Hi, I am looking to buy a flexible inspection camera to look under floor boards and inside pipes. Can anyone suggest a good cheaper one.

Thanks

alec green wrote:
Hi, I am looking to buy a flexible inspection camera to look under floor boards and inside pipes. Can anyone suggest a good cheaper one.

Maplin if you want to use a laptop with it, or Aldi if you can wait
until they're on offer again.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

In message , alec
green writes
Hi, I am looking to buy a flexible inspection camera to look under
floor boards and inside pipes. Can anyone suggest a good cheaper one.

CPC were doing one not so long ago for £27 with a USB connection IIRC or
about £70 with a viewing attachment


--
geoff

In article ,
alec green wrote:
Hi, I am looking to buy a flexible inspection camera to look under floor
boards and inside pipes. Can anyone suggest a good cheaper one.

I got a very nice one off Ebay for 30 quid. The head is a smaller diameter
than most which was an advantage to me. It is USB so has to be used with a
laptop, etc. IMHO, the all in one types sold for about 70 may have rather
a small screen. But if you go for one of those, make sure it has a port
for the ability to record the image if needed.

--
*Can fat people go skinny-dipping?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

alec green explained on 23/09/2012 :
Hi, I am looking to buy a flexible inspection camera to look under floor
boards and inside pipes. Can anyone suggest a good cheaper one.

Thanks

I got a USB inspection camera or "Snakescope" off Ebay from Hong Kong:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nk...mera&_osacat=0

or

http://tinyurl.com/d7vmw7l

to use with my laptop and it's really good. Used in conjunction with an
electrician's fish wire/cable rods or unfolded wire coathanger, it'll
go fairly much anywhere I've needed it.

On 23/09/2012 13:11, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
alec green wrote:
Hi, I am looking to buy a flexible inspection camera to look under floor
boards and inside pipes. Can anyone suggest a good cheaper one.

I got a very nice one off Ebay for 30 quid. The head is a smaller diameter
than most which was an advantage to me. It is USB so has to be used with a
laptop,

I was toying with getting one of those... what is the field of view
like, and how good is the illumination?

(I have a proper endoscope, which is great for some things - but is best
with stuff that is very close to the end. So it would quite easily focus
on a 22mm pipe if you slid it down, but its rather wide angle to capture
much detail if poked into a under floor void for example)


--
Cheers,

John.

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On Sun, 23 Sep 2012 22:10:16 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

I was toying with getting one of those... what is the field of view
like, and how good is the illumination?

(I have a proper endoscope, which is great for some things - but is best
with stuff that is very close to the end. So it would quite easily focus
on a 22mm pipe if you slid it down, but its rather wide angle to capture
much detail if poked into a under floor void for example)

Hi,

There are a few cameras on offer at CPC at the moment. I was
interested in the usb one because it was the cheapest

http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d018...?Ntt=tl1458008

The other two have their own screen but one of the other replies said
that the screens are generally too small to be useful, so I think I
had chosen the right one for the wrong reasons!

The problem is the photo is too small to be helpful in seeing what you
are buying and CPC are terrible for not showing photos of the item you
will receive, so it could look nothing like that shown (IME).

Like you, I was wondering how well they focus and the field of vision,
etc. Does anyone know?

Do they come with any software or do you have to look for that
elsewhere?

Can you use a usb extension lead with one of these?

TIA

In message , Fred
writes
On Sun, 23 Sep 2012 22:10:16 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

I was toying with getting one of those... what is the field of view
like, and how good is the illumination?

(I have a proper endoscope, which is great for some things - but is best
with stuff that is very close to the end. So it would quite easily focus
on a 22mm pipe if you slid it down, but its rather wide angle to capture
much detail if poked into a under floor void for example)

Hi,

There are a few cameras on offer at CPC at the moment. I was
interested in the usb one because it was the cheapest

http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d018...?Ntt=tl1458008

As I mentioned the other day. I bought one, but have yet to use it in
anger. Yes it comes with a disk, but its only a basic interface


The other two have their own screen but one of the other replies said
that the screens are generally too small to be useful,

Dunno, I have one of those too. It was invaluable when an item (data
tracker) "dropped" under the floor pan of my escort van. Small, but
usable



The problem is the photo is too small to be helpful in seeing what you
are buying and CPC are terrible for not showing photos of the item you
will receive, so it could look nothing like that shown (IME).

Like you, I was wondering how well they focus and the field of vision,
etc. Does anyone know?


No peace for the wicked, eh?
Found my USB one

It has a length of just under a metre handle to tip
USB cable is 2m long. Extension lead? no idea

there is a button to snap photos and a pot to set the internal light
intensity

It gives a clear picture at 1cm (text on the computer screen is clear
and crisp), and at 4m (the other side of the room) the picture is what I
might call "low photographic" quality

For the few quids it costs, you can't really go wrong (unless you were
hoping to use it as a spanner or something)

--
geoff

On 24/09/2012 21:56, geoff wrote:
In message , Fred
writes
On Sun, 23 Sep 2012 22:10:16 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

I was toying with getting one of those... what is the field of view
like, and how good is the illumination?

(I have a proper endoscope, which is great for some things - but is best
with stuff that is very close to the end. So it would quite easily focus
on a 22mm pipe if you slid it down, but its rather wide angle to capture
much detail if poked into a under floor void for example)

Hi,

There are a few cameras on offer at CPC at the moment. I was
interested in the usb one because it was the cheapest

http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d018...?Ntt=tl1458008


As I mentioned the other day. I bought one, but have yet to use it in
anger. Yes it comes with a disk, but its only a basic interface


The other two have their own screen but one of the other replies said
that the screens are generally too small to be useful,

Dunno, I have one of those too. It was invaluable when an item (data
tracker) "dropped" under the floor pan of my escort van. Small, but usable



The problem is the photo is too small to be helpful in seeing what you
are buying and CPC are terrible for not showing photos of the item you
will receive, so it could look nothing like that shown (IME).

Like you, I was wondering how well they focus and the field of vision,
etc. Does anyone know?


No peace for the wicked, eh?
Found my USB one

It has a length of just under a metre handle to tip
USB cable is 2m long. Extension lead? no idea

there is a button to snap photos and a pot to set the internal light
intensity

It gives a clear picture at 1cm (text on the computer screen is clear
and crisp), and at 4m (the other side of the room) the picture is what I
might call "low photographic" quality

For the few quids it costs, you can't really go wrong (unless you were
hoping to use it as a spanner or something)


I was looking at the ones with a sensor head on the end of a long[1]
wire. Could be quite handy to tape to the end of a cable rod and then
feed several rods deep into the fabric of a building for seeing if that
blockage really is a dead end or just a nogging that needs to be jumped
over etc

e.g.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7M-USB-WAT...item2a213d12b7




[1] 3 to 10m being common depending on what you pay


--
Cheers,

John.

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\================================================= ================/

On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 22:59:21 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

I was looking at the ones with a sensor head on the end of a long[1]
wire. Could be quite handy to tape to the end of a cable rod and then
feed several rods deep into the fabric of a building for seeing if that
blockage really is a dead end or just a nogging that needs to be jumped
over etc

e.g.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7M-USB-WAT...item2a213d12b7




[1] 3 to 10m being common depending on what you pay


I hadn't thought of looking on ebay until now, thanks. The advantage
of the ebay ones is that they do have a much longer cable. I think
that has got to be better than using usb extension leads because one
would need a bigger hole to pass the usb plug/socket combination
through and there would be the potential for the extension lead to
become unplugged if the cable got caught on something.

I see the ebay ones claim to be waterproof. I wonder whether where
that is on a scale between splash proof and submersible? After all,
one possible DIY use could be looking down drains.

I wonder how scratch resistant they are. No use if it becomes unusable
after one or two uses.

I think these could be very useful though, I have used my digital
camera to see what is under floorboards before now.

To answer some of my own questions, it seems from the descriptions on
ebay that the cameras are all the same: they all appear to be 300k
pixels with 4 white leds.

The only difference is that some appear to be plastic, whilst others
have a brass camera enclosure. I wonder the brass ones are more hard
wearing.

Not all descriptions mention how waterproof they are. Some say they
are IP66 rated; one said IP67 which I hadn't heard of before; I assume
it is a typo.

