Fellow geeks, an electronics project......

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davidcole

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Topic # 9759 11-Oct-2006 14:00

Hopefully this idea will appeal to someone out there who can help.

I bought myself a wireless internet camera (D-Link DCS-2120). Looking at putting a camera up outside at home to keep an eye on the nasties around the place...

Now you think wireless, cool, then what's it doing with a honking great big power adapter!!

So my idea for a project is to take a solar panel and a motorcycle battery to power this unit. A motor cycle battery is 6v, and the power adapter on the camera is 5v.

Anyone know of what I'll need to not fry the camera if I hook it up to the battery, and then I'll need some way of charging the battery and having it regulate when the battery is fully charged.

Any help appreciated...

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sbiddle

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Reply # 48301 11-Oct-2006 14:13

You just need a single voltage regulator circuit.

You could buy your own 5V 1A regulator and build your own curcuit with a few extra parts for probably $5 or use something like this kit from DSE K3594 (can't remember how to embed DSE links so they stay valid without the session id) for $9.98. Plug the DC input and set a 5V regulated output.

grant_k

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Reply # 48302 11-Oct-2006 14:33

You will also need a Solar Panel and Battery Charger. DSE have some small cheapie solar panels but from what I've seen, they don't produce very much output and you are going to need a reasonable amount of current to run that camera 24/7.

I met these guys at the Mystery Creek Fieldays earlier in the year:

http://www.ablesolar.co.nz/

Give them a try and let us know how it goes. I am interested to do something similar in a new barn I've just had built.

Cheers,
Grant.

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davidcole

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Reply # 48303 11-Oct-2006 14:34

sbiddle: You just need a single voltage regulator circuit.

You could buy your own 5V 1A regulator and build your own curcuit with a few extra parts for probably $5 or use something like this kit from DSE K3594 (can't remember how to embed DSE links so they stay valid without the session id) for $9.98. Plug the DC input and set a 5V regulated output.

oooh, and it's supposed to be "simple" as well.

So you wouldn't see anything wrong with my concept, Solar charger (Say DSE O3340 to motorcycle battery, to this regulator to the camera??

grant_k

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Reply # 48306 11-Oct-2006 14:56

davidcole: oooh, and it's supposed to be "simple" as well.

So you wouldn't see anything wrong with my concept, Solar charger (Say DSE O3340 to motorcycle battery, to this regulator to the camera??

There's a couple of problems here:

1) Motorcycle battery is 6V not 12V as provided by the charger
2) What is the current draw of your camera?

I have a suspicion that 1.5W will not be enough. You have to allow enough power to fully charge the battery during daylight hours, so that it will keep running during darkness (or at least, that's what I assume you are wanting...).

You do want the camera to keep going at night don't you?
Many of them have IR LEDs so you can light up the area without any intruders being aware of it.

Cheers,
Grant.

davidcole

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Reply # 48308 11-Oct-2006 15:10

Grant17:
davidcole: oooh, and it's supposed to be "simple" as well.

So you wouldn't see anything wrong with my concept, Solar charger (Say DSE O3340 to motorcycle battery, to this regulator to the camera??

There's a couple of problems here:

1) Motorcycle battery is 6V not 12V as provided by the charger
2) What is the current draw of your camera?

I have a suspicion that 1.5W will not be enough. You have to allow enough power to fully charge the battery during daylight hours, so that it will keep running during darkness (or at least, that's what I assume you are wanting...).

You do want the camera to keep going at night don't you?
Many of them have IR LEDs so you can light up the area without any intruders being aware of it.

Cheers,
Grant.

The adapter has written on it, 5v 2A can that be converted to a wattage??

This one doesn't have ir but I'm intending to sit it next to my spot lights.

I don't think it's intended to be used 1 for outside (need a dome) or 2 at night. It is just an indoor dlink camera, but i couldn't justify to the wife, one of the proper $800 - $1600 cameras. And this was the most economical with wireless..

grant_k

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Reply # 48310 11-Oct-2006 15:18

5V 2A works out to 10 Watts. But that will be the MAXIMUM power the adapter is capable of delivering, not the ACTUAL power consumed by your camera. To work that out, you will need to find the specs for the camera, or else measure the current draw with a multimeter.

If you are going to install the camera next to your spot lights, the simplest way to power it may be to hook up that "honking great big power adapter" into the 230VAC mains feed to the spot lights. It will save all the expense of solar panel, charger, regulator etc etc. The other way is to plug the power adapter into a nearby power socket inside your house, and extend the 5VDC cable to the camera (just don't extend it too far, that's all, or you will run into voltage drop problems).

I had visions of your camera being mounted up a pole in the middle of your backyard somewhere, but if that's not the case, and given that the camera is attached to your house, I would just power it from the mains.

Cheers,
Grant.

davidcole

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Reply # 48312 11-Oct-2006 15:27

Grant17: 5V 2A works out to 10 Watts. But that will be the MAXIMUM power the adapter is capable of delivering, not the ACTUAL power consumed by your camera. To work that out, you will need to find the specs for the camera, or else measure the current draw with a multimeter.

If you are going to install the camera next to your spot lights, the simplest way to power it may be to hook up that "honking great big power adapter" into the 230VAC mains feed to the spot lights. It will save all the expense of solar panel, charger, regulator etc etc. The other way is to plug the power adapter into a nearby power socket inside your house, and extend the 5VDC cable to the camera (just don't extend it too far, that's all, or you will run into voltage drop problems).

I had visions of your camera being mounted up a pole in the middle of your backyard somewhere, but if that's not the case, and given that the camera is attached to your house, I would just power it from the mains.

Cheers,
Grant.

You can tell I don't know much about this stuff....and yes it would probably work out easier to power it from inside the house...I guess the "idea" was appealing.

Thanks for all the help though. Be interesting to see how much it costs to set it up properly if you do end up doing it in your barn.

chiefie

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Reply # 48313 11-Oct-2006 15:28

sbiddle: You just need a single voltage regulator circuit.

You could buy your own 5V 1A regulator and build your own curcuit with a few extra parts for probably $5 or use something like this kit from DSE K3594 (can't remember how to embed DSE links so they stay valid without the session id) for $9.98. Plug the DC input and set a 5V regulated output.

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richms

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Reply # 48373 11-Oct-2006 22:26

Chances are that the camera internally uses 3.3 volts and internally regulate it like most of the accesspoints etc do so 6v would be fine.

Try it, and if it frys it then use the generous warentee to get another and dont do it again, then again, you have outed your plan on a public forum so hope that your name here differs from your real name enough to remove any connection :)

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Reply # 48391 12-Oct-2006 08:53

Or he could change the voltage and do it the smart way...

sbiddle

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Reply # 48399 12-Oct-2006 09:09

You could always just opt for a proper camera. I could get you a small IP65 rated outdoor waterproof camera with IR for around $250ish. You would still need to run power and coax to it.