21 replies to this topic

[chemicalwazi]

Karlfoxman and myself were a little bored on Sunday and decided to try something a little different.

The Aim: to put a wireless cam into a rocket header, which at the peak of its trajectory, ejects the cam on a parachute and takes lots of lovely, nice video

What happenes: The rocket takes off, slightly top heavy. We lose contact with the cam. The rocket returns to earth without ejecting the cam, and 2ft above impact point (which is the only dyke for miles around) ejects cam and parachute into the dyke

We need to have another little go at this, when a. the cam is dry or b. we get a new one

The video story, so far can be found here: Rocketcam

Onwards and upwards!

[karlfoxman]

Karlfoxman and myself were a little bored on Sunday and decided to try something a little different.

The Aim: to put a wireless cam into a rocket header, which at the peak of its trajectory, ejects the cam on a parachute and takes lots of lovely, nice video

What happenes: The rocket takes off, slightly top heavy. We lose contact with the cam. The rocket returns to earth without ejecting the cam, and 2ft above impact point (which is the only dyke for miles around) ejects cam and parachute into the dyke

We need to have another little go at this, when a. the cam is dry or b. we get a new one

The video story, so far can be found here: Rocketcam

Onwards and upwards!

Happy days buddy!! Was so funny, we will get it to work next week!

Like you say onwards and (UPWARDS)

[Ritual33]

Lol, great idea and I bet it was quite fun, did you use a laptop for the receiver?

Drew

[JamesH]

Good attempt lads - at least you got some footage! The picture quality is quite good. What setup were you using - I'd like to install one in the nose cone of my slightly upscale AGM-12D. Whats the maximum range for the cam? Did it survive "re-entry"?

[The_Djinn]

bwahahaaa... gota love that video... talk about spin

What about putting it in a shell.. cam in top hemi with parachute and hard divider separating it from soft burst charge in lower hemi... even better, clear plastic top hemi so you get the picture right out the tube..

Oh oh.. can see those gears turning in Wazi's head as I type... lol

Mark

[karlfoxman]

Good attempt lads - at least you got some footage! The picture quality is quite good. What setup were you using - I'd like to install one in the nose cone of my slightly upscale AGM-12D. Whats the maximum range for the cam? Did it survive "re-entry"?

Erm not sure if the cam is good after 'splash down' if not my father can take a look as he is an electrical engineer If you still it at around 4 secs when the horizon is flat you can get the two small lakes, one in the bottom right and another near the middle. Quite impressed with it really, we will make more even if i need to buy another camera.

[fishy1]

hehe, nice spin on it.

[RegimentalPyro]

Brilliant stuff. A really fun project! How did you power the camera? I guess that outdoors the range must be quite good - At least 200-300m

Hope it's recusitated OK!

[karlfoxman]

Brilliant stuff. A really fun project! How did you power the camera? I guess that outdoors the range must be quite good - At least 200-300m

Hope it's recusitated OK!

No the range is only a 100ft or so, i am adding a high gain antena on the reciever to get a longer range. The camera is supplied by a pp3 9v battery. The camera is less than half the size of the battery.

I hope my little cam is ok but if not i do have another but i think its lost in my fathers room somewhere

It is a really fun project, i would recomend it as a little fun thing on a Sunday

[Andrew]

That was pretty good, did you intentionally use angular momentum stabilisation or did it just spin anyway?

Did you get the camera back, if it is one of the CMOS black plastic cube actions it should be ok as they are sealed units, or was it one of those camera with a built in rf transmitter? because they are not usually completely sealed. Good luck with the projects progression.

As part of a project I am working on at the moment, I am designing an ultra light weight inter-satellite rf link. Once it has got some where, I guess it would be good for this sort of thing as well. You could even try a store and retrieve method rather than rely on an rf link, although the dyke would bugger things up a bit, if it landed there again.

[adamw]

I think with a shell there is a high chance of the lens being obscured by the 'soot'? from the lifting charge (ie the shell will get caked in black dross)

[karlfoxman]

I think with a shell there is a high chance of the lens being obscured by the 'soot'? from the lifting charge (ie the shell will get caked in black dross)

Yes i think it would, you could add a cover over the clear plastic that gets taken off by the air as the shell rises. Or some sortof 'tear off' strip that comes off as the shell leaves the mortar. Mind you the flame from a light charge is intense and goes 2-3 times higher than the mortar tube

Although looking at plastic cases they never seem all that chared up, maybe my type of plastic helps. I will try the cam out tonight i think, if its dead i shall announce it Hey could have a firework display as a send off

[broadsword]

I used to do a bit of the rocket stuff with estes rocket engines! I have a rocket with a camera in the top! But it is only a standard camera not a video!

[chemicalwazi]

bwahahaaa... gota love that video... talk about spin

What about putting it in a shell.. cam in top hemi with parachute and hard divider separating it from soft burst charge in lower hemi... even better, clear plastic top hemi so you get the picture right out the tube..

Oh oh.. can see those gears turning in Wazi's head as I type... lol

Mark

Funny you should mention it
The first launch of the cam, was in a 3" can shell. It lifted and ejected but the blo**dy chute didnt open. Came down with a thud, but it did survive
Like your style, i do have a clear plastic hemi!

[adamw]

Yes i think it would, you could add a cover over the clear plastic that gets taken off by the air as the shell rises

Hehe you mean like the lens film on a Formula 1 car's camera (it slides off at intervals to get rid of the muck / spray from the track)

or a charge which blows off the protective cover when the shell is out of the tube (like a space shuttle seperation or a fighter jet canopy)... that would take some accurate engineering and timing!