Build Your Own Underwater Video Camera - Underwater Projects ...

Build Your Own Underwater Video Camera 

http://underwaterprojects.741.com/index.html 

Free Downloads! 

Build Your Own Underwater Video Camera 

Improved Design 2007 Edition 

Buyers are granted full re-sale rights. 

Buyers please note: The web is a dynamic place and so is the business world. URL's chance and so do part numbers, prices... 

I have no control over such events. 

Also in the USA it's customary to use decimal point instead of a comma. I also have added some metric figures to the 2007 edition. 

The original project (2004) end up costing more than I expected. I have since redone the housing as this one was prone to leaking. 

And replaced the RFU unit with newer and cheaper models. The 2004 project employed spy cam from Weldex costing $70, future 

projects used models from Supercircuits.com which start at $11.95, wiring remained unchaged. For good results go with one of the 

spy cams recommended below. 

Parts List: 

8 infrared led's/ or 4 bright white, plus 1, 59 ohm resistor, one of the best source of bright white led's is eBay seller will try selling 

large lots 

try contacting them see if they will breakdown some of their lots. Also ask specific questions about size, voltage, luminescence... The 

ones I use 

in the example are 3 Volts, if your power supply feeds out 12 volts, you'll need 4 (12 Volts / 3 Volts = 4 led's), if you are using a 9 volt 

power supply 

then all you'll need is 3 (9 volts / 3 volts=3 led's) 

Acrylic Lens, make one from a sheet of acrylic, or if you plan to use your camera in shallow water grab a lens off a flashlight. 

Rubber gasket 

Spacers, screws/ Bolts, nuts 

Wire ties 

Shrink tubing 

Down cable Home Depot sells 22/4 shielded communications cable by the foot, 21 cents/foot last time I bought some. 

All you really need for this camera is 24/2, but I'm hoping to use the other two conductors in future project. SKEW# 249605 

2 12 ga. wires and alligator clips 

1 5 lug terminal strip * 

1 Capacitor 47 Mf 25 v * 

1 Voltage regulator (JM24AF) LM2940T * don't buy the last 3 parts if you decide to use a dc adapter 

1 1/2 inch slip nut and washer, Moen plastic sn 2698c find it at Home Depot 

OPTIONAL PARTS 

One fast blow fuse 12 v 500 miliamp and holder and a switch both go on the red power wire. 

CAMERA UNITS 

The following units can be used in this project. 

BW camera .03 LUX part number WDH2500B standard lens 

http://www.spytown.com/welbwboarcam.html 

with 3.6mm lens. $55.00 plus shipping 

Alternate BW camera slightly less sensitive .1 LUX $39.95 Supercircuits PC212XS 

http://www.supercircuits.com/?txtSearch=pc212xs&PageAction=PRODSEARCH 

Color camera .5 LUX part number KPCS20C B standard lens 

http://www.spytown.com/worsmalsupmi1.html 

with 3.7mm lens. $119.00 plus shipping 

Alternate Color camera slightly less sensitive .8 LUX $69.95 Supercircuits PC213XS 

http://www.supercircuits.com/?txtSearch=pc213xs&PageAction=PRODSEARCH 

Getting Started 

http://freepistonjetengine.741.com

Camera Housing 

To fabricate the camera lens buy a sheet of clear acrylic cut it with a 1 

7/8 (48 mm) MASTER MECHANIC circle cutter . You'll find one of 

these at True Value Hardware Stores , in the USA. If you can not find 

one of these where you live, try cutting your circle with a jigsaw. To cut 

the lens using the circle cutter you'll also need a drill press, as these circle 

cutter will slip ruining your piece. 

You'll need a section of PVC pipe about 1" , a trap adapter, and an end 

cap. Glue the end pieces together in the order shown. Drill a hole in the 

center of the end cap, and slip the down wire through. Secure it by looping 

a wire tie and pull it tight. Using marine grade goop squeeze a bead 

between the wire and the end cap. This will make the housing water tight. 

To ensure against any possible leakage 

mix together 5 minute epoxy and pour it inside the end cap. 

Using a 1 1/2" circle cutter cut off two circles from the same acrylic sheet 

you used earlier for the lens. This circle cutter can be any brand, unlike the 

one used for cutting the lens. 

