DIY Underwater Cam

[Near]

Well.... Webcam to be more exact. What I'm trying to make is a webcam that will work underwater, so you can imagine why people are calling me dumb. It may not be worth it with a regular webcam, but what I'm considering doing is using the logitech orbit af with it's pan tilt. It will allow you to watch/record/etc from all views in your tank. It will be inside a clear plastic sphere that I have to make, so I kind of need your help on this one. Whats a good silicone that can be used to be keep water out on plastic surfaces?


If need be I shall post some pics on what im talking about. Or sketches.


Edit:


the cam would be inside something like this

Once in it may look like this

 

[Hooligan]

Try Aquarium Silicone at your lfs

 

[chesterthehero]

yep... aquarium safe silicone ftw.. might want to sand the edges a bit to give it a better surface to stick to..

my personal choice is GE window and door type 1.. blue and grey tube.. available at just about every hardware store in the country (mom and pop, homedepot, lowes, ect)

 

[danz]

I had one going for awhile, I used a glass jar and put a cam in there and added a little weight and let it rest under the glass tops. The buoyancy held it in place as long as I didnt touch it. This was after a massive wc but tank is much clearer so need to do it again.


[YT]398R6Q68aDo[/YT]

[YT]AYX4-5tYBN0[/YT]

 

[Near]

Awesome thanks for the help guys.

Yo danz if you can tell me what cam you use, or give me a more specific look at what you had it in...It be awesome. I am going to first test it out using a cheap cam. The orbit webcam is going to cost me about 120 dollars, so i dont want to risk it.

The cam will be used to stream live. So there will be a feed that will let you see video live.

 

[danz]

I wanted a decent camera but not too nice. I had an incident and was able to break the camera down and dry it out and still works.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105059

I had mine streaming as well, it was fun but my laptop was slowly dying and couldn't take the load heh.

 

[Dr Joe]

Test the silicone on the plastic your using, the adhesive quality might not be up to your standards.

Try plumbers GOOP.

There's and ROV forum http://groups.yahoo.com/group/robotrov/ , check out how they seal their domes.

Dr Joe

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[Near]

plumber goop....Well i admit it might be better than regular silicone used for tanks.

 

[Dr Joe]

It's the plastic bond I'm concerned about since that it looks like you have nothing else holding it together. Now if there are screws holding the sphere together silicone is fine (put silicone in screw holes too).

Dr Joe

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[Near]

I'm wondering if it be ok to put the cam in a plastic bottle and let it down.

Unfortunately, I really don't want to try it....Snapping alligator turtle might get the best of it.