Was looking into this mini cam to record my layout and live stream it to my devices/pc. Was going to put this on a powered flat car. Not good with electronics but would I have to use a few resistors? My layout is run by a NCE 5 amp power system?
If I'm right the NCE 5 amp puts out 14 volts
The mini cam's power requirements:
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No, resistors will not suffice. Resistors lower voltage by an amount that depends on how much current is passing through them. They are fine for simple things like LEDs, a more complex device like a camera should be given its rated voltage.
Your best bet is just battery power. A single rechargeable lithium cell like a 18650 delivers 3.7v; probably not a coincidence that this is what the camera is rated to expect. Or three rechargable NiMH cells in series deliver about 3.6v, which is close enough.
The problem with track power is that you have to bring it down to 3.7v and also ensure that a small interruption in track power due to a turnout or whatnot doesn't shut off your camera. You could rectify your DCC signal with diodes, put a big capacitor on it to filter the power and essentially be a keep-alive, and use an inline regulator like a LM317 to output 3.7v. All in all, easier to just stick some batteries to it.
Thank you. I figured it wasn't easy. This camera comes with a battery so I should just leave well enough alone and create a way to mount it.
robkoz Thank you. I figured it wasn't easy. This camera comes with a battery so I should just leave well enough alone and create a way to mount it.
You could probably do it with a small full wave bridge rectifier, SMD filter cap, LM317L, 200 ma voltage regulator, two SMD resistors and two SMD caps. I made a few circuits like that many years ago.
The SMD filter cap would be 22 ufd, the same used in decoders near the full wave bridge. They are small, square yellow caps with an orange stripe for the positive terminal.
Four one amp diodes with make a bridge rectifier. 1N4000.
No idea how much current the camera draws.
Using leaded components might make it slightly larger but not by much depending on your abilities.
Solder it all on a piece of Vero board.
The LM317L is a three terminal voltage regulator the size of a small transistor.
Online calculators with give you the resistor values.
Radio Shack use to sell the small full wave bridge rectifiers but you can find all this online.
Jameco Electronics and Alltronics are a couple online sellers
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
I appreciate the in depth ideas but this is way beyond my expertise for the moment.
I put together a camera-car for my subway using a camera and DCC power supply.
I did this quite a few years ago, and the whole system is very far behind today's technology, but it still works. It transmits a wireless signal to a receiver box that can be plugged directly into a TV or video recorder.
It needs more light than I have available in my subway tunnels, so I added LEDs both to the tunnels and to the front of the camera car.
There is a big problem with signal dropout as the train runs around the layout, even on the surface. This can be remedied by using an onboard camera that records directly to a memory chip, but then you would lose the real-time aspect that mine provides.
But, y'know what? I very seldom use it, as I don't show off the layout very often. When I do run it, this is what it looks like:
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.