Next place the two pieces on top of each other, drill two holes diametrically opposed. Then take one of the parts and bore a larger hole 

using the center hole as a guide. This hole needs to be large enough for the camera lens to portude through. By now you must have 

picked up your LED's. Depending on the amount of LED's used drill a radial pattern on the same piece. If you are not sure which drill 

bit to use for this get a hold of a drill guide. Insert the LED's so that the leads line up long to short to long... and solder them following 

the wiring diagram on top. In the center of this array you should have soldered a resistor, you can place it anywhere but placing it here 

makes your project look neater, and less prone to short circuit. 

http://freepistonjetengine.741.com 

You spy cam should have included a bracket like the 

one in the picture on the left. Cut two slits on the part 

you set aside to acomodate the bracket. 

at this time drill a hole big enough to insert 5 

conductors through. 

Take a red and a black solder them to the LED array 

follow the wiring diagram. Black should be soldered 

to the short lead. 

Using two long screws and two sections of tubing as 

spacers join the two acrylic disks as in the picture. 

Last solder all the wires following the scematics 

below. Insert shrink tubing in all exposed wires and 

seal them by applying heat on the tubing. Thread the 

adapter cap using pipe compound. You are now done.

The camera was suspended by it's own power cable. A bracket was 

manufactured out of a 3 1/2" corner L brace for this purpose. The brace was cut 

off approximately 1 1/2" from the corner. The short end was bent up and the 

sharp edge filed smooth, the same was done to the edge on the sawed off piece. 

The small straight piece was then bolted to the bent up end of the L piece. Next 

two holes were drilled on the small piece. Two hose clamps were slipped over 

the housing and the bracket was inserted under both, (the long side of the 

bracket lays flat against the housing) and fastened by turning both screws . Two 

wire ties were inserted in the small holes drilled in the movable part, and the 

wire was attached by looping the ties around the cable and pulling the ends 

tightly. Enough slack was left as to allow the movable part of the bracket to be 

adjusted in any direction, this enables the camera to point up or down. 

An alternative would be an aluminum strap bracket. To build, cut it, and bend it to wrap the PVC housing snugly, drill a hole on the 

top end and get a length of the same material and drill 3 more holes on it, two at both ends. You next insert a bolt trough the strap and 

flat bar, tighten with a nut. The remaining holes are for wire ties you'll need them to secure the down wire to the bracket. At this point 

you'll drill a hole in the PVC housing large enough to insert the down wire. Look at the next picture for details. 

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 

Electronics 

If you find these blueprints intimidating go on to my next project. It uses a power adapter. 

Your finished camera should look like this! The white wire on the 

threads is the microphone cable not used for this project. As tested 

this camera did not need any extra weight to sink. I did have 

problems with leaks and future projects used a fixed window and a 

cleanout adapter to access the camera. See tyco camera for details. 

First start by building your PVC housing. Then drill a hole slightly larger than the downwire. Next insert the downwire through the hole 

LED Array 

Disregard this section if you intend to use an external light source, such as sunlight, flashlight... Flashlights are much easier to use and 

provide more 

more light. Underwater Kinetics has several inexpensive watertight flashlights at reasonable prices. These camera are perfect for our 

project as they come with two places where one can loop hose clamps and attach it to the underwater camera housing. Wire ties may 

also be used to secure the flashlight. 


Picture shows two flaslights 

Check out www.uwkinetics.com 

Underwater Kinetics 

13400 Danielson St 

Poway, CA 92062 

USA 

1.800.327.7388 

Bright white LED's are rated for 3 volts. One lead is longer than the other, this is how you 

can tell their polarity. 

Make sure you mark where the short and long leads start, the difference is almost 

indistinguishable. the drawing of the left shows a 4 LED installation (3voltsX 4 LED's = 

12Volts). Infrared LED's put out invisible light which can only be picked up by the camera. 

Infrared LED's are rated between 1.2 and 1.6 volts (1.5), they are also about half the price of 

bright white type. Builder cand double the number of infrared LED's to 8, as in the example 

below. 

First you must drill a hole in PVC housing for the downwire. Hole should be only slightly 

larger than cable. Then slip the wire through the hole next fasten a wire tie to cable about 3 

inches from end. 

