Connecting a 12V power source to the Video Experimenter

[Robotix]

Hi, I have an CMOS IR camera which I would like to connect to the video experimenter board. However, it requires 12V to run, and i’m not not sure if the Video Experimenter board will be able to handle that voltage.

Because the IR camera requires 12V but has an RCA connector, I also want to insert the power and gnd parts of the connector into the battery, then insert the video output cable into the input female connector on the shield (perhaps with a resistor). Is this feasible? Is there a way to connect an external power source to the shield and thereby power the camera?

Thank-you very much!

[Michael]

The Video Experimenter gets its power from the Arduino 5V supply. So, you can power the Arduino with 12V, and the Arduino’s voltage regulator provides 5V for the Arduino and the Video Experimenter.

The recommended input voltage for the Arduino is 7-12V, so you should be fine.

[Robotix]

Hi Michael, thanks for replying!

Can I give the CMOS IR camera its required 12V supply from the shield? Can the board supply more than 5V through the RCA cable?

Thanks!

[Michael]

What do you mean by “get it’s 12V power from the shield”? Do you mean that you have 12V connected to the Arduino and then connect your camera to the VIN pin on the shield?

Power does not go through the RCA cable. That’s for the video signal….

[lemmons]

@Robotix:
That is similar to the setup I’m using. I’ve provided a picture of it below.

[attachment=0:1mba1zg7]setup.jpg[/attachment:1mba1zg7]

They way I do it is I proved the Arduino with power using a 12V supply through the power jack. Then on the Video Experimenter board I pull out that 12V from the Vin pin and feed it into my camera.

The camera it’s self should have 3-4 wires. It will have a signal, power, and probably two ground wires (one for the signal ground and one for power ground). In my case the camera came with a nice little connection that packs the wires into RCA and power connections nicely for me. So then the RCA wires go into the Video input side (red RCA in my picture), and the power connects into the Vin(yellow wire in my pic) and ground(black wire in my pic).

As Michael said, RCA is for signal, not power… Do not try and supply your camera with power through its RCA connection. This will very likely destroy the camera.

I hope this helps!

[Robotix]

Thanks, lemmons and Michael! I think I can get the camera working now.

Can you tell me what cables you were using though lemmons?

Thank-you very much!

[Author]

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