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Camera help

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rikkijustmike

rikkijustmike

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Location
Orange, TX
First Name
Mike
Last Name
Jeanes
I've been in the market for a little helmet cam for a while and there are near limitless options, but I wanted to try and kill two birds with one stone here.

Has anyone used/purchased a helmet cam that lets you put things on a timer?

Some friends and I are planning to send a helium balloon into the upper atmosphere to get pictures (others have already done it but it's worth looking at. just google space balloon or something along those lines.).

I figured that if I got the right helmet cam, I could just use put that in my "probe". :doh:

Anyhow, I'm looking for a lower end cam that can be programmed to take pictures or video on a timer. Any advice would be mucho appreciated.
 
Do you already have the timing system functional?? We have small video cams that record for 3-5 hours onto a card. PM me if you need more info
 
I haven't purchased any hardware at all yet. I guess there may have been an unspoken question... Can I do it with one piece of equipment or do I need to use a seperate DVR. FAA regs say that I have to keep my payload under 4 pounds, so I can't get TOO crazy with it. Also, the hardware will be in temps as low as negative 70.

I'm building my "probe" out of fire proof spray foam (using a football as the mold), and plan to pack hand warmers around the camera. I figure that using a helmet-type cam offers the added benefit of already being hardened against the environment.

In short, I don't have a timing system or anything else, at present. I'm kind of just trying to see what I need at this point.

Wanabe, what kind of cameras do you have? Do you think they would hold up for this?
 
Interesting project. :popcorn:

I haven't taken the time to research how others have accomplished this, but off hand I can think of some technical challenges.

The equipment must not only be capable of operating in low temps, but also low pressure. Any sealed compartments (lenses, batteries) must be rated to work in low pressure environments.
As your camera and gear ascends, any non-sealed compartments must have adequate venting. Condensation can also be a problem as moisture carried up from the ambient atmosphere will condense as the temperature falls.
Will the hand warmers work to maintain temps? I thought those are oxygen activated. At high altitudes, the oxygen gets pretty thin.
It shouldn't be a problem, but avoid anything that uses high voltage (120V+). At low pressures, Corona arcing can occur. Most electronics designed to work near STP do not have any protection for Corona arcing.

How do you get the camera and stuff back? is the balloon tethered or how is it tracked?
Again, this is an interesting project. :ponder:
 
As far as pressure differences, I'm going to do my best to make my capsule airtight, so I should have enough oxygen in inside. Others have done it without anything to heat the thing, but the batteries don't hold up so well.

A couple groups have used the warmers with marked success (one group sent up a little beer cooler with a hole cut in it and covered with lexan).

Most of the folks doing this are on a college kid's budget and they are just sending up cheap little canon cameras and the like. It will be upsetting if I buy something "rated for extreme use" and it doesn't work where a stinking fun-saver did fine.

As far as high voltage gear, the weight limit (4lbs) pretty much prevents me from using anything that I'm familiar with.

As far as getting it back, I'm going to send my cell phone up with the camera and when it returns to a workable altitude, it should start transmitting its location again.

While we are on the subject, though, the capsule can drift a whole lot due to wind. I live near the coast, so I'm going to need to go inland to launch. Anyone got any ideas for that?
 
rikkijustmike said:
Wanabe, what kind of cameras do you have? Do you think they would hold up for this?
Click to expand...

FROM SPEC SHEET:
2M pixels color
62 degree view angle
min illumination=1 lux
operation temp: -10C to +50C
memory: micro SD card[8 gig max]
weight: 50 grams
storage time: 1 gig=40 min
rechargeable battry
charge time=2 hrs
size:55mm long
20.3mm thick=front to back
20mm wide=side to side
recharges via USB
max battery record time=2 hours

Hope this helps. I bought one after the parts manager showed me one in operation. I am going to mount it on my Bandit, just need to figure where to put it[forks or rear view mirror?]
PM me for cost/shipping
MODS: I hope I haven't overstepped the limits of caution with this post
 
Years ago a ham radio group in the Dallas area sent up several balloons . I was one of the tracking stations as at that time I was playing with satellite communications and had a 2 meter antenna array that would track a signal in az. and ele...System was very primative , early computer experiment, RS TRS 80 based , but it worked tracking the 2 meter beacon and as there were several area stations tracking it was not much trouble to triangulate the birds location...I've lost touch with the people in that group....
 
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