FPV

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Will01Capri
2nd Lieutenant
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Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:34 pm
Location: South Scotland

Re: FPV

Post by Will01Capri »

Looks like fun, maybe have to look into this. Could make some cool battle videos for sure
HL camo E' Tiger
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M26 Pershing WW2 project
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1/24 Leopard 2 Custom mod

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Vertigo
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Posts: 55
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2019 1:03 pm

Re: FPV

Post by Vertigo »

Been out on night patrol with limited success.
Bit of a numpty statement in earlier post. No need to fit an IR lamp on the tank hull as i have the standard Heng Long head light. It seems its actually throwing more light than my 3 IR LEDS. You definitely need some sort light so you can tell which way the turret is pointing.
tankfpvIR has some ambient light from the windows. You can see the muzzle break in the center. The lower half is the top of the turret with the commanders hatch on the right (closed). To the left of the gun you can see a garden pot. Its about 5ft from the tank. Ignore the red dot near the top its another IR device.
Night.
Night.
tankfpvIR.jpg (73.84 KiB) Viewed 473 times
Next has the laser designator on. That is the bright Red dot just above the gun. It has great range but the camera resolution is so bad its just a dot.
Laser designation active
Laser designation active
tankfpvIRlaser.jpg (77.26 KiB) Viewed 473 times
Last one is a different night without the ambient light. Really dark. Bit closer and you can see the pot using just the tanks IR illumination.
Very low light.
Very low light.
These are poor images. The tank is outside with the image sent to the receiver indoors and fed by a capture device into a laptop. The image is a bit better just on a screen.
The illumination just works out to about 6ft but it depends on the reflectivity of the surface. Its enough to stop you driving into objects though.
Vertigo
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Re: FPV

Post by Vertigo »

Some thoughts to aid others.
My camera has a field of view (FOV) of about 160degrees. This gives a great commanders view however:-
At that angle it pics up objects almost next to you. This is probably good if using FPV goggles as its similar to your normal vision. If you view it on a screen then because the screen is in front of you it gives the impression the objects at the sides are as well. So you think you are about to hit the object because the picture is in front but the object is actually to the side.
The wider the field of view the less resolution and magnification forward. I think an angle of about 80degrees would be good. That should be close to normal vision, its wide enough to cover the front of the tank and if you rotate the turret about 45deg you can see what is next to you as well as the front corner of the tank. That should improve the forward magnification and resolution significantly.
Im using a small camera about 15mm across. At this size its easy to hide. But the lenses are on a 8mm thread. There are very limited options on these for different angles and i have yet to find one near 80degrees. The larger cameras have an 12mm threaded lens. There harder to hide because the cameras are nearer 25mm across but there is more lens choices.
You can go even smaller on field of view and get greater magnification. This can be OK as we have a turret so we can scan but its like being the tanks gunner - you will only see what you are pointing at. So if your looking to the right you wont realize the tank has run into a tree. the narrower view is also in the vertical plain so you have to consider what azimuth you want - do you mount it on the gun so you can control it.
The larger lens diameter should be better for night work as it collects more light.
IR illumination. This is pretty key to night operations. If you have a lot of ambient light (street lights) you can get away with my 3 cheap LEDS (1.1v).
Where its really dark the only light is the relatively tight LED beam so despite a wide FOV you can actually only see what is illuminated. If the range is fairly small like mine at 6ft you can get completely lost just in the middle of a lawn because there are no features in range to see. Just have to drive straight until you see something you recognize. (You wouldn't know if you were driving in circles though). Not sure what the best solution for illumination is as a big lamp is ugly in daylight.
You could just fit standard LEDs it just means your tank is very obvious.
As mentioned earlier try to mount the illumination away from tank features or the reflection dominates the view.
Hull mounted lamps are useful as turret mounted lights with narrow beams don't illuminate the ground immediately in front of the tank.
The lazer is great. Should be good for pest control. If you keep shining it in their eyes they are bound to eventually go. They will flinch away quick so i doubt it will do any permanent damage.

So where am i at:-
If i started again i would use the larger camera with the bigger lens thread and get about 80deg FOV. Not sure of the best disguise for daylight operations.
Im going to try a shutter over the head light to reflect a bit of light towards the camera as its not always visible as a marker. I have driven around with the turret facing the rear without initially realizing. That will also reduce the light emitted forward and up which gives away the tanks position.
Going to investigate a bigger brighter IR illuminator although its going to be hard to hide. I might just use it in the dark.
Im sticking with the standard tank lights. They give away the tanks position but its not overly obvious and if it gets stuck you do need to go and find it.
Hope this is of some use to someone.
Legendsario
Recruit
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2021 12:07 am

Re: FPV

Post by Legendsario »

This is my setup. I used a cheap FPV kit on eBay and it works pretty well. I didn’t like the way it looked with sticking a camera on the outside so I found away to stuff it all in the turret with my airsoft gun, barrel recoil servo, mini fan to keep the transmitter cool (600mW), and transmitter. I ran the connector for the antenna into the bb hatch so it can close it when not in use and repurposed the airsoft on/off switch to FPV on/off switch so it isn’t constantly running. I can take pictures of the inside of the turret if anyone is interested.
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Vertigo
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Posts: 55
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2019 1:03 pm

Re: FPV

Post by Vertigo »

My camera is in the spotlight. It clips on the gun mount so i can switch tanks etc. All my pics are with it on the rear mount.
The 3 lamps on the top are the IR LEDs for night work.
T-caminlight1.jpg
T-caminlight1.jpg (44.91 KiB) Viewed 395 times
T-caminlight2.jpg
T-caminlight2.jpg (39.36 KiB) Viewed 395 times
Daylight view.
T-FPV-Front1.jpg
T-FPV-Front1.jpg (75.01 KiB) Viewed 395 times
The wide angle lens is so big the image is clipped in the corners but the rim of the search light.

Sorry about pics but i just used my phone.
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