Current Projects

Intro - After much hard earned (very costly) experienced gained from the first balloon project, a series of modifications will be devised to ensure much more success with balloon project II. This will involve a digital camera with timed shutter release, so that no remote control wiring is required (which is what spoilt the first one). Hopefully this will mean a lighter payload, and will be coupled with proper nylon wire which does not tangle!

Update [27/10] - The 1GB SD card has arrived from Hong Kong. The write speed is actually faster than I thought, but thats okay, won't make too much of a difference. I put it in the camera and left it outside to take continuous photos for about two hours. Poor camera.. a total of 850 photos, and it was still snapping away like mad when I went to retrieve it. The total file size was around 600MB, so clearly there was still alot more room... meaning that this SD card will allow for a hell of a long fly time.

So its all set, all thats needed is a way to attach the camera to the balloon, which shouldn't prove too difficult. The launch date will definitely be later than 17/11 (last exam), but as of now I have no idea when this baby will fly.

Update [17/10] - The weather balloons arrived today. In the air mail package I also found a note from customs informing me that they had suspected illegal sustances inside ... mmmm yes errr. It also said they hadn't found any when they searched, so it was all fine... yeah all fine except for the fact that it got DELAYED! Anyway, just lucky I wasn't in a hurry to get them.

Four balloons are to be used this time, each one only 30 grams, whereas last time it was just one big 100 gram one. Only reason for this is that they don't sell the 100g one anymore...

Update [10/10] - A breakthrough in the progress of the project! It has been discovered that the shutter automatically takes pictures every so often if it is short circuited permanently. This simplifies the project in every way... complexity, no need for another battery (hmm wasted some money on those lithium batteries), less weight... etc.

The time delay in taking these pictures is dependant on the writing speed of the SD card, and the size of the picture taken. A few quick tests with a 9MB/s write speed SANDISK 256MB SD card shows the following speeds:

The camera takes photos remarkably slower when switched to 1600 x 1200 mode, but the maximum air time in this case is 20 minutes, which I suspect is definitely not enough to get the balloon to max. altitude (remember... the faster the balloon rises, the more likely the photos will be blurred, and I am hoping for an altitude of at least a kilometer). Even with 1028 x 768 pixels, the fly time is only 6 minutes longer, and the heavy price to pay is the poorer quality of the outcoming photos...

In order to still take advantage of this remarkable feature of this camera, I needed a larger SD card, or alternatively one with a slower write speed, so that the delay in taking photos would be longer. With all the cheap SD cards on Ebay (and hence abysmal writing speeds) , I found myself a 1GB SD card with 2.6MB/s writing speed. This should allow for alot more photos, whilst also dramatically increasing the total flight time and being able to take full resolution pics. The SD card will be shipped soon, and further tests will be conducted when it arrives.

Update [6/10] - CR-2025 lithium batteries ordered, these will be the power supply to the automatic shutter triggering circuit.

Update [4/10] - Modifications to shutter control complete! When two external connections are electrically closed, the shutter operates. I now need to design and build a timer to regularly operate the shutter every couple of seconds (I'm thinking around 10 seconds).

Update [2/10] - Digital camera arrived (BenQ DC 1500), 1.3 megapixel, lightweight [100g], supports SD cards, overall a bloody awesome camera for the price ($25!!!!!). Also, the focus is fixed, so it makes things a hell of alot simpler for me in terms of modifying for automatic shutter control.

Intro- A Gen. I image intensifier tube was won off an Ebay auction today (at a reasonable price). When it arrives I will be conducting a variety of tests and comparing it to the Gen 0 which I have now. I suspect it will perform extremely well under moonlit conditions, and perhaps okay in starlight conditions, but we'll just wait and see...

Finished. Please go to the Night Vision page.

Update [18/11]- PVC tubing and end caps have arrived for the construction of the night vision device. I have now tested the image intensifier in very dark situations and the performance is generally underwhelming. I think my battery is kinda dead anyway.

Update [13/11]- The night vision tube arrived as promised. The two flying leads attached to it were not helpful, and it turns out that the RED striped cable was not positive after all, and before I figured this out I had wondered whether it was dead on arrival. So, reversing polarity, I hooked up 3 volts the right way round (red=negative), and hey presto, a beautiful green display with no blemishes whatsoever. Pretty good. I'm planning on mounting it in a PVC tube with the objective and eyepiece lens screwed onto holes which will be drilled into the PVC endcaps. As of now, no pictures of it yet, as I don't have enough hands to hold everything in alignment! (camera+intensifier tube+objective lens).

Intro- A wholesale lot (12x) of fibre optic lamps were won off Ebay for $10, and the plan is to strip all the optical fibres off these things. These can then be made into a light pipe, and perhaps a "see around corners" camera kind of thingymabob. Or I could just make my own mega fibre optic lamp.... We shall see.

Finished. Please go to the Fibre Optics page.

Update [10/11]- The newly arrived fibre optic lamps are the cheapest, worst made products in the whole world. A thin paper like plastic tube with a dodgy thread is the fibre optic holder thingy. Anyway, noone cares.. I'm after the optical fibres. These fibres are actually quite thick and did not help much in terms of getting a good resolution light pipe. Pics and more to come later....