Regarding the Low light USB camera

Blue Robotics Products Cameras
1

Hello, we have been using the low light usb camera for about one year now. Last year we used the camera with a low resolution of 640x480 by changing the setting on the companion web interface. But, this year we need to receive frames at a much higher resolution- preferably at the maximum resolution. But, I have noticed that the usb camera heat up significantly when the camera is set to this resolution.
I have a few questions about the camera:

  • When selecting a lower resolution from the companion software, does the camera “send” the stream with a lower resolution or does the resolution get shrinked by the companion software after the stream is received?
  • Is the usb camera capable of handling high resolution video stream (1920x1080) for a sustained period of time?(2hrs+) To say it in another way, is the heating of the back of the camera normal/to be expected to a degree?

We used the camera for 3+ hours for many days and had no problems last year. Maybe the camera heated up to a similar temperature last year and I didn’t notice. I just wanted to use the camera safely, that’s why I am asking.

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The point of the camera doing the H264 encoding is so the companion software only needs to pass the stream through to the output. When you change the resolution the camera gets sent a command to change its output resolution, and companion restarts its stream to the topside to work with that changed resolution :slight_smile:

I believe most people use their cameras at 1080p, so it’s likely not an issue. The camera can get quite hot, and that’s usually fine - from the Technical Details the working temperature is up to 75°C.

I would recommend not running the electronics for too long with the enclosure outside the water, and avoid storing the enclosure in direct sunlight when transporting, but other than that it’s likely ok. That does depend somewhat on the other electronics you’re using in the enclosure, but for a standard BlueROV2 setup I can’t recall any reports of the camera overheating.

If you’re using custom electronics and finding the heat is getting too much, you may need to add a small fan for circulation, or switch to an aluminium enclosure :slight_smile:

3

Excellent! When starting out last year, I lowered the resolution to limit the heat but it seems that was mostly unnecessary. Thanks for the response :slight_smile:

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