Region: WDC
Car #: #23
Year : 1991 Posts: 642
Status: Offline
posted
I was able to modify my Aiptek HD+ to run on in-car power.
I gutted a battery pack and ran 4.5 volt power from a regulated power supply to the contact plate. It seems to run happily at .7v over the rated output. FWIW, a fresh battery puts out 4.1v with no load.
The contact closest to the edge of the pack is the negative and the farthest away from it is the positive. The center contact is used to control the pack for recharging and works with a built in temperature sensor.
I did have to bridge the negative attachment point with the contact point with a solder wipe in order to get voltage to the camera.
If anyone would like any more info I'd be happy to post it along with some pics.
-------------------- Muda Motorsports "We're all here 'cause we're not all there."
I would love to see some pics. I have an older model, sorry I don't remember the model it's not the HD version, but would still love to see it. I bought a spare battery, but the player doesn't always work correctly with it. Does the HD version run on Windows Media Player? All I have to do now is download the files and it opens write up. I never opened the disc that came with it.
I bought the extended battery pack and just use the 12V outlet-to-USB cable to charge the camera between sessions. I've thought about figuring out how to hardwire power doing something along the same lines as Muda but with the bigger battery I've never had a problem of running out of charge, so it hasn't been a priority.
I noticed there's a new model out with image stabilization (meh) and an external microphone jack (yay!)...
The camera outputs Quicktime-wrapped (MOV) files; video is encoded using H.264 codec, audio using AAC. If you have Quicktime or Quicktime Alternative installed it should open right up.
I use MPEG Streamclip to trim the videos "in the field". Gets rids of all that video of me sitting in pre-grid.
-------------------- Viet-Tam Luu (a.k.a. "Tam") SFR-SCCA #14 ITS Director, SCCA San Francisco Region
Region: NYR
Car #: 12
Year : 1991 Posts: 620
Status: Offline
posted
With the GoPro I got a lot of extra footage of me in the garage, in the pregrid, funny things during all car impounds.....Someday I should go through it all and make a Spec Miata blooper reel.
Region: SCR
Car #: 9
Year : 97 Posts: 20
Status: Offline
posted
I have only used my new Go Pro one time. I had it mounted on the harness bar of my rollbar between my two race seats (track day/TT car). I got excellent in car video, but nothing but overexposed useless video thru the windshield. Is that normal ?? My next attempt will be with the camera mounted on the windshield.
Region: NYR
Car #: 12
Year : 1991 Posts: 620
Status: Offline
posted
PM Sent, but I'm wondering if it's because of it being relatively low in the car. If the camera is focusing more on the dark interior than out of the bright exterior, I could see it causing that problem.
Region: kc
Car #: 20
Year : 92 Posts: 1801
Status: Offline
posted
All of the auto iris cameras read the whole from to set the exposure. If most of the frame is dark, the iris opens up and the outside will be blown out. You can us ND filter material over the bright area to compensate, but that is pretty difficult with the little lenses on the GoPro and Aiptec. When you put the camera up front, so it only sees the outside, the exposure should be perfect. Of course, it will change as you go from back lit to front lit, depending on where the sun is in relation to your direction of travel. On another note, I had a bug hit the windshield in front of the camera and it immediately changed focus to the bug. The rest of the race the bug was needle sharp and everything else was a blur. Now I set it on manual focus before I start out. wheel
Region: WDC
Car #: #23
Year : 1991 Posts: 642
Status: Offline
posted
Here are the pics of the in-car power mod. A 4.5v dc regulated power supply seemed to work OK. Hint: mousetrap wood is the same thickness as the battery core. I'm going to try it out next weekend. Enjoy!
-------------------- Muda Motorsports "We're all here 'cause we're not all there."
Region: Kansas City
Car #: 95
Year : 1991 Posts: 311
Status: Offline
posted
Where does the 4.5 volt DC regulated supply come from? Is this simply tying into an existing wire? Or does it involve buying something from Radio Shack?
My camera is worthless for my daughter's basketball games and plays (poor zoom and audio). I bought a bullet cam for the line-in and hope to wire this in the trunk and not worry about it.
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