Water Rocket Forum

Hi, just wanted to show off my new micro digital camcorder. Only cost me 29 bucks! But the old saying "you get what you pay for" applies here. Video resolution is only 320*240 @ 10fps with sound, but it will do me just fine. It weighs 60 grams with the batteries, but can be trimmed down. Will fit inside of a FTC tube and record up to 360 seconds of video. Can't wait to try it out!

reno1 wrote:Hi, just wanted to show off my new micro digital camcorder. Only cost me 29 bucks! But the old saying "you get what you pay for" applies here. Video resolution is only 320*240 @ 10fps with sound, but it will do me just fine. It weighs 60 grams with the batteries, but can be trimmed down. Will fit inside of a FTC tube and record up to 360 seconds of video. Can't wait to try it out!

Hey Reno1,
I actually had that same camcorder in my hand at Wal*mart yesterday afternoon. I went to buy some spray paint and went to the camera department and looked around at what new camera they had. I saw that very same camera in Silver and in Pink and thought to myself that it would fit inside an FTC tube, wich is SUPER HARD to find these days. I looked the entire package over and nowhere did it say what the resolution was. It only said something about working with YouTube, and nothing else. I don't even think it said how much memory it had. It was pretty cheap, but I decided to look for it online and go back and get one if they were any good. It looks the same resolution and size as the FlyCamOne Clone I have, so you saved me some searching. Thanks!

It looks like he's awfully serious about going for that 1000' challenge.

There's so much work to do on so many things I feel overwhelmed.

I think I need to recruit more team members to help do everything I want to do!!

Hey D. Reno,
That camera is all you would need to prove your flights, since there's nothing that says you need any super resolution or amazing frame rate. Our first attempts were done with cameras with similar specs. Before that when we were first putting together rockets so we could learn how to set the record we were even using a radio frequency transmitting rocket and recording the video with a camcorder connected to the receiver. That idea was appealing to us at the time because digital cameras that recorded video were too large and heavy, but the height we were flying started to exceed the range of the transmitter so we eventually had to put together a custom dedicated digital camera circuit. In the years since, cameras have gotten a lot smaller, but never in a form factor friendly to the FTC tube. It's nice to know a company makes something useful for FTC fans.

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

reno1 wrote:Hi, just wanted to show off my new micro digital camcorder. Only cost me 29 bucks! But the old saying "you get what you pay for" applies here. Video resolution is only 320*240 @ 10fps with sound, but it will do me just fine. It weighs 60 grams with the batteries, but can be trimmed down. Will fit inside of a FTC tube and record up to 360 seconds of video. Can't wait to try it out!

Hey Reno1,
I actually had that same camcorder in my hand at Wal*mart yesterday afternoon. I went to buy some spray paint and went to the camera department and looked around at what new camera they had. I saw that very same camera in Silver and in Pink and thought to myself that it would fit inside an FTC tube, wich is SUPER HARD to find these days. I looked the entire package over and nowhere did it say what the resolution was. It only said something about working with YouTube, and nothing else. I don't even think it said how much memory it had. It was pretty cheap, but I decided to look for it online and go back and get one if they were any good. It looks the same resolution and size as the FlyCamOne Clone I have, so you saved me some searching. Thanks!

Wal-Mart it was! Man you can get almost anything there. They had the pink and silver here also, I decided to go with the silver because pink is for girls, LOL! Just kidding girls Had a hot pink rocket once named Hot Stuff, but it was solid fuel...Sorry! But I play with both. Anyways glad I could help. Thought it was a great fine.

reno1 wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

reno1 wrote:Hi, just wanted to show off my new micro digital camcorder. Only cost me 29 bucks! But the old saying "you get what you pay for" applies here. Video resolution is only 320*240 @ 10fps with sound, but it will do me just fine. It weighs 60 grams with the batteries, but can be trimmed down. Will fit inside of a FTC tube and record up to 360 seconds of video. Can't wait to try it out!

Hey Reno1,
I actually had that same camcorder in my hand at Wal*mart yesterday afternoon. I went to buy some spray paint and went to the camera department and looked around at what new camera they had. I saw that very same camera in Silver and in Pink and thought to myself that it would fit inside an FTC tube, wich is SUPER HARD to find these days. I looked the entire package over and nowhere did it say what the resolution was. It only said something about working with YouTube, and nothing else. I don't even think it said how much memory it had. It was pretty cheap, but I decided to look for it online and go back and get one if they were any good. It looks the same resolution and size as the FlyCamOne Clone I have, so you saved me some searching. Thanks!

Wal-Mart it was! Man you can get almost anything there. They had the pink and silver here also, I decided to go with the silver because pink is for girls, LOL! Just kidding girls Had a hot pink rocket once named Hot Stuff, but it was solid fuel...Sorry! But I play with both. Anyways glad I could help. Thought it was a great fine.

