Night Vision in Car

**0l33l** · 02-20-2006, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by NiteMax Mark

The NiteMax usually starts up with the IR off. Since the IR draws a considerable amount of power by itself (and based on your description) it sounds like your supply is strong enough to operate the camera with the IR off and the world ends when you try to turn on the IR.

A grey image sounds like the correct answer without a lens.

Glad to hear

Can I hook up 12v from the computer? I know it says 9v, but IIRC someone said it can work with a wide range of voltages. Correct?

**NiteMax Mark** · 02-20-2006, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by 0l33l

Glad to hear

Can I hook up 12v from the computer? I know it says 9v, but IIRC someone said it can work with a wide range of voltages. Correct?

The supply in the NiteMax will handle a wide range of voltages out of necessity. (The battery voltage itself changes as it becomes discharged.) It behaves more like a constant-power load in as much as it will pull current based on what it needs from the voltage you provide. In other words, at lower voltages it will pull more current and at higher voltages less -- the power consumed will tend to remain the same.

I have looked a little bit at the power supply and I'm convinced that it can handle voltages up to about 13 Volts. Beyond that, funny things can happen and I haven't given too much thought to the ramifications. (Your car is closer to 13.8 volts while the engine is running and this is just too much for me to be comfortable with right now.)

So yes, 12 Volts from your computer power supply should be just beautiful.

**0l33l** · 02-20-2006, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by NiteMax Mark

The supply in the NiteMax will handle a wide range of voltages out of necessity. (The battery voltage itself changes as it becomes discharged.) It behaves more like a constant-power load in as much as it will pull current based on what it needs from the voltage you provide. In other words, at lower voltages it will pull more current and at higher voltages less -- the power consumed will tend to remain the same.

I have looked a little bit at the power supply and I'm convinced that it can handle voltages up to about 13 Volts. Beyond that, funny things can happen and I haven't given too much thought to the ramifications. (Your car is closer to 13.8 volts while the engine is running and this is just too much for me to be comfortable with right now.)

So yes, 12 Volts from your computer power supply should be just beautiful.

Thanks for the reply!

Any idea how you can make this camera into a keyhole camera?

**NiteMax Mark** · 02-20-2006, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by iph3w

lol. the more I read the less I know. Well then I have burned quite a number(40) LEDs, but they still give out light cuz i can see it with my camera. so does it give out light even when its damaged?

No matter what you do to the LED, it will give out light at least once. Sometimes it will give out ALL of the light at one time in a bright flash...

From my experience, an absued LED will frequently survive -- sometimes without any indiction of the abuse. I have purposely pushed some special IR LEDs past the manufacturer's recommendations and found that they put out a lot less light after they're tortured.

Well by hooking up a lens I want to 1- hide the LEDs and 2-get a longer FOV. doesnt a lens make the light travel a longer distance? i donno.
Sorry my questions are so basic. thank you mark and shutgon for helping

To hide the LED, you'll use a black looking filter like many TV remotes have.

A lens won't exacty make the light travel farther. All a lens can do is re-direct the light so it is more focused or even more spread-out.

Obviously, a bright light will illuminate distant objects better than a dim light. If you are using a lens to focus more light into a smaller area, you've made it brighter in that area and therefore you'll be able to see farther in that area.

**quantum** · 02-20-2006, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by NiteMax Mark

So yes, 12 Volts from your computer power supply should be just beautiful.

Well, this thing is gutted down to the nubbins. LCD is gone too.

Mark, There are a few red/black wire combos that are throwing me off. I see a red and black wire running from the switch (wires A&B in the pic) to the board. Is it as simple as running 12v pos and neg to the red black? What threw me was the wire marked "wire C" came off the 12v DC in "tip" lead, which is + according to the back of the unit.

So, if I want to ditch the switch, hardwire to the red and black? I can always incorprate a switch later. And if I want to use this switch for the DC direct, how does that look?

TY

**Genesisfactor** · 02-20-2006, 02:51 PM

iph3w, LEDs have low power requirements. SImply get more LEDs...they're cheap enough to.

**NiteMax Mark** · 02-20-2006, 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by quantum

Well, this thing is gutted down to the nubbins. LCD is gone too.

There's now no longer any good reason to keep the LCD Controller Board. I can't think of anything it's providing the remaining circuitry! Unless you need the adjustable IR, you could get away with powering the CCD board with your own regulated 12 volts and scrap everything!

Originally Posted by quantum

Mark, There are a few red/black wire combos that are throwing me off. I see a red and black wire running from the switch (wires A&B in the pic) to the board. Is it as simple as running 12v pos and neg to the red black? What threw me was the wire marked "wire C" came off the 12v DC in "tip" lead, which is + according to the back of the unit.

