Endoscope camera

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

I have been thinking about getting an endoscope camera for a while now, having come across certain workshop situations where it would prove useful. My mind has now become more concentrated on this as I now have a leak behind a bathroom cabinet which is impossible to get behind without total replumbing.  I see that there are lots of these cameras on Ebay but I really don’t know what I am looking for except that it is for an iphone. Anyone had experience of these things who could give me some pointers?

Mick

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

From time to time, LIDL have such things on offer.

Professional devices, such as Olympus can be expensive, but the probe can be steered and they have a long reach. These come with their own separate light source, to provide a brighter image.

But such things are not financial viable for occasional use.

Any chance that you could hire one, to enable you to fix your problem?

Howard

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

Hallo Howard. The ones I have seen on a cursory look on eBay has them from about a tenner upwards. Are they rubbish?

Mick

[michael howarth 1]

On michael howarth 1 Said:

Hallo Howard. The ones I have seen on a cursory look on eBay has them from about a tenner upwards. Are they rubbish?

Mick

For occasional use, or to see just how useful these things are to you, the <£10 USB cameras are OK. Diagnosing your leak with one would pay for the device, and then it takes up little space in the toolbox for other jobs.

 

The £40 Lidl/etc ones are more usable, but being able to record the images is a worthwhile improvement.

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Many of the cheap endoscope cameras only have a native resolution of 640×480

… this may be sufficient, or may not, depending on your requirements.

If starting with an iPhone as your base, I think it might be best to look at the available Apps first, and choose a remote camera that uses a wireless connection

[any dedicated camera requirements should be identified in the App description]

MichaelG.

.

Note: I have two ‘real’ Olympus rigid endoscopes/borescopes, and can assure you they can be very awkward to use !

[HowiParticipant @howi]

Just take the cabinet out and fix the leak properly!

save some money.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

I bought a $12 (6 billy lids) USB/phone endoscope camera off eBay for a similar thing, looking behind the cylinder block on my east-west engine in the Toyota to locate a small oil leak. Worked perfectly. Even has a little LED headlight. It plugs straight into my Android phone, after I downloaded the app from the camera maker’s website. Sorry, can’t remember any details of camera name or seller, but there are a million of them on eBay.

Getting my hands in back there, and tools, to change the leaking crank position sensor o-ring was another story! As will be your plumbing I suspect.

[JAParticipant @ja]

As MichaelG says they are very difficult to use (that is why video cameras are fitted). I spent a day looking at a possible crack in an engine and in the end had to tell my boss “I don’t know”. That was before boroscopes came with a video camera.

Howi’s suggestion makes a lot more sense.

JA

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

I have one of the cheap endoscope cameras that connect to my phone by a cable. It is only 640×480 resolution with built in LED light and would be OK for what you need to look at a leak behind your bathroom cabinet. Handy to have but not worth spending big money on something that is seldom used.

Originally got it to look inside a boiler on a steam engine to check condition. Able to capture photo to your phone.  Had it for 5 years and used it twice.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

I bought one off Amazon for £9.99 expecting it to rubbish as it boasted having two cameras in the ‘business end’. When it arrived the resolution and quality of the image was impressive and even though I could only get the axial camera image (1920×1080) to work I still thought it extremely good value. After reading the instructions I found out how to enable the side-looking camera.

Link below is to Amazon page (four versions of endoscope)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CRDHXXFG?

Ian P

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

My cheapo didn’t meet all my expectations!

In the right kind of space, it works well enough.  Feeding it down a pipe to see what’s blocking it is OK, but anything more complicated soon gets tricky.   Manoeuvring the camera inside a complex structure is baffling; possibly a skill acquired after a few months of practice!   Where am I and which way is up?  What on earth is that!

Like Paul, my endoscope only has a 640×480 resolution, meaning the picture is often a little too crude.  Made worse because the LED light and brightness control are both on the ‘too simple’ side, so getting an adequately illuminated picture can be fiddly.

All smiles if the endoscope can be steered straightforwardly to the trouble-spot and the picture is ‘good enough’.   Dreadful frustrating time-waster if the camera and operator get lost in the works,  and on eventually finding the trouble still can’t be be sure where or what it is.  My experience is roughly 30% good, 70% waste of time.

Dave

 

 

 

 

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

The Amazon endoscope was the third I bought (the previous two 640×480 had both been loaned but not returned) but being 5m long and semi-rigid thought it might help investigate an underfloor leak, in the end (pun) it didn’t.

Navigating and trying to work out what you are actually seeing needs three hand and three eyes but I can say the higher resolution does make it much easier helped by the image rotation feature in the app.

Ian P

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Dave
What causes the large chunk of white space on (many of) your replies?

Ian P

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

I have one of the Lidl self contained units & have found it useful on several occasions. Bit heavy on batteries (4 AAs) & the positionable wand with the camera can be a bit unwieldy, but it can also be handy to pre-bend it to get into spaces. Orientating the image can be of a challenge sometimes as well. The Led illumination can be dimmed to suit the requirements of the viewing situation – handy as if too bright it can bleach out the image.

These are coming back in store around here (West Yorks) on 1st August for £39.99. Current item is better specced than mine, with option to take & store still & video images that mine lacks (imine is 3 or 4 years old). IIRC I paid €30 for mine in a German Lidl while on holiday. Lidl flyer

Nigel B

[Author]

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