That's funny! I thought for a second I might get the pink one because if it ever popped off the rocket it would be easier to find!

who can send me an FTC tube to the netherlands?
Because we cant get those tubes here..

Daan.[D&P]Rockets* wrote:who can send me an FTC tube to the netherlands?
Because we cant get those tubes here..

Would it be possible to just find an online store that sells them on the internet and order them? I think it would be very expensive for someone to buy some and then ship them to you because of the large size of them. They are very lightweight but take up a lot of room and the package would be oversize.

You might consider buying a whole case of them from a merchant and then redistributing them to local water rocket fans and you can share the shipping costs. Heck, buy them from Ace hardware and have them throw in some tubes of PL Premium too!

I cant find them on the site. from Ace hardware

But as far as i know, the FTC tubbing are cover tubes for the fluorecent lights? correct?

So if i want to get an FTC tube i have to order a light?

And what is the T8 and T10 means? is it the lenght?

Daan.[D&P]Rockets* wrote:I cant find them on the site. from Ace hardware

But as far as i know, the FTC tubbing are cover tubes for the fluorecent lights? correct?

So if i want to get an FTC tube i have to order a light?

And what is the T8 and T10 means? is it the lenght?

Daan,

The tube covers are not included with lamp fixtures as far as I am aware. They are sold separately like the bulbs.

Fluorescent light bulbs contain a drop of mercury and a lot of glass. If the bulbs are not contained in an enclosed fixture they could break and contaminate the room with poisonous mercury. A few years ago laws were passed in the U.S. requiring public places use fully enclosed fluorescent lights. Since most lamps and fixtures in place have exposed bulbs or bulbs enclosed only with metal grating the FTC was invented to cover up the bulb tubes with an inexpensive plastic cover instead of replacing expensive fixtures.

T-8 and T-12 refer to the standard "size" assigned to different bulbs. These are the 2 common sizes. The numeric part of the size refers to the diameter of the bulbs. A T-12 bulb is 1.2 inches in diameter. A T-8 bulb is 0.8 inches in diameter. The FTC tubes are sold with the same designations but the actual diameter of the covers seems to vary from one brand to another. The only requirement for the FTC is that they fit over the bulb they were designed for. There is no standard for an exact dimension.

Fluorescent bulbs come in different lengths, so the FTCs also come in lengths which match up with the lengths of bulbs. The standard lengths of bulbs are 4 foot and 8 foot, so the FTCs are limited to these sizes.

I did a quick look on ACE Hardware and found them here:

http://www.acehardware.com/product/inde ... ector&sr=1

This explanation is based on personal experience, what I've read, and what others have told me and I believe it to be accurate. I hope this helps you!

I almost forgot. Here's a link to the PL Premium at ACE hardware.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/inde ... emium&sr=1

Daan.[D&P]Rockets* wrote:I cant find them on the site. from Ace hardware

But as far as i know, the FTC tubbing are cover tubes for the fluorecent lights? correct?

So if i want to get an FTC tube i have to order a light?

And what is the T8 and T10 means? is it the lenght?

Tim is right about the diameters. You do not have to order a bulb to get the protective tube. T-12 lamps are found mostly in the US. You may be able to find T-8 tubes in parts of Europe which may cut down on shipping costs for you.

Cloud Dancers wrote:

Daan.[D&P]Rockets* wrote:I cant find them on the site. from Ace hardware

But as far as i know, the FTC tubbing are cover tubes for the fluorecent lights? correct?

So if i want to get an FTC tube i have to order a light?

And what is the T8 and T10 means? is it the lenght?

Tim is right about the diameters. You do not have to order a bulb to get the protective tube. T-12 lamps are found mostly in the US. You may be able to find T-8 tubes in parts of Europe which may cut down on shipping costs for you.

T-12 has been around for many years and are going obsolete now because T-8 is a lot more energy efficient.

Thanks for the history lesson. I know more about FTC now than I ever wanted to know. LOL!

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

Cloud Dancers wrote:

Daan.[D&P]Rockets* wrote:I cant find them on the site. from Ace hardware

But as far as i know, the FTC tubbing are cover tubes for the fluorecent lights? correct?

So if i want to get an FTC tube i have to order a light?

And what is the T8 and T10 means? is it the lenght?

Tim is right about the diameters. You do not have to order a bulb to get the protective tube. T-12 lamps are found mostly in the US. You may be able to find T-8 tubes in parts of Europe which may cut down on shipping costs for you.

T-12 has been around for many years and are going obsolete now because T-8 is a lot more energy efficient.

The day the T-12 is no longer around will be a sad day for me For I am a big fan of the T-12. Hope it's not any time soon. Man I gat to go to Lowes and buy it all! LOL Just kidding... Not really