Well for my first post i would like to show you guys a ghetto method of making an I-pad into a spoting scope. This works by a Wi-Fi camera which does Not need a router, and it connects directly to an I-pad / I-phone via Wi-Fi, or and Android device (which i have not tried yet on the Android). You can view your targets just using the browser on your I-pad, or with the 2.99 app for the camera you can save video with audio or take still pics.  I will be putting together a parts list and places on the internet you can pick up the items to make your own.  I still have not downloaded any video or pictures from my I-pad yet, but trust me, this contraption does work, it works to the point that my 10 year old daughter will not go shooting with me without this.

So this is what I have built out of a few components and a bit of soldering.

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/B992E740-CCA8-455C-88CD-DA4E8D39205A-5176-00000B8388C7571A.jpg[/img]


Parts list and Assembly Instructions for I-Pad Wi-Fi Scope for my set up.

Parts:

1.Wi-Fi Camera – you will need the camera with the stand for the camera which comes with the  power adaptor and USB cable. Website for the camera company is www.thumbdrive.com/aiball/  or you can try online stores like e-bay. The video quality could be better but it works for what you want to do without any extra parts or expense (about 100 bucks)
2.Spotting Scope and tri-pod – any sporting goods, gun store or in your stash.
3.Battery – 4cell 2650mah capacity Lithium Polymer battery from Hobby King:  $15.00 (the more capacity the  more run time you will get) www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__9182__Turnigy_2650mAh_4S_20C_Lipo_Pack.html
4.5 volt Regulator – BEC (battery eliminator circuit) from Hobby King  (5.5 to 23 volt input) $5.00 www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__4319__TURNIGY_3A_UBEC_w_Noise_Reduction.html
5.Lithium Battery Charger – (be careful when charging Lithium Batteries, never leave unattended, please read up on the internet for safety advice or go see your local RC hobby store) The chargers on Hobby King suck so look for a good at reputable RC stores or better online RC stores. Pick one that can balance charge the battery pack. (I use my own 12 volt Power supply to power a High End Lithium charger from my other hobbies).
6.Battery Connectors (you pick your preference, I used Deans and JST connectors as well as a servo lead connector) – Hobby King
7.Velcro straps – Hobby King
8.PVC Coupling that will fit around the outside of your eye piece on the scope – Hardware Store
9.10/32” Wing Nuts – Hardware Store (the longer the better)
10.Miscellaneous:  Soldering iron, solder, heat shrink and some spare wiring


Instructions:

Note: please follow directions for polarity and male and female connectors as shorting a lithium polymer battery is not a good thing to do, (Very Bad Ju-Ju can come of this).
1.Grind down plastic key chain attachment flush with a dremel as this piece is useless and gets in the way of mounting in PVC coupling.
2.Take battery cover and throw away.
3.Take the allen screws out of the sides of the adaptor and throw away the rickety plastic camera stand looking thing.
4.Throw away the wall plug looking thing.
5.Take the USB cable and plug into a lap top, Take a multi-meter and find out what positive and negative leads are on the micro USB outlet. Note this for later verification.  
6.Connect the camera power adaptor (this has the insert for the micro USB) with the Micro USB cable connected to a Lap Top (This is the part has a micro USB input and tabs that goes into the camera where the battery would go). Note Polarity for Later Installation.
7.Cut off the larger USB connector  and strip the wires back.
8.Install a male connector plug by soldering onto the wires that you just stripped back on this cable. (Note positive and negative).
9.Take BEC (battery eliminator circuit which really is a 5 volt regulator) and add a male connector to input and a female connector to output. (This output will connect to the USB Cable).
10.Take Lithium Polymer battery (or your battery of your choosing) and install Female connector that will plug into the input of the BEC. Note polarity.
11.Set up PVC coupling by drilling out 8 holes and tapping out with 10/32” tap. Make sure you do 4 holes around at 90 degrees about  3/4 inch from edge (this edge will attach to the eye piece of the scope). Then do the other 4 holes around at 90 degrees about an inch to an inch and a half away from the first set of holes.  (Try to make the holes as best as possible to 90 degrees, You may need to do a couple of these PVC parts to get the eye relief correct so pick up 2 or 3 couplings at the store just in case to play with).
12.Install 8 Wing Nuts to PVC coupling (this is will hold the camera in place).
13.Test Fit the camera and PVC coupling adaptor together, Do Not over tighten the wing nuts
14.Test Fit the Adaptor onto the Scope.
15.At this point you would need to have a charged lithium polymer battery or one of your own choosing and mount it to the tri-pod stand with Velcro Straps.
16.Mount the spotting scope on the tri-pod.
17.Now plug the battery onto the BEC aka Voltage Regulator noting polarity first (light will come on).
18.Now Plug the output of the BEC to the USB Cable, and now Note the polarity of the output of the Micro USB. Make sure it is the same Polarity that you figured out when you first checked in step 5 Above.
19.Connect Micro USB cable to the power adaptor and Verify Polarity as noted before in step 6 Above.
20.Once you verified correct polarity install the power adaptor into the camera, Verify you have the battery connected to the BEC regulator, make sure that the BEC output is connected to the USB Cable you modified, and then connect the cable to the Camera micro USB input. This should power up the device.
21.Turn on your I-pad device and go to networks and find the camera (you must do this every time) and then type in the browser www.ai-ball.com and verify that the camera displays on your tablet. (follow directions on camera usage to get it to work on the tablet device, I only verified it works with and I-Pad at this time).
22.You may opt for the i-pad app that will allow you record audio and video from the camera (camera has a mic built in) and take still shot.


