Sir is it possible to cellphone camera to turn it into a spy camera using usb cable? Lots of tutorials i saw here in youtube and they said it was fake. Could you tell me sir? Is it possible or not? Thank you
The webcam i found isn't the same as what you were demonstrating. I think its a webcam with a mic integrated, is there a way for me to also use the mic?
As it happens, I just made one of these today! One of the things I ran into is that my particular camera had a shielding and it would not work on an un-shielded cable, it showed up OK, but I just got a black screen, to get around that I found a cable with shielding and soldered the camera shielding to the cable shielding and it worked great! In my case the camera came out of a Lenovo G505 and the wires were very, very small, 30awg if I'm not mistaken, and while soldering them was difficult, it was definitely not impossible. To insulate the tiny connections, I decided to use New Skin liquid bandage, since I lacked any liquid electrical tape or any heat shrink in those tiny sizes, and it worked great! Thanks for sharing this!
I may have the same problem as my salvaged cam is recognized but will reboot every second with a LED blink as it is asked to display its image. Any chance you could explain how you identify the camera shielding? (my cam has also an inbuilt mic so there are plenty of wires)
@@DanChaltiel the shielding normally looks like a braided metal covering or a foil wrap around the wires. To test it, you should be able to just touch the shielding from the camera to the shielding in the cable and the camera should start working immediately, if the problem is the shielding. Restarting every second would normally be an indication that the data lines are reversed though, so definitely check your connections.
@@Teklectic There seems to be no shielding on the webcam wires then (see electronics.stackexchange.com/a/497752/82476 for a picture). If I reverse my data lines, the camera is not even recognized. I will investigate further. Thanks a lot for your answer!
@@DanChaltiel I don't see any shielding there either, but I'm confused by the diodes in series on the V+ line. Two 1N4007s in series should give you a 2 volt drop which would leave you with only 3 volts to run the camera, I don't think that would work since the USB standard calls for 5V, I would try with one or no diodes and see if that does it for you.
@@Teklectic I think some of these webcams run on 3.3V, the one I tried with actually had labelling on the PCB - SGND, GND, D+, D-, 3v3 - that being 3.3 Volts. Some googling indicated that some expect two diodes inline from the 5V to drop the voltage to 3.3. That said I can't get mine to work but I wasn't using a shielded cable
if it has a microphone and you have 5 wires, then that wire needs to go to a microphone input on your (intergrated)soundcard. you can also just check the pinouts on the web if you know the product number which is usually located on the sticker on the pcb. because laptop cameras could also have an enable wire.
@@man0sm if it is this one www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-Inspiron-M5110-Inspiron-N5110-Camera-T3NPC-0T3NPC-GENUINE-NEW/111785229872 it visibly has a microphone but it will be some guessing what wire is the mic... it looks like the connector has 8 wires... so 4 wires for the USB camera.. and at least 1 for the mic.. also im kinda worried that this is a 3.3v module so you'll need to reduce the voltage from regular USB which 5v.
Bit frustrated, took four usb cables apart and found the full range of data transfers on the fourth go, but that one has a whole bunch of silver wires (for earthing, I'm told). Now don't know what to do with them. Secondly, I don't have that tool to work out what the webcams cables do.
Watch out for webcam modules that are powered by 3.3V as they fry when connected to the 5V from a USB-port. Some have it marked on the rear of the PCB as 3V3 next to one of the wires. A little VRM to regulate the voltage to 3.3V is enough to get those working. No need to also convert the data signal.
If you can't get it to work there may be an additional step that you need to take. Most webcams run at 3.3V but USB provides 5V. Some will be fine with this but others (like mine which was pulled from a Dell Inspiron) will shut themselves off as soon as you try to pull video from them. A quick and dirty way of stepping the voltage down is to stick two diodes in between between the 5V line of the USB cable and the power wire on the camera instead of soldering them directly together. The cathode end of the diodes (the stripe that's on the diode casing) should point towards the camera end. i.e: USB cable 5V Line ---> Diode (stripe this side) ---> Diode (stripe this side) ---> Power wire on the webcam. I used 1N4001 diodes since I had them for another project and are designed to carry up to 1A of current. If that doesn't make any sense, you can find a diagram by googling for "hackaday 110436". That will bring up a project that explains it further. Thanks for the great video!
