In SX Microcontrollers, SX/B Compiler and SX-Key Tool, bobn9lvu wrote: [quote="kjennejohn"]Yesss, of coooourse, the saaaand boxxxx (wink!) ;D! I got this 'cause I'm cobbling together a "mobile security station". Right now I have 1. A 1/10 scale RC hummer with 4WD (not too good), and proportional steering and speed control. The square-ish body allows me to attach a number of items, such as 2. Two small RF pinhole cameras. These tykes run off 9V batteries, both of which can go in the 'carrier' well in the body. I have a reciever unit for each. But, if I diddle with the tuning, can pick up either camera, which means I can actually do the job with one reeiver. One camera is color, period; the other is color until it gets too dark, in which case it switches to B&W and turns on 9 IR LEDs for illumination. I imagine those LEDs will eat batteries. I plan to install a small gel-cell for these, with regulators as needed. For portability in viewing, I use 3. A 5" LCD monitor. This was originally billed as a games viewer to use in cars while on long trips. Eventually I'll get a 12V gel-cell to power this in the field. This whole shebang is at work right now. I run the vehicle around the halls, trying desperately to avoid bouncing off walls, waste cans and door jambs. Not too smooth just now. All this is real time, by transmitter control, while watching the monitor. The plan is to start with using a uprocessor controller monitoring an array of sensors to track obstacles, go to lights, heat and sounds, while controlling steering and speed. I don't expect to roar through this part. The eventual hoped for result is a PC-controlled unit that uses RF comms, with audio/visual cuing (read: face and/or voice recognition) to patrol hallways looking for problems. If it doesn't like your face, it calls the cops and the boss, in that order, while macing you. It also watches for smoke, fire, low temperatures, flooding, whatever. The PC talks to your video-overlay board to add relevant data (f'rinstance, time stamp, GPS info, room number, etc.) to the hummer's video stream before going to a security VCR, and the occasional picture sent to some specified email account. All this is already out there, it's just a matter of bringing it all together. And I still haven't decided which processor to use yet. SX? PIC? Rabbit? Suggestions? When all this is up and working (suuuuurrrre!) I will transfer all the technology to a larger vehicle and enter it in the DARPA remote-course contest. OK, who wants to move this to the sand box? Later! kenjj[/quote] Have you looked at Lithium based batteries, they have for their size a better weight/power ratio than gelcell batteries. I picked up some 2300 ma cells for around $2.50 on Ebay, and 2 of them are great for my HT as backup power, and they are only 1.25 wide x 2.25 tall x .38 thick each... To charge them I put them in series on my Maha charger...If I wanted to, I can hook up to 4 in series, and or multiples in parallel for more run time... They also work great with 2 in series powering my Luxeon Star 1w led for over 5 hours .... Bob N9LVU :scool: ---------- End of Message ---------- You can view the post on-line at: http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=7&p=1&m=88799#m89031 Need assistance? Send an email to the Forum Administrator at forumadmin@parallax.com The Parallax Forums are powered by dotNetBB Forums, copyright 2002-2005 (http://www.dotNetBB.com)