Originally Posted by manhunt

Hi!
1) I was playing with my #16 camera, trying to solder pitch correction module to microphone and accidentally i shorted something on the board. I didn't found any visual marks and camera still working fine. However since that happen camera eating the battery two times faster than it was before! It is the first generation of the camera. I have tried update firmwares, but nothing helps.
2) And also i have the second camera (second generation with tv-out) and it doesn't turning on. I also accidentally shorted something on the board. Every transistors and resistors look fine to me, what could happen? And is any way I can try to repair? Please any advice. It's important for my project.
If anyone can target me to the right direction where to look and what to resolder on the board I would be appreciate!

I'm afraid that just looking at the components will very rarely tell you anything. It will be very difficult and time consuming to locate the shorted components. Measuring the resistors is pretty easy, but if you get a "strange" value you'll have to remove the component and measure it on the bench. With a bit of luck it will be "open", meaning you shorted it. I made special SMD leads for my multimeters using fine needles for the prongs. You'll have difficulty in recognizing the inductors. Some look exactly like the capacitors, so again, you may have to remove them in order to measure them. The diodes are easier to measure because they're larger. The transistors - no way! Most of the markings seem to be just random numbers - at least to me....

This all assumes you have the correct measuring equipment. A good LCR is essential.

I have only covered how to look for a dud component without any battery power. If the camera is under power, an oscilloscope is great for comparing signals from a working camera, but it's still not an easy job to trace the bad component(s).

Not very helpful, I know, but finding dud components without the correct circuit diagram is not an easy task. Such a diagram does not exist - unfortunately

What I usually do in a case like this is to print a full page picture of the front and rear of the circuit. Then mark every component which you measure, but always double check with the prongs reversed. I estimate you can confirm the functionality of about 90% of the passive components this way.

Oh yes, you'll need a hot-air soldering iron for removing those tiny components. There's no way you can do the job with a normal soldering iron, IMO.

Finally got Victapilot's suggested settings loaded. I much happier with the results.

Difficult lighting conditions I realize but is the greenish streak due to the simple fact I'm flying into the sun or should it not be there at all?

Flying the Hogback with a #16 Keyfob (5 min 28 sec)

Yabba

Originally Posted by Yabba

Finally got Victapilot's suggested settings loaded. I much happier with the results.

Difficult lighting conditions I realize but is the greenish streak due to the simple fact I'm flying into the sun or should it not be there at all?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCTj23eHZHk

Yabba

Those green stripes are usually from the sun ("overdriving" for lack of a better term) the CMOS sensor, but I DON'T get those using the normal Auto-exposure and default color settings! So it might be the different settings you are using causing this.

Got my new #16 cam and it is out of focus. I read the instructions for trying to focus the camera but it seems to be super glued into place. Any suggestions for getting the lens free so it can rotate without destroying the threads?

Back a few pages somebody had the same problem and used a dob of acetone (I think) to release it. You will have to search for the posting

Also check post # 10999 Page 734

Originally Posted by naryan

Got my new #16 cam and it is out of focus. I read the instructions for trying to focus the camera but it seems to be super glued into place. Any suggestions for getting the lens free so it can rotate without destroying the threads?

Try to pick out the glue with a needle before you try to use any liquid solvents! And be very careful NOT to bend or stress the ribbon cable when trying to release the lens... it's fragile and can break a trace if flexed too much.

Removed.

Originally Posted by Tom Frank

There is actually NO built-in delay (at the present) before the motion detection becomes active (it's active as soon as the camer power is turned on),

Perhaps that needs further clarification for "turned on", as it takes 6.9 seconds to boot up and start recording (Auto-Record) from the beginning of pressing Power.
Does it have to boot up first, before it can start detecting motion?

Stewart

Originally Posted by Fugitive_Bill

Fishycomics,

This from a person been up all night bored waiting the USA Formula 1 race to start at 6am AUS local time. 1pm US time depending where you are, East, Central West. The race is in 'AUSTIN' and I dunno where that is and time zone it's in!- Mark Webber to win, I've got 20 bucks him at paying $13 odds. With that $260 I'll be able to buy a few more #16 V2 and a few all these lenses you guys are playing with, at this stage all my Cams rock stock, other than the FW updates.

-B!LL!

Sorry about your lose of $20.

Originally Posted by seahorse41

Perhaps that needs further clarification for "turned on", as it takes 6.9 seconds to boot up and start recording (Auto-Record) from the beginning of pressing Power.
Does it have to boot up first, before it can start detecting motion?

