I took apart a hp laptop and now i want to use the webcam as a security camera. for this i watched this video:
i found the right wires but i cant find the positive one because there is protection on my webcam (see picture).
Does anyone know how i can find the positive wire in another way?
Take a proper close-up photo of your webcam. Use the macro setting on your camera if you have one, Separate the connecting wires apart so they can be easily seen. Focus you camera on the area that is not protected to see if we can see any components that might give a clue.
You might end up having to carefully remove the tin cover to find the proper wire.
In my experience, generally the positive wire is either red or white, the ground is black or green, and signal wires are any other color. There also appears to be a QR code on the camera, you could try scanning that to see if you can find any more information on the camera from the website but that's all I've got.
Is that red wire right next to the Brown wire? That would be a good guess for a power wire. Are there any visible traces or components on the reverse side?
Is it still possible to measure any voltages from the laptop where you disconnected it?
It would be unusual to use light brown or blue for power so I would have to go with red. I understand that making the wrong choice could be disastrous. Unless you can safely get inside that metal shield, I don't have any more suggestions.
I expect you have microphone on that module and I expect mic wires are one next to each other. So if dark brown is GND, light brown and red would be microphone. And light blue (3.3V) positive.
Just my logic....
Another possibility.
I would plug the laptop back in and see if the power supply survived the water damage and measure where you disconnected the webcam.
on the pcb there is a small arrow pointing to the light blue wire, does this have any meaning?
Arrow can be VCC symbol. I don't think they marked one of the mic wires...
The arrow might just indicate pin 1 of the connector.
If it's a laptop from a major manufacturer it's possible that there is something on iFixit to give you a clue.
I found it!
The first wire (the blue one with the arrow) is the vcc the last wire (orange/light brown) is the GND. The black wire is data+ and the white is data-. The dark brown and red wires are probably the mic wires (I haven't tested).
Thanks everyone for the comments!
Nice that you got it!
For the next time you need help, try to give accurate information.
You originally wrote: "dark brown wire is ground, that's all I know."
I had the same issue, this worked thank you for me thank you for your reply
