Arduino

[vortish]

So the other day I got a ten buck gift card for ebay. So I spent a total of a day and decided to get in to Arduino as it has interested me for a while! So for ten dollars plus 86 cents I came out with a generic Arduino R3 and a LCD Shield and voltmeter and ammeter combo for a small desk top power supply I am going to build. I have two really nice hobby cases that I got from a manufacture for free but you have to list a college or business to get the free samples. These cases are nice and will fit better on my computer desk than my bulky lab psu. I may end up selling that one if my project will work out like I hope it will. I have a old lap top psu that is 30 volts at 1.007 amps. Which is fine for what I want to do. I never have any project that needs more than a amp if I do I have my lab. But back to the main topic Arduino. I want to use my Arduino when I can finish purchasing the parts to make a mobile solar security cam for my house and I think Arduino will be the best thing for this. I plan to have three cams on the system. These micro cams are all running 3.5 volts at 45 mw so not a lot there plus some mini microphones to pick up sound. and then a LiPo battery to keep the system up and running. A 12 volt solar cell with the system to keep the LiPo battery charged. I can get a wireless system card that will be attached to a monitor and feed a live feed to the house.

Now That I have explained the Idea do any of you that have experience with Arduino or Raspberry Pi Think that this will work as a system or Am I going to have to rethink some of my Idea so that I can get a workable system out of my Idea. I would rather build a small surveillance my self and make it portable versus paying hundreds of dollars and have to plug it in to a wall out let. I know the plan does sound a little over ambitious! Am I wrong or do you think that it will work?

 

[Benm]

What would the arduino be doing in this security system?

I see you have cameras and microphones which is fine, but neither require microcontrollers to operate.

If you want the arduino to process the video you can forget about that, it's way too slow for that. If you just want to switch between cameras and mics that can probably be done with some external components controlled by the arduino.

 

[vortish]

the arduino by it self yes is to slow but they do make video processing shields for arduino but the main focus of the arduino is to be able to shift between the camera and mic set ups. But I ream am wondering if a raspberry pi would be a better fit for this project thanks for the reply Benm

 

[Cyparagon]

the main focus of the arduino is to be able to shift between the camera and mic set ups.

That's what switches are for.

 

[OVNI]

I've been working with Microchip PIC microcontrollers for years. However, I can't tell you the differences between a PIC, an Arduino, or a Raspberry Pi because once I chose it and bought all the development stuff, I haven't kept up. But since there are so many PICs available, I suspect there's one that comes close in functionality to both your options. But there are a lot of other factors when picking a uC such as the cost for the development environment, available libraries, your experience in programming, footprint, power, pinout, etc.

Nevertheless, as a hobbyist, I've been able to make everything I've wanted using a uC but I never intended to make it easily manufacturable or cost competitive. I usually make things that I can't buy anywhere but even for those projects I doubt anyone would pay what it cost me to make just for its functionality unless they were a hobbyist like me and did it for fun or experience.

So long story short, you probably can do whatever you want with either device but understand it may be overkill (although I also recommend using switches and the uC to control them as already suggested plus you will need something else to process the video as was pointed out and I see you already recognize).

A list of top level requirements for functional (what does it do), performance (how well does it do it), physical (what footprint should it fit in), and cost (whether it be hobby budget, price point to sell, etc) plus a supporting block diagram would go a long way in helping others help you. For the block diagram, you could just hand draw one, take a picture and post that. Or, from the list of requirements, others here might offer block diagram recommendations.

 

[Benm]

That's what switches are for.

If you want to do it remotely, internet-controlled or something like that, you could use the arduino to switch a couple of transistors around to choose between say a number of composite video and/or audio sources.

With proper biasing you can use the arduino to control something like a 4066 and make a pretty good video/audio switch system. Bandwidth is good enough for good quality color composite video really. Considering the low price of 4066s it could be attractive to use them with an arduino if you need some functionality that isn't cheaply available on the market.

 

[vortish]

thanks for the heads up benm For what i want to do that may do the trick

 

[Benm]

Cool... please keep us updated on what you eventually build!