Another new toy

[Spunkymonkey]

Ok, got bored after 2 hours.

It was still going happily after 2 hours 3 minutes and 47 seconds (according to the video length) but now won't switch on again on battery power. But it will start up again using the same trick again

It had used 2.9GB of the card - so that's about 42 minutes per GB, or just over 11 hours on a 16 gig card!

The file seems to have 31 frames per second, with about 1 in 30 dropped, although that increased as the light started fading. That's using a Sandisk class 2 (which isn't recommended for video use) card.

[Spunkymonkey]

Well, had my first breakdown on this yesterday. It suddenly decided it wouldn't hold a charge, so took it apart and resoldered the very dodgy (but still connected) battery leads. That made no difference so I started looking for prices of LiPo cells but then found a comment that the supplied USB leads are less than reliable. Stuck it on charge with a decent lead and, sure enough, it works fine!

Sticking a meter across the supplied lead shows the screen not connected and about 2 ohms end-end on all the lines. On a 60cm lead, I reckon that means they made it out of either nichrome or a single 3 thou strand of copper

[tinweevil]

Ta Joe, two ordered. One to use and one to see if it can be modified for permanent fitting in a car, auto start/stop with line power & overwrite oldest files.

[Spunkymonkey]

There are a few hacks out there for running it from external power, Tin.

If you're planning on a permanent fit then I'd suggest that simply removing the battery and connecting a permanent 3.7v regulated supply would be the simplest. That way it'd have power as long as the car battery was connected, so it would retain it's date / time stamp (assuming you'd set it).

Getting automatic record would be a bit harder because you'd need to operate the power button as soon as ignition on, then the record button after a delay of about 5 seconds. Nothing that couldn't be done with a few transistors and capacitors though.

Automatic erase would be a problem though because the only way to do that would be to hack the firmware. That said, if you're happy playing in assembler code, the standard firmware is out there and there's even a flash utility that people have found that apparently works. In fact, if you went that route, you could always reprogram it to automatically enter record when it's switched on

Don't blame me if you brick it trying that though

[tinweevil]

I won't, I'll not be crying too hard at these prices

[JPB]

Mine turned up today. Luckily, the regular postie was on the round after his seemingly endless holiday so he put it in the boot of the Dolly and left a note telling me that he'd done so.
I've only had it on charge for about 3 hours so far but have tested it with a spare 2GB card that came as standard in my HTC phone, which had a 32GB card fitted as a condition of my signing up for a further year with Vodafone back in May 2010.
The CD (perhaps that should be half a CD , never seen one like that before but it works) opens under WINE (Ubuntu 11.04) so the small matter of resetting the time and date from January, 2008 shouldn't be a problem and I've already created the required files as suggested in the device's instructions. Such as they are.

I'm unlikely to be around for long enough to become properly acquainted with the thing until the task of settling my freshers into their coursework has been ticked off the endless list of stuff that has to be done at this time of the year, so don't be too surprised if a test vid is a while in the making.

Looking good so far though.

[Spunkymonkey]

Another free tip on charging, John. Don't leave it on too long (more than about 2 - 3 hours) because apparently the charging circuit is pretty basic (what do you expect??? ) and (some) can overheat before deciding they're fully charged. I've taken to unplugging when I notice the case warming which seems to work just fine

[JPB]

Well it appears to be fully charged yet hasn't melted so I guess that's all good.
Unfortunately, the device end of the USB lead isn't exactly the same as that on my phone lead, so here's hoping the one that came with doesn't expire too soon, I'll pick up another just in case.

I might find time tomorrow for a test recording, but I don't have a dog so expect in-flight background music instead.