With all this horrible weather I have decided to spend some time fitting a camera system.
I bought a couple of these Bullet Cameras from Dog Cam and I picked up a Sony HC40 on ebay for £130 this is an ideal camera because it will record from an external source (the bullet cameras).
I am fitting one camera to the top of the A Frame on a mount that will allow it to swivel 360 degrees so it can face out to either side of the boat or forwards. I have lengthened the cable so it will route through the A Frame and then through the under deck trunk to the console
On the second camera camera I have replaced the normal cable with a coily one that stretches to 3 meters, this camera will then be in a holster of some sort on the console so that it can be taken by the helmsman or a passenger and used to caputre other shots.
The cameras will run through a 2 way switch on the dash that will allow me to choose which camera I want to be recording from.
The video camera will then be housed in a waterprrof box into which the AV cables will plug in. I will use a LanC remote to control it that will be attached to the console to control the video camera as its so simple one button operation.
The whole lot will run off a 12V regulator that will be connected to a spare switch on the Blue Sea Panel.
I plugged up one of the cameras to test and am really impressed with the quality so am looking forward to seeing the results hopefully I will have it up and running for the next 2007 solent outing if there is one
With all this horrible weather I have decided to spend some time fitting a camera system.
I bought a couple of these Bullet Cameras from Dog Cam and I picked up a Sony HC40 on ebay for £130 this is an ideal camera because it will record from an external source (the bullet cameras).
I am fitting one camera to the top of the A Frame on a mount that will allow it to swivel 360 degrees so it can face out to either side of the boat or forwards. I have lengthened the cable so it will route through the A Frame and then through the under deck trunk to the console
On the second camera camera I have replaced the normal cable with a coily one that stretches to 3 meters, this camera will then be in a holster of some sort on the console so that it can be taken by the helmsman or a passenger and used to caputre other shots.
The cameras will run through a 2 way switch on the dash that will allow me to choose which camera I want to be recording from.
The video camera will then be housed in a waterprrof box into which the AV cables will plug in. I will use a LanC remote to control it that will be attached to the console to control the video camera as its so simple one button operation.
The whole lot will run off a 12V regulator that will be connected to a spare switch on the Blue Sea Panel.
I plugged up one of the cameras to test and am really impressed with the quality so am looking forward to seeing the results hopefully I will have it up and running for the next 2007 solent outing if there is one
Chris
From experience I would bin the two way switch - I have repaired one and they aren't up to boat use really. Just have one camera and keep it simple!
Cookee, the two way switch I am using is not one from Dogcam I am fitting a standard 2 way switch from Maplin and using one of their waterproof toggle covers to prevent water ingress.
The switch body will be in the console and will have plenty of vaseline on the terminals.
All the other connections and extensions are being done by soldering and use of adhesive heat shrink.
Cookee, the two way switch I am using is not one from Dogcam I am fitting a standard 2 way switch from Maplin and using one of their waterproof toggle covers to prevent water ingress.
The switch body will be in the console and will have plenty of vaseline on the terminals.
All the other connections and extensions are being done by soldering and use of adhesive heat shrink.
It will be fine! I have already wired it up to test and its fine. Shielding is not a problem, the curly cable I have used to replace the shielded one on the second camera is not shielded either and thats fine too.
Shielding would only be ncessary over a long run of cable.
And guess what if I have to replace it once or twice a season it costs £2.30 each time.
I basically left the camera on from when we left so it ran in total for about 1 hour.
I am dead chuffed with the results. The you tube video does not really do the quality of the results justice as the quality is down due to tying to reduce the filesize but rest assured the picture quality on the original DV on my Laptop is as good as if it had been shot with the video camera itself. Also I should point out that this is a quick and dirty edit of some pretty boring footage. It was too cold to muck about with it and get some proper shots.
Apologies for all the smoking, drinking of whisky etc but it was fecking cold. Also I should point out that due to my freinds not really having the correct gear we had to share out mine and although it appears they are not wearing life jackets they actually are under my huge XXL coats!! this is also why we all look a bit odd as we had a right old mismatch of stuff to wear.
I am looking forward to getting out with some other boats and running along side with the A frame camera pointed out to the side to catch all the action.
Looking good- out of interest, what microphone are you using - the Dogcam 'A/V microphone' ? I'd be interested to hear how you get on with it - in my experience the microphones are the weakest part of the system, although so cheap it is not a major issue.
Looking good- out of interest, what microphone are you using - the Dogcam 'A/V microphone' ? I'd be interested to hear how you get on with it - in my experience the microphones are the weakest part of the system, although so cheap it is not a major issue.
Cheers
Chris
The standard Dogcam mic. I left it under the seat hence why the sound is shite however I am looking at ways to get around this and mount it so it gives good sound without too much wind noise.
The Camera on the A Frame failed so I phoned DogCam who were very good and agreed to swap it for a new one as apparently they had a batch of cameras that were prone to condensation when used in applications where they got wet all the time.
I have also purchased one of these DriveData modules to control the camera. Very clever little gadget which plugs into the Sony's LanC socket and then you turn the camera switch on and put it in its protective case. The DriveData module has a black and white wire which I will run into a switch on my console then when you turn the switch on the camera will turn on and start recording in the correct mode for the bullet camera. When you turn the switch off then the camera will turn off completely there fore saving battery, then when you switch on again it starts up again in record mode.
There is an LED which glows red if you are recording or flashes green / red when you are near the end of the tape or battery.
I have already wired it up to test and its fine. Shielding is not a problem, the curly cable I have used to replace the shielded one on the second camera is not shielded either and thats fine too.
