FreeTrack webcam = TrackIR for cheap

[Perfesser]

Guy at the store had no clue why they flash, I suspect one of them is overly sensitive to the .2 overvolt and cuts in and out.

So I bought a 6 more LED's, made a spotlight and still wasn't happy.

Reflects off the hat, my nose, chin and earlobes are especially bad when you turn your head.

I was pretty happy about using a USB port to power them ( i have a remotely powered USB hub, from 115 v, not connected to the computer at all). Although it does seem to power them fine off the ports in the G15 keyboard that give you a "low power" message when you try to plug any other device into it.

Already had all the soldering stuff out so I took the 3 good LED's out of my original 6, ground the ends down as far as I dared and made em flat and then I mounted them on the hat.

Just popped holes in the fabric(cardboard in the brim) and slid the leads through, soldered em on, then bent the leads to aim them.

Sayal Electronics had some 1 inch adhesive velcro tabs, should hold the wires out of harms way.

Hacked up another USB cable and powered it up.

Works great all the time with a tiny exposure adjustment for ambient lighting.

Bottom line.

This works great with a few cautions.

If your room has greatly variable light go with the LED's on the hat or headset.

If you are in the basement then the reflectors probably work well enough.

Measure your model dimensions and model position carefully and enter them.(under the model tab)

[Perfesser]

One LED burned out last night.

Apparently they can't handle the .2 volts over their 1.6v rating. (3 in series = 4.8v)

USB ports have at least 5v, (huge warning in caps on the site, USB forces to 5v) you should put a resistor in series with the LED's.

This would explain why the set of LED's was flashing and also why one burned out.

RTFM:

Had I bothered to look on the Freetrack site they have a handy-dandy setup calculator where you plug in your specs and it does all the calculations.

My LED's are rated at 1.6v but they work fine (with a lot longer life) and still give a very good signal at 1.5v(tested with a battery).

Plug the numbers in and a 10 ohm resistor is all that's needed.

Also they must already be wide angle because they give a good signal even 90 degrees off the viewing angle without sanding them down flat.

I might rough sand the tips to cut down the "flare" when angled directly at the camera.

[Crash]

Take a look at this 8th project down Cant wait for the info on the FFB X52 mod!

[cannon_fodder]

One LED burned out last night.

I think that LEDS buring out is due to over-current not over-voltage. There again if you increase the voltage over a given load you will increase the current so I supose its self-fulfiling.

This may explain why the were flashing when powered by your USB Hub... Could it be over current protection turning the power on and off??

I had a faulty USB wireless adapter that caused my hubs power LEDs to flash on and off

[Perfesser]

Just my failure to Read The F Manual. My first foray into building anything with LED's.

Yes current overload, resistor seems have fixed it.

In a couple of days I'll have access to a digital multimeter and get some proper readings on voltage and current.

[Jediteo]

I did the same thing with my first LED, overloaded it so it melted a little, fortunatly I had 7 spares.