I ordered a camera today with a Radio AV receiver. I'm hoping ot will work in tunnels. What I really wanted was Morse TC-9 microwave camera to match my Morse receiver but none could be found.
I think y'all have lost your OP.
Rich
Alton Junction
York1 ROBERT PETRICK I purchased an SQ11 and a 32GB mini chip card from Amazing-dot-com-slash-prime yesterday. Total cost about $25 including free shipping. Should be here Friday or Saturday, depending on how you count 2-day delivery. The general plan is to rig up s Robert, can you post some video when you're finished?
ROBERT PETRICK I purchased an SQ11 and a 32GB mini chip card from Amazing-dot-com-slash-prime yesterday. Total cost about $25 including free shipping. Should be here Friday or Saturday, depending on how you count 2-day delivery. The general plan is to rig up s
Robert, can you post some video when you're finished?
I dunno. Maybe. I've never made videos before, I've never uploaded videos before, and I've never posted videos before. But . . . assuming I can, then I will. I generally don't let little problems like that get in the way.
Camera is still not yet here. It appears that Amazon doesn't know how to count up to two. No worries.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
ROBERT PETRICKI purchased an SQ11 and a 32GB mini chip card from Amazing-dot-com-slash-prime yesterday. Total cost about $25 including free shipping. Should be here Friday or Saturday, depending on how you count 2-day delivery. The general plan is to rig up s
York1 John
mkepler954 What wireless onboard cameras do you recommend. My old one died on me which is probably good because it blacked out going thru tunnels. I bought a Morse typeS receiver several years ago but I can't find the camera. Please help!
What wireless onboard cameras do you recommend. My old one died on me which is probably good because it blacked out going thru tunnels. I bought a Morse typeS receiver several years ago but I can't find the camera. Please help!
I’m sorry for commandeering your post, have any of the posts been helpful?If your looking for real time only Mike’s system is probably the best way to go.I used a system that transmitted direct to a TV (analog) on channel 3 or 4 for many years with the camera mounted in a Dummy PA pushed by a couple of PBs in a 11 car passenger consist.Then I went to a newer version with a similar NTSC system using 2.4ghz transmitter to a 2.4ghz receiver with NTSC video out in a dummy E7A pushed by a couple of E7Bs, again a 11 car Southern Pacific Daylight Passenger consist.
The system is powered by two lithium 4 volt 4200ma batteries in series for 8 volt operation, one on top of the other. This system is wireless on 2.4ghz powered by the Lithium batteries. The two yellow relays on the left are controled from a DCC decoder, they control the power to the camera and the six super bright LEDs mounted on top of the camera on the right. The system would operate for a several hours on a charge.
I went with battery power because I didn't have any luck using track power, the slight wheel or motor arcing glitched the video. I even tried paralleling the wheels to all the E7s.Door open camera working, door closed normal operation headlight on.
It’s kinda hard to see the six super bright LEDs behind the window glass with them off but on there is more than enough light for the camera in tunnels with them on.Both the older camera in the PA and the newer one in the E7 worked great until I junked my old analog TVs (NTSC). I went with the mini camcorders after the TVs were gone.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
RR_MelLooks very nice Mike! I like your install!
Thanks!
RR_MelI’m thinking about ordering an Eachline, I’m always looking for a better way. What softward does it use?
I'm a Mac user and things seem to integrate well. I think you end up with MPEG as far as direct output, but it easily converts to MOV and Quicktime IIRC using VLC.
One issue I didn't track down with the Eachine camera is the audio. They way I have it rigged generates a loud hum that is annoying. Probably some easy fix, just never bothered solving. Newer versions may have a built-in solution or maybe the audio is just funky on mine? I know I never figured out where I should put the ground wire, which may be the culprit. The latest versions have what is called "Smart Audio" which also may solve the issue.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Hey guys-
I purchased an SQ11 and a 32GB mini chip card from Amazing-dot-com-slash-prime yesterday. Total cost about $25 including free shipping. Should be here Friday or Saturday, depending on how you count 2-day delivery.
The general plan is to rig up some sort of bracket to mount it low on a flat car or a little higher on the gunwales of an open gondola. I want it far enough forward so that the lower half of the view is not the floor boards of the transport car. I specifically chose the SQ11 (0.9" by 0.9" by 0.9" cube) because it is a little smaller than the SQ13.