The concept of this second channel to go more in depth on the tutorials is genius! Thank you so much for the great content, you have an amazing way of explaining things!
If you really want to re-use a phone camera the best way to go about doing so is downloading an app, you generally can't do something like what's shown in this video, you would need to figure out what connector it uses for example it might have a BM10/14/20 FPC connector then solder those teeny tiny pins to a breakout board or something where you can more easily test/probe the pins and on top of that phone cameras don't use a typical usb interface, they're more directly connected to the SoC which means you would need to make your own interface using a microcontroller or Raspberry Pi or at least look for someone else's project as a guide at making one. Basically in short a few people may find it a fun project but it's not at all worth the effort when you can get good usb cameras or cameras that are natively compatible with boards like the Raspberry Pi for $20 or less.
Smartphone cameras are pretty much the sensor only. How to read data off of it is a very closely guarded secret for each and every sensor. This means that the phone is the only thing which will be able to access the camera 😕
What if I have a webcam with included microphone modules (on a separate wire), am I able to daisy chain them together? or would I need another USB cable to transmit the audio separately?
Did you ever get an answer to this? This is my question exactly. I hit one webcam with 4 wires - no mic - and unfortunately it was a dud. The next one I pulled has a mic & total of 6 wires + the data twisted pair so 8 wires! Did you figure how to sort this out?
This is only a guess. My laptop cam/mic module have 6 wires, I assume 4 wires are for the usb connection and the remaining 2 could be connected to a 3.5 mm lack (with the correct polarity, you have to try) and connect the jack to the 3.5 mm mic input in your pc. Please let me know if it works.
You are good at what you do and I love to watch all your videos. I brag on you and tell people to watch and subscribe! One thing: you are all about frugality and inexpensive ways to accomplish fun projects and heat shrink tubing is inexpensive and easily obtained and used. That, is frugal. Electrician's tape is simply cheap, and after time is just a sticky mess! Keep up the good work! I look forward to the next installment!
Hey! I tried connecting connecting the wires but no matter how swap the data positive and negative wires, my pc would just said "USB Device not regconized", am I doing something wrong or is there another solution?
Instead of cutting a USB cable, it's probably a better idea to connect the wires to a micro USB (or type C if you really want to) connector. That way, you get to keep your cables.
I will try to do this. If it is working base on this video .I'll be back on your channel and say; YOU ARE A GREAT MAN AND I WILL GIVE SUBS. ON YOUR CHANNEL.
Hi Matt, greetings from China. I've been following your channel since your sun blaster video and enjoyed your channel a lot! Here is something I would like to see from your new channel: over the years, I've used a lot of cellphones, from Symbian to IOS/Android, i haven't thrown away any of them. I think I'm not the only one. Now, how about make a video teaching us how the convert cameras, microphones or even capacitive displays from more recent phones into something useful? I believe that would make a interesting as well as a challenging video which can be interested by lots of people. Moreover, recycled parts is good for keep the enviroment, isn't it? Anyway, hope your new channel goes well and keep uploading the fun videos! Sincerely.
If you're positive you have the data wires in the correct order, you might try a generic webcam driver. right click on the device in device manager (it should be "unknown USB device" or similar) and choose "Manually install driver". You should now be able to choose a driver manually - there also might be a number to choose from. If you know what brand your camera board is, try the drivers from the same brand. Otherwise, just choose from one of the generic USB webcam drivers that should be available.
This is nice, but to truly make a webcam that could be used with a desktop computer, it needs to have a mic built into it as well. How would you put that together in a nice, tidy package that would look decent? I've had many people ask if I could find them a webcam, but they're hard to come by right now, and if you can they're either super expensive or poor quality. I'd love to be able to put together a "true" webcam for them. Thanks, and I really enjoy your channel. When I get multiple notifications of subscribed channels uploading new content, I always click on yours first!
