FPV, on a fishing bait boat?
Discussion
Hi model peeps,
I have an r/c boat that takes my rig and baits out onto the water. It's relatively small, about 50cm long, and black, therefore I struggle to see exactly where it's at at ranges in excess of say 80 or 90 yards.
Quite often I need to fish tight to a line of reeds, or right up to some lily pads at ranges in excess of 100 yards (but never more than 120 yards). I'm sure on many occasions i'm dropping the rig well short because I just can't tell how far over I am and as it's not the straightest steering boat I can't hold binoculars and Tx at the same time easily.
So, is it possible to put a simple but effective FPV kit on the boat without it costing a small fortune? The boat is a sealed unit, so any gubbins would have to be made into a splash/waterproof box that could be velcro'd onto the boat somewhere and taken off when not required.
Here's a guy who's done similar, but way more advanced than what i'd need.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xF0Ie1bJGg
I just need to know what the basic elements needed are and if it could be effective. Could it work in the dark, with flashlight on the boat as well?
Cheers,
Rob
I have an r/c boat that takes my rig and baits out onto the water. It's relatively small, about 50cm long, and black, therefore I struggle to see exactly where it's at at ranges in excess of say 80 or 90 yards.
Quite often I need to fish tight to a line of reeds, or right up to some lily pads at ranges in excess of 100 yards (but never more than 120 yards). I'm sure on many occasions i'm dropping the rig well short because I just can't tell how far over I am and as it's not the straightest steering boat I can't hold binoculars and Tx at the same time easily.
So, is it possible to put a simple but effective FPV kit on the boat without it costing a small fortune? The boat is a sealed unit, so any gubbins would have to be made into a splash/waterproof box that could be velcro'd onto the boat somewhere and taken off when not required.
Here's a guy who's done similar, but way more advanced than what i'd need.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xF0Ie1bJGg
I just need to know what the basic elements needed are and if it could be effective. Could it work in the dark, with flashlight on the boat as well?
Cheers,
Rob
Chaps,
Never realised I'd got any replies to my question so thanks those who have
I seem to have cracked it and for just over £70 all in.
Kit ended up being:
Boscam 5.8ghz 200mw Tx & Rx - £30 off a mate at work
Sony 700vtl camera on mount - £12
Cloverleaf antenna set - £18
3S Lipo to power Tx - £8
Hobby box to build Tx/lipo/camera onto/into - £4
Already had a Maxim 7 inch LCD TV that has analogue tuner so hasn't been much use for anything for a few years, but is perfect for the screen! And already have a 12v car battery that I used on longer fishing trips to keep everything charged
Seems to work 'on the bench' really well, sent my little lad 150+ yards down the road with the camera/tx and image was great back to the Rx end.
I like that I can just velcro the box on and off the boat easily enough (as I won't always use FPV), and the extra bits to carry around are minimal. The camera is also ideal as it only needs to be pointed down a little to see the nose of the boat, a worry I had was that I'd need to camera pointing well down and not have much forward vision, but that is not the case at all with this camera
It originally looked like this
but I have mounted the camera on the project box so it's all in one place now and added the cloverleaf antenna.
Great shout about powering the boat gubbins from the boat battery, i'd never thought of that (the boat has a sealed 12v lead acid battery but has a charging point that can be used to power accessories). I may switch over to doing that at a later date
Never realised I'd got any replies to my question so thanks those who have
I seem to have cracked it and for just over £70 all in.
Kit ended up being:
Boscam 5.8ghz 200mw Tx & Rx - £30 off a mate at work
Sony 700vtl camera on mount - £12
Cloverleaf antenna set - £18
3S Lipo to power Tx - £8
Hobby box to build Tx/lipo/camera onto/into - £4
Already had a Maxim 7 inch LCD TV that has analogue tuner so hasn't been much use for anything for a few years, but is perfect for the screen! And already have a 12v car battery that I used on longer fishing trips to keep everything charged
Seems to work 'on the bench' really well, sent my little lad 150+ yards down the road with the camera/tx and image was great back to the Rx end.
I like that I can just velcro the box on and off the boat easily enough (as I won't always use FPV), and the extra bits to carry around are minimal. The camera is also ideal as it only needs to be pointed down a little to see the nose of the boat, a worry I had was that I'd need to camera pointing well down and not have much forward vision, but that is not the case at all with this camera
It originally looked like this
but I have mounted the camera on the project box so it's all in one place now and added the cloverleaf antenna.
Great shout about powering the boat gubbins from the boat battery, i'd never thought of that (the boat has a sealed 12v lead acid battery but has a charging point that can be used to power accessories). I may switch over to doing that at a later date
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