The first order of business is to see if it will pass through the bridge portals. Put the rig on the car, push the tiny buttons, and push the whole cabboble with a trusty SD40-2 workhorse. After that, I'll worry about software drivers and uploading movies and remote real-time live feed to the laptop screen or my smartphone and whatnot. And then sometime in the near future I'll piddle with movie editing and composition and all that glamorous audio/video stuff.
First things first.
This is my CAD drawing of the SQ13, I haven’t been able to run it on my layout because of my health. The arthritis flare up in my ankles has kept my in a chair at my computer/workbench for weeks.I had been working on my IR detection system on my mainline when I had to knock it off. Essentially my layout has been down until I can work standing.I haven’t dinked around with my camera car in a year, I’ve been trying to improve the resolution of my IR signal detection by installing a bunch of Arduino FC-51 detectors.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Mel,
Thank you for your feedback and input on the cameras. I'm going look at the SQ13 more closely.
Neal
Like I said my grandson bought the SQ8, he used it for a couple of months and didn’t like the way you have to push the buttons to get it to work and gave it to me.The focus is very good from about 18” to 10’ or so, all I’ve tried is in my garage on my layout. It is also very stable as I’m sure the flat car wobbles and I can’t see the wobble in the video. The color is excellent and it works very good in low level light. I haven’t tried using the built-in night lighting, the E7 pusher has Super Bright LEDs in the cab through the windshield. The tunnel videos are like daylight and make the inside of my tunnels look pretty bad.Like Mike says “Go figure” Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I bought an SQ8 for about $20, on line, and not happy. Anything more than a few inches away from the camera were blurry and out of focus.
I used it to take a video, from my truck dash, driving around town, and it seemed to be much better.
Go figure!
Mike.
My You Tube
RandyI screwed up the NANO/servo idle current is 38ma, when the servo is active the current is over 100ma. I drop the input to the BlueTooth transmitter to drop the idle current to the servo. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
NealMy SQ8 was given to me by my grandson and I think it is a Quelima. It has been a very good camera, I’ve never had any problems with it.I bought a SQ7 early on off eBay and it didn’t work out of the box, eBay covered the cost. I liked the specs of the SQ7 and bought a second one from a different seller and it was also a dud as was the third. The fourth camera worked great and is still working very good.When the SQ13 became available I ordered one and it also worked great out of the box and that is the camera I’m currently using. Extremely good video.The only thing that bothers me is all of them get hot while charging. As I keep the cameras powered from my flat car the batteries never discharge and never get hot.The wireless SQ cameras will not work WiFi without the SD Chip installed in the camera.This is a link to my Google drive SQ8 Specs.https://drive.google.com/file/d/17pYmK_fVhqfV_W-RPepJKSEBRNkJGIaX/view?usp=sharingMel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
If I ever get around to making one, I'll probably do what I've been doing - just use the processor chip. The Nano is also killing you, running the unecessary USB, and the 3.3 regulator circuitry and whatever else is on there you don't need. My servo controller, sitting idle (servos not moving) with neither relay pulled in, with the 2 LEDs lit on the pushbuttons and a hearetbead LED flashing on the board, is like 40ma. Add the two relays pulled in for the opposite position, after the servos stop, it's now at like 50ma. I need to test it with my good meeter that has peak holding and data logging to see what it goes to worst case, with both servos moving, but I haven't seen it flash above a few 100ma on my power supply - but it reacts slowly. If I hold on to a servo and stll it, the current shoots way up.
What does the Nano handle, exactly? BT to the servo to drive the pan mechanism and that's it? I could probably do that with an ATTiny85.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Mel, I googled this SQ8 and it comes up for under $10 with no brand and not with positive reviews. I googled the SQ11 by QEBIDUM for $20 with much better reviews. Who makes the SQ8 that you have?
I would mount it on a flat car with velcro for easy removal. Just want to find the best one to use for a reasonable cost.
nealknows So which is the best camera to mount on a flat car for HO scale? I don't want to build one, and if I can get one with hi-resolution that would be great!
So which is the best camera to mount on a flat car for HO scale? I don't want to build one, and if I can get one with hi-resolution that would be great!
