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One thing that is always true these days is that technology gets cheaper, especially once the engineer's figure out how to build it cheaply.
Everything in this pic, except the battery which I had lying around, cost less than $8.00 per item on EBAY. Prices vary widely, but a little scrolling and clicking will get you a good deal.
This is an after-market car back-up camera and monitor. The cameras are waterproof, although, for how long or deep I don't know. Most of the cameras have LED's. Some screens have little back-up lanes permanently drawn on them, which is annoying, but no big deal. The monitors come with a 25' cord, and SOME of the cameras do, too. I rewired one camera cord to become a power cord. Wish it was 50', but it's a start.
You only need one ground, so just don't wire the ground to the camera. Clip the wires with crimps, fill them with silicone or Shoo Goo, and cover the coaxial connections with the same.
I've tested it, and it definitely works, as far as that the camera will go underwater, look at stuff, and send images to the screen. I plan on dunking the camera in some extra waterproofing, like the clear stuff you can seal gutters with.
The journey is the destination. Have fun.
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I'd like to see the picture of it if it will load.
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Oh, fer crying out loud. Sorry. I left it loading and walked out from work to the parking garage. Sorry.
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When you get it on the pond let us know how it is for functionality. Can you see clearly enough to work. Pretty cool idea there and it’s sure a lot cheaper than what I spent on the recon. Very interested in how this turns out. Later J
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Sure, Jeff !
I have had it in the water through the ice at Bountiful Pond for maybe 10 minutes, and it worked fine. I could see some rocks and algae and stuff floating by very clearly. Hope to use it at Mantua soon, which is why I wanted it in the first place. I haven't actually used it fishing yet. Water clarity will, of course, determine its usability. The camera is OK, and the lights seem to help a lot.
I actually bought two cameras, about the same price. The square- shaped one with 4 LEDs produces a little better image. The lights on the round one with 8 small LEDs started working intermittently for no reason while I was still messing with wiring. Could be my fault. There is a ton of this stuff on Ebay and Amazon; some bigger screens, more fancy, some wireless rigs, whatever, and for $40.00-$50.00, you might put together a nicer one. This is proof of concept.
I mean, it is what it is. Not top of the line; just something accessible for people who don't have anything else, or who like projects. Someone could probably do a much better job waterproofing and wiring and all that if they know more about electronics than I do. But, so far I can't see any reason why it won't show me fish within a few feet of my hole, and maybe why they don't like my rig.
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Great post.
You know that I'm keeping track of ice conditions--do you know if Bountiful Pond is ready for people on it?
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The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
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There was enough ice for me to confidently walk on SOME places around the lake, just to put the camera in, but it wasn't fully frozen, and this was a week ago after that colder weather around New Years. I haven't been since, sorry.
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I've actually found that I don't use the LED's or IR lights on my camera very much at all... Only after dark or in really deep water... Most of the shallow ponds have plenty of light down there already... That wireless camera your talking about is interesting to me... If you could use a tablet and pick up the camera signal without wires and the hassel with them... that would be very cool... Good job and way to think out of the box... Later J
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Nice write up, I was wondering if you could be more specific on how you handled the red (backup) cable that is designed to be connected to the car backup light wiring.
Thanks
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EDIT: Thanks to Dog-lover for catching a very obvious mistake in my description of wiring. Red is POSITIVE, black is NEGATIVE.
Basically, red power wire comes from the battery's RED pole (positive), splits or splices and goes separately to both camera and screen via red wires to red wires. This may require that YOU add a long power wire to reach the camera. The black "return" wire (the negative pole on the battery, the black side) also runs back to the battery from the screen. You don't need a return or ground for the camera, so you can clip it off. Then the included signal wire (the long one with yellow couplers) runs from screen to camera.
You will have a red wire for power running from battery to screen, and a black wire for "return" running from screen to battery. You two long wires running to the camera; one for power from the from battery, and one for signal from camera to screen.
I bought my screen and camera separately, and they each came with a 25 foot signal wire (the one with yellow couplers). I used one for signal, cut the couplers off the other and used it for the extra wire to link power to power.
Seal it all up and go.
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Thanks, that’s kinda what I figured you did. That helps. I may give it a shot.
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Appreciate the follow up and your enthusiasm for the interesting project. Just wanted to ask if you are certain the red wire attaches to the negative battery terminal.
Nine times out of ten red is positive on electronic stuff. Just asking,
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Oh, my gosh, you are right. I'll fix it. Been writing while distracted for a couple of days, and once I said it wrong, I kept saying it wrong. I also didn't have the unit in front of me for reference.
I'll edit previous post.
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Keep us all updated.
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