Denny Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Has anyone thought about trying to use the X10 Pan & Tilt Camera Mount with LOR to animate parts of their Christmas display? I am not that familiar with the X10 system, other than using it to turn on and off lights around the house. I know you can't have precision control with X10, but was thinking if this could be hidden inside of a character body and the head attached to the camera mount, the head could be moved side to side and up and down as if it were looking around or doing some other function during a song. Could it be controlled by LOR, without precise timing with the music? Perhaps it could also be used as a poor man's yoke to sweep floodlights also -- again, only where precise timing is not important.http://cgi.ebay.com/X10-Ninja-Pan-Tilt-Camera-Mount-VK74A-X-10-Security_W0QQitemZ260227509048QQihZ016QQcategoryZ48637QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBullard Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 The Ninja mounts are designed to be contolled via RF. If they lose power, they MAY (Sometimes) loose all their settings and have to be reprogrammed via the RF control to reestablish the scan points and limits as well as their X10 id unit number.These units are fairly good value, when you find them on sale for $20-$29, but their life is fairly short ( 9 - 12 months) when used outside. (I keep several spares in inventory)Also weight of what is mounted on them is very critical. Much over 6 oz and they won't move. They will stall and burn up the motor.I have four mounted outside, in the weather, and I use NON-X10 brand Color Infared Cameras for my home secuity system.They can be hacked to be controlled via a home automation program like HomeSeer, but off the top of my head, cannot think of any way for LOR to control them. (Remember cut power, loose settings, and 6 oz or less weight limit)A DMX enabled product would be much better suited for decorating purposes and can be LOR controlled Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denny Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 Thanks for the info, John. I guess these will not work. I have been wanting to get into some automation for this year and have been waiting for information on LOR's new solenoid control board to be published. It's difficult to design the armatures when I don't know the limitations or requirements of the control board. I understand why LOR does not want to publish this information, i.e., a heads-up to the competition, or problems in development, but it seems to me that it would be OK to publish some information at some point in time when production receives the go ahead. I am a follower of Aristocraft G-Gauge trains and they used to publish information when they had a concept. This was somewhat disastrous for them as the competition would see what was in development and then produce a competing project or Aristocraft would have problems and the project would never reach fruition. They finally decided to not publish any information until the molds were being manufactured. Perhaps LOR can come up with a production point where they feel safe in releasing information about new products.Kind of got off track there. DMX would be great, but the yolks are really expensive and could only do a couple movements. I wonder if I could use the DC board to control solenoids such as are used in RC aircraft to do animation? Looks like this project may be on hold until 2009. Hopefully, there will be some information coming soon about the new LOR boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Plak Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Danny,Take a look at this link and see if this will for you.Pan and Tilt Kit with Servoshttp://www.robotstore.com/store/product.asp?pid=1028&catid=1563Jerry Plak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denny Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 Jerry, Definitely has possibilities; I will have to e-mail them about the specs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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