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Solar powered NBTV camera

PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 6:44 pm
by Viewmaster
Many parking meters are now solar powered, farmers' cattle warning signs,
car battery chargers too.

So how abouit a portable solar powered NBTV camera ? :shock:

Only about 10w at 12v would be required for camera so panel would only be about size as shown.

"Here comes the Sunkow." :shock: :)

PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:25 pm
by gary
Trivial in Oz, good luck in the old dart! ;-)

PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:18 pm
by Steve Anderson
That raised a chuckle!! I did quite a lot of work in Denmark in the 80s....one guy said, "Summer. I think this year it's on a Thursday."

Steve A.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:42 pm
by gary
To be fair, the last time I was in the UK for about 4 weeks, I was based in London and it was appallingly hot - London hotels don't have A/C - at least the affordable ones.

At the end of the slog a colleague and I drove up the A5 and through North Wales to Portmeirion (we are both prisoner fans ;-)) - absolutely gorgeous weather - when the sun shines on the British Isles there is no better place to be...

Edit: A5 I wrote A1 - think it was A5 to avoid the M1 - UK people help me out here

PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:11 pm
by Viewmaster
gary wrote:Edit: A5 I wrote A1 - think it was A5 to avoid the M1 - UK people help me out here


Yes the A5 is the more leisurely route to the North Pole!

However, variety is the spice of life and in our UK weather too.......
Blue skies all the year would be boring and uninspiring to the soul :wink:

Give me snow, ice, rain, clouds, sun, dull skies, bright skies and the all the rest of it.

Ah, Luvly.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:14 pm
by gary
Agree totally with that Albert - my new location "occasionally" gets snow - maybe this year! :D

Edit: VERY occasionally

PostPosted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 2:51 pm
by Steve Anderson
Continuing the off-topic theme...all cars have air-con here, but none have heaters. My wife when we first visited the UK wondered what these unusual controls were on the dashboard of the rental car, "They're for the heater." I explained. I got an incredulous look returned.

To return on-topic...

If it were to be a standard disc-based camera the electronics should be easy to get under 50mA at 12V with a bit of careful design, including LED current for sync hole detection etc..

A cassette-type motor used in a battery recorder I would have thought 100mA if powerful enough...over to others on that matter.

So potentially under 2W.

Steve A.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 12:09 am
by Viewmaster
Steve Anderson wrote:So potentially under 2W.

Steve A.


Now all we need is a solar powered few watt NBTV video recorder and we have ourselves an Outside Broadcast NBTV unit. :shock:

PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 1:08 pm
by Steve Anderson
Viewmaster wrote:Now all we need is a solar powered few watt NBTV video recorder...

Not wishing to return to the days of cassettes or open-reel tape* either use a laptop which I think is a bit of a cop-out, or a simple SD Card recorder...which I guess includes those portable devices that can record .wav files....ipods?...dunno about those things...when it comes to 'consumer electronics' I'm a bit of a Luddite.

Steve A.

*Don't get me wrong, I love tape, in all its forms, it's just such a headache for NBTV.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 2:17 pm
by gary
Steve - wasn't it you who worked out a way of recording NBTV on VHS? That might be appropriate.

But really, why would Albert go past his Edikow? ;-)

PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 2:37 pm
by Steve Anderson
Yes, it was, quite a few years ago. But required quite a bit of support gubbins, it was more a 'proof of concept' exercise.

One of the problems with solar cells is the very sharp knee in the power delivery curve. If the device it's feeding (usually a battery via a charging circuit) draws a constant current up to its maximum, all is good and well.

If the device, as in this example, draws an average 8W from a 10W cell, all again seems OK. But anything that requires peak powers above the 10W the cell voltage simply collapses...re-start!

Something like this will probably need a small rechargeable battery just to cope with those short-term peaks. It can just be a string of NiMh AA cells. Possibly just a large electrolytic.

Steve A.

In fact if the average could be just a few watts use said string of NiMh cells for powering the device and recharge them from the solar panel when not in use. It's still solar powered, just the energy is stored...but I guess that's not quite in the spirit of what Albert meant.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:38 pm
by Steve Anderson
An alternative name may be "Heliocam", or "Helioscan" after the Greek word Helio, the sun...just a thought...

Steve A.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:55 pm
by Viewmaster
gary wrote:Steve - wasn't it you who worked out a way of recording NBTV on VHS? That might be appropriate.

But really, why would Albert go past his Edikow? ;-)


Because it wouldn't fit into the OB van, Gary !!
Also the fine wax shavings off the cutter head would be a great fire risk to the staff on board the van. :shock:

I suppose for a true OB unit we need to transmit the NBTV signal back to the studio anyway.....come in Vic Brown here?

Steve, Heliocam or Helioscan? I like that.

I do wonder at times where these threads are taking us. :)

PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 11:54 pm
by Steve Anderson
Viewmaster wrote:I do wonder at times where these threads are taking us. :)

Beyond the Black Stump (Oz), Over the Hills and Far Away (UK), Nakorn Nowhere (Thailand)...

It's a bit like brain-storming, you never know what may result. There are many forums where members get reprimanded for just going a little bit off-topic but I feel that stifles imagination and constructive thought. I hope others agree.

So as I see it anything related to the original posting by Albert is fine. NBTV (of course), solar, portable, energy storage (for aforementioned), reducing power consumption, efficient drive systems....and so on...keywords to start with...

Steve A.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 12:20 am
by Viewmaster
Steve Anderson wrote:
Viewmaster wrote:I do wonder at times where these threads are taking us. :)

Beyond the Black Stump (Oz), Over the Hills and Far Away (UK), Nakorn Nowhere (Thailand)...

It's a bit like brain-storming, you never know what may result. There are many forums where members get reprimanded for just going a little bit off-topic but I feel that stifles imagination and constructive thought. I hope others agree..


O not arf.. Not arf. Some forums even lock the threads before folk may have had their say, or the slightest topic deviation and one is in the dog house.

I don't recall any such locking on this forum.......
............except the sync. :)

Steve Anderson wrote:So as I see it anything related to the original posting by Albert is fine. NBTV (of course), solar, portable, energy storage (for aforementioned), reducing power consumption, efficient drive systems....and so on...keywords to start with...
Steve A.


Such as OB vans, tyres, punctures, calling out the AA...
...........sorry, just kidding......O, and goats giving birth too :shock: