Simple spooting scope system

[dromia]

Exactly the same as my experience, evidently a lot of these devices don't have enough power to run the cameras without an external power source which defeats the portability objective of this. That is why I was asking to try and get a list of cheap tablets that would run the cameras but from the limited input we have had here there doesn't seem to be any, maybe the lack of power is a feature of them being cheap.

Would a USB powerbank not work for this? They can generally output at 5V and 3A or more. While this is adding yet more to the system, they are small and portable (and can charge your phone at the same time!). They are also not particularly expensive (~£20 for a nice one).

Not really an option when you are on the range, most of the MoD ranges hardly have targetry that works and broken comms so the likelyhood of getting them to put on power to the firing point is zero.

[JohnASmith97]

I'm not sure that would work... the tablet was plugged in and charging while i was trying the camera, so it should have had enough power..

...And it works on my Android phone, which possibly has less power than the tablet...

It may be the Operating System... this tablet runs on Android 4.4 "Kitkat" which is an oldish OS... one with an newer OS may work..
My phone is Android 8...

Does the camera have the capability to have a separate power input to the data output? If not then it would be a right pain to get it to work with the powerbank

[JohnASmith97]

Exactly the same as my experience, evidently a lot of these devices don't have enough power to run the cameras without an external power source which defeats the portability objective of this. That is why I was asking to try and get a list of cheap tablets that would run the cameras but from the limited input we have had here there doesn't seem to be any, maybe the lack of power is a feature of them being cheap.

Would a USB powerbank not work for this? They can generally output at 5V and 3A or more. While this is adding yet more to the system, they are small and portable (and can charge your phone at the same time!). They are also not particularly expensive (~£20 for a nice one).

Not really an option when you are on the range, most of the MoD ranges hardly have targetry that works and broken comms so the likelyhood of getting them to put on power to the firing point is zero.

I was thinking of something like this: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Anker-PowerC ... power+bank (no endorsement of that particular one by the way, just an indication of what exists)

[dromia]

Not sure how that would work, how does the camera plug into the tablet when it is plugged into the battery?

[JohnASmith97]

Not sure how that would work, how does the camera plug into the tablet when it is plugged into the battery?

That is the main difficulty, if it had a separate power input to the output it would be trivial, but if not you'd have to get some spliced together USB cables, with the power components from the battery bank and the data components from the tablet cable. It would be possible but a bit of a pain in the backside. But then again, if the problem is just that the tablet does not support OTG functionality, which is entirely possible, then this would not help at all.

[Daryll]

Thats whats confusing.. the tablet should support OTG, and even comes with an OTG cable.

The tablet recognises that a USB device is plugged in, but can't use it.

I did wonder if it was a problem with the cheapo camera, but i also tried with my high-end Logitech webcam and that didn't work either.

[Racalman]

If your device is OTG compliant then it should work with the camera. If the device cannot supply enough current then the adapter I linked to in a previous post will allow the connection of a backup battery to run the camera. There is an app in the Play Store that will tell you if the device is compliant.

So far I have got the following devices to recognise the camera with the USB Camera app:

Tesco Hudl 2 tablet (Android 4.4.2) but only with external battery
LG Toilet 5 phone (Android 6)
Samsung Galaxy A6 (Android 8)

It also works with a Linx 7 tablet running Windows 8.1 and the free SharpCap program.

I bagged the two tablets on eBay for around £40 each, both in as new condition.

[Daryll]

The tablet I bought was £20 from the 'bay... and I see your Android 4.4.2 Hudl needed the external power, so that could also be why mine didn't work.

But Sharpcap works on my Linx 10 running Win 10, so all good in the end.. just means i've got a spare tablet now....

This is how looks now..

https://ibb.co/9nRDDyR

The Linx is just propped up on the bullet boxes at the moment, I'll make a wall mount for it tomorrow.

[Racalman]

The tablet I bought was £20 from the 'bay... and I see your Android 4.4.2 Hudl needed the external power, so that could also be why mine didn't work.

But Sharpcap works on my Linx 10 running Win 10, so all good in the end.. just means i've got a spare tablet now....

This is how looks now..

https://ibb.co/9nRDDyR

The Linx is just propped up on the bullet boxes at the moment, I'll make a wall mount for it tomorrow.

That looks good. I bought two of the USB webcams, one for the spotting scope and one for my Targetmaster but haven't got round to setting that one up yet. I could use the Hudl with backup supply for it as it doesn't need to be portable.

QUESTION FOR THE MODS: Why does the forum spellchecker translate N e x u s as Toilet?

[dromia]

They spam advertise when used.