I would recommend the SQ8 for just pushing around on a flat car. It will record for a bit over 30 minutes on a charge. The video is pretty darn good.It comes with a USB cable to download the video or you can use a SD Card USB adapter and plug it into a USB port on your computer.The Field of View is pretty wide and will show the flat car so mounting it a bit elevated on the flat car will help get rid of the flat car.Mounting the camera toward the back of the flat car will show a lot of the car on the bottom of the video but then the locomotive headlight helps in tunnels or darkened areas. I’ve used an SQ8 by just sticking it to a flat car for three years and it’s very impressive video.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
MisterBeasley I built a camera system that ran in my subway tunnels. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but really? I seldom used it. It ran in real time, with the video transmitted to the TV, or recordable, but why?
I built a camera system that ran in my subway tunnels. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but really? I seldom used it. It ran in real time, with the video transmitted to the TV, or recordable, but why?
I don't have a camera, but I watched a video of John Peluso's Frisco Eastern Division, https://mrr.trains.com/issues/2020/june-2020, and I was fascinated:
Gary
rrinker I think I would use a single li-po cell and a boost converter to get 5V, more efficient than a 5V linear regulator. I wonder how long your batteries would last Mel, if you wired them in parallel instead of series and ditched the 5V linear regulator for a cheap little boost converter to get 5V out of the 3.7V lithium battery. --Randy
I think I would use a single li-po cell and a boost converter to get 5V, more efficient than a 5V linear regulator. I wonder how long your batteries would last Mel, if you wired them in parallel instead of series and ditched the 5V linear regulator for a cheap little boost converter to get 5V out of the 3.7V lithium battery.
I like that idea Randy!In my case I could try a regular buck converter and a TP4056 to charge the battery from track power instead of the two cell 12 volt battery charger board. A TP4056 will charge the batteries at 600ma with the proper resistor.
. . . . . After thinking about it I decided to stick with “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. I do like your idea!!! Should have done it your way in the first place, my bad.The biggest hit on the batteries is the servo not the camera, the servo draws 90ma to 110ma when positioning the camera. The camera draws a bit over 45ma with the WiFi on, 20ma with it off. I forgot the NANO and BlueTooth, that’s another 90ma. I built my camera car three years ago and my foggy 83 year old brain is kinda slow.The car does work very good as is. The two cell charging board only comes on momentarily at 300ma per battery and only draws 680ma from track power for less than a minute.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Maybe silly in subway tunnels since it's mostly just blank walls occasionally punctuated by a station, but out on the top of the layout through the scenery? I think it looks good.
I used a specially made car to hold an iPhone back in the day. Phones have gotten too big to fit in HO now, and I no longer have the phone the car was maade to fit, so that's useless. Time to make one. I think I would use a single li-po cell and a boost converter to get 5V, more efficient than a 5V linear regulator. I wonder how long your batteries would last Mel, if you wired them in parallel instead of series and ditched the 5V linear regulator for a cheap little boost converter to get 5V out of the 3.7V lithium battery.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I got a Sony HDR-AS20 that I've been using to make onboard videos on my layout. Got it off Ebay for around $100 new.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
SYMS Monitor is a free downloadable software and it works in Windows 10.It can be tedious to get it to work. It works with all of the wireless SQ cameras. I still have some problems getting it to find the camera after several years of dinking with it. It has done well with the SQ13, a real problem with the SQ7 & MD81S, looses the connection constantly.
EDIT:
It works on my RCA Tablet just fine. I use the 7" tablet for the view finder.
Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I've done a little more research, but I am nowhere near up to speed on this topic. The SQ8 through SQ13 cameras all seem to say that they need Windows 2000/ME/XP software. What does that mean? I have Windows 10. Does my system already have drivers, or do I have to search the web and download drivers from some unknown site?
I'm not sure how I will use this new toy. The Wi-Fi bluetooth sort of connection to the laptop (or smartphone) so that I can watch real-time images on the screen might be useful, but if the system only had record, download, and playback functions via a tiny memory chip, that would be okay as well.
At the moment I am leaning towards the SQ11.
Regarding the mini USB connection . . . it looks like the connector is flush with the side of the cube and the additional side dimension for the plug doesn't come into play if I go with the microchip memory card.
