► A weather camera on a mast
to automatically rotate 360 degrees and upload high quality digital still
images to a website.
Hello
I plan to set up a rotating digital still camera on a tall mast to capture high
quality images of the weather and distant mountains, which are a good
visibility indicator. The images will be automatically uploaded to the
Internet. If the initial system works well I plan to set up some others in
different locations and for other people.
I hope that the digital still camera and rotator will automatically rotate only
horizontally through almost 360 degrees. I want it to be connected to my
computer so that photographs of the weather can be captured over a 360 degree
ark. The current digital camera that I have photographs just over 45 degrees,
so 8 photographs would be needed to obtain an ark of 360 degrees. I am hoping
to take the 8 photographs with only a few seconds between them, and repeat the
process every hour.
I do have software to
control the camera and to do this, I can automate any software where the
computer mouse clicks buttons. Mousetamer software enables me to record mouse
movements and play them back. Therefore, any software used to control the
rotator does not have to operate automatically, as the Moustetamer software can
automate it.
If I use the current digital
camera, the rotator would need to rotate 45 degrees, take a photo, and then
rotate another 45 degrees before the camera takes another one and so on, until
8 photos are taken. After it rotated 360 degrees, it would need to rotate
backwards to the original position, to avoid cable twisting. I plan to make up
a waterproof box for the camera, with a door on it which is normally closed,
but automatically opens just before a photo is taken, and closes again after
the photo is taken. This would mean that the camera is totally shielded from
the weather when no photos are being taken, but the lens would be exposed and
able to take an unobstructed picture through the door when a photo is taken. I
could make something up with a solenoid if I can find some software to control
it. About 22 meters of cable will be between the camera and computer. I plan to
upload the photos to my weather website for a free community service.
Do you know of a suitable
rotator, or could you possibly make one which could be interfaced with the
computer to automatically rotate as described above? The camera box could be
mounted on a stepper motor to rotate it back and forward. It would then be just
a matter of finding or writing software to control it.
I have many other electronic
projects which would benefit many people and I need help to set them up. Please
see http://www.advantagein.com/electronics
I also have many websites with new ideas, including separate free groups,
unique inventions with advantages, and rare information with solutions to help
people. Please see http://www.advantagein.com/community.htm
for a brief summary. I would appreciate your feedback and help. Are you
able to swap links or share any letters that I could send you?
My contact details are
below.
Richard Hole,
9 Leonard St,
Tolga Qld 4882,
Australia.
Ph 07 4095 5447 within
Email
richard(at)truesolutions.info . Note replace (at) with @ and use electronic as
the subject.
Please share this letter with other people and let me know who could help with
any of these ideas. It would be appreciated if you could print it out and
display it. I could also send you some photocopies or a link to a printer
friendly format. I also have this letter as an email that you can share.
Your help would be appreciated
Regards Richard.