PiNoir & Santa Catcher Challenge Support

Okay, it has been too quiet around here.  Got my Pi NoIR camera today and decided to start playing.  Well, plugged it in and started it up and had the same problems others were having that it would not work.  Saying the camera was not installed.  Double checked everything, enabled, rebooted, seated on both ends of the ribbon cable, etc.  No luck.  Then I check the small ribbon connector at the top of the lens and found that if I pushed it in, it would pop and I am guess re-seat.  Tested it and it worked, then I put it back in the case and it did not work.  Seems that camera housing/case pops that little sucker off. 

Here is the connector in question that I had a problem with

So now I just put on the case without getting it all the way in, no pushing, and here is my test.

Okay, it has been too quiet around here.  Got my Pi NoIR camera today and decided to start playing.  Well, plugged it in and started it up and had the same problems others were having that it would not work.  Saying the camera was not installed.  Double checked everything, enabled, rebooted, seated on both ends of the ribbon cable, etc.  No luck.  Then I check the small ribbon connector at the top of the lens and found that if I pushed it in, it would pop and I am guess re-seat.  Tested it and it worked, then I put it back in the case and it did not work.  Seems that camera housing/case pops that little sucker off. 

Here is the connector in question that I had a problem with

So now I just put on the case without getting it all the way in, no pushing, and here is my test.

That connector popping off seems to be a common problem going by the number of reports of the same over on the RPF forums. Seem to be just your luck though, I have several cameras and haven't had any problems.

I don't like the case much though. I got the white version a few months back and don't think the quality is at all good. One of the problems is getting the camera board to sit in the slots in the sides fully. It's a bit hard to tell from your photo, but I wonder if the camera board isn't seated fully ?  If the camera board sits too high then maybe something catches the connector when you close the case. Or I'd not be surprised if the force needed isn't causing the fairly thin PCB to flex and that's causing the connector to pop out.

See here for my take on the case http://www.element14.com/community/message/83388/l/rpi-camera-cases#83388

The problem is that the case is essentially snap fit and since there are connectors on all sides it puts quite a bit of force on the connectors as you are assembling the case. not much you can do about that unfortunately?!!

True, case producers are very much at the mercy of the PCB designers and whether they give any thought to cases at all...

Not as much as we would like, that's why my cases are assembled the way they are so you don't need to worry about this . The only easy way of doing it with a moulded case would be to have half the connector on the bottom of the case and the top part of the connector apertures on the Top moulding so join was along the line of all the connectors so you can just pop the board in and then bolt it down.

BTW notice that all these cases are probably a standard size with the apertures milled out so even here they didn't fancy making a tool to do the moulding in one piece!!

Thank you John and selsinork.  I am not too concerned about getting the little case to fit perfect.  It is together now, but just left it not pushed in tight at the top. After the road test, this will go in a different enclosure and be located outside.  I wanted to let people to know what to look for if they are having the same problem.

I'd be very interested to see what you come up with as a suitable case for outside use.

Outside use sounds interesting: something compact and waterproof for pi and camera would be awesome.

It's made somewhat more difficult by needing to have the Pi in the same case.  I've built a couple of weatherproof RPi cameras at laest one of which survived outside for 4-5 months.  As you can tell, I'm interested to see if others have any better ideas than mine.

Problem with having all this in the same case is that you need some method of making all the connections and maintaining  some degree of weatherproofing also you'll need to have a nice place to mount the camera that is transparent....not beyond the means of man but obviously more than the case supplied is really designed for.

one way is to start with a weather proof box then put the pi etc int he box then put a small window(Acrylic for example) in it siliconed in.

Ideas from you guys ?!

John, have a look at the photos here https://picasaweb.google.com/selsinork/RPiCamera

Having the camera inside the ~3mm thick clear lid has it's problems, you get distortions and reflections.  The last photo in that album shows the latest incarnation which has a sheet of OHP transparency sandwiched between the case and the plate on the front. Plenty of silicone