list your cool/clever/unusual project, devices and or programs - Page 5

Outsider · 02-28-2005, 10:47 PM

hmmmmm where should I start..
I Own a big rig (semi truck), current items installed:
Notebook with wifi
Ps2 with online adapter-- runs through wifi via x-over cable
Scanner 9 for tracking the "bears" LOL
1200 watt stereo ( gotta get that 2.5 mm to rca adapter for the MP3's)
-- now ny idea is to add on the my current system
I have 2 permanatly mounted cams (lorex submersibles) 1 sony handi-cam
a 7" LCD display mounted in my dash.
I need to get the signal from the 2 cams into my Notebook.
The cams are Composite out ( RCA) but my notebook only has USB and a built in NIC card, I have a pc card slot , but I use it for wifi connections.
2 usb slots one for the GPS, Oh I have a neat notebook stand made from an old monitor arm and some metal Gas pipe plumbing (still need to paint)
I REALLY need to get these cams into my Notebook so I can record the feeds.
I have been run into 3 times, tired of sitting home cause some jackass cant own up to negligence.
anyhow if any one knows a way fro me to get the signal into my pc please help out. AND if there are and Caterpillar ECM programmers I need to get some of the info out of it to overlay with the recorded video

you can see images here

turbocad6 · 03-01-2005, 08:15 PM

........as far as all of you who want to record muliple feeds at the same time, use whats called a multiplexer, they are used for security to split the screen into 4 feeds & some of them are pretty versitle. there are units MADE for the pc, & come with software to do alot, among them is the ability to record.......... solves many problems with one solution........ there is even one out there that i am going to use that allows mirror imaging of 1,2,3 or all 4 inputs.

Adding to my steering wheel I posted above, I took a few more shots of how this is put togeather , I started a thread with this steering wheel, & instead of cross posting the same stuff here & there, just look here to see it.

scott_fx · 03-01-2005, 10:54 PM

hmmm...for a buffered video recording dont they have the tivo type software for pc's?

Outsider · 03-02-2005, 01:05 PM

weeeellllllll, after really looking over this site, I have decided ..... you guessed it.........build a "TRUCKputer" LOL.
I have an old notebook that is fried, but the display works great. SOoooooo, I am gonna use that for a monitor, and see what I can do on digging out some old hardware, etc.
I would LOVE to put the mouse in my steering wheel, since some of you have done this, any Low tech/ cheapy way of doing this would be killer.
Also, I run a cb alot and my power inverter creates a LOT of noise... the DC to DC inverter, is it as noisey??
In building this "TRUCKputer", I can use a PC survallence card instead of some other 300 buck part.. make sense?

SimonTALM · 03-02-2005, 02:20 PM

There is a piece of software out there called Active WebCam that I'm considering using for the video black box. It's primarily designed for PC security but it allows buffered video (TIVO style) - you can set this to a maximum file size e.g. 100MB. At the same time you can record to file (AVI or Proprietory also MPEG on Deluxe version) and once it is reached it's maximum file size (a different setting e.g. 400MB) it will start recording another file. You can also set a minimum free space setting as well and once the disk space reaches this minimum value you set the system to delete the old file. You can also include some text overlay on the images including time/date - not sure about GPS info e.g. speed. There is a free trial available - never a bad thing plus is quite reasonable depending on the version you want 29USD for the basic version - 89USD for the deluxe version (with MPEG coding).

I'm considering using some form of removable storage for this USB Key / Compact Flash / SD Card for the main record option (rather than buffered) so if required I can remove the storage and replace it when I want to keep the recording. Although I don't know if removable storage has a data transfer rate high enough to sustain the recording.

turbocad6 · 03-03-2005, 08:49 PM

This is what I had in mind for video control

tj!2k4 · 03-03-2005, 09:16 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by SimonTALM

There is a piece of software out there called Active WebCam that I'm considering using for the video black box. It's primarily designed for PC security but it allows buffered video (TIVO style) - you can set this to a maximum file size e.g. 100MB. At the same time you can record to file (AVI or Proprietory also MPEG on Deluxe version) and once it is reached it's maximum file size (a different setting e.g. 400MB) it will start recording another file. You can also set a minimum free space setting as well and once the disk space reaches this minimum value you set the system to delete the old file. You can also include some text overlay on the images including time/date - not sure about GPS info e.g. speed. There is a free trial available - never a bad thing plus is quite reasonable depending on the version you want 29USD for the basic version - 89USD for the deluxe version (with MPEG coding).

