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Old 03-09-2007, 04:52 AM   #1
eTiMaGo
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Fun little cheap mod... "Overtake cam"

I had this idea formenting in my head for a while, and put it to practice today.
Not a DIY per se, but anybody with half a brain should be able to set up a similar thing if they wanted. Took me 15 minutes and not even a screwdriver was needed.

Anyway, to give a bit of context, we have a lot of 4-lane roads over here, which is fine and dandy. But, very often the outside lane is not really usable as there are cars parked there! So, if it is necessary to overtake someone, it's hard to tell if there is space to go or not, since the driver does not have good visibility on that outer lane. Having a passenger helps, but you can't always expect to have that extra pair of eyes.

Enter the "overtake cam". A small cheap wide angle video camera attached on the furthest possible left of the car, so as to give a clear view of that lane. The original idea was to mount it insode the side mirror with a clear window, but that is beyond my skills. So, it has found its way to the upper corner of the windshield:





It's held on at the moment by that sticky putty usually known as Blu-tac (although the one I used is UHU's patafix, but it's pretty much the same thing)

And the whole thing hooked up to a spare video input of my head unit. The result:



A nice clear view ahead and to the left of the car!

I tried to take a picture while driving, but it wasn't easy:



The camera requires a 9V input, and since I had an inverter handy, I mounted it in the stealthiest possible location, which is the glovebox:



It's not pretty but it works.

Of course, this is really more of a proof-of-concept, there are several shortfalls:

The camera is the cheapest I could find (about $15...). And as such, it can't handle low-light situations, or direct sunlight all so well, causing it to go dark sometimes (and I think it can actually damage the CMOS sensor over time). Plus, the focus is less than ideal and it's a bit difficult to identify what you're looking at.

There are reflections on the windshield which can make it hard to see, but I think this can be solved by using a shade around the lens.

It's easy to get distracted and try to drive using the screen only. Like one gigantic Playstation...

Soooo.... what do y'all think? Coolest thing ever, or has this French guy finally gone certifiably nuts?
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Old 03-09-2007, 05:13 AM   #2
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OH hey! That's pretty neat.

Could it still work w/ tinted windows?
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Old 03-09-2007, 05:17 AM   #3
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sure, my front windshield has a light tint, it's not a problem in daylight. As for nighttime, it'll probably just depend on how brightly lit it is outside.
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Old 03-09-2007, 06:44 AM   #4
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thats nice......pervert ;)
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Old 03-09-2007, 06:49 AM   #5
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Quote:
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thats nice......pervert ;)
pervert?? How's that?

hey wait maybe I could put a camera near the bottom of the car, then drive next to women wearing skirts... THAT would be pervert
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Old 03-09-2007, 07:33 AM   #6
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When I was a young, dumb teenager, my friends and I mounted an infrared boating camera on the front bumper of an '87 Honda Accord. We then went tearing around rural Georgia at 2 AM with no headlights.

It worked, and it was fun at the time, but now I realize how dumb it was.

Your setup looks great, dude! It's a great idea for combating blind spots, as well!
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Old 03-09-2007, 07:39 AM   #7
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dude BMW and Mercedes do that now and charge much $$$ for it...

and thanks
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Old 03-09-2007, 06:35 PM   #8
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I think here in the US this would be a better mod for your blind spots. One inside both the right and left sideview mirrors with 2 small like 3" monitors custom mounted in like an A-pillar gauge pod. Cool thought and pretty nice execution.
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Old 03-09-2007, 06:54 PM   #9
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Thanks

I was also tempted to use an external monitor at the A-pillars, it would be more intuitive to look at, but I already had a screen available, so I was too cheap to buy an extra one Plus is just seems more OEM that way.

But the ultimate in external cameras is the Toyota Alphard, a kind of luxury minivan in Japan and also imported here.... there's the obligatory reverse cam (with dynamic guidelines to show where the rear of the car is headed), a side camera that shows the left edge of the car, to park perfectly at a curb, as well as a left and right nose camera to peek around corners. Pretty cool and useful!
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Old 03-09-2007, 07:41 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eTiMaGo View Post
dude BMW and Mercedes do that now and charge much $$$ for it...
And to think that beat them to it!

I'm thinking of taking your idea and modifying it- I would love to have a backup camera (Lexus has spoiled me).
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Old 03-09-2007, 07:54 PM   #11
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I used to think a rear view camera would be useful, but nah, not really... It's easy to judge where the end of the hatchback is, since there's no trunk. I do have a reverse cam, but I rarely use it. And I normally SUCK at parking.

Though in your case with a sedan, it could come in handy!

Now I have to find a way to hook the camera to a small recorder of some sort, police camera style!
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Old 03-10-2007, 02:19 AM   #12
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Nice mod. For a long time I wanted to mount a camera at the lower front bumper to do a "rally style" cam... Of course, this is extremely more useful :D
Congrats on a nice mod!
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Old 03-10-2007, 05:24 AM   #13
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Man what can I say.. It's Inspired!

I'm forever saying "clear left?" to the Mrs when I'm driving!

It's the frakking U-Turns in the fast lane that are the problem here, well not the u-turns per se, but the way the frakkers here use them (i.e. not in the turn lane at all)!

Kick-ass idea, will be copying you on that one!

As for the Perv-Cam, just mount one on the passenger side lip (skirt), pointing up at 45 degrees or so - should scope a fair amount of uni girls on scooters that way :)
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Old 03-10-2007, 06:27 AM   #14
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Took a couple of pictures to demonstrate a little better.

This is the normal driver's eye view. Pay close attention to how well you can see past the left edge of the white pickup, especially the tree in front of it:



And the camera's view (ignore the truck in the left lane, it wasn't there in the first picture).





BTW Razr, you a Battlestar Galactica fan?
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Old 03-10-2007, 09:39 AM   #15
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nice, it works :)
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Old 03-10-2007, 04:57 PM   #16
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Dood that's awesome!

Here in CNX most roads are two-lanes, but you always avoid the slow lane as it's full of scooters, slow pickups, people driving on the wrong side of the road etc..

Problem is when someone makes a U-turn and doesn't pull into the turn lane all the way, or some fool doing a u-turn from the other direction pulls all the way into the fast lane - you're now doing 120KM/hr and instantly need to see if the left lane is clear of potential roadkill, or if you have to test the ABS yet again..

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BTW Razr, you a Battlestar Galactica fan?
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Old 03-10-2007, 05:46 PM   #17
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Cool idea etimago!
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Old 03-17-2007, 10:44 AM   #18
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Stage 2: Night Vision

So today I picked up a proper camera unit, with much better optics and an automatic switch to night vision mode (where the big array of IR LEDs light up, spreading invisible light to a range of about 25 meters).



One main problem: The LEDs cause a lot of glare when it's behind the windshield, so it's impossible to see anything, a new mounting location has to be found, directly exposed to the environment. The camera is supposed to be waterproof, I am thinking replacing the left fog light with it, my friend says stick it on the roof!

Anyway we took a little preview video, I just wedged the camera between the wing mirror and the body.

Excuse the weird interference, the cheap inverter I am using is really kinda crap. The camera is 12V, so I will hack up the cable and run it straight off the car's electrics, with better results...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ZBRJWrsLQ
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