Bench testing CCD camera from store??

RipNRun · 06-02-2007, 12:42 AM

Hi All,

I bought the G4 about a month ago, and it's been sitting on my desk since I've been working a lot and out of town.

I tested the unit tonight and it works with no problem. However, when I bought the G4, I bought the CCD camera from the store. I can't seem to get it to work at all, and I've had no luck finding any info online to help.

Here's what I've done so far. It's powered by a PC power supply (same one that ran the G4 without issue). Voltmeter says it's got 12V.

This unit has 2 RCA jacks--one white and one yellow. I presume the yellow is the composite video, as it should be. Not sure what the white jack is (no instructions). I tried feeding the composite video (yellow) back into a TV Tuner card that I often use to digitize video on my desktop. I get no video. White RCA jack doesn't do anything, either.

I am assuming that, once powered, this camera is effectively always *on*, and it always feeds video back. Having 2 RCA jacks is throwing me, I must admit. Not sure exactly what I'm doing wrong, or if maybe the camera is defective.

Any thoughts? I'd have called the store, but I didn't get started on this until 10 pm Central...

Any help appreciated. I'm going to try to get it all installed this weekend, so any thoughts are more than welcome.

Regards,
Rip

john05srt4 · 06-05-2007, 12:42 PM

2 RCA's that is odd?
sorry i cant help.

2k1Toaster · 06-05-2007, 01:08 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by RipNRun

Hi All,

I bought the G4 about a month ago, and it's been sitting on my desk since I've been working a lot and out of town.

I tested the unit tonight and it works with no problem. However, when I bought the G4, I bought the CCD camera from the store. I can't seem to get it to work at all, and I've had no luck finding any info online to help.

Here's what I've done so far. It's powered by a PC power supply (same one that ran the G4 without issue). Voltmeter says it's got 12V.

This unit has 2 RCA jacks--one white and one yellow. I presume the yellow is the composite video, as it should be. Not sure what the white jack is (no instructions). I tried feeding the composite video (yellow) back into a TV Tuner card that I often use to digitize video on my desktop. I get no video. White RCA jack doesn't do anything, either.

I am assuming that, once powered, this camera is effectively always *on*, and it always feeds video back. Having 2 RCA jacks is throwing me, I must admit. Not sure exactly what I'm doing wrong, or if maybe the camera is defective.

Any thoughts? I'd have called the store, but I didn't get started on this until 10 pm Central...

Any help appreciated. I'm going to try to get it all installed this weekend, so any thoughts are more than welcome.

Regards,
Rip

Maybe a picture of this mystery 2 RCA jack camera. You sure you bought it from the mp3car store?

Any model numbers or anything?

Fiberoptic · 06-05-2007, 05:05 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by RipNRun

Not sure what the white jack is (no instructions).

The cables should have been labeled on the outside of the package. Idealy in the future we can get the cables labled. Yellow is video out.

RipNRun · 06-05-2007, 07:36 PM

I'll get some pics together for it.

I got the fact that the yellow jack is video. It's the white jack that's throwing me. Usually that's an audio jack (along with a red, for stereo). However, there's no audio coming from it...

Finally got the video working on the test bench (plugged into a tv tuner card), but not with Streetdeck--that's a whole 'nother ball game. There may be a short in the line somewhere because it's inconsistent and goes out when wiggled.

--Rip

Fiberoptic · 06-05-2007, 07:40 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by RipNRun

I got the fact that the yellow jack is video. It's the white jack that's throwing me. Usually that's an audio jack (along with a red, for stereo). However, there's no audio coming from it...
--Rip

The white cable is for audio, but is not active on this product.

salvi · 06-08-2007, 06:32 PM

I just plugged both RCAs and connected the signal to my touchscreen. I wired the power cable to connect to the reverse light cable. So, as soon as the car is placed on reverse, the camera comes on and the screen automatically switches to the camera signal and vise versa. That's why it's so cool to do your own PC since you can take it apart and not deal with a complete system as you bought.