WebCAM LEDs

[happy-kat]

I have a webcam that will work with my Nexus tablet (yipee as no laptop) and on taking it apart I see the 6 enormous LEDs.

I know pretty much nothing about circuitry and am conserned that these look like they are wired in line and if I snip them off my WebCAM would fail.

Do you think that they can be snipped off anway anyone please?

When I did the xBox webcam mod I bust the tiny leds to no ill effect.

[nightfisher]

You could try "squashing" them with small pliers, BUT this may still cause the webcam to fail, however it works with the Xbox webcam

[toxic]

just snip them off they are only white or ir led's i have 1 just like that and i just cut them off with a pair of snips 

[tekkydave]

They could be infra-red LEDs. Do they produce any visible light in the dark? You should be able to snip them off but I couldn't guarantee it. Can you post a close-up pic of both sides of the pcb. I might be able to work out how they are connected up.

[happy-kat]

Thank you for replies I will try to take a better picture of both sides of the board.

They are white.

[happy-kat]

Whop whop the good news is I plugged it in again to double check and the LEDS only light up when attached to the PC through a normal USB port.

Connected to my Nexus tablet they did not light up.

The proof will be in the pudding when I reassemble it and check again.

So for now I wont take the snips to it.

Surprized the sensor is that big. 4.386 x 3.64 mm

Back of webcam

Front of webcam

[tekkydave]

Hmmm. Can't really tell but if they don't light up leave them be.

[toxic]

just cut them off at the legs and allso cut of the mic unless you want to record sound as well if you cut of the mic then your avi files will be smaller and take less bandwidth to download.

[happy-kat]

Thank you all for feedback.

If the recording app lets me turn off sound recording I will try that first.

[happy-kat]

Typical !!

I put it back together and put it on the tablet and fell off my chair the LEDs were on and super bright, argh. So they will have to be snipped off and hope for the best. I will snip leaving long legs so at worst I could connect them together in case the is an inline thing going on.

There is separate audio control in the app. Slowest this device will do is 14 frames a second any less and the connectivity is lost to the tablet.

[toxic]

you will be ok they are not inline the camera will work with or without them 

[SkySurfer]

Hi,

I had a webcam with LED's and just broke them with small pliers, and all was fine

SS

[Ant]

I usually just cover them with red insulation tape.

Works for me.

Ant

[happy-kat]

The advantage of sniping the LEDs off is the case has 6 holes in it that they poke out from so I would instantly get potential cooling.

[Syed Saif Alam]

Which webcam are you using? is it a ccd or cmos ?how much did it cost ? Please help dying to start astrophotography ...but dont have too much money ... i want to ask why cant i use a cmos sensor ?

[Mick J]

 i want to ask why cant i use a cmos sensor ?

Of course you can use a cmos sensor,  quite a few cmos web cams have been adapted, it's just that some (not all) old Philips Toucam's were ccd and the sensor was/is very good in low light,  also as there was not much else about at the time a lot of work was put into adapting, long exposure mods etc.

[happy-kat]

I have now snipped the LEDs off and so far the webcam is still working.

Until I get to test the webcam on the Moon there is no point sharing what it is.

There are lots of webcams out there if you are going to be able to connect your webcam to a laptop when you use it with your telescope then any one is game to try.

Why not go to a car boot sale you might be able to find several webcams to try for like 50p each.

[happy-kat]

The Moon came out and the clouds were absent for about 25 minutes in total long enough to plonk and go the Heritage and fiddle around enough to see that the webcam has some potential. I had to spend time working out where the focus point was so for this webcam about 1 inch dropped on the tusses but spent so much time doing this hardly had enough time to actually get a decent focus before clounds. But I had a glimpse of focus but too early to know if quality of image from this webcam is worth it. It would take about 9-12 panes in a mosaic to get the whole Moon. I need to sort out front case and make a bigger hole to let my webcam adaptor through to the thread to hold it as gaffer tape was not doing it.