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Battery Packs for X-10 Cameras?
dustinc20 asks: "I dont know if this is the right area, but being as this is a geek site I'd ask my fellow geeks if anyone knows a way to build a battery pack for one of those X-10 cameras. It has a frequency encoder(?) in the power supply and this makes it more complicated than just supplying 12vDC."
Lots of it.
At radioshack we had wireless cameras simular to X10's (In a way) that also had battery packs! We slammed them on some RC vechicals, threw them in the roof to lay some wire.
I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
(registration required) Here's an article at the New York Times with a little more detail.
Why are X10 cameras so popular? Why do people think they are worth their $80 and what do they use them for? Are they being used for surveillence of their families? Or are managers spying on or monitoring their employees? Either of these scenarios are undesirable from the standpoint of the family members or the workers. Who wants to be watched like in 1984? Basically, surveillence culture will lead to a culture of fear of doing anything except what you would be able to do in public.
Thanks,
Travis
forkspoon@hotmail.com
So, you're the one who makes X-10 think their pop up frenzy advertising will work.
;-)ing
Burn the heretic
only half
Get the EULA T-shirt
This is the strangest fuckin thing i have read in a long time.
Good Job!
Who run Barter Town?
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
Um,
The X-10 protocol used the 60Hz power as it's carrier, right? That's how it sends controls to the camera telling it when to broadcast, what frequency, etc.
So you question must be asking, how to bypass the controls, and always broadcast, as if it's been initialized by battery?
I dunno. All those damn pop-under ads still make me want to jump up and down on the cameras instead of trying to find you a real answer.
"God is dead." - Frederik Nietzsche
Advertise the hell out of them with annoying pop-up ads!
Whoops, that idea's already taken!
Seeing as how I did this very thing last night... just grab 8 AA batteries and a holder, then connect the holder to the camera/transmitter. Absolutely no funkiness, just plain 12 volts.
Of course, you can also replace the crappy camera with a decent one (try Supercircuits). You might want details on the wiring for hooking it up, too.
I do so love people who support their popunder ads.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
A friend of mine had one of those cameras. We hooked it up to his R/C car and drove it around with video. All we did to get was get one of those battery pack things that can be found at radio shack and hooked it up to the camera. It worked great. It may have been 8AA battries, I'm not sure now, but it's simple math to figure out what you need.
The battery pack has a voltage doubler inside it because it only has 4 AA batteries inside. This only gives 6V which is why you need the voltage doubler. The unloaded output is roughly 15V.
Just do what another poster did and get enough batteries to make a 12V DC supply. Remember that you can't switch it on or off once you do this since the switiching mechanism is built into the wall wart.
I tried using a 9-volt battery with my X10. No extra hardware, just stripped the wires and pressed them against the terminals.
Works fine. I use it all the time on little RC cars. Lots of fun.
Also tried a 1 pint 12 volt lead battery - ran for like 3 days with the one I used. RC car had a little trouble hefting the battery though.
Of course, I'm not going to accept any blame if you fry yours.
.
Let's not stir that bag of worms...
I have seen the X10 camera at my local Fry's, and the quality goes way beyond bad, far into the range of unacceptable.
Definitely no good for the sexual hijinx implied by the ads. It might be acceptable as a surveilance camera to show stuff happening in real time, but I wouldn't count on getting evidence out of the horrid, grainy images.
If it worked as well as the pictures in the ads imply, it would actually be a great toy (and I'd probably own a few). But it doesn't even come within screaming distance of decent quality.
Whether you want the camera for spying or good dirty fun, it's simply not - ahem - up to the challenge.
D
I think we have a candidate for Most Original Troll 2002 here.
...thinking of filming your h0t neighbor while she takes a shower?
Where did you get your information? Power supplies aren't designed with "frequency encoders" or anything like that. Either a power supply outputs DC or AC. Since solid state electronics require DC, it seems pretty obvious ALL you need to do is strap 12V worth of batteries on it.
I've always wanted to grab an X10 with batteries and stick onto a helium blimp and float it around the house. Attach a food tray to the blimp and you are one step closer to breakfast in bed!
---- The geek shall inherit the Earth.
Ok, I really hate to say this but X10 of what ever the company is sells batteries for thoes cammers and If I remmeber they are LiOn so they last for like a couple ours. Have you looked at the site, under "Accessories" ?
snowulf.com
http://www.x10.com/products/x10_zb10a.htm
Right there. Now they have changed them so that they are just a AA battery holder, taking 4 batteries. If you dont care about how it looks, goto radio shack and follow peoples sugestion about a the voltage double (or a transformer).
snowulf.com