Thinkgeek R/C Blimp payload

Never mind, I managed to find the company that makes them - it can carry an extra load of up to 35 grams, if anyone else can use the info. The manufacturer

also make a larger blimp that can take up to

84 grams, and also sell a camera & transmitter light enough for the blimp to carry that transmits colour video signals in ntsc format (pity I live in Europe, so that's useless for me) that can be picked up with a normal tv.

Tom

Hi Tom,

you still might be able to use this camera. Many television sets can actually display NTSC nowadays, and most TV cards in PCs can do this without problems. I don't know how you wanted to use this signal, but you might want to check whether your TV/TV card can do this?

Peter

You could get a couple and have then share the weight, or get a few other helium baloons from somewhere and use those for extra lift!

Didn't I see something about using ordinary bin liners filled with balloon gas for taking aerial pictures?

Just my ,02p

Robin G Hewitt

There is this:

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:jT3iudQFFpUJ:ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pagrosse/ownufo.htm+%22bin+liner%22+air+ship&hl=en Not exactly the same, looks like it could work though. Cheap too. perhaps hook up a small control system? :-) I am tempted!

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:jT3iudQFFpUJ:ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pagrosse/ownufo.htm+%22bin+liner%22+air+ship&hl=en

Ok just had a thought about these some more - you can buy those things for about 12 quid - they are 8 metres long and I think about 60cm in diameter. With just hot air at about 50c I am estimating you can get about 300-500g of lift. That should be enough for a small little wireless camera and 9v battery and a load of decent kite string!

I might give it a go next weekend. Its a lot safer than my previous attempts at aerial photography which involved pressurising 2 litre coke bottles to 60psi!

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:jT3iudQFFpUJ:ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pagrosse/ownufo.htm+%22bin+liner%22+air+ship&hl=en

You might want to check the below site for using cheap X-10 cams in rockets and such.

If you use Hydrogen Gas instead of Helium , you will roughly double the lift of a balloon. Hydrogen is easy for hobbyists to make using an electrolysis ( Electrolyzer ) set up. Two stainless steel electrodes, in a salt water solution, pass 12 volts at 3 amps and get about a gallon of H2 gas per hour.

It can also be made with Lye and aluminum shavings in water. No electricity needed.

be careful , but be sure to have fun

Tom McEwan wrote:

Hmmmmm

A hydrogen atom may be half the weight but don't they tend to hang around in pairs thereby giving much the same lift as helium???

My recollection is that H2 only has about 7% more lift per volume than He. That's why all the dirigibles abandoned H2 after the Hindenburg incident. Which brings up another good point - a balloon of hydrogen gas is not necessarily explosive, but if you have leaks into the atmosphere and it mixes with oxygen in a confined space, well, it's not safe.

Jim

I would think an H2 molecule would have about 2 AMU, where He will have about 4 AMU.

I dont think H2 is really suitable for hobbyist! Please no one setup a H2 production system in their garage! :)

The last time I did some electrolysis with a salt water solution, I got chlorine (that was pretty obvious to smell). So here you've got the chance to choose between two options of dieing:

1. Blow yourself up with the hydrogen.
2. Poisoning with chlorine.

Happy dieing!

Carsten

There is a plentiful supply of hydrogen oxide in most homes, helium is somewhat harder to find.

You'd have to be fairly stupid to blow yourself up with hydrogen or poison yourself with chlorine.

Touch wood :o)

Unless there is a hose pipe ban :D

Kids read this group though. Probably best not to give them ideas :-)