I might suggest that most people would have headsets, and headsets are still easy to purchase (in the current climate), while webcams certainly are not.
I tried this without soldering in case there are things need to be re-do, but the thing is after I wired and plugged the USB, it is not detected and the webcam module gets hot. Any ideas why?
Nice extra channel! I did this hack to my webcam, but mine is 3.3v, I have to convert the 5v of the USB to 3.3v, otherwise it will warm a lot! And maybe burnout!
@@DIYPerks2t's not so uncommon, I have even seen 3.7V and 3.9V webcams. A readymade buck converter like this www.aliexpress.com/item/4000528901389.html? is an easy fix or otherwise you could design an even simpler circuit yourself.
just a voltage regulator will work.. converters are more energy efficient but it adds more bulk and takes up more space. Something like this www.tinytronics.nl/shop/en/lm1117t-3.3v-voltage-regulator
Hello nice video. I can see that you are using very often electrical tapes to insulate the wires. While it is working fine, for long term it is better to use heat shrink tubes. They are cheap and will last long term much better ;)
Hey I have a Lenovo 2 13 laptop I'm selling It has a broken motherboard because of a stupid USB error but if you want to buy it off me you can maybe do a video on maybe using a type of laptop screen and turning into a digital photo frame.
I've been researching this as cameras are so hard to find, and I've compiled some tips: -- It seems like there's a strong convention for wiring: 4 wires carry USB connection for the camera, and 2 separate wires carry data for the microphone (not USB protocol). -- The 4 USB wires generally go to a motherboard connection labelled "camera" whereas the 2 microphone wires go to a different connection entirely so you probably won't get audio over USB. -- Audio is generally PDM digital audio or sometimes analog. The condenser mic gets power from the same power line as the camera. -- The camera is generally receiving 3.3V from the motherboard, so consider dropping your USB 5V supply with some diodes in series. -- Very high end devices like Apple MacBooks and Microsoft Surface computers are using a single PCIe lane for their camera modules, instead of USB. This will be less convenient to wire up to an external plug, but not impossible! -- The webcam controller chips used (which interface the physical camera sensor to a USB protocol) often have inputs for audio. These are sadly not used on most modules, and the pins are hidden under the chip so can't be accessed :( I would love to see someone hack this into working so we can have a full video+audio solution.
Most webcams are not 5V, but normal webcams have built-in regulators. But laptop webcams can get around not having a regulator to save space and cost, as the laptop motherboard will already have plenty of regulators with many different rails. You will mostly find 5v webcams only on very old laptops, the easier way is wiring a linear positive adjustable regulator, or even easier just put a couple diodes in series.
Just made one for myself. This video was great. The laptop I took apart was so nice, in terms of repairabililty, everything was marked out like someone was gonna open it and have a look, very nice experience. Also the webcam had the pin-outs clearly labelled which made the job so much easier. I wish right to repair passes world wide and we can go to being able to repair all electronics ourselves. And enjoy doing it. Quality is pretty bad tho lmaooooo. I mean, it's from a 14 year old laptop so I didn't expect much. Video was very nice. Thx
It works everybody! I tried this with my old zee pc and it worked nicely, planning to make them into cameras to us around the house. Thanks bro and keep up the awesome work!.
Awesome Matt. Can you please post how to reinsulate the wires on the BOSE earphones which are cracking as the rubber getting old. There is no such video on RU-vid for the same currently. Thanks #TheLifesWay #Photoyatra
It's very hard to do what's shown in the video with a cellphone camera, but you can download an app to link your phone to computer via USB or WiFi and use it as a webcam. You could make a foam board case for it if you really want to, but when I did this I just propped my phone against my monitor and it was alright.
