wireless car cam; solar powered cam;

cyan · January 22, 2010, 08:17:46 PM

I'd like an X-10 wireless camera which can be plugged in to an automobile cigarette lighter and a wireless camera which is solar powered.

HA Dave · January 22, 2010, 11:38:09 PM

Quote from: cyan on January 22, 2010, 08:17:46 PM
I'd like an X-10 wireless camera which can be plugged in to an automobile cigarette lighter

The wireless cameras are 12 Volt. You do have to be sure to get the + and - correct. But I ran my R.E.D. (Robotic Exploration Device) on car battery power... it even used solar panels to stay charged.

cyan · January 23, 2010, 03:16:55 PM

Thank you for sharing your invention. How much power does an X10 wireless camera use? It doesn't seem as though one would quickly discharge a car battery. A car cam could be placed in a car parked on the street giving a street side view of the home. I saw a reasonably priced automobile DC to AC converter at Walmart, so I suppose that might be an option.

Tuicemen · January 23, 2010, 03:57:37 PM

Quote from: cyan on January 23, 2010, 03:16:55 PM
I saw a reasonably priced automobile DC to AC converter at Walmart, so I suppose that might be an option.

Stay away from the inverter as it will eat up more battery power. Most low end inverters are lucky if they are even 80 % efficient.

Knightrider · January 23, 2010, 04:02:00 PM

Plus, I've heard that the waveform produced by cheap inverters tends to fry X10 electronics.

Tuicemen · January 23, 2010, 04:14:43 PM

Quote from: Knightrider on January 23, 2010, 04:02:00 PM
Plus, I've heard that the waveform produced by cheap inverters tends to fry X10 electronics.

that is true as well! A pure sine wave inverter would be needed, not worth the money in this case I'm sure.

cyan · January 23, 2010, 04:57:53 PM

Thanks again for all the input. If a camera uses just a wee bit of power, then the Walmart converter would not be much of an issue, would it? Also the practicality of a sine wave inverter would be of an individual nature: a car parked at the corner of a home would allow one to view two faces of the home as well as the car. Maybe X10 doesn't put an auto cigarette lighter plug on an X10 camera because said apparatus might eliminate the need for two cameras?

Tuicemen · January 23, 2010, 05:25:58 PM

X10 cameras will run on as little power as 6 volts (that's what the battery pack for them supplies) why not look at a cigarette lighter plug that has multiple adaptors for different plugs.(one would be sure to fit the camera's power wire) I know Radio Shack use to carry them and I'm sure Walmart or other shops carry them. You could plug the camera power wire directly to it without worrying about crossing wires.

Brian H · January 23, 2010, 06:48:07 PM

Tuicemen; The battery pack has a small DC to DC power supply in it. The 6 volts from the battery is stepped up to roughly 12 volts. I say roughly as unloaded mine reads closer to 18 volts.

cyan; well the power line controlled wall supply is needed if you have more than one. If more than one is on. They interfere with each other. Having only one doesn't need to be switched off unless you don't want constant video broadcasts.

HA Dave · January 23, 2010, 08:30:31 PM

The camera uses 80 mA. Correct me if my math is wrong... but that is well less than 1/10 of one amp running directly off your car battery. If we think of overnight as 16 hours... 16X80= 1280 or 1.3 Amps... roughly. This is just a wild guess... but if your battery has 975 cold cranking amps.. I would guess if might be able to spare that 1.3 Amp.

Brian H · January 24, 2010, 10:05:05 AM

The ECU and radio memory would most likely take more than that.

Tuicemen · January 24, 2010, 12:43:01 PM

When 4 AA batteries will run the camera for 4 hours (according to X10) I don't think the OP would have to worry about draining their Car battery over night.

Charles Sullivan · January 24, 2010, 01:47:18 PM

Quote from: Dave_x10_L on January 23, 2010, 08:30:31 PM
The camera uses 80 mA. Correct me if my math is wrong... but that is well less than 1/10 of one amp running directly off your car battery. If we think of overnight as 16 hours... 16X80= 1280 or 1.3 Amps... roughly. This is just a wild guess... but if your battery has 975 cold cranking amps.. I would guess if might be able to spare that 1.3 Amp.

You've actually calculated Amp-Hours, which should be compared with the Amp-Hour rating of the battery, not cold cranking Amps. Depending on size, automobile battery ratings typically run from 40 to 100 Amp-Hours. (The Owner's Manual for the vehicle will usually specify the battery's Amp-Hour rating.)

The camera power supplies are rated 80 mA, but the camera probably draws somewhat less than that.

HA Dave · January 24, 2010, 06:01:10 PM

Quote from: Charles Sullivan on January 24, 2010, 01:47:18 PM
You've actually calculated Amp-Hours, which should be compared with the Amp-Hour rating of the battery, not cold cranking Amps.

OMG your right! I even know better than that.. thanks for the correction.

cyan · June 07, 2010, 11:03:16 PM

I'm still wanting a car/dash cam. In Walmart I spotted two inverters which convert auto DC to 100 watt AC. One similar to this http://www.originalpower.com/powerline/mobile is approx. $29.00. A Black and Decker 100 watt DC to AC inverter is $19.88. Could I use one of these in my car and connect an X10 wireless camera, preferably on a robot base? I'm surprised X10 product development has not run with this idea.

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wireless car cam; solar powered cam;