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SteveT

A project log for See Through The Eyes of a Champion

Using FPV technology to see what a competitive pistol shooter sees

unnecessarycomplificationUnnecessaryComplification 12/31/2022 at 14:000 Comments

Version 1 is a quick prototype using a bunch of old parts. 

RunCam Phoenix Camera

My camera is an older version of the Phoenix. It is a 1/2" sensor and has an M12 lens mount. This is important since we need much higher power, and smaller field of view to work in this application. The primary area of interest, the sights and target, are less than 1 degree wide. The strongest lens I have is labeled 45 degrees. I am waiting for a couple of stronger lenses to see what works best.

The smallest and cheapest cameras have M8 lenses which have a lot fewer lens options.  

The camera and transmitter are mounted to a small piece of plastic. The plastic carrier is Velcroed to the front of the headset so it can be moved around and positioned right in front of the eye.

Fat Shark Transformer Binocular FPV Headset

Unfortunately the Transformer has been discontinued. I like it because it has a nice flat front face that makes it easy to mount the camera and it can be detached and used as a monitor to replay the recorded video. BangGoods claims to have it available (as of Dec 30, 2022) but I am a bit suspicious. Let me know if you buy one.

Lumenier TX5GS Transmitter

A transmitter isn't necessary, and probably not desired. I used it in the first prototype because I new it would work right out of the box and it does. I am going to wire the video signal directly into the display and will re-purpose the transmitter to make a target view camera feed that can be saved separately or inset in the recorded video feed.

Batteries and wires

The headset display operates from 7-13V so a 2S li-po is a good choice. I got a Fat Shark 2S battery holder with the headset. The camera and transmitter operate over 20V so my first pass uses a 4S li-po I had laying around.

Next Steps

It works as it is now, but the lens is too weak resulting in low resolution of the bullseye that doesn't allow accurate aiming at the target. As soon as I receive a stronger lens I am going to the range to try it out. 

The wiring needs to be cleaned up. It is pretty much just a hodge-podge to get something working. I want to wire the Video Out from the camera to the headset display and power both the camera and the display from the same battery.

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