Novice needs help with crazy project

have you considered one of those wrist watch TVs with an NTSC input, and one of those super-mini security cams ??

might be easier to waterproof integrated units like that compared to a custom setup like you described, and completely eliminates custom connectors from the problem !!

Will such a device be illegal in competition?

You must have a pretty big head if it takes 15" to get from to the back to one eye. But seriously I think that you could make the thing work without lengthening the cable. You don't really need to mount it on the back of your head because you don't need to see ahead all of the time, just once in a while. The real issue is that you need the camera to point up instead of forward like your eyes.

So you could mount the camera on the side of your goggles (at the temple) pointing up with the screen on front of the lens of one eye and a lens on the inside of the goggles to allow you to focus that close. Each time you take a breath the camera will be at the highest point on your head offering the best view forward. You would probably have to swim with your head rotated slightly to avoid the drag that immersing the camera would add. Pot the whole thing up solid with bathtub calk for waterproofing and you're good to go until the battery runs down.

Not yet!

Yeah, the cameras look small enough, but the receivers would be to large to mount infront of my face.

The ribbon cable is a standard in the electronics industry and different lengths are available; did not look to see if 15 inch length available. THe worst problem is reliably sealing all of the electronics from water and moisture.

Doesn't bathtub caulk use acetic acid to cure, like the original silicone RTV? If so, *do* *NOT* use that crap; it will corrode the electronics!

Use a waterproof GPS with earphone. My GPS is much too old to guess about how to get the voice to direct you around way points. Or maybe the display could be separated. Brings up the question of how/where are you going to put the display where it can be seen/focused on while swimming. Get bonus points for making the antenna look like a shark fin.

Crazy ideas........easy, making them work...........priceless.

Illegal to sell it, or to profit by using it. But building one for fun? Don't think so.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

From the 'keep it simple' school of design: Consider something like a periscope. Optics only, no electronics.

-- Paul Hovnanian mailto: snipped-for-privacy@Hovnanian.com

------------------------------------------------------------------ Porsche 928: 0 to c in 2.125 years, 2.435 light-years per mile^3 of gas

There was significant debate about this point ~10 years ago with regards to cryptography. A good archive of it is at:

Building one for education (to learn the art being taught in the patent) is fine. Building one to avoid paying for a widget? Very doubtful, but who is going to come after you?

Not true. It can legally be built to learn what is being taught in the patent and even extend the patent.

Check out the "education" exemption.

On Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:35:46 -0400, krw Gave us:

Not without permission dumbass.

How about using a CCD security camera and an NTSC LCD display? I have a small panel I found surplus that accepts standard video, the optics could get clunky though.

You wouldn't know a patent if it got up and spanked you like you mommy does, Dimbulb.

As much as I like fancy gadgets, it occurred to me that perhaps this is the wrong approach. How about a simple periscope type device? No electronics to get wet, no batteries to go dead, no wiring or connectors to worry about, nice and simple.