Mounting the Servo and hook up.
Now we need to get to work on the Servo motor, First thing is a mount, we need some way to have it solid to the camcorder or the case. The servo can be mounted where ever you desire, just as long as it is in line with the Night Shot switch. If the Night Shot switch is horizontal we need to mount the motor to be horizontal with the switch.
For my project I opted to just mount it directly to the case, this may make more noise in the woods, but I will risk it. So I made a mount out of 1" X 1" angle iron, I cut it long enough to allow for bolts on each end, and cut out the center for the servo motor to fit in and screw down to. Pictures are worth a thousand words so here it is.
The two tangs sticking up got holes drilled in them for the little screws that hold the motor to the mount.
Then I drilled a hole in the ends so that it could be bolted to the case.
With the camcorder in the case, I held the servo motor in, and lines up the Night Shot switch to be centered with the center of the star wheel, marked the case, Drilled the holes in the case.
and bolted it in to see how it went.
Once I was happy with placement (Like I really had a choice at this point) I pulled it back out and put Silicone sealer between the mount and case.
And also under the washers of the bolts that come through the case from the outside, and bolted it in for the final time.
Put the ball linkage in the star of the motor.
Got the threaded stock and put the connector on it.
Put the spring loaded ball connector on the ball linkage on the night shot switch. make sure the Night Shot switch in in the OFF position, measure from the center of the star to the center of the spring loaded ball connector with sleeve, and cut the threaded stock to length.
then put the ball connector with the spring loaded sleeve onto the other end of the threaded stock, thread it down tight, and make sure both ends line up, snap it all into place.I like the Sleeved connector on the camera, it is the one I disconnect to get the camera out of the case, and since the sleeve depresses and comes right off, I wont be wearing it out and i wont be putting all that extra strain on the Night Shot switch in the process.
Be sure to Follow the Direction on setting up the proper throw for this linkage. The ideal set up is, you turn on the board, it spins the Servo and moves the Night Shot switch to the ON position, then immediately spins the other direction and moves the Switch back to the OFF position. When set up Properly the motor will not strain in either direction. you may have to tweak the length of the rod, but in most cases, simply move the ball on the star more to the inside of the star or farther out, the farther out the ball is on the star of the servo motor, the farther the switch will be moved in either direction.
It might be best before turning on the board, to remove the Star from the motor, turn on the board, wait for the motor to turn, when it is done, put the star back onto the motor with the rod connected to it, this will get you very close, if it dont get you dead on.
So, now we have the camcorder, Servo and LANC board installed into the case. we have a couple more items to go to complete this project. The IR array, the Microphone and the battery shelf. Lets Put the Microphone in and then get the array mounted and done.