I am not sure if this is the place for this question or not, if not moderators feel free to move it somewhere more appropriate. I have been looking around the internet for rolling stock with wireless video cameras built in and am astonished at some of the high prices.. I do know that I can get wireless cameras for as little as $20 to $30 and I am sure random boxcars can be had for as little, so why are box cars with built in cameras as much as $300!? Does anyone know a low cost ($50 - $100) ready to run camera car? If I were to build several reasonable cars would anyone be interested in buying them? Would you prefer a self propelled car like a doodlebug or a box car or flat car load? Just being curious... Mike from DieCastoms.
I've tried cameras, and a good one is going to set you back more like $75. I have the model they used to sell at - SJT Enterprises : , the guy who runs it is real nice and sells for trains. HO and up is easy, N scale takes some extra effort to get the camera cut down and mounted right, and it's still probably too big for Z if you want to clear bridges and tunnel portals. If you want it hidden in a car you're talking around 2-8 hours of work, depending on car, scale, how hidden you want it to be, etc. I'd say $300 for one already hidden in a car nicely would be a good deal. Mine is mounted on a depressed center flat with a 9 volt, and I just push it around. It's really an awesome way to see your layout, and a crowd pleaser.
Ditto what Leo wrote. You can get cheaper cameras/receivers, but generally you get what you pay for in terms of resolution and range. I'm waiting a few years until the next generation comes out. Getting the current ones into/onto a N scale car requires a lot of cut-and-solder, and I'm not up for that right now.
some time ago i bought such a micro color camera off ebay. no sound. the picture quality is amazingly good. i did pay $0.99 (!!!) for the cam and the receiver plus $20 for shipping airmail from hongkong. arrived in 3 days. of course this $199 cam could be of a far better quality.
I found my old how-to post: Atlas Model Railroad Co. - N Scale Camera - How I do it. NSF56k! The only sticky point is I don't believe he's selling that particular model of camera anymore, but I have seen it other places for similar prices. The worst part about all of them is the small voltage regulator in the shell of the power connector. It's really not that hard to get out, whittle slowly all the way around until you see the PC board to get the orientation, and then it's easy. If you do any public shows the crowd reaction (in particular kids) is so great I highly recommend spending the effort. I also use it a lot when building scenery now, the camera sees a lot of things you don't given it's at the right perspective.
Oh, one last thing. I haven't bought one of these yet, but I ran across it online a couple of weeks ago: Wireless Micro Video Cam! You need to be about 17mm to fit inside a wide diesel (e.g. E8) I've found. I'm hoping the 15x15 is width and height (looks right from the picture) and the 20 is depth. If that's true, it should fit inside an E8 shell with no modifications to the camera. The receiver pictured is the same one I have in my post above, so I'm hoping this is just the updated version. If so, the plug should be the same, and the DCC battery eliminator sold by wirelessmicrocolorcams.com should work as well. This may be the ticket to hiding one in a hollowed out E8 shell, which is my ultimate goal. If I can do that and then get an unpowered B behind it as a spacer, then a BA powered behind that I'll have an ABBA with a completely hidden camera. Why the unpowered B? When the camera is too close to a DC motor it gets more interference. Having one spacer car helps a lot.
