I'm thinking of getting one of these so as to be able to take a look in cavity walls, floor and drain cavities in order to determine nesting places and points of entry of rodents.

I've been looking at models available on the retail mass market i.e. £40 -£200 range, Bosch, Draper, Unitool, Dewalt, Ring, see snake. Ideally I'm looking for something that can output a decent digital picture to USB/Card, that's waterproof/resistant and has the capacity for the camera probe to be extended.

Anybody got experience of using any of these. Are they worth the outlay ? If so, any recommendations as to make/supplier.

Cheers

Nick

Edited 5 December, 201213 yr by Clunkclick

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Olympus-1T20L-Fiber-Gastroscope-Endoscopy-Fiberscope-ENDOSCOPE-Colonoscope-/251191678248?pt=UK_BOI_Medical_Lab_Equipment_Medical_Equipment_Instruments_ET&hash=item3a7c30d528

Nice and cheap if you don't think about where it's been

The one I used to use gave a very clear image, but was pre computer so no output other than visual. This was for use inside an engine.

When I was at uni and fibre optic was a strange new thing, we were given a length of FO to do "something" with. Our group glued a lens on the end to see round corners.

We didn't have the nouse or the entrepreneurial whatever to make the conceptual leap to turn ourselves into millionaires.

For £100, CPC do one that's waterproof and can store video to SD card. Fits through a 17mm hole - some of the cheaper ones are massive - as big as 30mm. I saw a mate use this one when he was trying to find a small water leak under the floorboards

http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d01810/inspection-camera-recordable/dp/TL14516

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item3a7c30d528

Nice and cheap if you don't think about where it's been

Ah ! Dual purpose. And its local to me.

It'll need a fair size hole, excuse my French.

Nick

I was given one of the "snake cameras" that firebox were selling a few years ago and it was very disappointing - blurred and not enough light. Ideally, I say buy a true boroscope/endoscope, ie a quality length of FO with a camera and light source at the operator end. I had great plans for mine but its only been out of its box a couple of times - not too good! I still have not worked out what the entry level cost is for a useful one.

Edited 5 December, 201213 yr by rum4mo

Just placed an order for a cheapo one that plugs into laptop. If it can see the broad outlines, that's all I need at the moment.

If it works well, then perhaps I'll get a few more and strategically place then in the building structure. I can attempt to link them into my IP camera monitoring software and get a more comprehensive picture of whats happening, where and when - I want to find out how they are getting in the buidling and once in where they are going to - there's at least four possibilities I know of. I suspect that there's a rat's nest in an inaccessible part of the eaves and that they are transitting through the outside cavity walls and between some of the floors to go outside and feed.

Nick

Ah ! Dual purpose. And its local to me.

It'll need a fair size hole, excuse my French.

Nick

That Olympus Medical Endoscope went for £227 - a bargain, even though the seller stated that half a dozen of the fibres had broken producing scattered odd pixels. Hope the seller got confirmation that it was condemnded stock. . . .

Nick

We have one in work that was £100 and also has illumination. It has a 10 or 12mm end.

I'll see if I can find out where it was purchased from.

Lol, i asked the same thing 5 years ago (I just searched)

Glad to see tech has caught up with my idea

£16 Chinese job, complete with 5 metres of FO cable terminating in a male USB connector, an in-line thumb wheel control for adjusting the intensity the LED lights integral to the 9mm head and mini-cd software disk arrived earlier in the week.

Testing on the Desktop went fine, no problems installing the software or detecting and viewing through the camera. Suspect that this particular lens is diversion stock from one of those USB Microscope kits (Frequent out-of-context references in the on-line documentation to Microscopes ?). The camera provides streaming (Live) video and the software provides capability for taking snapshots and recording video to avi or wmv. Image resolution goes to 640 x 480, but is a little grainy compared to the image of the cheapo IP cameras I recently bought, image not quite as good as say the key cameras, but nevertheless definition is good enough to detect reflections on surfaces as well as shapes, shadow and hue i.e. good enough to inspect ducting and between floor spacese. Focus is good up to a metre and and half, but much better closer-in (Microscope ?). Cable is stiffer tyhan I thought it would be, so can can manoeuvre it round corners without it immediately springing straight.

Tried it out by inspecting one of the suspected rodent entry points at the junction of the internally running soil pipe (Boxed-in) which interfaces with the foundation slab in the kitchen - this involved running the full length of the cable from the Desktop in the lounge into the kitchen. Worked a treat and as far as I could see, there was no evidence of the little knawers in there.

So the next job is to load the software to the laptop and have a look at some of the more inaccessible areas in the loft and between floor space - see how it stands up to that.

Nick

Edited 18 December, 201213 yr by Clunkclick