Cheap micro camera?

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fw2004

Posts: 152   +1
Hi;
I am doing electrical work on my home, and would love to own one of the Rigid SeeSnake that allows one to see what's inside the wall without ripping it open.
Problem is, I cannot afford the Rigid product at $230, or even to buy it on Ebay for around $100 would be pushing it for my current budget.

I was thinking that perhaps I could buy a small webcam, take it apart, and connect the camera (ccd and lens) to a long cable and attach it and an LED for lighting to the end of my electrician's fish rod. The fish rod is a fiberglass rod about 1/4" dia that extends up to 12' in three sections.
If I could figure out how to attach the camera assembly to the end of it, add the LED for lighting, and connect the webcam to my laptop computer, I might be able to pull this off for the cost of the webcam, instead of spending $200 or more on something I probably won't use very much anyway.

When I'm done with my work, I can re-install the camera into the webcam body and use it as a regular webcam.

Anyone ever taken apart a webcam?
Could I add at least 3 ft of shielded wire between the camera and the circuit board without interference or other problems?

Thanks for your help/advice.

FW
 
You better have a lot of time on your hands, because you will be dealing with the equal of a major engineering effort... particularly if you have no photography or lense experience... you will be dealing with very small amounts of light read through an unsophisticated system...
It will be a fun experiment, but not if you have a deadline.
 
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