USB Borescope camera

[bp2008]

I ordered a borescope camera earlier this week for $20 and it arrived today. I am fairly impressed with it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JERRES6

Here is a 2MP snapshot from it:


It is a tiny camera, less than 1 centimeter in diameter, and plugs into a PC or android device via USB. It has very limited focus depth. 2 to 3 inches away from the lens is in focus. Any closer or farther and it gets blurry, but that is okay for the intended purpose, which is inspecting behind walls and in other tight spaces. It has white LEDs on the front that are controllable via a small dial on the USB connector.

For android, you typically need an "OTG" adapter cable and the device must support USB OTG.

An amazon review pointed me at the CameraFi android app, which is free and allows you to view the camera and save video or snapshots. It adds a watermark with no way to remove it (you can't even buy a pro version or anything) ... so I hacked it. For personal use of course. It was actually very simple thanks to the abundance of modern software. I pulled the apk off my tablet with an app called Apk Extractor and transferred it to my PC with Dropbox. I extracted all the watermark images with 7zip, edited them to be blank with GIMP, and re-packaged them, again with 7zip. The modified apk wouldn't install, and my intuition told me that my modifications had probably made the apk's signature fail to validate. So I had to re-sign the apk with dex2jar first. Then I transferred the modified and signed apk back to my tablet and was able to install it by tapping the modified apk in Dropbox.

It can only do 3 FPS at 1600x1200 resolution, or up to 30 fps at lower resolutions.

 

[Zorac]

i keep seeing them on aliexpress and thinking of buying one. the 1.3mp version has a larger focus depth, 3cm to infinity. not something i woudl use much, but when you need it i would expect it would be very handy!

 

[The_Penguin]

i keep seeing them on aliexpress and thinking of buying one. the 1.3mp version has a larger focus depth, 3cm to infinity. not something i woudl use much, but when you need it i would expect it would be very handy!

Is that 3cm to infinity fixed, or is it adjustable. If it's fixed, that would be a great tool for inspecting potential wiring runs, before drilling larger holes.

 

[Zorac]

fixed the specs seem to indicate. the 1.3mp is interpolated, native is only 640x480 unfortunately. here is one that is actually advertised correctly as 0.3mp.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-Dia-7mm-5m-USB-Endoscope-Inspection-Camera-6LED-IP66-Waterproof-Mini-PC-Camera-Side/964170287.html

 

[badmop]

I like you man, you're smart. I need more smart people like you in my life. I am surrounded by idiots, seriously.
Awesome work, I've hexedited PC apps and things back in 1999, but haven't done much with android apk's besides changing backgrounds and things on apps.

Nice work!

 

[Ralse]

The 2mp cam is pretty good though indeed the focus should be better.
I'm planning on integrating this into eyeglasses frames but need to fix the focus first.
Any ideas on howto?
I wouldn't mind trying to open one, but I'd rather try that with instructions than to use my 'hammer and chisel' techniques.

 

[bp2008]

It will be a challenge. I think the camera is glued together so "hammer and chisel" techniques might be all you have.

 

[Brad_C]

It will be a challenge. I think the camera is glued together so "hammer and chisel" techniques might be all you have.

Heat might be an option also. It's a delicate balance between getting the adhesive soft enough and melting the plastic.
I get lots of plastic gadgets open by slightly deforming the plastic case in a bench vice. That seems to be enough to fracture the glue or ultrasonic welds holding the shells together. Again, a balance between fracturing the casing and smashing the internals.

 

[Kawboy12R]

@badmop If you're the smartest person in the room then you're in the wrong room.

This only works if you really ARE the smartest person in the room. There are plenty of complete morons who think they are geniuses and the only room they are fit for is one with padded walls or bars.

 

[alphawave7]

morons who think they are geniuses and the only room they are fit for is one with padded walls or bars.

Hey now..it's a thin line between genius and insanity!

 

[Ralse]

Heat might be an option also. It's a delicate balance between getting the adhesive soft enough and melting the plastic.
I get lots of plastic gadgets open by slightly deforming the plastic case in a bench vice. That seems to be enough to fracture the glue or ultrasonic welds holding the shells together. Again, a balance between fracturing the casing and smashing the internals.

I didn't look at the device in detail but it's correct that glue is involved.
Rather than using the hammer and chisel techniques, I would first try acetone vapors or when I'm tired of waiting, dip it in acetone somehow, hopefully not melting any components.
Heat is a very good alternative as well, though solvents seem safer to try first.

Come to think of it, as I remember, there is glue at the base of the device connecting it to the cable.
I'm sure that if that is gone, you can just slide out everything.
I'll definitely let the thread know how bad it failed once I find the time to do this.

 

[Brad_C]

I can almost guarantee if you use a solvent like acetone you'll melt the plastic lens assembly.

 

[Ralse]

'Dipping into acetone' might have been an exaggerated statement.
I will first try to drip acetone on the base of the unit which seems to be glued to the cable.
If I were to dip it entirely, the lens will get blurry for sure - or very very clean if it's actual glass.

 

[Brad_C]

Most glues you are likely to come across will withstand the acetone better than the surrounding plastic. I'd start with a cotton bud dipped in acetone and selective wiped across the various surfaces to see what happens.

If I'm going for solvent I generally go straight for Dichloromethane or Chloroform, but you have to know what you are trying to dissolve. Plumbers PVC priming fluid is another good one. That's mostly a 50/50 of Acetone and MEK. The MEK gets into stuff a lot more effectively than Acetone.

If it's something like a USB camera, I'd still be looking at more mechanical means. Like using a pipe-cutter to slowly cut a groove at the base of the camera until you can separate the tube and slide the contents out. You can do that very slowly and carefully and without dissolving the PVC insulation on the USB cable

Just my worthless $0.02