Selecting a Rocket for a Keychain Camera Launch

[Stemmy]

I am interested in sending up a cheap keychain camera that we purchased on eBay. My two daughters will get a kick out of this launch for sure (well I will too...)

What makes a favorable candidate for an external mounted camera? Length? Number of fins? I want to put the odds in my favor and minimizing spiraling on the way up.

Here’s what I have ready to fly or ready to build that’s on the larger side of my (low power) rocket collection. Which would you chose and why?

Hi Flier XL (my initial choice but it seems to spiral even w/o the camera)
Astron Sprint XL
Big Daddy
V2
Load Star
Cherokee E from Hobby Lobby (not built yet)
Vapor (also not built yet)

I purchased various hoods from Apogee so I can streamline the mount on any of the rockets listed above.

Any tips/ tricks/ advice/ pointers or first hand ah-ha’s are appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[gna]

Apparently the cheap keychain cameras do not have any sort of power regulation, so charge it for an hour. Any more and you can overload the battery (@georgegassaway told me this).

I just taped mine on with painter's tape. I'd try the Hi Flier XL or the Big Daddy. Put it near the CG and it'll be fine.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

The V2 worked okay with my 808 keychain. It’s easy to operate. I stripped the fake key mechanisms out to reduce weight. I just attach to the rocket using masking tape. If multiple launches, buy a pack of SD cards to swap out.




I’ve been putting cameras on various rockets. The best one was on my Falcon 9 with SQ11 camera. It takes up more of the rocket and is harder to operate than the keychain but has better video&sound quality.



I tried filming the Odyssey but ended up in a tree. When I recovered it, the launch video was gone but did record 1.5 hours of bird calls.

 

[Stemmy]

Great advice! I like the paratrooper. That’s awesome.

and good to know about potential overcharge. Don’t want any thing Catching fire!

 

[BABAR]

I am interested in sending up a cheap keychain camera that we purchased on eBay. My two daughters will get a kick out of this launch for sure (well I will too...)

What makes a favorable candidate for an external mounted camera? Length? Number of fins? I want to put the odds in my favor and minimizing spiraling on the way up.

Here’s what I have ready to fly or ready to build that’s on the larger side of my (low power) rocket collection. Which would you chose and why?

Hi Flier XL (my initial choice but it seems to spiral even w/o the camera)
Astron Sprint XL
Big Daddy
V2
Load Star
Cherokee E from Hobby Lobby (not built yet)
Vapor (also not built yet)

I purchased various hoods from Apogee so I can streamline the mount on any of the rockets listed above.

Any tips/ tricks/ advice/ pointers or first hand ah-ha’s are appreciated.

Cheers!

As a safety, I use a Kevlar thread loop backup harness to the plastic hole the keychain hooks into, and attach that to the rocket (you can use a tape loop.). I have yet to have a taped on camera come lose, but if it did, it would stay with the rocket. You can tuck the extra line into the body tube before you put the nose cone in, if you use thin Kevlar thread.

 

[Scott_650]

I am interested in sending up a cheap keychain camera that we purchased on eBay. My two daughters will get a kick out of this launch for sure (well I will too...)

What makes a favorable candidate for an external mounted camera? Length? Number of fins? I want to put the odds in my favor and minimizing spiraling on the way up.

Here’s what I have ready to fly or ready to build that’s on the larger side of my (low power) rocket collection. Which would you chose and why?

Hi Flier XL (my initial choice but it seems to spiral even w/o the camera)
Astron Sprint XL
Big Daddy
V2
Load Star
Cherokee E from Hobby Lobby (not built yet)
Vapor (also not built yet)

I purchased various hoods from Apogee so I can streamline the mount on any of the rockets listed above.

Any tips/ tricks/ advice/ pointers or first hand ah-ha’s are appreciated.

Cheers!

Your Sprint XL would be a solid choice - I’ve flown mine with a keychain cam attached with electrical tape with no problems. The Vapor would work well too, considering it’s a down powered version of the Star Orbiter which is pretty much a “universal rocket” that’ll do about anything you could ask a LPR/MPR rocket to do.

Adding a tether as already suggested is a great idea - I’ll be doing that from now on!

 

[georgegassaway]

Apparently the cheap keychain cameras do not have any sort of power regulation, so charge it for an hour. Any more and you can overload the battery (@georgegassaway told me this).

Basically correct.

The cheap keychain 808 camera has no charging cut-off circuit. So when the LiPo battery gets charged to its intended max voltage of 4.20 volts per cell, it keeps charging. Getting over-charged, which does bad things for the lifespan of a LiPo battery.

So, after learning this the hard way....twice.... I started using a timer to remind me to unplug it in an hour. Actually the second time I killed one, I'd forgotten to start the timer.

LiPos are GREAT batteries, but you have to treat them well, especially when it's a cheap product that is not treating them well with a charge cut-off.

Also, LiPo's will DIE permanently (or at least be badly degraded) if they get much below 3 volts. Below 3 volts, they start to break down their chemistry. Again a "smart" device will have a low voltage cut-off to keep the LiPo from getting that low. I do not recall if the 808 has that or not, I think sorta yes but not sure. Anyway, I've had some R/C models that did not have a low voltage cut-off, so if I forgot to turn off the battery, and it went dead voltage-wise, well, I killed the battery dead too. Because LiPo's won't come back, reliably, after going "dead" And even "Low" like 2 volts per cell, I'd never ever trust for R/C or any other critical use again. I'll mention that R/C planes with Electronic Speed Control (ESC's), those ESC's do cut the battery power on reaching a low voltage threshold. But the R/C models I killed LiPos in were small gliders that had no ESC's, direct wired to power the receiver/servos.