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Need wireless camera recommendation — Parallax Forums

Need wireless camera recommendation

ercoerco Posts: 20,256
in General Discussion
I need a tiny battery powered camera to transmit maybe 25 feet to a laptop for an indoor demo, not on a network, just transmitting to a USB dongle. Need to buy it now, no time to order. Yup, hell has frozen over: erco's paying full retail!

Any thoughts? Don't need super high res, it's for a toy application.

Comments

  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    Big hardware stores often sell wireless security cameras. I purchased one from HomeDepot once which was about 1" by 2".

    The ones I've seen have a NTSC output on the receiver so you'll need some sort of video capture to get into the laptop.

    There's not even time to get something from Amazon?
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    Thanks, but too big. Might need a drone FPV camera. But I don't need that range, I hoped for a simpler turnkey solution. I have plenty of other projects going on right now...
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    Model FPV might be the only choice for small and analog. This is great for short range you'd need an rx too. There are probably a lot of places by you to get that.
  • Keith YoungKeith Young Posts: 569
    Raspberry Pi, Raspicam, Wifi Dongle?
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    @xanadu: Thanks, I'm going to swing by Pacific Coast hobbies tomorrow. They have a FPV system with audio/video out of the receiver. About $270 IIRC.

    @Keith: Thanks but too big. Internal size of enclosure is maybe 1x1.5x1.5 inches.
  • lardomlardom Posts: 1,659
    I'm too late but Walmart sells a backup camera-monitor kit for cars.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    Thanks all. That urgent project was cancelled. During my searches, I found a $100 toy drone that streams FPV to a phone. No idea what the video quality is, but I might have to get one to try for future reference.

    http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=60203436
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    That $100 drone & streaming camera actually works pretty well. I had to order one from TRU, they were not carried in store. TTYTT I haven't even flown the drone yet, just tested the camera and it fired right up first time. The tiny detachable camera is its own WiFi hotspot, it shows up on my Android phone as a wireless network. Probably neither the most amazing range nor image quality, but I'm amazed it works as well as it does. The free app lets you store videos and photos on your phone. The camera detaches via 4-wire connector. Supposedly the drone won't do stunts while the cam is attached, probably what the extra wires are for, sensing the cam. I suspect you could use the tiny cam separately just attaching power (3.7V Lipo). If that's the case, then I'd call this a $50 drone plus a $50 streaming camera. Excellent value on both counts, and certainly the cheapest RTF FPV setup I've seen.

    Camera has a (manually) swivel-able lens, on the drone you can aim it forward, down, or in between.
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    That's pretty wild, nice find.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    I received and got this WiFi drone cam working today, pretty decent video for $17 off Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MJX-C4005-Original-30w-FPV-Camera-RC-Quadcopter-for-X400-X500-X600-X800-X101-US-/262082005582

    I don't have the drone, I just wanted a wireless camera streaming a live FPV image (from a mobile bot) to my phone. Not much info online about "hacking" it, so I just hooked up the cable's red & black wires to a Li-Ion cell and (after some fiddling) voila, the tiny camera becomes a wifi hotspot. It doesn't use the home network at all (thus, it would work outdoors in a park, where one might fly a drone, duh). Downloaded the MJX app from Google Play and doggone if I don't have a live pic on my phone. Cool beans. There's no storage in the camera, but the app lets you record still pics and video from the streamed signal on your phone. No audio though, I guess on a drone the prop/motor noise is all you hear and there's no point. Ah well. Once I get this on a bot I'll post some vids. Jolly good fun for $17.

    This video from a Chinese fellow who apparently could not get it working was the only thing I found. I posted my results in his comments.

  • lardomlardom Posts: 1,659
    That's a great price for fpv. I have a drone with a wifi camera and I like it. I think I'll order one.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2015-10-16 01:48
    I think it's friggin' amazing. You can buy them all day long for $25, which is still a great price IMO. I slapped it on top of a too-fast $10 RC car, which proved to be a handful to drive through house, especially when the video feed lags by nearly a second. :)

    http://www.hobbywow.com/en-mjx-fpv-wifi-camera-components-set-c4005-for-x400-t64-p238784.htm

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/MJX-C4005-Original-30w-FPV-Camera-RC-Quadcopter-for-X400-X500-X600 -X800-X101-US-/252091233813

    Edit: I read that adding a fisheye lens to an FPV cam might be helpful, so here is erco's 3-lenses for a buck deal: http://www.ebay.com/itm/161850273955

  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2015-11-03 19:20
    I just got those lenses for a buck shipped. Thought I got shorted one lens, but they had two screwed together. Such a deal, and works pretty good with the HP Stream 7.

    Still 6 available, well maybe 5 after I buy another. :)

    EDIT: Many to be found for a buck W/ free ship:

    http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=Camera+Lens+Kit+Fisheye++Wide+Angle&_sacat=0




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