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High End Research Gear And Equipment


NathanFooter

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Building & maintaining battery power supplies can be challenging.  I have purchased from a few vendors that have suitable products.

 

https://www.powerstream.com 

They do it all. Converters, inverters, small batteries, huge batteries. The DC/DC converter list is shocking.  Battery wisdom for assembling battery packs is posted on this site.

 

https://maxxpacks.com/index.php

The above link is his website. He is also on ebay; vendor name is toolbay. I have purchased battery packs and the 'peak detection charger'.  Not abusing batteries during charging is critical.  Battery wisdom is available on this site.

 

https://www.cablesandconnectors.com/CatStore.html

A little bit of everything.  Battery holders and spring type terminals for your battery holder building projects.

 

There are many vendors for 6 & 12 volt SLA batteries. Don't forget the 6 volt 'lantern battery'.

Edited by Catmandoo
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Heat.  Having the power source away from the electronics lowers the temp.  Heat kills electronics which is good for sales.  Internal lithiums are convenient for the general public. We know that if the battery in a device has problems, the whole device is junk if you can't replace the battery.

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Wow, he's got a serious setup.  Any idea on what equipment he is using to attach his pulsar thermal unit to the side window or windshield?  I'd be interested in getting something like that even if it is fixed and can't rotate.

 

 

He started using this setup:

 

https://youtu.be/4ehYgulOOaM?t=48

 

Here is new setup that we see in Northwind's video above. It can rotate and pan:

 

https://youtu.be/n4amfRWwL-k?t=20

 

 

 

Edited by wiiawiwb
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Best I can tell, he's using a RAM Mount 3 suction cup mount. I don't know what type of pan-tilt head he's using. I asked him in a comment, and it got deleted). Pretty slick though.

 

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Before you go off of the deep end or shallow end when looking for mounts, look at Woods Power-Grip Co, Inc.   Montana guys. Powerful stuff.  The suction mounts typically have a threaded post / socket to mount your own equipment. They do have a mount(s) with a ball type fixture that will work with RAM equipment.  Check the ball size for weight tolerance. One inch RAM ball doesn't hold jack. The guy in the video has a 'C' size ball, 1.5", listed as 4lbs capability. Will you be on smooth roads or bouncy around on bad, and rough terrain at speed? Will your mount be on glass for a longer  time than the length of a You Tube Video?  I did not notice a geek leash on the guys equipment.

 

https://www.wpg.com/

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On 1/12/2022 at 6:03 AM, NorthWind said:

Best I can tell, he's using a RAM Mount 3 suction cup mount. I don't know what type of pan-tilt head he's using.

 

I was curious about the mount. It is not a RAM mount. RAM units have a twisting motion with 2 lugs about the vertical axis.  I see an upward lever flip motion. Don't know what brand it is. It sucks.  Don't know about the pan & tilt unit either. Check Amazon and you will see a thousand results. Finding a weather proof P & T unit will be a chore.  I did not see a safety leash on the equipment. All equipment that uses negative pressure to hold something, has a leak rate.  If you pump the air out faster than it leaks in, it will hold.........for awhile.

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I really like the idea of the thermal imager mounted on a slow-rolling vehicle.  I searched Pulsar's website and somehow missed two mounting options. They have a glass/windshield mount and a C-clamp mount that could go on a roof rack or other attachment point.

 

Both of these allow for a fixed mount in a variety of angles. With these in mind, I bet they could also be incorporated into the RAM or Woods mounting systems.  I like the idea of 3 suction cups rather than one as it seems it would be safer but I could be fooling myself.

 

 

 

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The attachment conundrum continues. 

The vacuum mounting cups are a special class by themselves.

For mechanical mounting I like clamping with strong hardware that has bone crushing force.

 

The top image is the WOODs  LJ45 mounting cup with one of my ball head mounts attached. Ball head rotates 360 and ball swings 90 degrees. Shown at the right side is the cover plate that protects the sealing surface when not in use. The white rod with red ring is the pumping plunger. I think of the plunger as  'Hans & Franz, here to pump you up' ( without pummeling girly-man buttocks ). The LJ45 does not have a fixed weight limit. One has to visit the WOODs site and use the 'mounting cup capacity calculator'. The LJ45 will handle 7 lbs plus with the item 6" away from the mounting plate. 4 lbs over 12" away. Options for cups are for non-porous flat surfaces or concave surfaces.

 

The second image down is the WOODS and RAM mount. The RAM  RAP-B-224-1U mount with 1" ball next to the LJ45 for scale. The RAM unit has a weight rating of 2 lbs ( B ball size ).

 

 Manfrotto Super clamps.  Bone crushing clamping force.  All my Manfrotto clamps were made in Italy. Now, they are made in China. Mostly aluminum, very little plastic as in the handles / thumb screw knobs. Wide opening jaws. There is a triangular insert for the jaw. These are not weather proof.

