Battery Packs for X-10 Cameras?

dustinc20 asks: "I dont know if this is the right area, but being as this is a geek site I'd ask my fellow geeks if anyone knows a way to build a battery pack for one of those X-10 cameras. It has a frequency encoder(?) in the power supply and this makes it more complicated than just supplying 12vDC."

hmm..

[seann]

At radioshack we had wireless cameras [radioshack.ca] simular to X10's (In a way) that also had battery packs! We slammed them on some RC vechicals, threw them in the roof to lay some wire.

Re:hmm..

[tps12]

I assume this was followed by a round of high fives.

X10 Eavesdropping

[c0wh]

Considering how easy it is to intercept X10 transmissions, why would you want to bother?

(registration required) Here's an article [nytimes.com] at the New York Times with a little more detail.

Re:X10 Eavesdropping

[WayneGayle]

Maybe because it doesn't always matter that someone could evesdrop on my video signal. I'm getting some cameras to set up outside of my unsecured apartment building because my landlord is too incompetent to make my apartment safe, who cares if someone intercepts that signal?

Re:X10 Eavesdropping

[TheAlmightyQ]

Maybe because not everyone is as paranoid as you.

I don't need to worry about people spying on me, because I'm pretty sure anyone who spent any amount of time doing that would die of boredom.

Re:diaper_tales!

[PoiBoy]

That is the most touching story I have read in a long time. You made my day!

yes yes

[jbridge21]

I think we have a candidate for Most Original Troll 2002 here.

Re:X10 cameras are a signal of cultural change

[Rick the Red]

The only people I know with one use it to watch their kids. When their kids are playing in the den they can "spy" on them from the kitchen TV. A novelty at first, now they only use it when they hear screams from the den, to see which kid is hitting which so they can add the correct name when they yell "Knock it off!" Much better than when I was a kid, and Mom always blamed the wrong brother.

What, you bought one?

[alnapp]

So, you're the one who makes X-10 think their pop up frenzy advertising will work.

Burn the heretic

only half ;-)ing

X10 protocol

[neitzsche]

Um,
The X-10 protocol used the 60Hz power as it's carrier, right? That's how it sends controls to the camera telling it when to broadcast, what frequency, etc.

So you question must be asking, how to bypass the controls, and always broadcast, as if it's been initialized by battery?

I dunno. All those damn pop-under ads still make me want to jump up and down on the cameras instead of trying to find you a real answer.

Well, make sure when you find them...

[qurob]

Advertise the hell out of them with annoying pop-up ads!

Whoops, that idea's already taken!

It's really quite simple

[crazeded]

Seeing as how I did this very thing last night... just grab 8 AA batteries and a holder, then connect the holder to the camera/transmitter. Absolutely no funkiness, just plain 12 volts.

Of course, you can also replace the crappy camera with a decent one (try Supercircuits [supercircuits.com]). You might want details on the wiring [aeinnovations.com] for hooking it up, too.

I'd just like to reinforce this.

[daviddennis]

I have seen the X10 camera at my local Fry's, and the quality goes way beyond bad, far into the range of unacceptable.

Definitely no good for the sexual hijinx implied by the ads. It might be acceptable as a surveilance camera to show stuff happening in real time, but I wouldn't count on getting evidence out of the horrid, grainy images.

If it worked as well as the pictures in the ads imply, it would actually be a great toy (and I'd probably own a few). But it doesn't even come within screaming distance of decent quality.

Whether you want the camera for spying or good dirty fun, it's simply not - ahem - up to the challenge.

D

please buy more of these.

[Unknown Poltroon]

I do so love people who support their popunder ads.

4AA Batteries...

[mini me]

A friend of mine had one of those cameras. We hooked it up to his R/C car and drove it around with video. All we did to get was get one of those battery pack things that can be found at radio shack and hooked it up to the camera. It worked great. It may have been 8AA battries, I'm not sure now, but it's simple math to figure out what you need.

Voltage doubler

[Tiersten]

The battery pack has a voltage doubler inside it because it only has 4 AA batteries inside. This only gives 6V which is why you need the voltage doubler. The unloaded output is roughly 15V.

Just do what another poster did and get enough batteries to make a 12V DC supply. Remember that you can't switch it on or off once you do this since the switiching mechanism is built into the wall wart.

9 volt

[JMZero]

I tried using a 9-volt battery with my X10. No extra hardware, just stripped the wires and pressed them against the terminals.

Works fine. I use it all the time on little RC cars. Lots of fun.

Also tried a 1 pint 12 volt lead battery - ran for like 3 days with the one I used. RC car had a little trouble hefting the battery though.

Of course, I'm not going to accept any blame if you fry yours.

.

huh?

[CMiYC]

Where did you get your information? Power supplies aren't designed with "frequency encoders" or anything like that. Either a power supply outputs DC or AC. Since solid state electronics require DC, it seems pretty obvious ALL you need to do is strap 12V worth of batteries on it.

Blimp

[CaptCanuk]

I've always wanted to grab an X10 with batteries and stick onto a helium blimp and float it around the house. Attach a food tray to the blimp and you are one step closer to breakfast in bed!