So, if I want to ditch the switch, hardwire to the red and black? I can always incorprate a switch later. And if I want to use this switch for the DC direct, how does that look?

TY

The red/black combination for the switch is a bit misleading. You won't be able to use these wires to power the NiteMax. Think of it this way...

Power is carried up to the switch from two different sources. One is the battery and the other is the DC Power Jack. (This is the terminal of the switch with two wires attached.) With the switch on, power is delivered back down to the NiteMax through the remaining wire. (This is the terminal of the switch with only one wire attached.)

None of the wires attached to the switch is ground -- this is why you can't provide power using these wires alone!

**quantum** · 02-20-2006, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by NiteMax Mark

The red/black combination for the switch is a bit misleading. You won't be able to use these wires to power the NiteMax. Think of it this way...

Power is carried up to the switch from two different sources. One is the battery and the other is the DC Power Jack. (This is the terminal of the switch with two wires attached.) With the switch on, power is delivered back down to the NiteMax through the remaining wire. (This is the terminal of the switch with only one wire attached.)

None of the wires attached to the switch is ground -- this is why you can't provide power using these wires alone!

So...where the ground go?

From looking at the DC in plug, the tip positive went to the switch, your explination above makes sense. (I thought so...)

The outside of the DC in would therefore be the ground. I saw one of the ground wires goes to the outside of the RCA jack, the other heads off into the push buttons, I think the lowest one on the bottom (gain>) Then it looks like a common ground soldered up through each switch and over to the other button board. then a black wire went up to the square board, to a point marked CN.

With the camera battery connected, I need to run a small length of wire from that point (I left a little when I clipped it) to the ground on the RCA jack to get the video out. Without the camera battery connected, and using 12v instead, my initial guess would be to connect the ground lead to that wire, and then the RCA ground split off of that.

The Nitemax does need some kind of 12V negative ground, but where o' where do it go?

**shotgunefx** · 02-21-2006, 08:11 AM

Originally Posted by 0l33l

Thanks for the reply!

Any idea how you can make this camera into a keyhole camera?

First thing you'd need to do is get a board camera lense. Check out ebay ~ $10-15, but most of the ones I see there have an F-2, as above, not that great for IR, but I have a feeling most reverse cams are the same.

You'd need to find or make a threaded mount for it though.

**shotgunefx** · 02-21-2006, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by iph3w

Shotgun, I cant see any of the pics that u posted and also the leeland site is down(thats how i see it and it seems like no one else has the problem).

About the IR LED's i got a bunch and i soldered them up but they are not very strong. I got normal 5mm ones from one of my friends and ran a 2.5v through each(my friend said its got to have between 1.8-2.5) but the light it creates is not much. its got the red glow in the back ground but when i compare it to my Sony Handycam's IR LED its way weaker. I could post a pic of my sony handycams LED. When i turn it on it gives out a bright red light which is way more than my IR LEDs and i can see everywhere with that thing on and there is only one of em in there. are there different types of IR LEDs?

Also I noticed that infront of the Handycam's IR LED there is a lens kinda thing that helps the IR light to brighten up a wider field. could we do that with our IRs? Would it help much? anyone thought about it? I have attached 2types of headlight lenses that I think might help with installing the IRs outside the car. I went to the junk yard and they both sell for like 5 bucks.

You couldn't see the images as I failed to renew my domain, fixed that.

Couple things, as others have said, you need to have some resistance with the IRs, not just the voltage drop. If you hook up an led with a 2.5v drop to a 2.5v power supply, it will draw as much current as possibly, they might not go "phhfftt" if the power supply can't source enough, but they won't work right. Eventually you'll kill the power supply or the leds.

Also, it's much more efficient to hook up leds in series at a higher voltage, rather then in parrallel at lower voltages.

Check out this calculator.
http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz

How are you judging the brightness anyway? With a nitemax or other video camera? Regular video cameras will pick up the ir, but only a little compared to the nitemax or sony in niteshot mode.

The thing on the sony doesn't widen it so much as diffuse it so it doesn't look like you have 3 spotlights.

For the most part, even wide angle leds are narrow compared to a regular bulb. For the headlights, if you want to widen it, lot's of leds, as they get away from the center of the housiing, angle them outwards.

One trick to get more light out of them is overdriving them. You'd need to drive them via PWM (Pulse Wide Modulation). Basically, you put more current through them, but only for a fraction of the time. If the refresh rate is high enough, it looks constant. I believe cameras would pick this up as well as the eye, as the CCD sensor has some "sluggishness".