Hi,
I need to see what is happening in the cavity above my kitchen ceiling. I seem to have a damp patch and suspect a leak from the upstairs plumbin. Not far away I have some recessed lighting and wondered if a tool for viewing inaccesible places with a fibreoptic exists ? I could take out the bulb and use such a device to see what is going on without having to remove any ceiling stuff.
Kind of like the thing they make you swallow to examine your gut.
To go really cheap, USB cameras are available for about a fiver. Add a bulb, and you have something that may work.
Is the hole too small, or the area too obstructed to use a mirror?
Chris
Think dentist rather than gastroenterologist, might be cheaper...
The thing you are thinking of is a boroscope but they are not a wonder solution cos you get a picture of a small area of dark and cant tell which way is up and so on. Try using a digital camera and look at the results on the computer
Anna
~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|
Not my dentist. Robbing git!
Is there a really small USB webcam available anywhere?
I bought a "notebook webcam" that's about 25mm*10mm*30mm, with the connector on one short end.
you'll probably need one or more USB repeater cables too if you can't get your USB port within 5 metres :-(
Ideally, you should illuminate the area independently, rather than bounce the torch beam off the mirror, as the slightest bit of dirt or other defect on the mirror surface shows up.
Rick
I was assuming computer at bottom of hole, probably laptop.
... snipped
There's a dynamode and a sweex that look pretty similar for about 10 quid and an eyeball "ebuyer" model for a fiver. Has anyone tried using the guts out of an eyeball? is the lens attached to the CCD or the eyeball?
Probably the CCD. Using a PC and USB (with cable length restrictions etc) all seems a bit messy. Why not get a cheap "security" camera, one of the bullet type, all the bits just plug it into a telly.
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