I want a wireless cable release! Who can build one?

[E. von Hoegh]

Cheap radio control outfit, for an RC car, boat, or plane. Under $100 with servos, you only need 1 channel but you'll end up with two. Range, maybe half a mile.

[vinny]

I know that can be done with those parts, can you build it?
Listing random parts does me no good unless this thread goes unanswered for a month. I'd like to by something already put together, kinda like a camera that I don't wish to build.

[BradS]

....Who's gonna build me one and how much will it cost?

How much are you willing to pay for such a device?

[vinny]

How much are you willing to pay for such a device?

$100 if it's reliable and will last a more than your average rc car from toys r us.

[Harold_4074]

Having played with such mechanisms, I would suggest that your specifications also involve a guarantee of not damaging the shutter (a simple solenoid without a travel-distance adjustment and overtravel force relief could cause you to spend considerably more than $100 when it breaks the shutter) and actuation time (gentle mechanisms, especially if poorly made, tend also to be slow---this is really problematic for time or bulb exposures, and any time you are trying to "catch the moment"). The electronics are actually the easy part!

If you do use a wireless trigger, make sure that the inductive "kick" from a solenoid does not feed back into the wireless receiver. I have a setup that works with a cabled pushbutton, but when I tried to use a PocketWizard receiver, the "close shutter" solenoid (even with a snubber diode across it) re-triggers the PocketWizard. Sounds like the world's slowest sewing machine...

[vinny]

Harold, good idea regarding the adjustable travel distance. That would be necessary for different cameras but I'll mostly use in on copal shutters.

[AndyJ]

Cheap radio control outfit, for an RC car, boat, or plane. Under $100 with servos, you only need 1 channel but you'll end up with two. Range, maybe half a mile.

From an RC guy, just be careful using any RC channel, especially one reserved for air. Should be fine as long as you're not within a couple miles of an RC airfield (allows some buffer zone), but I'd personally steer away from 72 MHz, which is for aircraft. 75 MHz is a safer choice (I believe it is not legal for aircraft use, but please don't quote me on this!). The safest bet would be 2.4 GHz to essentially eliminate any potential interference, but that adds cost and complexity.

Good, hobby-grade servos ought to be a good bet, but as someone else mentioned, there's the issue of protecting your shutter. I'm not sure if there's any sort of mechanical interface readily available that will limit the amount of force the end of a pushrod could exert. You might try linearly actuated servos, but those are usually small, plastic worm gear driven, and might not hold up in rugged conditions. On the other hand, a small, inexpensive servo that will strip itself out instead of wrecking your shutter might not be a bad consideration.

Also, I'm just interested in where this thread goes, as I'm an engineering student.

[E. von Hoegh]

From an RC guy, just be careful using any RC channel, especially one reserved for air. Should be fine as long as you're not within a couple miles of an RC airfield (allows some buffer zone), but I'd personally steer away from 72 MHz, which is for aircraft. 75 MHz is a safer choice (I believe it is not legal for aircraft use, but please don't quote me on this!). The safest bet would be 2.4 GHz to essentially eliminate any potential interference, but that adds cost and complexity.

Good, hobby-grade servos ought to be a good bet, but as someone else mentioned, there's the issue of protecting your shutter. I'm not sure if there's any sort of mechanical interface readily available that will limit the amount of force the end of a pushrod could exert. You might try linearly actuated servos, but those are usually small, plastic worm gear driven, and might not hold up in rugged conditions. On the other hand, a small, inexpensive servo that will strip itself out instead of wrecking your shutter might not be a bad consideration.

Also, I'm just interested in where this thread goes, as I'm an engineering student.

You protect the shutter by interposing a coil spring in compression to limit the force applied, and arrranging a stop to limit travel. Simple as dirt.

Didn't some older RC outfits work on 11 meters and around 6 meters? I think some did.

[ic-racer]

I'm not sure if there's any sort of mechanical interface readily available that will limit the amount of force the end of a pushrod could exert. .

All most all "on-road" RC cars have a spring to protect the servo and throttle assembly. In fact during braking the throttle arm needs to go back farther than the idle stop screw would allow. In this picture the farther back pushrod goes to the throttle and is spring loaded. (The rod in the front goes to the brake and that is spring loaded also.)

[D. Bryant]

The fastest response time (and quickest build) will probably be to use an existing wireless flash trigger and add a solenoid circuit to that. I appreciate multi-purpose devices, and really like the YongNuo RF602, a very fast switching flash trigger which is good to at least 100 yards and costs something like $30 or so on eBay, and also is set up to work as an electric cable release with a provided cord. Now, if you had a Super Graphic with an integrated solenoid release, you could pretty easily wire it into the YongNuo and you'd be set. Otherwise, it's a matter of finding a solenoid and wiring in a battery for it on the output side of the Yong Nuo or other wireless device. I'd scrounge an old photo solenoid, not an automotive one as the potential vibration won't be such an unknown.

What Ivan said!