For Windows haters, one had the interesting line: " It can be just
compatible with windows system"

HTH

In article ,
Fred wrote:
To answer some of my own questions, it seems from the descriptions on
ebay that the cameras are all the same: they all appear to be 300k
pixels with 4 white leds.

The only difference is that some appear to be plastic, whilst others
have a brass camera enclosure. I wonder the brass ones are more hard
wearing.

Not all descriptions mention how waterproof they are. Some say they
are IP66 rated; one said IP67 which I hadn't heard of before; I assume
it is a typo.

IP67 is real. It means item can be underwater up to a depth of 1 metre for
a short duration. Testing tme 30 minutes.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

On 25/09/2012 15:25, charles wrote:
IP67 is real. It means item can be underwater up to a depth of 1 metre for
a short duration. Testing tme 30 minutes.

I've just been looking at IP67 rated mobile 'phones. So...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code

Andy

On 25/09/2012 13:58, Fred wrote:
On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 22:59:21 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

I was looking at the ones with a sensor head on the end of a long[1]
wire. Could be quite handy to tape to the end of a cable rod and then
feed several rods deep into the fabric of a building for seeing if that
blockage really is a dead end or just a nogging that needs to be jumped
over etc

e.g.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7M-USB-WAT...item2a213d12b7




[1] 3 to 10m being common depending on what you pay


I hadn't thought of looking on ebay until now, thanks. The advantage
of the ebay ones is that they do have a much longer cable. I think
that has got to be better than using usb extension leads because one
would need a bigger hole to pass the usb plug/socket combination
through and there would be the potential for the extension lead to
become unplugged if the cable got caught on something.

USB also has a max reliable length of around 5m without repeaters (hubs).

I see the ebay ones claim to be waterproof. I wonder whether where
that is on a scale between splash proof and submersible? After all,
one possible DIY use could be looking down drains.

It ought not be too hard to make something like that fairly water
resistant.

I wonder how scratch resistant they are. No use if it becomes unusable
after one or two uses.

Probably plastic lenses. Once could possibly stick a glass front on them
if they are flat. Also if pushing through with a cable rod set etc, one
could add protection by taping it a cm back from the tip of the lead rod.


I think these could be very useful though, I have used my digital
camera to see what is under floorboards before now.

Indeed same here. I can quite often get that into places I would have no
hope of getting my eye!

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:05:03 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

On 25/09/2012 13:58, Fred wrote:
On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 22:59:21 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:



I wonder how scratch resistant they are. No use if it becomes unusable
after one or two uses.

Probably plastic lenses. Once could possibly stick a glass front on them
if they are flat. Also if pushing through with a cable rod set etc, one
could add protection by taping it a cm back from the tip of the lead rod.


I think these could be very useful though, I have used my digital
camera to see what is under floorboards before now.

Indeed same here. I can quite often get that into places I would have no
hope of getting my eye!

I'll probably end up getting arrested one day,the missus runs away if
I see something of interest like an old pump house or similar
industrial artifact. camera stuck to a stick or held close to a
keyhole can sometimes reveal what remains inside easier than the naked
eye, especially if you can a bit of flash in there.
Have thought about getting one of the ones the OP is asking about but
it would be difficult to blag out an excuse if caught using it.
I got into enough trouble as a 12 year old when friends and I
discovered a home made periscope could peer through a grating into the
adjacent Girls changing room at school.

G.Harman

In message ,
writes

I got into enough trouble as a 12 year old when friends and I
discovered a home made periscope could peer through a grating into the
adjacent Girls changing room at school.

G.Harman


Why trouble? You were only putting your knowledge of physics and
metalwork together to aid your knowledge of biology.
--
Bill

On Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:05:03 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

USB also has a max reliable length of around 5m without repeaters (hubs).

I hadn't thought of that but TBH I was only thinking of a couple of
metres. 3m would be enough to get to the other side of the rooms in my
house; I think the only time I might need 5m would be if looking down
a manhole.

It ought not be too hard to make something like that fairly water
resistant.

It might not be hard to do but I wondered if they cut corners to keep
costs down. Totally OT but each year we buy a new set of outdoor
Christmas lights because they aren't as waterproof as they claim to
be!