I'm considering using some form of removable storage for this USB Key / Compact Flash / SD Card for the main record option (rather than buffered) so if required I can remove the storage and replace it when I want to keep the recording. Although I don't know if removable storage has a data transfer rate high enough to sustain the recording.

I actually took a look at Active Webcam a while ago, and it looked fairly promising, except I couldn't figure out how to get it to open the my cam as the default video source - checked through all the options, tried saving the session, etc. but no go. Did I miss something?

CornToeGoblin · 03-04-2005, 02:21 AM

three things:
1.) climate control based off of outside temp. (no prob except for controlling car climate control
and..
2.) car door and window control, so i can see if one door is open or if a window is open
3.) automatic car turn on: have the carputer turn the car's ignition and based off of the outside temp., set the climate controls accordingly

and i think that webcam's have too low of a framerate to use in a moving car....

lol post #69 :P

0l33l · 03-04-2005, 02:35 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by CornToeGoblin

three things:
1.) climate control based off of outside temp. (no prob except for controlling car climate control
and..
2.) car door and window control, so i can see if one door is open or if a window is open
3.) automatic car turn on: have the carputer turn the car's ignition and based off of the outside temp., set the climate controls accordingly

and i think that webcam's have too low of a framerate to use in a moving car....

lol post #69 :P

1 + 2: Phidgets, lots and lots of them

scott_fx · 03-15-2006, 12:55 AM

ttt (i think this is a cool thread to keep going) bite me 0l33l

jcdillin · 03-16-2006, 07:28 AM

Well for my project right now i'm working on building a small webserver using a gumstix and a industrial GPRS modem that will stay connected all the time. The thought is by using some external sensors and a pic microcontroller I can gather a bunch of data and feed it into the gumstix, then I want to write an app that will display all that info onto a webpage on the webserver. So anytime I want to see what my car is doing or see voltages,temps, gps coordniates or those times you walked all the way into work and wondered if the carpc actually shut down. I'm going to make the whole thing run on it's own battery that is solar charged and charged from the car when it's running. That way it will run even if the car is off.

Then the 2nd stage of the project is going to be adding some sort of time lapse photography, just have it store the images to a large SD or CF card so next time someone backs into my car and leaves maybe I can get a pic of them. But I would be able to access the images remotely via the webserver.

scott_fx · 03-17-2006, 12:18 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by jcdillin

Then the 2nd stage of the project is going to be adding some sort of time lapse photography, just have it store the images to a large SD or CF card so next time someone backs into my car and leaves maybe I can get a pic of them. But I would be able to access the images remotely via the webserver.

that is awesome!

tbird2340 · 03-17-2006, 10:30 AM

Scott, did you ever do your initial idea in the very first post with the vfd behind the mirror?

sama · 03-17-2006, 10:35 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by jcdillin

Then the 2nd stage of the project is going to be adding some sort of time lapse photography, just have it store the images to a large SD or CF card so next time someone backs into my car and leaves maybe I can get a pic of them. But I would be able to access the images remotely via the webserver.

Instead of using a time laps, you can do this via motion detection, so you can actually detect bumps, rather than siv through stills.

What you do is you split the image into segments, then "learn" the background of each segment. This is relatively easy task and I can explain if u want.

Then, since the image is split into many motion detectors, you are not interested in local changes like people walking or cars moving, but more interested in whole scene changes, which would indicate that the car was thumped.

In such case, you would dump that last 10mins of video + the next 10 mins or so. That way, you have a historical record of what just occured.

I've been thinking of having continious monitoring for a while now, and having a button to dump that last x minutes to disk. that way, if u see something that you wish you recorded... you can!

GreenBeast · 03-17-2006, 11:01 AM

potentially if you had an alarm like i've got which has a proximity sensor then it could record when the sensor gets triggered (i.e. its telling someone to bugger off), then if they broke in (or hit then drove away) you could have images of them