Hi,
I have been working using BlueRov and the Low Light Camera for some time. I faced an issue with the camera that I didn’t understand.
When i connect the camera directly to the Laptop, it gives me video feed. So for my new ROV I extended the cables of the camera to 16 inches. Now when i connect the camera to Raspberrypi 4 with Blueos, the camera is not detected. But When I connect the camera directly to laptop it gives the feed. I don’t know what to do.
I checked the voltage requirements. The camera only require 220mA. The raspberrypi give maximum 1A to usb ports. The power supply given to raspberrypi is 5V and 3A. So it can’t be power issue because it works perfectly in laptop that provides 0.5A.
Can someone help?
How did you go about doing this? The camera signal can be quite finicky even on the short cable it comes with, so if you’ve got a longer cable without some kind of shielding from electrical noise, and especially if it goes close to electrical noise sources like motor controllers or vehicle power wires, then it’s possible the signal just can’t make it through.
If it works when connected to a Raspberry Pi with the cable laid out with no other components around then it’s likely noise is the problem. If that doesn’t help then it might be a power issue, or a problem with the Raspberry Pi’s USB port. It’s also possible the camera is overheating if it’s in a small enclosed space.
If you have access to a multimeter or oscilloscope you could try to verify this by measuring the voltage across the power pins at the camera end.
Hi @Zerer0 -
Beyond what Eliot mentions, it’s worth noting that the data lines in a USB line need to be twisted together, as they are a differential pair. If you tightly twist the data wires in your extension together, that may help the consistency of your camera connection!
Thank you @EliotBR for the reply.
Yes, I also think this is an noise issue because the wire goes through motor controllers and electronics.
When i connect the camera alone without any electronic noise, the same problem exists.
I checked the other end of the camera with a multimeter and it is giving the same voltage. I also have another Low Light camera with me. I swaped the camera and swapped the raspberrypi also, still no camera is detected.
I also tried providing external 5V.
So we can cross out Raspberrypi, camera and Power. The only option left is the noise. So inorder to correct it i am trying to buy a USB 2.0 Hub to extend the connection. What do you think about it?
I don’t think a USB hub is going to correct your issue @Zerer0 !
It sounds like you either have a loose connection, a poorly spliced connection, or the issue I mentioned with the data lines not twisted.
I tried twisting the pairs and reducing the wire to 12 inches. And I got the video feed in laptop when directly connected to the usb port. But when i check through raspberrypi with BlueOS, it shows no camera device detected.
The power when directly connected to the laptop is 5.12V (on the end of the cable). The power when connecting to the raspberrypi port is 5.02V. Is there any way?
