How to make a "real" HV20 wired Lanc....

[Chris Soucy]

Now, hopefully, we have vision....

1. Shows the lugs on the remote casing. Flat blade driver and a bit of patience and off they come.

2. Shows the external electrical connector, with the LED having the section of lead removed and the holes drilled into the bottom casing for the wires.

3. This shows the external connector cemented to the casing with the attachment wires trailing.

4. This is the attached wires onto the LED. There is, most definately, a gap between those two wires on the positive feed to the LED.

5. This is the finished, re - assembled remote. It sits nicely on the external connector. I'm still working on how, exactly, I'm going to attach it to whatever on the jib/ boom.

6. The sender IR led encased in "blue tack" stuck onto the IR sensor of the HV20. Further tests have indicated I need to cut that blue tack back upwards to give the remote a better view of the sensor in normal operating conditions.

7. Not easy to see as it's all black - the cable from the IR sender to the plug mounted on the top of the camera. NOT taping the tape drive door shut proved to be a bit of a worry but I got there. The plug is out of eye's way and shouldn't interfere with the operation of the "hot shoe" if it's being used.

OK. Now, I guess the best way to do this is to say - what do you need to know after seeing what you've seen?

It's so simple it's criminal (why Canon didn't think of it astounds) but hey, it does the job.

I could launch into all sorts of stuff with regard to details, but really can't see the point, as those that can do, will, those that can't, won't.

Let me know.


Cheers,


Chris

[Jason Lowe]

Interesting and tempting. For the camera end, couldn't you mount the LED on a thin, L-shaped piece with the tripod plate, holding the LED in a position right in front of the sensor? The wire would run along the bottom of the camera and the plug end could also be attached to the plate.

And depending on how the remotes are constructed, is there any reason this couldn't be implmented with other cameras?

[Chris Soucy]

Yep, you could and yep, you could (mount the led differently and do the same with just about any other remote). The reason for me mounting it how I did was to keep it out of the way of everything and thus not a bother in ordinary use. The only proviso with the latter would be the cost of replacing the remote in the even that there's a "whoops" type incident during the mod. However, as my second for the HV20 was practically peanuts maybe manufacturers have stopped gougeing customers for replacement remotes.

In case anyone has noticed the unused 2.5mm plug and socket I put in the parts list BTW, it is, of course, to make up the cable that connects the remote to the plug on the camera.

Cheers,


Chris

[Mike Dulay]

Chris, on one side of the remote's LED you have two wires tapped (is one ground?). Which wire goes to what side of the phono plug, or does the +/- matter? Do you have matching pictures of the phono plug to the "remote" LED?

[Chris Soucy]

I agree the piccies aren't exactly self explanatory - so here goes. Once you've got your remote apart, if you flip out the circuit board and turn it over to the non - track side, you have just the led and the battery terminals. Now, if you look at the board with the led up and the terminals down (at the bottom) the r/h lead of the led is the positive (+) feed, the l/h lead is ground (-).

I cut a (very) small chunk out of the r/h (+) lead to give me a (+) feed and (+) return. The l/h (-) wire goes to the "barrel" of the socket, which always connects to the shaft of the plug, which connects to the "barrel" of the in - line socket etc etc.

The (+) feed connects to the "tip" connector in the socket, which connects EITHER with the (+) return to the remote itself, OR the "tip" of the inserted plug and thus eventually the "on - camera" sender. Thus the (+) feed always connects to the "tip" all the way down the line.

In case you can't see what is connected to what in the socket, take the naked socket and a naked plug. Insert plug fully into socket and measure with a multimetre which connector on the socket is now connected to the tip of the plug. Whichever of the two possibles it is gets the (+) feed from the led, the other one is the (+) return and gets the second wire from the r/h led lead.

I don't actually have a piccie of the wiring on the remote sender led. However, if you check out the original remote led carefully, you will notice that internally the two leads that go into the resin are not identical. The ground (-) lead broadens out to quite a solid platform on which is mounted the led chip itself. The (+) lead is much smaller and has a very fine, almost invisible, "flying wire" from it's end to the chip. All led's are broadly identicle in this respect so identifying which way 'round to connect them is pretty simple.

Ergo, (+) = tip, (-) = shaft. Can't go wrong !

Hope that helps!

Cheers,


Chris

[Chris Soucy]

Who's gone and built one then? Somebody? Anybody?

Cheers,


Chris

[Ray Bell]

I plan on doing something like this... I just need to look at a few of my
underwater housings and see about mounting the remote where I can use the buttons on the housing to address the remote.....

thanks for putting this out there... its good to be able to see other solutions
and methods

[Chris Soucy]

I think this might be better placed in the heads & sticks - lens controls forum. What do you think - it's relevant to anything that's doesn't have a dedicated Lanc type control. Maybe with a "place mat" to re - direct from the HV10/ 20 forum?

Cheers,


Chris

[Prech Marton]

Hmm, can i make this trick on two HV10, so when making photos, i can get syncronized pictures with one press? Would be good!