Looks very nice Mike! I like your install!The SQ7 and SQ13 have WiFi realtime video too. I still record the video on the memory chip and use the WIFi for a view finder to pan the camera.The WiFi software can be a bugger to keep active but the SQ13 is much better than the earlier cameras. You can control the camera record on and off from the Android View Finder. I use Arduino NANO BlueTooth to control the pan servo.The battery drain is doubled when the WiFi is in use on the SQ13. The batteries are 1000ma and do pretty good even with out the track power charger.I’m thinking about ordering an Eachline, I’m always looking for a better way. What softward does it use? The SQ cameras use SYSM Monitor.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I thought I would mention the camera lighting in tunnels. The SQ7 through the SQ13 have very good low light level video. I have a camera pusher E7 that I installed 6 super bright LEDs recessed in the front windshield that I control the on/off by DCC decoder and with them on the video is brighter than daylight. The normal LED headlight is more than enough light for the cameras to see the tunnel walls, track and ties.I made a battery cover for my camera car because the VOF (view of field) sees the top of the on board batteries. I use portion a F7 cab as a battery cover and installed a 3MM Super bright Warm White LED in the headlight and it has plenty of light for the SQ cameras. The video looks like looking out the window over the F7 hood. Kinda blows it though when I pan the camera. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
The SQ series cams are OK if you just want to record for later playback.
If you want realtime views then start looking for one of the drone cameras. Except for power, everything is built-in together on these: camera, controls and transmitter.It's all mounted on the front of this HOn3 flat car. In the middle is where I bunched uo the excess wiring, then on the rear is a 4.5 volt battery pack.
This is the box the camera came in.
I use a eachine LCD5802D DVR/LCD combo to see and record the live video and audio.
This is probably too big for N scale, but is a great size for HO and HOn3.
I also have a SQ8 that my grandson gave me, he didn’t like the way the camera buttons work. It really works great for me. I used the SQ8 to build up the SQ13 camera mount in my depressed center flat car while I was waiting for delivery of the SQ13. The SQ8 works very good! It doesn’t have WiFI, memory card only.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
RR_Mel I’ve had really good luck with the SQ13 camera. The MD81S and SQ7 are too big for N gauge.The recorded video on all three are pretty good quality and is stored on a 32mb micro chip that you can download into your computer with a USB adapter.I don’t have an N scale NMRA Clearance gauge but pretty sure the SQ13 would fit on a N scale flat car.All three cameras get between 30 and 45 minutes of video per charge with the WiFi off, with the WiFi on about 20 minutes is all you get off the internal battery.The camera USB connector is on the bottom of the SQ7 & MD81S and on the side of the SQ13 and the connector might add enough to the size to not clear tunnel portals in N scale. The cameras can be powered through the USB connector from a track powered 5 volt regulator or external battery for extended usage. The smallest USB connectors I’ve found adds a bit over ¼” to ⅜” the size, not a problem in HO. EDIT: The SQ13 weighs less than an ounce with the chip installed, .82oz. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I’ve had really good luck with the SQ13 camera. The MD81S and SQ7 are too big for N gauge.The recorded video on all three are pretty good quality and is stored on a 32mb micro chip that you can download into your computer with a USB adapter.I don’t have an N scale NMRA Clearance gauge but pretty sure the SQ13 would fit on a N scale flat car.All three cameras get between 30 and 45 minutes of video per charge with the WiFi off, with the WiFi on about 20 minutes is all you get off the internal battery.The camera USB connector is on the bottom of the SQ7 & MD81S and on the side of the SQ13 and the connector might add enough to the size to not clear tunnel portals in N scale. The cameras can be powered through the USB connector from a track powered 5 volt regulator or external battery for extended usage. The smallest USB connectors I’ve found adds a bit over ¼” to ⅜” the size, not a problem in HO.
The SQ13 weighs less than an ounce with the chip installed, .82oz.
Hey everyone . . . I'm the one who should apologize for butting in with my N scale issues.
The dimensions for the SQ13 will fit in the N scale clearance envelope. I also found an SQ11 (and SQ8 and SQ9) which is about 1/8 inch smaller all around compared to the SQ13. But, none of the dimension charts mention whether that is the actual size of the cube camera itself or whether it includes any connectors for USB cables or batteries or mounting brackets or anything else.
I'll do a little more research, but I'm excited at the prospects. This might actually work.
Thanks all around.