Onboard Race Cam!

[haggis]

Got this mini DV camera for my xmas, its absolutely tiny so its gone straight into my B4.1 for race night.



I used a bit of perspex bar screwed and glued onto the battery strap. its very low tech but its a solid position thats less likely to get hit.



I then butchered a spare shell (made an arse of the paint on it!) and gave the camera a good view and access for myself to turn it on.




http://www.youtube.com/embed/z0sOs_9j4Mg

[Supercoolnothing]

That's cool, I'm assuming your going to have it fitted tomorrow night?

[Razzellrc]

Cool i have one of these and was looking where to mount it you just gave me a good idea thanks !!!!

[haggis]

yea, ill be running it tommorow night. hopefully the short track wont blur the video too much

[Simion Wabs]

I installed one of these mini DV cameras on a Mardave V12

See attached clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOIot2_VN2Q

Can get a bit blurry but not too bad for the price.

It will be interesting to see your footage from the side on angle.

Good luck hope it turns out well

Si

[Dazzler]

Has anyone got some decent instructions for one of these cameras? I have one that I've used previously, but only records for a short time - circa 1 min. so could do with trying to sort it out. It has sufficient storage space, it just switches off.

It's not too bad other than that.

[haggis]

I turn the camera on, push the record button and the light will turn blue for a second then go back to green.

When i push the button again itll go blue and keep recording.

then when i'm done i just push the button to stop and it and itll go back to green

[Dazzler]

Thanks, I'll dig it out, charge it up, and try again.

[Simion Wabs]

@DAZZLER

mine too had intermittent lengths of recording time. Sometimes i'd get 1 minute before autopower off then I'd get 8 minutes before autopower off. Although I have a mate who gets 45mins recording no probs. For me two issues here - dodgy internal lipo battery - or dodgy charger cable. I note that I tried to use the usb to mini usb connector to upload photos from a digital camera but the cable was unrecognised by the pc. This pointed me in the direction of the two issues outlined above. I have not bothered with mine since as I believe the battery (in my case) is the issue being unable to store charge for any length of time before it goes flat. And we all know the risks associated with flat lipo batteries (although the PCB circuit must have a low voltage cut off for safety reasons) . So reading the above comments it could just be a small circuitry fault that leads to premature battery failure coupled with a dodgy cable.

In essence, you and me have both been "unlucky" with the quality of this product but I have certainly had £12 of use out of it :-)

Si

[Gregors]

Originally Posted by Dazzler

Thanks, I'll dig it out, charge it up, and try again.

possible over heating (thermalator)

[Dazzler]

Again, thanks for the reply. I'll have a look into the charge lead etc. I seem to remember the original was rubbish, and the charger faulty. I think I tried another, but was some time back.

That said, I could get a few sessions of short recordings... So may not be a charge issue..

I will try to bottom out all suggestions though.

Except stupid thermaling suggestions Greggors..

[graxon2001]

make sure you've not pressed the 'mode' button on the opposite side to the power button. This puts the camera into 'sound activated' mode, which tends to just record over a short period and then start again if a certain amount of noise is heard.

Try pressing the 'mode' button first after powering on, and if you'd pressed it before should put you back into normal mode, where you should get about 45-50 minutes before the battery runs down.

[Dazzler]

Cheers, do you know if the lights show any different if in sound activated mode to a normal mode?

I've found it out now too, and the mount - and it's on charge... So I'll be finding out shortly.

[graxon2001]

The lights'll be the same, so no easy to see way of knowing. Hope that's all it is

[Dazzler]

I seem to have managed to get it to work .. Cheers for the help. With regards lights, I get three solid blue lights when recording continuously. When I press the mode button I have two solid blue and one flashing red (not had chance to test and see what that mode is, assumed sound activated). This is before I press the record button. When I press the record button, I have two blue solid lights, and a slightly slower flashing red.

[ollie]

Flashing red light;
Sounds to me like you’re in a dodgy district.