Camera cutting out - cables coming loose?
 

Hey everyone,

We're trying to do some tracking wit our camera, but we find that when we pick it up, sometimes the lights go off and we lose the image on the Dashboard (indicating that the power got cut somehow). It would seem that sometime when you pick up/shake the camera, the power cable comes a bit loose and then the camera fails. We are concerned that this would cause problems with our camera during competition, as it obviously would be along for a bumpy ride on the robot.

Has anyone else had experience with this issue? Any workarounds known?

Re: Camera cutting out - cables coming loose?
 

We had that problem, but it wasn't anything that a zip tie couldn't fix.

Re: Camera cutting out - cables coming loose?
 

We have not yet put our pan/tilt assembly together, but from the looks of things it should be an easy fix. A ziptie as Joe suggested or some hot glue should provide some strain relief for the connection and prevent it from wiggling free.

Re: Camera cutting out - cables coming loose?
 

This is a very common problem with this type of power connector. After the initial insertion the internal parts of the connector become a little bent and weak. The hot glue and/or tywrap are excellent suggestions. Remeber with the hot glue, it works best when the materials being glued get up to near the melt temperature. I wish we would be allowed to solder a permanent connection for these critical parts ( access point included please.)