Disclaimer:  My set up is using a cheap $100 Scope with a really flimsy tri-pod. I may have omitted a few things because it’s 1:30am here in la la land and I have been up since 6am. But I caution you on educating yourself on the use of Lithium Polymer Batteries and Charging them if you are going to use them. Time for me to get some sleep.  


Edit: Added Instructions 10-17-12 at 1:30am

Edit: Added Battery Link but i have not tired this yet. 10-17-12
I may Try this Battery Setup : Costco Battery

Edit: Video now Up. see these links:
10-21-12



200 yard Pig

300 yard Ram

200 yard Pig again

400 yard Ram shot in the Ass

100 yard clay shooting on the burm.

More info please !!  I want this for prairie dog shooting......

looks like webcam to wifi or bluetooth adapter

You have my undivided attention..

Best first post in AR15 DIY history

More info please. I'm optically challenged so this would be great.

I would be curious to see some pictures of this contraption in action.

Or you could just go set the camera in front of the target and not even use the scope ....


Assuming you're shooting targets and not praire dogs like the other posted wanted it for

Just had a good morning at the range taking in more footage. Give ma a day or two to upload video as I need the time away from work and also I have to figure out how to download the I-pad video onto my PC.

Also I stared to compile a list of parts and where to purchase them at.

I'll post more details shortly.

As to why I made this contraption, well that's easy to explain. No scope manufacture has come out with something like this. Closest thing I've seen is a camera with a transmitter that you set up by your target that cost more than a couple hundred bucks. Problem with that is, if you want to change targets, you have to move the whole contraption and their system does not work on an I-pad device.

So, at risk of cutting some of this short, you can now buy a wifi bac pac for a go pro HD2, then use your iPad to control everything about it. live viewfinder. it's great.

still, carry on for the rest of us, OP

that would work also. The Go Pro cost a lot more but has better resolution. My contraption is a Ghetto man's way of doing it on the cheap, err I ment less expensive way.

I did the WiFi camera setup while it works for one target its hard to get all the different parts setup and working. With the spotting scope you can go to 500 yards to shoot steel move to 800 yards then to 1000 . Also everyone can watch a screen and share the spotting scope instead of getting four guys on four spotting scopes on the right target.

Exactly what I am doing.

I tried running a USB webcamera to the ipad USB camera connection kit but I got low power warnings

So far I have run this Wi-Fi set up for 5 hours continuous and had more about %40 left on the I-pad and when I charged my lithium polymer battery, I used up about %50 of its capacity on my 4 cell 2000mah pack. I still need to do more testing as far as what the maximum usage will be on a full charge and to get exact numbers, but I would need to get a low voltage cutoff device to protect the battery before I do that test.

So lack of operational time is not much of an issue.

I'm. Sure within a year or two, some major manufactures will come out with a self contained spotting scope device that displays on tablets or what not, I'll call that the I-Scope for now, its just a matter of time.

Not a webcam. It's a a wi-fi cam that displays directly to tablet devices without the need of any type of router. Not bluetooth, bluetooth cameras do not have a high enough frame rate. This chinese crappy wi-fi camera does have a good enough frame rate that you can see/tell what you hit.  Its a tiny self contained unit. Its pure chinese at its finest.

