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Android endoscopes
roadrunner - 28/11/17 at 10:48 PM

Hi all.

I'm looking at getting one from eBay. I would like a fairly cheap one for working on the car's. It won't get used that often.
So I was wondering if anyone could recommend one that they have purchased from eBay and what it is like to use.

Thanks in advance.

Brad.


nick205 - 29/11/17 at 08:55 AM

Not bought or used one myself.

I'm intrigued though, what would you use it for (in relation to a car)...

1. Looking through a spark plug hole at the inside of a cylinder bore?
2. Looking inside hollow bodywork cavities?



A quick Google brings up borescopes - is that the same thing?

[Edited on 29/11/17 by nick205]


loggyboy - 29/11/17 at 09:59 AM

I have 2, one usb for use on a laptop - spent about £20 and works fine. I also bought a 2nd micro usb to use on my android phone, wouldnt work on my S5Mini, but fine on my old S3. Was cheapest I could find (£5) on ebay. Used it on a few things on car (mainly ensuring I was at TDC on crank on the clio with its funny cambelt change procedure. Also used it in house drilling in floor board to find pipe/cable routes.


nick205 - 29/11/17 at 10:06 AM

quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
I have 2, one usb for use on a laptop - spent about £20 and works fine. I also bought a 2nd micro usb to use on my android phone, wouldnt work on my S5Mini, but fine on my old S3. Was cheapest I could find (£5) on ebay. Used it on a few things on car (mainly ensuring I was at TDC on crank on the clio with its funny cambelt change procedure. Also used it in house drilling in floor board to find pipe/cable routes.



Noted!

Having drilled through floor boards myself for a TV aerial cable route, and hit a water pipe, I can definitely see the benefit


tims31 - 29/11/17 at 10:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by nick205


Noted!

Having drilled through floor boards myself for a TV aerial cable route, and hit a water pipe, I can definitely see the benefit


But won't your have to drill a hole to put the probe through to see where to drill the hole?????


loggyboy - 29/11/17 at 11:26 AM

quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Noted!

Having drilled through floor boards myself for a TV aerial cable route, and hit a water pipe, I can definitely see the benefit


I did exactly that. In an area I didn't expect any pipes, caught one installing fitted wardrobe. Actually used the scope to work out where I could cut the boards safely to access the damaged pipe. Fortunately I have an old friend who is a plumber and rescued me.


nick205 - 29/11/17 at 11:27 AM

quote:
Originally posted by tims31
quote:
Originally posted by nick205


Noted!

Having drilled through floor boards myself for a TV aerial cable route, and hit a water pipe, I can definitely see the benefit


But won't your have to drill a hole to put the probe through to see where to drill the hole?????



True...guess I'm hoping I'd have drilled the "inspection" hole further away

I suppose aerials and their cables will become a thing of the past once we all migrate to fully internet based TV services too.


roadrunner - 29/11/17 at 12:20 PM

Thanks chap's.
I'll get one ordered.
I would like to check on carbon build up in my Audi. And check for oil leakage at the back of the engine. Plus lots of other stuff that I would never think of.


nick205 - 29/11/17 at 01:07 PM

quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Noted!

Having drilled through floor boards myself for a TV aerial cable route, and hit a water pipe, I can definitely see the benefit


I did exactly that. In an area I didn't expect any pipes, caught one installing fitted wardrobe. Actually used the scope to work out where I could cut the boards safely to access the damaged pipe. Fortunately I have an old friend who is a plumber and rescued me.




Good - it's not just me then!

Being summer and all windows open my immediate neighbour heard me swearing rather a lot. I ended up turning the water off at the house stop-cock to lessen the shower of water from the hole.

I have another neighbour who's a plumber and managed to access and repair the damaged pipe for me. Job done, 4 pack of beer for him, he was happy and so was I.

[Edited on 29/11/17 by nick205]


rgb247 - 29/11/17 at 03:58 PM

Just be warned they don't work on all phones. I ordered one and only worked on one of our 3 android phones. But when they work they're great!


miskit - 29/11/17 at 09:07 PM

I bought one for car use but to be honest find the focal length (abt 4cm) too far to be much use. Other stuff as above, works great!


mark chandler - 29/11/17 at 10:19 PM

£20 USB here, works fine for my needs and came with a screw on mirror so you can look sideways as well. Nice big screen on laptop helps.


02GF74 - 29/11/17 at 10:46 PM

quote:
Originally posted by nick205


Good - it's not just me then!




I renovated my bathroom then was refitting the floorboards. Looking at one board under the bath and thinking it's over a joist but loose. So proceeded to hammer it down. Well you can guess the rest. Tip is not to pull the nail out until the water has stopped.

Annoyingly you can see the pipe running under the floorbaord quite clearly.


mark chandler - 29/11/17 at 11:09 PM

Similar here but done it twice now nailing a loose board pieced the central heating pipe which I only noticed a few hours later when water started to drip out the hallway light fitting... Balls.

Next time I drilled a hole through chipboard floor in the house I am in now so I could pull some wire for a new power socket, 2" hole saw and copper pipes do not mix it grabbed it, tore a big gash and covered me in water within seconds, I could not bandage it so just had to watch it fill up between the joists as the central heating depressurised itself then move the sofa and stick a bucket under the lounge light as a gallon or more of water descended...arse.

The worse part is having to paint the ceilings again and again until the stains finally disappear, 1 minute of not paying attention to days of misery...


MikeRJ - 29/11/17 at 11:28 PM

quote:
Originally posted by rgb247
Just be warned they don't work on all phones. I ordered one and only worked on one of our 3 android phones. But when they work they're great!


Yes, I have a couple of Android devices (an old 7" tablet and a Motorola G5 phone) that my endoscope wouldn't work on, and it was down to how much power the USB port on the phone/tablet can supply. One device wouldn't work at all, the other would power the camera for a few seconds then the USB would disconnect.

If buying a cheap USB endoscope, go for the type with the electronics built into the cable. The other type that has all the electronics built into the USB connector housing can be extremely fragile.


roadrunner - 30/11/17 at 06:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
quote:
Originally posted by rgb247
Just be warned they don't work on all phones. I ordered one and only worked on one of our 3 android phones. But when they work they're great!


Yes, I have a couple of Android devices (an old 7" tablet and a Motorola G5 phone) that my endoscope wouldn't work on, and it was down to how much power the USB port on the phone/tablet can supply. One device wouldn't work at all, the other would power the camera for a few seconds then the USB would disconnect.

If buying a cheap USB endoscope, go for the type with the electronics built into the cable. The other type that has all the electronics built into the USB connector housing can be extremely fragile.


Thanks Mike.

Will look at that.


coyoteboy - 30/11/17 at 08:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by nick205
1. Looking through a spark plug hole at the inside of a cylinder bore?



I did this. Couldn't spot the cracked ringland (not surprising) but it was pretty useful. Until the engine rocked over on the other cyl's compression and bent the scope end so I had to pull the head off to get it back out