Major CMUcam issues - LabView app won't work, very low-quality picture

[scottmso]

I recently got our CMUcam hooked up to a PC and I am having major problems with it. First of all, I was initially having trouble getting LabView to recognize it. I figured out it wasn't exactly a connection problem, since connecting to the camera via HyperTerminal worked just fine. Then I learned that I had to install VISA. I did so and it still didn't work. So I downloaded the latest version of the LabView test files for the CMUcam and it still doesn't work. When I try to download a picture from the camera, it goes to 100% and back to 0% over and over again without doing anything.

So I downloaded the CMUcam Java app directly from CMU. It seems that I am able to get a very crappy picture out of it now. If I turn on all 3 color signals (red green and blue) it shows about a third of the picture. If I turn on one of the 3 the whole picture shows up. Either way, it is extremely blurry, has lots of dots (from what I have read these dots are because of florescent lighting, am I right?) and for the most part I can only make out whether or not there is or isn't light. I can't get any pictures right now but I'll try to get some on Thursday (when I can next work with it) if I can't get this problem solved by then.

I've tried everything - playing with serial port settings, trying different serial cables, using fresh batteries.... Does anyone have an idea as to why my camera is acting this way? Or maybe there is a chance I am just doing things wrong (like the florescent lighting perhaps?) I just hope it isn't defective. Any advice appreciated - thanks!

Could a mod move this back to the CMUcam forum? I don't understand why it got moved to the LabView forum because it's mostly a CMUcam question. Thanks!

[skimoose]

The blurry picture / poor quality is because you haven't focused the camera. The lens is threaded and must be adjusted by turning until you get a clear picture.

[Danny Diaz]

Originally Posted by scottmso

When I try to download a picture from the camera, it goes to 100% and back to 0% over and over again without doing anything.

Same exact thing happened to me. Problem? Low backup battery power.

-Danny

[scottmso]

Originally Posted by Danny Diaz

Same exact thing happened to me. Problem? Low backup battery power.

-Danny

We've been powering the camera via the backup battery directly - should be enough (according to 2 different manuals/spec sheets I've seen, 7.2V should be within spec for the camera.). We've tried 2 different batteries (one new, one from last season.) Whenever one fully charges (LED on charger turns green - does that indicate full charge?), we just switch them out. Am I doing things right?

[skimoose]

We've been powering the camera via the backup battery directly - should be enough (according to 2 different manuals/spec sheets I've seen, 7.2V should be within spec for the camera.). We've tried 2 different batteries (one new, one from last season.) Whenever one fully charges (LED on charger turns green - does that indicate full charge?), we just switch them out. Am I doing things right?

Yes, you're charging correctly and the backup battery will work. However, when we were testing the camera last year on the backup battery, with the servos for tracking, the usable battery time was not that long. I don't remember exactly how long, but it was short enough for me to note that we'd be changing backup batteries after every match to play it safe.

[scottmso]

Update: I plugged it in today, for whatever reason the thing works great now! It was blurry at first, but we had to adjust the focus. I then realized I put the lens on at a wrong angle (thank god I didn't strip tle threads.) It works great now!