1. Home
  2. Electronics Design
  3. Suggestions for underwater camera housing

Suggestions for underwater camera housing

I make something for use in swimming pools out of plastic plumbing pipe, but a fellow I was talking to last night had a more demanding use; design suggestions, and perhaps pointers/offers to manufacture would be appropriate.

This fellow needs to have video camera underwater, salt water, on device that is moored to the bottom on cables. The device is mobile, and the maximum depth is around 30 metres, with a video cable run of about 100 metres. Currents range up to about 10 knots. There could be a bit of turbulence, rocks, and general knocking about.

Off the top of my head I was thinking that a small surveillance-type camera with a flood light and some sort of video amplifier, all mouted in a small a stainless steel tube as possible, caps and an end window for the camera & light.

30 metres depth is about 100 psi, so sealing will be an issue, but this should just be proper design and workmanship, not innovation.

100 metres of a video run seems like a long way, and as well I do not know if the video cable will be exposed to salt water; probably not, but the possibility should not be ignored.

Mounting the device: would welded ears on the tube be likely to fail given the environment, materials, and forces? Or would it be better to have some sort of clamp to grab the tube?

There seems to be a need for more than one of these, and although I guessed a figure of $1000 for a cheap proof-of-concept unit, the fellow didn't seemed worried about sums in that range.

Reply to
jtaylor
Loading thread data ...

--
either:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Underwater+video+camera+housings

or:

http://www.austininstruments.com
Reply to
John Fields

I just saw a piece on our local news last night about a couple of guys who build homemade underwater ROVs. Most of the parts are PVC plumbing fittings, available at the local hardware store.

I have some 1.25" Schedule 40 that is rated for 370 PSI. That's internal pressure. It might be good for even more externally.

--
Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
Klein bottle for rent -- inquire within
Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

but

a

============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked! "The original frugal ponder" ~~~~ } ~~~~~~ } ~~~~~~~ }

Reply to
~Roy

How many do you need? I can supply them by the car load.

formatting link

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Reply to
Gunner

--If it's going to get bumped or dragged along the bottom you'll want something tougher than PVC pipe. Under pressure with a pointy side load it might collapse. Also there's the matter of the end caps. They'll need to be thick and at least one will have to be removable. The traditional method is to have it screwed onto a housing that has sufficient surface area on the sealing edge to accomodate an O-ring in a groove and a dozen threaded fasteners. Best way to do this would be to lay up your own housing using fiberglas. I've got a buddy who used to make camera housings and that's the way he did it. IIRC he used threadserts in predrilled holes to hold the faceplate bolts. A light bar could be attached in a similar way with threadserts in other parts of the housing. The O-ring groove was molded in as a half-round groove by using half-round dowel glued around the base of a male plug mold. One great advantage of a fiberglas housing is that you can make it conform tightly to a specific camera shape, so that ballasting is not as big an issue.

--
        "Steamboat Ed" Haas         :  When does Inuyasha get    
        Hacking the Trailing Edge!  :  to bone Kagome??
                   http://www.nmpproducts.com/intro.htm
                   ---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---
Reply to
steamer

I would be cautious about using stainless steel. Might be okay, but without disolved oxygen in the salt water, stainless corrodes. Powder coated aluminum would be better.

Recommend using both piston and face seal orings on the end caps. You don't need much to keep it together.

Dan

Reply to
dcaster

formatting link
carries many types of underwater camera and lighting housings. May be cheaper to buy than build.

Richard

Reply to
Richard H.

My local supermarket was selling stainless steel lidded canisters for food storage. The lids had round plastic windows.

With a bit of extra sealing, maybe they might do for modest depths?

Reply to
Kryten

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.