Friday 7 June 2013

GoPro panner road test

As with many things the best laid plans… etc., etc. So it was that my first prototype of the panning device for my GoPro was less than ideal. It turns out a wiring issue severely limited the life of the microprocessor effectively ‘frying’ it after 1/2 hour or so of pumping excess voltage through the device. A greenhorn mistake to be sure, but I never claimed to be an electronics wizard – quite the opposite. Chalk it up as a learning experience.

I got that sorted finally (which required waiting for a new processor to be shipped in) and with all the electronics working as expected I was able to take a short ride to try it out on the road.


I have noticed some increased vibration/camera shake so I need to address that somehow. The camera mounted directly to the main shaft of the motor seems to be holding up okay but I’m still a bit concerned about that. Otherwise the system is working as I’d hoped so I’ll play with it this summer and then next winter’s project will be a new and improved version 2 based on what I learn.

Now if it would just stop raining and warm up a bit…

17 comments:

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  2. Canajun:

    that is very nice smooooth panning. It makes GoPro Video more interesting than just looking ahead in a static position.

    I didn't notice much vibration so perhaps you're being too critical. The only way to isolate it more would be to have the GoPro on a separate swiveling base and then "belt Drive" it over to the motor shaft. (as in using a heavy duty elastic band to connect the two, you know with the small pully on the motor and the big pulley on the swivel base)

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. Bob - I thought about doing something like that but this way it's a nice small package that I can easily mount on a simple bracket. If the motor mount fails I might have to isolate it to make the assembly more robust, but I'm hoping not.

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  4. Yes, it does make the video more interesting and I'm with Bob, vibrations are nil to none. Nice.

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  6. I need to try out my GoPro on my handle bar mount but I am being hesitant nervous about it. Strange huh. I can ride with it in the rain with the water proof housing so that's not stopping me. Guess it's the old guy learning new technology that has be hesitant.

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    1. WooleyBugger - Go for it. Once you start playing around with it you'll love it.

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  7. I do see the slightest vibration in the video but only when you hit good bumps in the road and I don't think it's enough to worry about; maybe a gel mount would stop it but it does such an awesome job already...I want one..

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    1. WooleyBugger - A lot of bumpy video was edited out. Certain RPM ranges seem to be the worst so I just have to learn where the sweet spots are.

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  8. Looks pretty good to me!

    My only question: is the gopro "dummy-corded" in case things come apart? I failed to do that once......

    Dom

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    1. Dom - It is. I still don't really trust the mount.

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  9. looks great! the wind buffeting seems a little louder when rotating, but overall it's really cool.

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    1. The wind noise does change depending on the angle it's hitting the camera I assume. Perhaps I'll just cancel the sound and put the videos to music - golden oldies perhaps.

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