Greetings,
The kit came in yesterday and the first thing I did was run a script to pan back and forth and that worked great. But when I switched to tilt I could hear the gears grinding away and it was obvious there was an issue with the gears not meshing and that motor got hot. I did a quick shutdown and the servo started to scream until I pulled the power cord. Oh well at least least I was able to test the pan feature and it was great being able to point the camera. I contacted support and just need to open a ticket and get an RM. I am running on a Pi4, with MotionEye on Raspbian, a 2.1 pi cam and an additional USB cam. I have had it going for a while recording mostly wildlife at night and during the day with fixed cameras so the pan tilt will be great once its all working.
The project includes mounting the unit to a post outside but I need to enclose it in a clear half dome similar to a big snow globe or clear cylinder with a dome that sits over a mechanical clock. A mechanical clock unit might work if the cover is plastic and the clock could be removed and parts could be mounted in its place. I have thought of a number of things that could work but can’t quite find anything big enough or modular that could have the pan tilt unit and hat attached to a base covered by the dome though which and extended header could could be used to attached to pi module below for instance. If I can find a clear dome like a big round food storage bowl that might work, but I have only been able to find small ones. I have seen similar projects and plans to print up weather proof cases for fixed cameras but just can’t find anything for a pan tilt setup. If anyone has an idea please let me know.
Thanks,
Greg
I have a couple of Pan Tilt setups. Mine arrived with the servo’s not centered. This will cause the plastic bits to reach their end of travel but the servo keeps trying to move. That will cause noise etc and maybe overheat the servo.
What I did was disassemble it so the servo’s don’t have anything connected other than the cable to the Hat. Then I did a pan to zero and tilt to Zero to center them. Then put it all back together with the plastic bits centered as well. All was fine after that. I blame this on whoever builds them at Adafruit. They are assembled there. If you wat to be really safe just set limits on the pan and tilt in your code to + and - 85 or 89 instead of + and - 90.
A 2 liter Coke or Pepsi bottle may work. Juts cut the skinny end off. Or keep your eyes open next time your at the super market for something in a big clear glass or plastic jar etc. Something with a metal screw on lid. If you get two servo extension cables the Pan Tilt could be bolted to the Jar lid instead of to the Hat. Then just use the extension cables to plug them into the Hat that’s in the enclosure.
EDIT: ops, I’ll have to plead guilty to not reading your whole post. Looks like we are on the same page though. I guess I need another cup of Java to wake the old brain up, lol.
Have a look at CCTV domes, you can buy them without the camera, and there should be enough room to fit the PI and servos in some of the deeper models.
Hey,
It will probably end up mounted from above looking down and out so the top, bottom when inverted, needs to be a clear dome. I sent a note in the support forum so hopefully they can get me an RM and a replacement. If I had been using it a week or so before it started to malfunction I would repair or replace it, but since it happened the first time I tested it, I will wait for replacement.
I was checking on those but could not find one that looked big enough, at least based on rough specs given for some of them. I will check again and focus on security system suppliers instead of Ebay or that other one.
Thanks for the info. I found a couple others that might work as well including just a large clear dome with a flange that can mounted. Alibaba has some other things and I can see many common things on both. I haven’t ordered from Alibaba yet but I might give it it a shot.