I got a teeny camera a couple of years ago. Colour, PAL/VGA/sortof, 2.4GHz wireless, 9V battery, but supposedly runs anything 6v and up. Best part is it fits in the N scale loading gauge! I did make a video with it long long ago. When I get "bored", I'll probably glue it to a flat car, along with either a battery snap, or make up a powered car and see if DCC will power a camera (ooh, put on a function decoder and turn it on and off?... he he he...) I'm more interested in it making videos than it being "hidden" in a realistic looking outline. As for the original question: the high price is probably because the market is small; and I've not heard of any commercial suppliers for anything smaller than G-scale; but I've not been looking
Thank You very much Leo for your responses there. That is some impressive work! Since I've not had a chance to dismantle one of these yet, I had no idea that there was a voltage changing circuit in the connector. I had expected to be able to lop the connector off and hardwire a new power supply (of unknown sorts) directly to the camera. Since I am going to be working in "O" or the various sizes of "G", I won't be needing to bother with making the camera any smaller than it already is. I have seen tutes that suggest that ANY CMOS camera can be made IR sensitive by adding a layer or two of exposed 35mm film... Has anyone thought of or tried running night cameras? I do LOVE the idea of building the camera into a dummy rotary snowplow though, that is an idea I had not yet thought of myself. As I am working with plastic toy trains at the moment as opposed to hobby-grade scale models, I am using the cheap guts from Radio Control Cars as a means of battery power and remote command control. Since the only thing that gets used is the throttle, 9 out of 10 times I am left a steering channel that goes unused. In the case of REALLY cheap RC cars, stearing is typically a gearbox only and has no feedback, so simply applies constant power (when turning) and the only thing that stops the box is the stearing's physical limits, as opposed to the better cars that have a servo that electronically stops according to how far you wish to steer. Chances are likely, depending on which RC unit the camera gets paired with, I would use that steering channel either to run the snowplow motor, or I would put the camera on top of the servo and be able to pan the camera as the train moves along. Years ago, in one of my magazines, there were plans for a camera car that had a linkage to one of the trucks so that when the truck pivoted negotiating a turn, the camera pivoted as well (I believe twice as much as the truck) to keep the camera pointed roughly down the track as opposed to off into the weeds... Anyone remember that? Thanks for reading another long winded post by DC.
Longwinded? nah. Oh yes, I was going to say do not cut off the existing socket! On most wireless cameras it contains voltage regulating circuits; and you'll be left with 3-4 random wires that go to the camera proper, with no idea what belongs on what Annoying, because it cable + battery snap sticks out just far enough to make the whole thing not flexible / not fit nicely / derail if you're trying to use duct-tape to hold it down <whistles innocently> All CMOS cameras are sensitive to iR - point a TV remote at a handycam and push buttons and it'll see the blinking lights. Often they add a lens to cut down on iR response I'd not heard of the twisted pivot idea; although it wouldn't be too hard to implement... An arm fixed on a truck that is length L, attached to a second arm that is length 3L. Pin the second arm to the wagon body at length L from the join with the first arm. The freely swinging end (2L long) should now pivot twice as far as the truck in the opposite direction. By making the free end more or less than 2L, you can change the ratio of over-swing. All you need to do is make it freely turning so it won't derail, and yet robust enough to hold a heavy camera on the boom end.
I've seen two that pivot. In both cases they just drilled out the truck mount, ran a screw all the way through the car and glued the camera to the top of the screw. Cameras are one of the times I wish I did O scale...man, so many possibilities. They also make spy cameras with fiber optic leads (for getting under doors and the like), in G for sure, and maybe in O that would allow you to poke the camera out a very small hole in something...
Tiny! But I note, not wireless; you would need some way of getting the video off the train. 30' video cable?
ooops... didn't notice it is wired. but on the other hand, if you need wireless you're probably in the wrong scale ;-)
Looking over their website; while some of the covert cameras are amusing; I didn't see what I thought would be very useful (probably more so for trains; but spy cameras might use one too) A wireless camera in two pieces 1) camera and lens. Small, Tiny. Easily hidden for spies or fitting in the loading gauge for Z/N people 2) wireless transmitter and power pack. Connected by a short flexible cable to the first camera box Since model trains tend to be long and skinny, put camera on first car and wireless box on the second and that would suit me fine! For a spy, you can hide the bulky power and wireless box inside the wall / ceiling and have the wire lead running to the tiny easily hidden camera. Although it can't be too bulky or it won't fit in the loading gauge either; so make it rectangular, about 1" square and 4" long or less and I'm back to happy. Et voilà! (is there such a thing as a "Wrong Scale"?)
If you could design your own enclosure fitting it all in one car is no problem. Plenty of space. The issue with hacking most of these up is they are a CCD on a board, and the front of the case holds the plastic lens. The distance from the lens to the board is critical to focus, and you want to keep dust off the CCD. If someone who makes models wanted to build a lens into the shell of a diesel, and mount a CCD the right distance away I'm sure it could be done and even keep it a powered model (giving up some weight of course).
