Like so many others on this forum I was frustrated with the amount of static interference from my XCAM2 wireless camera. I created a macro using a motion detector that took a snapshot and more than 60% of the pics were static, no picture. I found some postings in this forum about how to convert the camera from wireless to wired but they were somewhat vague and had no pictures.
So here’s a mod that worked for me. My Wired XCAM2 now takes good quality pics and video with NO STATIC. I use ActiveHomePro and iWatchMobilePRO to send my video to my iPhone.
** Don’t attempt this unless you can do very delicate solder joints and are willing to void your XCAM2 warranty. **You can test this modification out by striping the insulation off an RCA cable and touching the middle colored wire to the Yellow solder joint on the XCAM2 circuit board, and at the same time touching the bare copper wire from the RCA cable to the BLUE solder joint on the XCAM2 circuit board.
Although I was tempted to solder the RCA cable directly to the Yellow and Blue terminals on the circuit board I decided against this because I was afraid I would spill or melt the existing solder and short out the circuit. (This is where I tested them to make sure the camera worked BEFORE I soldered!)
Although the wires on the other side of the board are very fine they gave me more room to work.
Disconnect the VR42A Wireless Audio/Video Receiver and store for future use. Using this mod you can always go back to using the wireless receiver because you don’t cut any wires.
1. Disassemble the XCAM2:
2. Note the colored wires going from the camera unit to the circuit board:
Black: Ground
Blue: Signal Return
Red: Power
Yellow: Video
White: Audio
This mod will only use the Yellow Video and Blue Signal Return wires.
3. Using an Xacto knife, carefully scrap off insulation on the Yellow and Blue wires. Try not to cut these wires, so you can always go back to using the XCAM2 as a wireless cam.
4. Taking an RCA cable, strip off about 0.5 inches of insulation leaving bare wire.
5. Run the modified RCA cable through the dip switch slot in the XCAM2 base or drill your own hole.
6. Solder the middle colored wire from the RCA cable (in my case I used a RED RCA cable) to the Yellow Video wire on the XCAM2.
7. Solder the bare copper wire from the RCA cable to the Blue Signal Return wire on the XCAM2.
(Note: I used the big black cardboard in the picture below as a solder splash guard so as not to splash the circuit board)
8. Using Liquid Tape brush on several coats of liquid insulation over the mid-wire solder joints in order to prevent shorts in case the wires touch.
9. Reassemble the XCAM2.
10. Plug in the power cable.
11. Plug the RCA cable into the RCA-to-USB jack that comes with the XCAM2.
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Topic: Convert Wired XCAM2 to Wireless (Read 6930 times)