David82:
They are in their stock housing coming out of the camera, then they are apart for about half an inch as they go into a cat5 breakout board, then they are in a twisted cat5 pair for 8ft or so, then the reverse happens as they go into the LCD screen at the other end.
Wait - you're not using impedance matching baluns, similar to these:
cr0sh:
Wait - you're not using impedance matching baluns
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What specifically do those do besides provide an easy breakout for video? I don't have any issues with video over longer distances (only tested 50 ft). Just when the switch is cycled.
cr0sh:
...also - video shield/signal "ground" should be kept separate from chassis/power ground, IIRC...
I can't. All 8 ports of the cat5 breakout board are being used. consolidating all the grounds together was what enabled this to work with a cat5 cable in the first place.
zoomkat:
What size wire is used between the 12v battery and the 4a load, and how long is that wire?
It is just whatever thickness is usually used in PC power supplies. Then it goes into a solid copper cat5 cable and back to pc power supply wire. From there it is soldered to the thicker pigtails wires that came with the 4amp motor.
Then it goes into a solid copper cat5 cable and back to pc
Cat5 cables have 8 conductors, how many of these did you use for the power +- power wires? You also seemed to missed the "how long" part of the question, especially the cat5 section.
just one is ground, one is 12v+ that powers the camera, one is the power for the 4amp load, one is +video, and the other four are going to two bi-directional motors which, by the way, have no effect at all on the video when used.
These graphs are before and after adding a cap across ground and load+. I also tried other cameras, and powering those other cameras with a completely independent power supply (same results). Maybe the cap increases the current draw because the power supply has to suddenly charge the cap and power the load.
Is this a repost of the same problem you asked about in 'How do you make the current draw from a device gradual instead of instant?', and again in 'How do I prevent video interference caused by electric motors', and also in 'Simple video interference problem. I'll pay to have it resolved.'? The people following this thread are in danger of wasting a lot of time and effort coming up with suggestions that have already been made.
I'm trying to provide the information necessary for someone experienced enough to actually explain why the problem exists and exactly, with certainty, what will solve it.
If thought of like a Y connection in a water pipe, when the the high amp load is turned on all of the water (amperage) flows into it temporarily depriving the camera of current and causing the brief loss of video. Once the motor's on, the current flow stabilizes and the video is clear again while the motor is powered. Is that what's happening? if so, how do you make sure the camera will always have the current and voltage it needs to operate smoothly? Use an inductor?
The camera draws 85mA. I have a 125mA, 10H inductor coming in the mail. The idea is that when the current gets sucked away by the 4A load, the inductor will be there to maintain current to the camera and hopefully prevent the momentary loss of video. If that doesn't work, I guess I can try a much larger 12v capacitor
This is an image of how an inductor can smooth out current draw.
It seems that the camera can run on a range of voltages but it just doesn't like sudden changes in voltage.
David82:
just one is ground, one is 12v+ that powers the camera, one is the power for the 4amp load, one is +video, and the other four are going to two bi-directional motors which, by the way, have no effect at all on the video when used.
So whose idea was it to try to power a camera and a 4a motor thru a single conductor in a cat5 cable and not expect possible issues?
The load and camera are on separate + leads and share the same ground wire. The switch for the load is actually near the power supply and two separate wires power the camera and load.