the Molex adapter I plan to use that has the Ground and 12V lines already attached from a fan that used to be connected




This is the documentation that came with the camera. I dunno, it says that it takes anywhere from 6-12V but I'd rather go with what you all said to be safe. I have a feeling that the computer doesn't output in mW like the paper says.


And no I do not plan to use this for anything but my own Netmeeting broadcasts thankyouverymuch.
 
By the way, the camera hook up works great with the WINtv-401 capture card.
Now the only thing left is the power hook up.

I even took the time to do a bit of wire management in the case, running some wires behind the motherboard and motherboard tray.

:D
 
thewhiteguy said:
WAIT

If the paper says 12V is OK then go with that.
Click to expand...

Praise the LORD!!!
:D :D :D

That makes my mod that much easier!
I was thinking that looking at the paper specs but I wanted to play it safe.
I think that the video feed will be much improved with a little more juice than 9V.
The picture is kinda grainy if there isn't a good light source even though it's a B&W AND color camera.
 
TGA said:
You connect the positive wire to the yellow 12v on the PSU and the ground to the red 5v on the PSU. 12-5=7

BTW you should have a 3v output on your PSU and I don’t see any reason you couldn’t tap in to that rather then the 5v to get your 9v.
Click to expand...
I know the OP already said he's just going to use 12V, but for the record I want to say that doing this 7V trick in a situation like this could be bad. I'd be willing to bet that the ground on the power input is tied to the ground on the a/v outputs. If you hook up the ground to the 5V line to get 7V and then hook the a/v up to the computer, you're going to be shorting the 5V line directly to ground.
 
jpmkm said:
I know the OP already said he's just going to use 12V, but for the record I want to say that doing this 7V trick in a situation like this could be bad. I'd be willing to bet that the ground on the power input is tied to the ground on the a/v outputs. If you hook up the ground to the 5V line to get 7V and then hook the a/v up to the computer, you're going to be shorting the 5V line directly to ground.
Click to expand...

And that CAN'T be good for the PSU, Mobo or Camera...
:(

I'm going to stick with using the 12 Molex-mod like I planned.
 
jpmkm said:
I know the OP already said he's just going to use 12V, but for the record I want to say that doing this 7V trick in a situation like this could be bad. I'd be willing to bet that the ground on the power input is tied to the ground on the a/v outputs. If you hook up the ground to the 5V line to get 7V and then hook the a/v up to the computer, you're going to be shorting the 5V line directly to ground.
Click to expand...
Ooh, that's a good point. Although a well-designed device would have the inputs/outputs isolated....

But yeah, 12V will do fine. There's most likely a voltage regulator inside the camera taking the voltage down to 5V or something anyway. I doubt it will make any difference in the image quality, though.
 
Mohonri said:
Ooh, that's a good point. Although a well-designed device would have the inputs/outputs isolated....

But yeah, 12V will do fine. There's most likely a voltage regulator inside the camera taking the voltage down to 5V or something anyway. I doubt it will make any difference in the image quality, though.
Click to expand...

Awesome, I will replicate the process to end up with this like in the picture.

Illusion139m.jpg
 
Well, another failure.

I had the camera working running off of the PSU molex cable one time.
Then I decided to make a longer cable and connect it but now it just shuts down the computer as soon as I hook up the power cable I made.

:(

Looks like this one is a bust.
Guess I'll stick to inserting pre-fab mods into the case.
:mad: :mad:

FFS...anyone want a stupid pinhole spycamera?


Edit: Do you think the length of the power cable I made makes a difference perhaps?
 
10 bucks says the new cable is shorting out somehow. Length shouldn't matter(within reason).
 
Detman101 said:
Well, another failure.

I had the camera working running off of the PSU molex cable one time.
Then I decided to make a longer cable and connect it but now it just shuts down the computer as soon as I hook up the power cable I made.

:(

Looks like this one is a bust.
Guess I'll stick to inserting pre-fab mods into the case.
:mad: :mad:

FFS...anyone want a stupid pinhole spycamera?


Edit: Do you think the length of the power cable I made makes a difference perhaps?
Click to expand...

Check to make sure all your grounds are perfect. Usually they will trip back off if the ground cable is messed up. If it was working fine and you just did something to make it not work, why would you stop there? That just means you did something incorrectly. Go back and triple check everything, even make a new cable for it because something could have gotten severed by accident in the middle of one of the wires and you might not even know it.
:(
 
wiretap said:
Check to make sure all your grounds are perfect. Usually they will trip back off if the ground cable is messed up. If it was working fine and you just did something to make it not work, why would you stop there? That just means you did something incorrectly. Go back and triple check everything, even make a new cable for it because something could have gotten severed by accident in the middle of one of the wires and you might not even know it.
:(
Click to expand...

Okay, fabbed up another cable 3 feet long and it still doesn't work.
Same short-out problem as before.
I will try making a 1 foot long cable tomorrow after work and see if it works then.
If not, I give up.
:(

My blue and white CCFL and LED-fans should be here by June 5th.
I'll just have to settle for those being my mods.
I feel like such a damn sucker tho...
 
Still doesn't work.
Well, I'm out about 30 dollars.
Perhaps I should have just bought the 50 dollar 12v camera that I saw the originator of this idea use. Spending another 30 dollars a month ago would have saved me a month's worth of headaches and time.

Lesson learned.
:mad: :( :(
 
I decided to just take a car adapter for a 9V device, deconstruct it, and wire that up to a molex adapter so that my pinhole camera has the correct amount of voltage going to it.

The middle prong is the positive and the side-prongs are the ground. I'll simply take the plastic casing off and wire the molex wires to the appropriate leads.
I'll make a new case for the adapter part and mount it inside the computer.

This should be cheaper than buying a 12v camera from Allelectronics.com
 
If it shuts down the PC immediately, it's a short. Check and make sure that your adapter is the right polarity. In other words the +12V should go to either the inside of the adapter jack or the outside. Get it the wrong way and it can mess up lots of stuff.
 
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