Anybody Doing Lowpower Video Rockets?

[havoc821]

Here are the rest of the pictures from that flight.

 

[WiK]

Havoc, what motors does your rocket fly on?


Phil

 

[havoc821]

C6-5 at the least, A won't lift it. I won't even try that. B is slightly under powered. D12-5 or -7 work too. Will eventually use E9-6 or -8s. For the most part though, I use C6-5.

 

[rokitflite]

Hey Havoc!
Those pictures look great! How many seconds of video do you get with that quality of picture? Does it have sound as well? I want to get one of those pen cams soon. The only thing is I like the fact that with a live feed camera you get the footage real time and if you have a mishap with the rocket you still have the footage! When mine got stuck in the tree we could not find it because it was in a heavily wooded area. Then we realized that the camera was still transmitting, so we just ran around in the woods until my freind saw us on the TV screen and shouted to us to look up! The one I just built has sound and I can't wait to try it out once it gets warmer!

-Scott

 

[havoc821]

I get about 13 seconds of video without sound. But hey, I'll take what I can get! I would like to have a downlink but I don't have anything to download it to. Our video camera is messed up so I can't downlink to that. If I tried to downlink to my VCR, I wouldn't get very much video from high altitudes because the reciever would have to be in the house (which greatly shortens range) and I don't think they make extenition cords for video and audio links that would be at least 40 ft long (distance to reach outside) but I could be wrong. I'm glad you liked the pictures. I have another set of pictures to post but one of the pages is too big in file size. I will try to resize later. Well, that's all for now. Bye.

 

[WiK]

You could just get a long power extension chord and take the whole vcr out with you, but you would have to take a TV with you aswell so you could check the reception. So you would need two long extension chords
Or you can buy adapters that will let you run things like that from the ciggeratte lighter in your car, but if your house is that close I wouldnt bother.


Phil

 

[havoc821]

I never thought of that. I might do the VCR thing outside but moving the 52" big screen might be "slightly" difficult. I could always set up the reciever outside plugged into the VCR and run back inside to check the reception. I would keep doing this untill I got it right. I may look into this now. Thanks guys!

 

[WiK]

LOL that could be a little difficult

But, you are still in the same problem really... 'Cuz you'll need the TV and the VCR wired up to each other, which means a power extension chord and a chord going back to the TV

I dunno what I'd do in that situation. If you are really serious getting into this, you might want to consider getting a small TV/VCR combi set. This would only need one extension chord and you would have the tv and vcr in one box. Im not sure how much they would cost though.


Phil

 

[Chr$]

If you consider a G-35 low power, I fly an Intel-Play camera in a 2.6" LOC Lil Nuke with a payload bay. The G-35 is the lowest impuls I can go due to the weight of the Lil nuke.

I disassembled the camera so it would fit, and was thinking of trying it in a BT-80 sized rocket which is about the same Diameter. I could maybe get away with an E or F motor.

The camera is pretty light. It stores data on flash memory and you download it to a laptop with a USB cable. I have six flights on it and the nice thing is there is ZERO static which usually happens with the X-10 type cameras that I have seen used.

My two cents.

 

[WiK]

Hey Chr$, is there any where I can see a video or some stills from a flight to see what the quality is like?

Phil

 

[Lee Reep]

Originally posted by rokitflite
Hi,
I've been messing with some of the wireless mini video cameras on ebay and was just wondering if anyone else has done some experimenting with them in rockets. I've seen a couple up on ebay but one of the guys making them can't seem to build a rocket longer than 16" and they always look too short & fat.

-Scott

I just got a small digicam with video capability for $37 from www.thinkgeek.com.

It is 640x480 for stills, and I think 320x240 for video (need to look at manual again.) At this price, I'm going to pry it open for low-mid power launch.

Camera is USB, has software on CD, and should be a fun project.

If you go to this website, it is the Blink II camera, from SiPix -- measures about 2" x 2" x 1/2" thick.