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Omni-Cam shake down capabilities

The Omni-eye Roof Dome camera

One of the biggest challenges for most chasers tracking a specific feature of a storm, while in motion, is capturing it before it disappears before you have time to line up the shot.  In 2012, I fell victim of such an incident while chasing a tornado south of Romona, Oklahoma.  The tornado I was streaming live decided to lift.  Turing back north, I kept tracking the storm.  Well what do you know, it decided to drop again. But oh no, the next exit wasn't for another 3 miles.  By the time I was able to get the streaming camera in position to shoot, the tornado was dissipating.  I lost the shot for the station and cursed myself on my return home to find a better solution.  I had seen the company MesoDome at the Storm Chasers Convention earlier that spring, and found their line of products pretty amazing.  Using a joystick controller, GPS tracking software and a mini exterior dome, you can pretty much lock onto a tornado and continue driving as the camera continues to roll on.  Although you can check out their website, I found with everything that the dome can do, I could do without the steep price of the units.  I don't chase storms 24/7 and I'm not running a chase tour, so I consider it out of my reach for the most point.  But this year with all the changes I'm making setting up the new chase vehicle, one of the top priorities I made sure was, to address the issue.

First off, there is very little on the web in regards to other chasers doing a sort of dome cam from the roof.  I would definitely check out Dory Hayes YouTube video which he explains his device.  So, with an idea in mind, it was time to start building my own.

First off, I already had a rack in mind to put in place on top of the Envoy.  Something simple in design which could carry the roof cam housing, Anemometer and whatever I decide for future use.  I picked this one up at Walmart for $80.00. As you can see in the photo below, it works well with the Envoy.

So now the fun begins.  I decided to order up a dome from Replacement Domes which offers quite a selection of domes to choose from.  I decided on the 9 inch Clear Acrylic. I picked up most of the wood products from Lowes and began drawing out the details. The box would have to be 13" square.

With the sides cut and placed together, I decided to run a bead of clear silicone between the boards to help keep out the moisture.

With the base complete, it was time to finish the top where the dome would be placed upon.  I pre-drilled on one side of the casing holes large enough to fish the USB camera cable through as well as the power cable.  I picked up a blend door actuator off line which will rotate the camera 360 degrees.  With the center hole cut, it was time to mount the actuator from below, cut and sand a 3/8 dowel to sit in the actuator and attach the camera to the base.

With all the pieces in place, I hot wired the actuator with 9 volts, and it rotated beautifully.

With everything fitting perfectly, it was time to place the dome over the top and mark the areas of where the hold down clamps will seat it to the top cover.

With everything checking out, I removed the camera, actuator and sealed the rest of the casing together with the exception to the top cover.  I sprayed the entire unit with bed liner spray found in most auto parts stores.  This will seal the remaining areas of the wood and make for a nice finish. After the spray had dried, it was time to create the handheld controller which will be able to rotate the camera in all directions.  Many of the parts I found were from Radio Shack. 

And now the Video.

As you can see, I shelled out about 80 bucks in material minus the web camera which retailed for about $60.00. 

With the casing finalized, it was time to begin with the mounting screws.  I decided on 1/2 U-bolts to secure the camera to the rack.  The poles attached to the camera box are ordinary shelf mounts for the wall which are pretty stiff.  Anchoring it to the base, the U-bolts are attached to the roof rack.  Checking over the tightness, its ready to deploy. 



Prior to securing the dome cover, I thought hard about setting up a sort of venting system in order to circulate the air within the dome.  One of the things I took in consideration was the build up of excessive heat which could damage the camera.  A simple solution was made by installing two 1/2 PCV pipes that run from below the camera box up through to the dome cover.  I'm not really sure how much air flow to allow without creating a whirl of air inside, so I decided to drill holes into the inlet port.  See below.

And of course the simple exhaust port which is off centered from the inlet port.

 And finally the controller for the whole setup.  I reduced the power required from 12vcc to 9vcc which gives the motion a very smooth flow to it.

In conclusion, once I have the dome secured in place, I'll mount the rack on top of the Envoy and take it out for a test drive.  Stay tuned.