Hey Matt, I'm curious about how you source all of the materials and hardware you keep around for these projects, such as aluminum, MDF, vinyl sheets, PCB pillars, etc. Do you buy these materials as you need them, or do you buy in bulk to stock up? Do you have any specific recommendations on how to obtain any of those materials, such as a cheap store/website that you know of (I live in the US, though I'd still be curious to know even if the source is UK-only). I would love to get more into DIY projects, but any time the project involves material that I don't have, I quickly lose the drive to make it. Any advice is appreciated!
I found your video extremely helpfull but I still have 2 questions: 1. What are the other 2 wires for? 2. Can you hook up a webcam with integrated microphone to 1 usb port as well?
I have already done this.... and I found out that *some USB cables have red for (-) and black for (+).* As long as the cable is used with both plugs attached it's not a problem. But when using it for such a project, it may kill your stuff. So it's a good extra advise to check if the polarity is correct on the right colors. This can be done by plugging the cable to a working USB port and measure the 5V DC. If red is positive, cable is good to go.
I love your tutorials! Your recycling of tech combined with your style is a win every time! With this vid I was able to hack a Brookstone Rover 2.0 camera to USB in under 15 minutes. Thank you!
Hi Great info and presentation! We're looking to integrate 2 micro cameras into our van build, van-life security. We want them wired and on their own tiny monitor that can be turned on and off quickly using the least amount of electricity. A small dedicated monitor that doesn't need any startup time (ideally independent battery). Would you happen to know how we can go about this? Reason for use: parked in city, peeps getting weird outside, turn on monitor, determine if they are passive crazy or harmful crazy; turn off monitor, go back to sleep. Don't want to mess with wifi, and computer interface, just monitor--don't know where to turn for info, but you could sell a lot of these to the van and Rv community if you come up with a simple solution. Thank you, B
I suppose something like this? Range is only 10cm. Do you think I could use the monitor with your laptop camera? www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PBW52SF?pf_rd_r=CD862ZDECW6N0VHS76VJ&pf_rd_p=edaba0ee-c2fe-4124-9f5d-b31d6b1bfbee
Issue with dead smartphone camera is that they are highly specialised interfaces. You can't just slap them onto a USB cable, as they are meant to interface with the processor directly. Microphones you could literally just wire to an amp and use, just like the speakers
In germany we call you Ehrenmann. Really big thanks, thats a cool thing to make, i am really happy how my 12 year old webcam looks, really nice quality :)
How long will it take for 3V laptop webcam to burn out when you power it from 5,2 volts? How does it even work? Did you compare logical 0 and 1 levels for 3V logic and 5V logic?
Good video ! I think I would try this once I will get back my used computer. Concerning the video, what's the purpose of the 5th wire ? (I don't know if you mentioned it)
If you mean the "5th wire" from his USB cable, it's not really a wire - it's the braided shielding twisted/pulled out of the way. You may or may not need to use it, depending on what laptop cam you have.
@@TheTalonts I get a "Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)" Error, I have tried switching the data cables and it didn't help, do you think that could be because of the other wires that are not used?
For those unaware, like I was: @1:47 Inside the USB cable the RED wire is LIVE and the BLACK wire is NEUTRAL. This goes for most wires and apparently its unspoken. I must be coming in at the perfect point lol
Tried this with a webcam that had 6 wires, identified the supply wires using the pins from an eeprom that was on the board, got the data wires from the 2 twisted wires, didn't worked, swapped the data wires, didn't worked again, got another broken laptop, this time the camera had 5 wires, identified everything again and soldered to an usb cable, worked on the first try. Thank You.
I interested: but what if I found old laptop camera module and...it was not connector with some plugin? Okay, I can buy one, test it for ground and for positive...but what about videosignal? At satrt I dont have "twisted pair"
Super late to the party but if like me you only just using this information now, I found when I did this I got the data cables wrong way round. After getting the "usb malfunction warning" as shown in this video, I reassembled correctly but found I still got the same error. Chased myself round in circles for an hour only to find I just needed to restart my pc after swapping the cables to the correct position. Simple I know but thought I'd share just incase anyone else has this issue.