Now strip insulation off 2 1/2 from end. Mix a batch of 5 minute epoxy and dab onto wire 

below wire tie. Pull wire back into PVC housing and let the epoxy cure according to 

manufacturer recommendation. This makes your camera water proof. As a safety precaution I 

squeeze in some silicone caulk or other sealent on the outside. Epoxy may crack if the cable is 

tugged too hard or the camera is dropped... Silicone sealant is flexible and hold up better. See 

my other ebooks for other ways to make your camera watertight. 

The LED marke L for long is soldered to the red conductors and the blue cable. Yellow 

connects to the white cable and the braided shield is soldered to the last remaining conductor, 

in our case it's a braided shield. 


Lug 1 Not used 

Lug 2 +12v Power source 

Lug 3 Ground 

Lug 4 Power out camera, RFU Unit 

Lug 5 Video junction 

Connecting Your Camera To A Monitor 

Connecting To A Television Receiver 

(Tv Set) 

If you are planning to use a VCR or similar recording device, then all you need do is plug the RCA jack to the back of such device. 

Most portable Tv sets don't come equiped with RCA plugs. You must purchase one of the following RFU modulators at Walmart and 

follow the schematics. Please note all RFU modulators will do the job. These are very inexpensive the first example cost me $10 and the 

second $7. The last one being small enough that it was incorporated into the project box. 

If you use an old tv without a threaded coaxial cable female plug, open up the PL-303 unit and using your soldering iron, remove the 

antenna input, then solder two wires, one to the center, the second to the flange, use a few layers of electrical tape on the soldered ends. 

Next connect the ends of the two wires to the antenna connections on the back of the tv. 

Caution not all RFU units are created equal, even when they come from the same manufacturer. Pelican 7020 has 3 conductors, the red 

wire is your ground, the green positive 5 volts, yellow video in. To assemble this cut off the plug (do not cut off the ferrite) and strip off 

the insulation, exposing the conductors. drill a hole in your control unit and slip the wire through. secure the cable with a wire tie. solder 

the output from the adapter to the red and green wires, next solder the video cable to the yellow conductor. Don't forget to insulate all 

solder connections with heat shrink tubing. The powering options above apply to this model. 


Improved Housing (leak proof) 

The camera housing consisted of a section of 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe 

(a), 5 inches long. One 1 1/2 inch cleanout adapter (b), and a union 

joint (c) cut nearly in half, one section must have the inner lip intact 

(d). 

The assembly of the housing: A bead of black silicone was squirted 

on one of the pipe's edges and the lexan window placed on top (f). 

The union section with the lip was similarly treated with a bead of 

silicone on the inner side of the lip. 

Next Place the pipe on a table with the lens side up. clean the upper 

section and apply PVC adhesive, quckly force the union joint down, 

until it stops. Within a few seconds the clean out adapter can also be 

glued. 

The housing was tested using a spare clean out cap. The housing was weighed down using a brick 

and trown into a pool overnight. A lens protector was attached to the housing (a plastic cap off an empty snack food container) to 

protect the lens from abrasion. 

This is a housing built of 2 1/2 pipe. 

same principle shorter section of pipe. Picture on left was taken 

during construction. I inserted the spycam inside to make sure it 

would fit. Should your camera not fit inside 1 1/2" pipe try larger 

pipe. 


Top left: Shows the finished product. The lens retainer was 

later sanded down flush with edge. 

Top right: Control box and camera. 

Left: Control box open . 

Bottom left: Housing finished and painted. 

Next you must fabricate a bracket like the one shown in the pictures 

below. Choose an aluminum strap that is easily bent. See 

accompanying file on the Tyco camera for details on making your 

own bracket. The picture sequence below shows the camera pointing 

up to check hulls, piers, docks, bridges... The middle picture shows 

the camera pinting down to check bottom of a river, ocean, well... 

Last picture shows the camera pointing straight for cruising, trolling... 


Before taking the finished camera to the local pond, river or sea, 

squirt some pipe dope on the housings threads. Pipe dope protects 

against leaks up to 10,000 PSI. 

All you need now is a cheap portable Tv. Connect the RFU's 

coaxial cable to the back of your set. Some small Tv's don't have a 

coaxial cable connection. Instead they have an jack connection 

similar to an audio plug. An adapter is all you need. 

http://freepistonjetengine.741.com 

http://underwaterprojects.741.com/index.html 

Free Downloads! 

Buyers are granted full re-sale rights.

Build Your Own Underwater Video Camera - Underwater Projects ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?