Camera Locos

[drgw0579]

While this group is primarily DCC, it is also supposed to be Electronics...

At the Colorado Model Railroad Museum, we've been experimenting with locomotives with cameras that can stream video from the "engineer's seat."   We've had several generations of mobile video, but they used wireless HDMI and required a large footprint to handle all the electronics.  We're currently trying a Raspberry PI Zero W that can stream the video over WiFi.   That allows the reception of the video on a PC or phone via web browser. I personally like running my train like that as seems more realistic.  Theoretically, this allows for multiple units doing this concurrently, and we'll have to see what our WiFi network can handle.

The hope is that the "Camera unit" is mostly undetectable and can be used during our normal operations.  It's contained in an unpowered F unit. The video quality isn't all that good, but okay for now.  Maybe eventually we can stream the video to the website and show an "engineer's view real-time".   We know there are others doing this, especially for remote operations; in fact this project was helped by a museum volunteer that is out of state.

You can see in the photo below, we've got the camera capturing part of the hood of the locomotive' I wish the lens wasn't such a wide-angle, but that probably contributes to the depth of field.  Positioning is critical and we've had numerous adjustments to try to get it right in an F unit. Power for the Raspberry is from the track with "Stay Alive" to prevent video dropouts from dirty track.  A disadvantage of using the Raspberry is that when you do lose power, there's a delay while the OS reboots and enables the camera.

Right now it's only an HO project, but since I have a large N scale layout at home, I hope I can figure out how to fit an ESP32 into an n scale unit.

Bill Kepner

[peteski]

Looks good!

I've been using live video (analog) in N scale locos since 2005. Video quality is not the greatest, but we're talking about a system that is over 15 years old.  The setup is manufactured by a company that makes Medical Cameres (like the ones small enought ot be placed in a capsule that can be swallowed) and dental camera wands.


My first install was ina a Kato P42 locos. It was featured in the Kato USA gallery, but they took the gallery down.  I'll upload some of those photos later for reference. While the video is only VGA resolution, the nice thing about it is that the lens is so small (0.020" diameter) that it can be well hidden in the model.  When I run it at the NTRAK shows, visitors are really surprised just how well hidden the camera it.



More  info about my setup (and links to YouTube videos) was covered here in 2013. See https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=28477.msg300778#msg300778

[railnerd]

My HO Club's efforts are documented here:

-Dave

[drgw0579]

Peteski:  It doesn't appear the TC-9 is available anymore.   Would that be correct?   I might consider using that for my N scale layout.   I know Roco and Tomix have or had analog cameras at one time.
Dave:  yes, OBS is great!   Another use of the Pi would be to activate the couplers using a small solenoid.

[peteski]

Peteski:  It doesn't appear the TC-9 is available anymore.   Would that be correct?   I might consider using that for my N scale layout.   I know Roco and Tomix have or had analog cameras at one time.

This one might actually be the same thing that Tomix used.  PM me your email address and I'll email you more detailed info about the camera, and how to try to get one. 

[drgw0579]

still trying to find out if RF Systems still sells the camera.

[peteski]

still trying to find out if RF Systems still sells the camera.

Last night I emailed you all the info I had.  Email them and see if they respond.

[greenwizard88]

As of about 3 days ago, I was made aware of the ESP32-cam boards, like the one linked below. You connect to them via Wifi and browse to 192.168.1.1/video or something to get the feed. Super easy. I'm not sure how to best power them yet, or if they'll fit in an N scale loco though.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ESP32-CAM-ESP32-5V-WIFI-Bluetooth-Development-Board-2-0MP-Camera-Module-Antenna/133456199602?hash=item1f129bffb2:g:iIYAAOSw8Ule~2~t

[parkrrrr]

I'm not sure how to best power them yet, or if they'll fit in an N scale loco though.

According to this seller, the board is 27mm wide. You can probably fit it in an empty shell at an angle if you remove the headers, but you might need a longer camera cable to accommodate the twist you'll need to put in it.

Editing because my personal sense of scale was off a bit. Now I'm not sure whether it'll fit in most locos.

[peteski]

Like you said 27mm is a bit too wide for N scale unless maybe it was installed diagonally.  I think that board is a bit too large for N scale.

[parkrrrr]

Like you said 27mm is a bit too wide for N scale unless maybe it was installed diagonally.  I think that board is a bit too large for N scale.

At 27mm it's about 14'2" wide. That'll fit in the plate B loading gauge, so you could maybe shoehorn it vertically or mostly vertically into a fat, tall loco with a low-slung fuel tank. But even once you'd identified a prototype that met your needs, if there are any, you'd almost certainly have to build the shell with that use in mind since tank and body would have to have nothing between them, meaning the shell would have to be the frame. And you'd still probably have to engineer some thin spots into the shell to maximize the interior dimensions.

Or, since there seem to be no shortage of these things on the Chinese market, it might be an open-source design that could be rerouted on a longer, skinnier board, subject to the dimensions of the ESP32 module itself.

Edit to add: Yep. Here's the schematic.

[drgw0579]

I'm working on building an ESP32-EYE into a Tichy rotary snowplow.   The board is slightly wider than the outside of the body, but I cut away enough to let it stick out so it could be covered with strip styrene.   And you need to allow the buttons to be accessible so you can boot and configure it.  I may actually extend the body so I can include supercaps for a stayalive circuit.  Or that will go in a tender, it's a work in progress.  The project got stalled, then our family was evacuated because of the wildfires and I'm involved in a 1:1 project.   Maybe I'll get back to it when it gets colder.

Bill Kepner