I've tried 4 webcams - 4 wire, 6 wire, and 2x10 wire webcams, and none of them work. I manage to identify ground, data, and run power, but I always get device unidentified when plugged into the computer via USB no matter the order of data wires. Anyone in the same boat?
Why webcam microphones have a cushion of rubber surrounding them? And does it move, become frail, over time? Covering the mic? Does that amplify noise?
Would this webcam mods work on an Android phone with OTG usb connection? I would like to tape this webcam to my telescope's eyepiece, then connect via usb OtG to my phone so I could do Facebook live of the moon's craters.
Thank you. I am looking to make several small cameras for mounting onto HP model rockets. Something with reasonable image quality but won't break the bank because obviously rockets crash often or even break apart in mid air.
i did this and the module stopped working... don't know if it was already banged up or i messed up the wires... it doesn't even show in device manager anymore
Hi. Please my recycled webcam have this chip ALI M5603D reference 6-88-355GC-612 but i cannot find drivers for Windows XP and complete installations. Do you can tell me where find it. Thanks.
My Webcam connects correctly to the PC for 3-5 seconds. It says "Foxlink" in the device manager for camera. So, the brand is correctly detected. But after these seconds it disconnects without changing a thing. I read that there are 3.3V cameras out there. May this issue relate to this? I could not find a proper Datasheet for "Foxlink CONFIDENTIAL F003FF-149" since it's pretty old.
Hey I want to wire the 2011 webcam I have , no model number , to a sylvania portable dvd player board, it has no video inputs from factory. Model of dvd player with screen is SDVD7040B. I'd post a picture of the processors but utoob sucks like that.
Hey guys, I have a laptop (L380 Yoga) with a "World Facing Camera" that I am trying to repurpose and I have found the cable is quite different and after looking around it seems quite expensive too. (Serial Number for the cable 02DA332) I was wondering if anyone knew of any alternative cables that would still work with the camera module that dont cost the same price as a new webcam? Thanks all!
Hello I need help T.T I managed to build the USB webcam using an ASUS AI02S010000 Webcam and it works on a Windows Laptop. But it does not register on my MacBook! Is there a driver for this?
I tried this method with an old Acer Aspire 8920G camera but it does not work. I have read somewhere that It must be because of the input voltage, which should be around 3.3V. But I've also read that all laptop cameras run on 3.3V, so I don't know what's happening. Maybe I need to install the drivers, but I cant find them. Any ideas?
Hi, I have a webcam with 5 wires. When I plug the orange one to the GND and the black one to VCC the LED is powered. But the two twisted wires (I guess they are data wires) don't do anything when I plug them to the Data+ and Data- (same if they are inverted). What can I do? I also have a yellow wire on the webcam. Thanks
I tried to get a camera module which is nearly impossible. Then finally got one, it was PK40000N300 BNC4VHTTD-310. the connections were so bizarre and my projects was a total fail! I am very sure I fried the circuit by connecting the wrong wire for trial and error. I guess it was the errors for most part. Your videos are always good Matt. I should have paid more attention to the modules you used. Importing these modules is a problem here in India(in my state actually)because of customs
Hi, is there any way to DIY this (www.adt.link/product/R43SG.html) to connect it via usb-c cable. To maybe repurpose a usb-c port on a laptop and have super crazy fast and cheap egpu possibility on an laptop with 2nd m.2 and slot for example lenonvo slim 7. So the idea is to have an detachable usb-c cable as connection between the m.2 card and the egpu board. And you could make a beatiful case, too. Like your other beatiful PC builds (brass, wood/rope).
Has anyone ever tried it with an apple macbook's built-in camera? Does it work too? I have a broken macbook and I'd like to connect its camera on my new mac mini but I'd rather be sure it works before I try and tear everything down.
So, I tried making one wiht a h003p-4 model. Think i connected all wires right but when plugging in a laptop, I get descriptor request failed error. How do if fix this? Tried changing Data + and - cables multiple times too.
