Keychain cam.

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
We don't have much either - just a 3' wide drainage ditch running the length of our field that usually has about 6" of water in it most of the year. Out of the 300 or so acres the rocket could've landed in it chose that spot. :bangpan:

That's rocketry for ya'.

Well, then that deserves ten points!
 
I used mine for the first time yesterday.
[YOUTUBE]ssUuS8CM1lU[/YOUTUBE]

Don't know why it spun like a top. And the delay was way short too... I'm guessing the igniter lit the delay rather than the motor, so the delay was halfway burned before the motor even started
 
...Don't know why it spun like a top. And the delay was way short too... I'm guessing the igniter lit the delay rather than the motor, so the delay was halfway burned before the motor even started
Rockets usually spin if the fins are not mounted parallel to the airframe.

You are correct on why the delay was short. Your igniter was energetic enough to ignite the delay column promptly, but not energetic enough to ignite the propellant grains promptly.

It's not a bad idea to lightly sand the bore of APCP propellant grains to expose fresh, unoxidized propellant. This will increase the surface area and make the ignition process much quicker.

Bob
 
We had to get one. Just ordered and paid for, have to wait 3-4 weeks. That sucks. Can't Wait to play with it. ^_^
 
Rockets usually spin if the fins are not mounted parallel to the airframe.

You are correct on why the delay was short. Your igniter was energetic enough to ignite the delay column promptly, but not energetic enough to ignite the propellant grains promptly.

It's not a bad idea to lightly sand the bore of APCP propellant grains to expose fresh, unoxidized propellant. This will increase the surface area and make the ignition process much quicker.

Bob

The fins are straight -- They're through the wall into pre-cut slots and a fin-lock system. I'm fairly certain it didn't spin on a previous flight, so I think I'll chalk it up to a combination of the camera itself and high winds, and try again at the next launch. :)

I'll try a light sanding next time... Incidentally, that was the second igniter -- the first one didn't light anything. With other launches, then my igniter failure, then other launches, then mine, the video file was over 2 gig! My copperhead success rate is down to 60% :-(
 
I used the instructions here, and tried the methods until one worked. In my case, it was the technique for Camera #5.

Oh sweet, thanks! Hopefully one of those will get it done. :)


It worked! The technique for camera #3 did it for me. Thanks again!
 
Last edited:
WOW
I got my keychain cam today. I highly recommend the seller I bought it from. I'll come back with a link.

It only took 7 days to get from Hong Kong to Boise Idaho:y:

Unfortunately the launch for tomorrow has been postponed so I have to wait another week to test it.

Edit:
Can someone help we with a little troubleshooting? When I plug it into the USB cord, the little yellow light just flashes slowly. It doesn't bring anything up on the computer, and it shows that nothing is plugged in.
 
Last edited:
I've just bought one myself. Questions:

1)Do you need a micro SD card? If I don't have the card in, it doesn't show
on my computer. With the card in, it acts as a new disk drive. (seen under
"My Computer.)

2) Could the camera be charging? The instructions for my camera say slow
blinking on plugging in the USB, the camera is charging.
 
Yes, you do need the Micro SD card in it to work.
There are other models that have built in memory, but the QC isn't that good with allot of them & some times it's a crap shoot.

See these threads from a couple months ago:
https://www.rocketryplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5022

https://www.rocketryplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4997


JD


I've just bought one myself. Questions:

1)Do you need a micro SD card? If I don't have the card in, it doesn't show
on my computer. With the card in, it acts as a new disk drive. (seen under
"My Computer.)

2) Could the camera be charging? The instructions for my camera say slow
blinking on plugging in the USB, the camera is charging.
 
So far I had good luck with the kind that needs SD memory, got (3) of those so far, all have had a few launches. The type with internal memory have died on me, (2) to date.

If you have the external SD type, your computer will see nothing if none is installed, and all of mine flash when charging , then the light stays on all the time when done. About 2 hours

Many different type of keychain cams out there, from the same Ebay vendor I got (2) different keychain cams, some have a red and blue led and some have a yellow led. SOme have lousy sound, the red/blue led one, has great sound.

I use 2 GIG SD card, BestBuy had them for 8 dollars. Good for about 2 hours.
 
