Thursday, January 31, 2013

Infra-Webcam Mod Part 1.

Due to a recent break-in near at our apartments, the whole security infrastructure went through an overhaul. Going through all the new features, I came across one that caught my eye, Night-Vision Security Cameras. Upon further investigation, I found these were actually Infrared cameras.

The cameras themselves looked like webcams dotted with red LEDs. Now, I had seen them before but never wondered their purpose or capability. A simple Google search uncovered a ton of info and the part that totally took me by surprise was the fact that these could be engineered at home using simple everyday camera hardware.

Now, I'm not gonna write down a tutorial or go much in depth but will give some insight on how I made mine.

The idea is simple. A normal camera has 3 components, the Lens, The IR filter and the CCD chip. All one has to do is to remove the IR filter and replace it with a "Visible Light filter" (Hint: Kodak).

Anyway, below are a few pics I took while disassembling and modding.

The Camera (Source: Local flea market, Vendor: PC-Touch)

The PCB with the Lens, IR FLTR, CCD.

IR Filter (Note to self: Next time take the picture before breaking the thing :-P)

CCD Chip (Lens, IR FLTR removed)


 Camera Lens with the light filter (Exposed camera film[Even Gradient])

Reassembled Module

Results in the next post.

Update[1/2/2013]: Damn! the drivers are 32 bit. Lets see if Linux does the job.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

WOL PACKET RECIEVED!

Ok i know i keep disappearing... but im back.... had some tasks to complete ;- )