Interesting that some ebay sellers claim they can be used for ENT!

On Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:05:03 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

USB also has a max reliable length of around 5m without repeaters (hubs).

Just noticed one with a 10m lead on ebay. Does that mean it might not
work reliably? TIA

On Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:56:45 +0100, Fred wrote:

I hadn't thought of that but TBH I was only thinking of a couple of
metres. 3m would be enough to get to the other side of the rooms in my
house; I think the only time I might need 5m would be if looking down
a manhole.

I notice that the one linked to only had about 80cm of "tube" before the
handset that had the dimmer control for the LEDs on. I don't think it
would be very easy stuffing that through a wall or floor void, also need
quite a large access hole.

Are there any inspection cameras that just have a short semi-rigid tube
then a long (5m or so) cable to the handset?

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 27/09/2012 22:00, Fred wrote:
On Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:05:03 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

USB also has a max reliable length of around 5m without repeaters (hubs).

Just noticed one with a 10m lead on ebay. Does that mean it might not
work reliably? TIA

It depends on what goes down the cable from the camera... if you stick
the transition to USB at the plug end, you sidestep the issue.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 27/09/2012 22:00, Fred wrote:
On Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:05:03 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

USB also has a max reliable length of around 5m without repeaters
(hubs).

Just noticed one with a 10m lead on ebay. Does that mean it might not
work reliably? TIA

It depends on what goes down the cable from the camera... if you stick the
transition to USB at the plug end, you sidestep the issue.



I have often thought about buying one of these. Can someone post pictures of
what their camera shows so that i can judge how useful one might be?

Mike

In article ,
Muddymike wrote:

I have often thought about buying one of these. Can someone post
pictures of what their camera shows so that i can judge how useful one
might be?

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...1001152059.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...1001152043.jpg

One taken from about 9", the other about 1", about the limits of focus.

Some camera shake present. ;-)

--
*What happens if you get scared half to death twice? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 01/10/2012 17:45, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Muddymike wrote:

I have often thought about buying one of these. Can someone post
pictures of what their camera shows so that i can judge how useful one
might be?

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...1001152059.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...1001152043.jpg

One taken from about 9", the other about 1", about the limits of focus.

Some camera shake present. ;-)

I wonder if the other cable cams have a wider range of focus... there
are times where it would be handy to have something that can see much
further away. (my optical endoscope is quite good in that sense in that
stuff at infinity is in focus - however it lacks illumination power, and
also resolution to make much sense of stuff more than a few feet away)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
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|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
In article ,
Muddymike wrote:

I have often thought about buying one of these. Can someone post
pictures of what their camera shows so that i can judge how useful one
might be?

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...1001152059.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...1001152043.jpg

One taken from about 9", the other about 1", about the limits of focus.

Some camera shake present. ;-)

I have to say that the picture quality I get from the £17 one from CPC
is far better than that



--
geoff

replying to alec green , Daddychubby wrote:
alecgreen wrote:

Hi, I am looking to buy a flexible inspection camera to look under floor
boards
and inside pipes. Can anyone suggest a good cheaper one.
Thanks
I have bought one of these From CPC for less than £20. However the disk
looks to be blank. anyone got an idea where I might get suitable software.


--
posted from
http://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy/...ra-836451-.htm
using HomeOwnersHub's Web, RSS and Social Media Interface
to home and garden related groups

On 20/05/2013 19:44, Daddychubby wrote:
replying to alec green , Daddychubby wrote:
alecgreen wrote:

Hi, I am looking to buy a flexible inspection camera to look under floor
boards
and inside pipes. Can anyone suggest a good cheaper one.
Thanks
I have bought one of these From CPC for less than £20. However the disk
looks to be blank. anyone got an idea where I might get suitable software.

For which OS?



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 20/05/2013 19:44, Daddychubby wrote:
replying to alec green , Daddychubby wrote:
alecgreen wrote:

Hi, I am looking to buy a flexible inspection camera to look under floor
boards
and inside pipes. Can anyone suggest a good cheaper one.
Thanks
I have bought one of these From CPC for less than £20. However the disk
looks to be blank. anyone got an idea where I might get suitable software.

Why wouldn't you go back to CPC and complain?

--
David