I've just bought one myself. Questions:

1)Do you need a micro SD card? If I don't have the card in, it doesn't show
on my computer. With the card in, it acts as a new disk drive. (seen under
"My Computer.)

2) Could the camera be charging? The instructions for my camera say slow
blinking on plugging in the USB, the camera is charging.

Yes you do! Thank you too, I guess it was just charging. I let it sit for a while then played with it. It's really nice! The only con is that stupid time stamp. :bangbang:
 
Yes you do! Thank you too, I guess it was just charging. I let it sit for a while then played with it. It's really nice! The only con is that stupid time stamp. :bangbang:

Over on the RC GRoups thread there are some posts about a new program or add-on that will basically erase the timestamp quite effectively-- MUCH better than some of the "logo-erase" type programs which kinda blur over it...

Might want to check it out... :) OL JR :)
 
Over on the RC GRoups thread there are some posts about a new program or add-on that will basically erase the timestamp quite effectively-- MUCH better than some of the "logo-erase" type programs which kinda blur over it...

Might want to check it out... :) OL JR :)

You gotta linky handy there mister? Pretty please?

-Dave
 
I use 2 GIG SD card, BestBuy had them for 8 dollars. Good for about 2 hours.

I really thought I had similar performance on mine when just testing it out. Somewhere along the way, though, something changed and I only get about 16 minutes with the 2 gig card. The files are huge also (1.9 gb), so its not my card being full or having a format issue.

Anybody else getting 16 minutes with a 2 gig card?

Sandy.
 
I think I'm going to get a couple 8g cards and just bring the laptop to the launches. I'll probably order another camera so my dad and I can get some good drag race footage.
 
Ours just came in the mail!! So, I had to twist my boyfriend's are to agree to a launch this weekend. ^_^
 
Ours just came in the mail!! So, I had to twist my boyfriend's are to agree to a launch this weekend. ^_^
Nice! Mine shipped a lot faster than I expected. Our launch got postponed until this weekend. So I taped mine on a kite and got some interesting footage of that.
 
Nice! Mine shipped a lot faster than I expected. Our launch got postponed until this weekend. So I taped mine on a kite and got some interesting footage of that.

My boyfriend just got me a cute little RC buggie, I think I am going on tape it on that, too. ^_^
 
My boyfriend just got me a cute little RC buggie, I think I am going on tape it on that, too. ^_^

haha. I already put mine on a kite and will probably tape it on one of my dad's RC planes.


Does anyone know how I can edit AVI files without destroying the quality. Movie maker saves then as wmv and it sucks.

Vegas pro only gets the audio out of AVI. No picture. Any help is appreciated.
 
haha. I already put mine on a kite and will probably tape it on one of my dad's RC planes.


Does anyone know how I can edit AVI files without destroying the quality. Movie maker saves then as wmv and it sucks.

Vegas pro only gets the audio out of AVI. No picture. Any help is appreciated.


Do you have a file converter for video? My friend recommended Apex Video Converter. I am not sure if it will help you as I have not had the time to run my car, but I will try to play with it this weekend.
 
Do you have a file converter for video? My friend recommended Apex Video Converter. I am not sure if it will help you as I have not had the time to run my car, but I will try to play with it this weekend.
I was going to try conversion, I just don't want to trash the files. I'll test it when we get back, I've got rockets to fly today. :D
 
I think i read in one of the rocketry forums that someone was using SUPER to do lossless conversion between 2 video file formats.

Bob
 
I was going to try conversion, I just don't want to trash the files. I'll test it when we get back, I've got rockets to fly today. :D


I have an external hard drive. this way I have have the file on both Internal and external and mess with one of them with out effecting the other. Or you could transfer a cope of the file to a flash drive. Either way, it will protect the original. It does take up room, but I clean that up after I get the finished video that I like.
 
I have an external hard drive. this way I have have the file on both Internal and external and mess with one of them with out effecting the other. Or you could transfer a cope of the file to a flash drive. Either way, it will protect the original. It does take up room, but I clean that up after I get the finished video that I like.

I fixed it. I downloaded a couple codecs and it worked so I'll be throwing the video together for the next couple hours.

The camera made my arcas kind of unstable. We tried to beat the motor block and hook out of my mustang with a dowel and rubber mallet, so I could fly a long burn KBA G40. It didn't happen though.
 
Back
Top