Sub-Surface WebCam

7 May 2023

I am really late getting started on this project - struggling to get healthy enough to work on it, but I am determined to get it done even though I will probably need to reduce the scope a bit..

The Plan

The plan is to take advantage of the clear lid on the waterproof Hammond case and the Amphenol waterproof connectors to make a webcam that can work underwater. The clear lid came with some nice logos for element14 and Hammond printed on it, but the camera can be positioned such that the logos don't encroach into the field of view. The LattePanda will be used to view the webcam and record images and video. I have ordered a heatsink case for the LattePanda which should be here next week. I also have a little display that I hope to get working to view the camera output. There will be a pole between the camera box and the computer display. It will need to be structural enough to combat the buoyancy of the camera case. Of course I will try to do a water ingress test before finally hooking up the camera. There will be a 3D printed chassis in the camera case and another 3D printed chassis to mount the computer and display. I have revised my plan to immerse the whole case. I now plan to immerse about half of the case - the half with the camera in it. Some connectors will still be under water. The others will mostly experience splashing water. But I may dunk the whole box if it passes my other tests.

Kit Notes

I had high hopes for the LattePanda to become a nice small embeddable Windows platform but it isn't turning out as well as hoped. It is a nice small form factor and it does run Windows quite well, but Windows takes up so much memory, there is not enough left to install MS Visual Studio Community 2022. I even tried using an SSD, but it won't install any part of the package on something it calls "not a fixed disk". I also tried to install my old Visual Basic 6, but one of the CDs is damaged or corrupted. Ironically Microsoft has a smaller install called Visual Studio Express, which is "free", but they recently changed it so it can only be obtained through the MS Developer Network, which is not free. So for now I guess software will need to be developed on a different computer and then it can be run on the LattePanda. Of course the latest LattePanda Sigma has enough memory that none of this would be a problem.

Some of the connectors in the Amphenol kit have mating waterproof connectors and some don't, which was known from the beginning, so I will be using the connectors where mating pairs were supplied. Actually I will be installing and testing all connectors for water ingress, but I will only be running signals through connectors where I have proper mating parts. I am working on a way to keep the unmated connectors internally dry with waterproof caps.

Additional components for the project

I addition to 3D printed parts and a pole, the system will have a LattePanda heatsink case, a webcam, an HDMI LCD to display camera output, a power supply, a wireless user interface (both keyboard and trackpad), and an extra FLASH memory stick.

Unboxing

I made short "after unboxing" video to show the kit components and other project components. There are still some parts missing, like the pole and the Lattepanda heatsink case, but this is what is here now.

Next Steps

Clean up the SMA mounting surface
Build waterproof caps for unused connectors
Test webcam and its app on the Lattepanda
Build cables with the waterproof connectors
Test water ingress of the case and connector seals
Build the pole
Design internal camera chassis
Assemble the Lattepanda in a heatsink case
Design and print a mounting chassis and LCD bezel for the computer system
Design the power supply and its mounting system
Full system test
Write blogs along the journey

Discussion

It looks like my plans for software development on the Lattepanda have been thwarted, but it will still be able to run the software applications I need. Hammond Manufacturing has provided a great waterproof case with accurately pre-machined connector cutouts, which makes it a lot simpler to achieve a good seal at each connector. Custom cutouts are something you can order with any of their wide selection of standard box sizes. I expect the Amphenol bulkhead connectors can and will be reused in other projects because some of them only have an experimental use in this project.

I have been working on the Lattepanda software, trying to get it setup the way I want - which is to make it useful as an embedded platform beyond this project. So far it has a limited size C: drive which makes installation of everything I want problematic.

Links:

Sub-Surface WebCam

Waterproof Connectors - Camera Build

Pole Mechanism for the Waterproof Camera

LattePanda and LCD Pole -Mounted Chassis

Underwater Camera Test

Hammond and Amphenol Experience

Subsurface Camera Using Amphenol Waterproof Connectors and a Watertight Hammond Manufacturing Enclosure

Experimenting with Waterproof Connectors

Experimenting With Waterproof Connectors