 

Third image down. Super clamps shows 2 clamps. Left unit has the double metal ball mount with camera platform. Right unit has the triangular jaw adapter placed intermediate the jaws.

 

4th image down shows the double metal ball and aluminum clamp for the balls. The ball clamp handle 'floats' so you can tighten and then pull it back and move it out of an  interference position.

 

5th image down shows 2 clamps. The anchoring body can take several optional post elements. The unit on the right shows the mounting surface for threaded attachments. Some holes are metric.  The hole intermediate the 4 outer threaded holes has a 1/4-20 to 1/4-20 adapter installed.

 

The Manfrotto clamps are a substantial roof rack mount.

 

Without a pan & tilt unit, the equipment has a limited and fixed field of view. Pan & tilt units tend to be slow and movements may not be smooth. Weather is a risk.

What about brush and tree limbs?  I carry various saws and have to stop and cut wood and stalks.  I have been thinking about the brush deflector / cutter wires that attach at the front of the vehicle and run up to a roof rack.  Externally mounted equipment on moving vehicles has a lot of risks. Less risk in wide open areas.  Cup mounts and clamp fixtures work well in a car camping scenario when you want / need to place your equipment in a non-equipment friendly location.

 

Off road equipment vendors have quite a range of portable attachment fixtures. I have looked at them but not pulled the trigger on any products yet.  Many are made of compliant elastomeric material at the grip location with tightening via  a strap / clamp method.   Could have potential for other equipment besides optics.

 

 

WOODS 3572.JPG

WOODS & RAM_3571.JPG

Super clamps _3573.JPG

Super clamp _3574.JPG

Super clamps_3575.JPG

Edited by Catmandoo
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When I go out in the field with friends I usually furnish all of the

major equipment. If going solo I have to pare it down.

 

I put a bunk in my F250 for me to sleep in. My friends usually bring a tent or sleep in there own vehicles or we can stay at a cabin I have access to if close to

the area we are exploring.

 

Below is the major equipment we use.

 

Video:

Sony PMW500 w/Canon HJ22

Canon XA50

Miller 20 tripod

Garmin Virb 360 (dash mounted)

 

Audio:

Nagra VI 

Sennheiser MKH20

Telinga Parabolic

Sennheiser MKH8050

 

Navigation:

Garmin Rino 655 GPS

Topography maps (State Gazetteers)

 

Photography:

Canon 5D MKII

Canon 17-40 f4

Canon 300mm f2.8

Canon 70-200 f4

 

Scouting:

Bausch Lomb Zephyr Binoculars

Meopta Spotting Scope

Flir Scout 640 Thermal

Pulsar 320 Thermal

 

Charging:

Honda generator

 

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2 hours ago, SasquatchPA said:

When I go out in the field with friends I usually furnish all of the

major equipment. If going solo I have to pare it down.

 

I put a bunk in my F250 for me to sleep in. My friends usually bring a tent or sleep in there own vehicles or we can stay at a cabin I have access to if close to

the area we are exploring.

 

Below is the major equipment we use.

 

Video:

Sony PMW500 w/Canon HJ22

Canon XA50

Miller 20 tripod

Garmin Virb 360 (dash mounted)

 

Audio:

Nagra VI 

Sennheiser MKH20

Telinga Parabolic

Sennheiser MKH8050

 

Navigation:

Garmin Rino 655 GPS

Topography maps (State Gazetteers)

 

Photography:

Canon 5D MKII

Canon 17-40 f4

Canon 300mm f2.8

Canon 70-200 f4

 

Scouting:

Bausch Lomb Zephyr Binoculars

Meopta Spotting Scope

Flir Scout 640 Thermal

Pulsar 320 Thermal

 

Charging:

Honda generator

 

Great setup!

 

On that Pulsar… is 320 the model number or is it 320 resolution?

 

We looked at that Telinga parabolic, but needed something more compact since we are carrying it on our packs.  Great piece of equipment though.

Edited by BlackRockBigfoot
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11 minutes ago, BlackRockBigfoot said:

Great setup!

 

On that Pulsar… is 320 the model number or is it 320 resolution?

 

We looked at that Telinga parabolic, but needed something more compact since we are carrying it on our packs.  Great piece of equipment though.

The Pulsar is a Helion XQ30H the resolution is 320 I bought it in 2017 it is now a discontinued model. I like it as it has an integral video recorder where my Flir Scout does not so I have to use an external DVR if I want to get video from it which is kind of a hassle but it is a 640 resolution scanner.

 

The Telinga is a little big but I have the version that rolls up so that helps a little. I do however like that the larger size gives me more low end frequency response.

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