LIVE CAMERA: For The Technical Minded

The camera is back in-service on the hill. (See "LIVE PHOTOS" in the "Links" section, right sidebar.)

The camera and transmitter are remotely located about 200' up the hill behind the house. Since getting power to the site would be a problem, I decided to run it using solar power.

The basic unit is a 3' x 4' Seimens solar panel, charging a 12-volt deep-cycle marine lead/acid battery, through a solar charging controller. The controller regulates the amount of current going to the battery and turns ON and OFF charging, as needed.

The camera and transmitter need 12-volt DC at about 500mA to operate. Nominally, the battery should provide 12-volt DC, however during bright sunlight and heavy charging, the voltage can peak up to 15-volt DC. The camera and transmitter don't like the higher voltage, in fact, they tend to burn out ... and that is exactly what happened! (The camera/transmitter supplier was kind enough to supply new equipment, at no charge, under warranty, but I don't think he's do it a second time!)

Hence: I have installed a "Instrumention Grade" DC to DC converter between the supply battery and the camera/transmitter. The DC to DC converter will accept a voltage input anywhere from 9-32 volts DC and output exactly 12-volts, plus or minus ONE percent. This should solve the overvoltage burn-out problem.

"Now you know the rest of the story ..."