Stewart

There is about a 2 sec. delay (with current FW, subject to change right now) after the power button is pressed so that an accidental bump of the power button while carrying the camera in a pocket doesn't accidentally turn on the camera and run down the battery. So motion detect should start right after the yellow LED comes on steady during the startup process, but I forget if there is any delay built into the existing FW vrsion before it starts watching for motion.

BUT Auto-record MUST BE TURNED OFF for motion detection to even work! These two functions cannot both be on at the same time since their actions will conflict with each other. So the GUI tool does this for you automatically, and I think so does the FW, but I can't recall for sure. This is also explained in the GUI tool tips.

Originally Posted by Tom Frank

Try to pick out the glue with a needle before you try to use any liquid solvents! And be very careful NOT to bend or stress the ribbon cable when trying to release the lens... it's fragile and can break a trace if flexed too much.

Alright, so I spent a while being very careful with a small needle working at the glue. I got the lens to turn. I was very careful with the camera but now that it is back together it's not working. It will turn on and off but the shutter button doesn't seem to do anything now. Also it won't show up as a removable disk on either of my computers. I also tried a different memory card...no luck..

Any ideas? I hate that I'm out $50 and all I have to show for it is two blurry videos.

Originally Posted by naryan

Alright, so I spent a while being very careful with a small needle working at the glue. I got the lens to turn. I was very careful with the camera but now that it is back together it's not working. It will turn on and off but the shutter button doesn't seem to do anything now. Also it won't show up as a removable disk on either of my computers. I also tried a different memory card...no luck..

Any ideas? I hate that I'm out $50 and all I have to show for it is two blurry videos.

Check to see that the ribbon cable has not been slighly moved in it's holder on the circuit board. You can search this thread for videos on how to remove/replace a lens ribbon cable and make sure it is fully seated and making good contact. What kind of LED activity do you get when you turn on the camera?

p.s. I hope you also disconnected the battery and/or put tape over the bare circuit board components while handling with your bare hands.

I had an imager assembly go wonky, and replaced it with a new one.
Easy to do.
Just be sure to mark the old one -before- you remove it from the camera!
And mark the battery connector while the camera is open!
It can be plugged in wrong, and then all the smoke comes of the camera!

Originally Posted by Tom Frank

And that review is dated June 2011, before the #16 was even available! Most of the "disadvantages of the HD keychain" camera he was using for comparison (must have been a #11) have long been eradicated and surpassed when the #16 was released and updated extensively with on-going FW releases over the past year.

The poster apparently didn't know much about the configurability of the #16 since it has a recording indicator LED that can be toggled on by the user, along with dozens of other tweaks. Plus three different lenses, including a wide angle lens that is similar in AOV but sharper than the HK lens in that sample photo in the article. The cold weather reduced capacity plagues all lipos, but it would be trivial to add a larger battery and shrink wrap it to the camera like the HK camera if necessary, or better yet, power it from an ESC BEC or UBEC and eliminate the extra weight.

The poster did read up on the #16 purchased a d lense and was good at about 20 feet blury after that. the b lense is on par but limited on the bat life.
trivial is needing to do tweaks and and modify the cam to be on par.
We fly an average of 3 times a week and with a total of 8 cams on board.
We want to be able to record flights an average of about 10 min x 4 or 5 and edit our flights into a 5 min show.
I'm not saying the hk has better video and I'm sure the #16 will do better in quality with tweaks but for producing an edited video and posting on youtube that most will not see any dif.
For ease of use and knowing that its recording and the ability to record for more than 20 min is a no brainer for us.
If we really want quality video shots we send up our GoPros or Bloggies.
Also concerning a ubec or esc we fly multiple planes with cams on board so that would be another problem and diffrent locations on the plane.
For instance take the Radian we mount 2 to 3 cams on the wing and another usually the #16 on the tail mainly for weight as we did the Paul Natons mod and used the #16 for balance plus being able to have another cam for recording.
Would be hard to run wires. plus we use our cams on many other planes so it wouldn't work for us.

I think this would apply to all these small cams.
Mine had a rattle that I thought was the electric motor in the plane. Then I decided to shake the cam and listen. Yep, it was the camera. I opened it up and whoever fitted the battery forgot to remove the covering on the double sided tape that secures the battery and it was sliding around.
Also found that the on/off and record buttons could rattle. That was fixed by putting a small patch of Johnson and Johnsons leukotape over the buttons on the inside of the case.
Cam feels and sounds completely different now.