Interesting camera power

A little pricey, but certainly is an interesting concept.

Preorder - Airfoil Generator

 

[ve6yeq]

For those of us that have experimental / amateur built aircraft, I think that just running USB power to the wing strut make much more sense. I can see that for certified aircraft or rented aircraft, this might be a useful solution to strapping external batteries to the wing struct.

 

[Neal]

Batteries by themselves typically last long enough, depending how long you run your camera. However, there is a problem with "ship" power such as those of us that record cockpit audio into a GoPro is that there is a terrible "hum" feedback which apparently is due to an insufficient ground? Not sure, but it's bad and therefore I cannot be plugged in while using this GoPro to record cockpit audio. I do have an external USB that CubCrafters installed per my request in the right wing root that goes to an inspection plate on the right wing via a stratus USB block I think is the brand, from which I plug in USB cable(s).

Also, in the process of going from GoPro 9's, 10's, and now 12's and also buying extra batteries, I have more batteries than I know what to do with. So swapping them out at fuel stops, or fly-in stops, etc. is yet another option.

 

[ve6yeq]

To avoid extra cables in the cockpit and electrical ground loop issues, I have been powering my camera via USB and connecting the audio via Bluetooth from the G3X Touch / GMA 245R. The only downside is that the Bluetooth audio can not be connected until the avionics bus is powered on after the engine starts. However, in practice, this is not really an issue, as it provides something to do while waiting for the oil temperature to rise.

 

[Neal]

I think the one issue I had with that when trying to pair my strut mounted GoPro via bluetooth is if it's paired to your panel then you can't control it via the app on the phone? I do like connecting via the Quik app on the phone to set Date/Time to make syncing GoPro's for later video editing, etc. Once I saw that limitation I stopped trying the BT audio connection. I guess it all comes down to what you want to and with which Camera.