Now that would be Awesome!!!

Added Parts List and Assembly Instructions.

Time to go to sleep. i'l fix the links later

Cheers.

can you convince the ipad that the Ai ball camera is an input for facetime or theodolite?

A question and comment.

Q.  Where were these units purchased, and how long is the delivery time?  I went to the website listed in the OP's description, but it is very general, and has few specific details listed.

Comments:   The Trek website is showing the unit is no longer available.  The battery system described can be streamlined with a cellphone charger from Costco.  It has a 2600 mAh capacity, charges from micro USB, has an off/on switch, and has a standard size USB output.    I bought and have been using two of these batteries, and except for the USB port being very tight when new, they are an amazing, solid, hi-cap battery backup for anything that can use USB charging.  Even my iPad shows a charge when plugged in.

Here's the link:  

Costco Battery

Hey that Costco Battery looks neat, and it's less expensive. I like that. I'll have to pick me up one to use. Bet it saves time on cocking around with my Lipo set up and it should be much easier to use and charge.



You can try e-bay to get the camera, or search google. I'm currently looking for a camera with better resolution, but the problem that i'm running into is my Flimsy Tri-pod, every time i go shooting there is wind, and with wind that damn thing keeps making the video look bad/shakey. I have tried the camera in no wind situations indoors and the video is rock steady.

I already have plans to make a different mounting system to the Scope that does not use a PCV coupling. This system I have in my head eliminates some of the problems associated with the PVC mounting. Basicaly its an external mount to the scope that allows you to move the camera for centering and eye relief without attaching the camera to the eye piece. This should be a vast improvement and make it much easier to set up and locate targets by viewing on the tablet. I'll be playing with this set up next week

Here are some screen shots which i was able to e-mail to my pc.  Most of the pics were at 200 to 300 yards except for the burm and the targets which are at 100, I like the last pic of the Ram that was at 300 yards.

I need a damn USB cable to my i-pad to trasnfer the videos or to set up my wi-fi transfer from the i-pad to my pc, so bare with me on the videos as it may take a few days or so.

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/FACBEBD3-D723-42BF-B7E3-9E6394A65351-955-0000021384E119A7.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/A5E28598-2D88-416A-87EF-F1828A558626-955-0000021371FBD77C.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/0751CBEF-8D78-4913-8E4D-261E03113F5D-955-000002136C919334.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/10313CD0-E86B-4446-B92E-D03712254E61-955-0000021366E54C4E.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/F15BF3FD-EE9E-488C-88EC-CD55F329AF0E-955-000002135D7C0391.jpg

I'm still trying to figure out how to sync my I-pad to my PC, should have some video up early next week.

Nice set up!

How weather-ized would you say the camera portion is?  Or is it mostly a dry-weather setup?

Congrats, looks very cool!

-N

Good question. I would say this is for dry weather only since the camera looks to be made for indoor use.

Oh, I for got to mention that the camera cover is cheap plastic. In fact had to take my lens cover off and re-glue the camera CMOS onto the PC board since it was loose. Then I had to align the camera by proping a piece of plastic styrene to have the camera sit level in the unit. Other than that I leave the power switch in the on position and turn the unit on by just plugging in the battery to the voltage regulator.

Hell, i may have some video for you guys today.

200 yard Pig

300 yard Ram

200 yard Pig again

400 yard Ram shot in the Ass

100 yard clay shooting on the burm.

Here are pics of the parts that I used for my i-scope chingas.

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/B7F2917B-08D2-47F8-947F-B454C0D98169-1080-0000022A601D61EC.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/4E77F3AE-A3C7-4105-9818-CAD0C92710D2-1080-0000022A6635E063.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/9E053508-CCAC-48E8-AA0D-3A1F55CA76FC-1080-0000022A6BEC6C5A.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/78BDB2C2-6D1A-4FE0-830B-2690E01B2BAD-1080-0000022A7FC7122C.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/E26E37A3-FD7C-491C-AC4B-636492C71EB6-1080-0000022A86ED086B.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/A02AC77B-8384-4AFC-B884-ED1974797631-1080-0000022A8CA48405.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/E08A74D1-BCAD-425D-A847-12036BF1241A-1080-0000022A91CD95AA.jpg

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s558/Ehaban/3184A602-1E7C-4462-A97C-D6929146FC6B-1080-0000022AA6F25E74.jpg