hello I'm Prim and welcome to DIY electronic extra and in this video I'm going to be showing you how to take the webcam module out of an old dead laptop and convert it into an external USB webcam it's super easy so let's get to it now these little cameras are great because they work as a just a standard USB webcam and they can be used for all sorts of things for example we could make a home security set up plus they're so thin and discreet and you could even do an eye contact webcam system links to both of those topics are in the description now the primary reason I would say for doing this is that it's so cheap and in an era where webcams are actually quite scarce that's super cool as all you need is a dead laptop and if you don't have access to one you can even buy them separately online as spare parts which is again a great way of quickly getting a cheap webcam you can find a link with the correct search terms in this video's description to help you to find them.
anyway
regardless of the reasons for
wanting to repurpose one the first
job is to actually disassemble the
screen bezel so you can get up the
webcam itself this will vary from
laptop to laptop so I won't be too specific
here but particularly if it's dead
already it doesn't matter if you
have to break things to actually
get at it the wires can then be
cut to disconnect it but make sure
you leave at least an inch or two
in length as it makes things easier for
the wiring upstage now pretty much all
laptop webcams use the USB protocol which
means that we can wire them up to a
standard USB cable for full functionality
on most PCs usually without even
needing any drivers this is actually
quite easy because we only have four
wise to think about tubing for power
and the other two being for data now
the webcam wires themselves however are
seldom color-coordinated which does mean
that we have to discover the purpose
of each one independently the easiest
one to discover is the power ground
wire all you've got to do for this
one is find a large copper trace on the
PCB or a ring around a screw hole and
find out using a multimeter on B for mode
which the wires it connects to for
me it's this yellow why making it
to the power ground for this
particular webcam note down which
one yours is for later the second
wire to discover is the one for power
positive this is actually the trickiest
wire to find as we need to look
for a small transistor like component
on the board which is actually a
power regulator there may be more than one
and they might be anywhere but in any
case test each of its contacts to find
out which one connects directly to one
of the outbound wires as this will be
the positive connection one of the contacts
will also connect directly to ground
so don't get confused and test it more
than once the last two wires to discover
are of course the data connections
these are actually super easy as
they will almost certainly be the
pair that are twisted together as this
is done to reduce interference on the
data lines it's impossible to tell which
one is data positive and which one is
data negative but thankfully it's unlikely
to cause any damage if you get them
the wrong way around and it will usually
just result in a device not recognized
error if this happens just switch
them up and it should fix the issue
so now that we've discovered all of
the wires it's time to connect them up
to a USB cable for this it's recommended
that you use a soldering iron for
best results but it's actually possible
to twist them together too if you
don't have one either way the first thing
to do is expose the internal conductors
using some wire cutters and add a
dab of solder to each of them remember
to do this in a well-ventilated area
to avoid breathing in the fumes this
needs to be repeated for the wise on
the webcam too now each wire can be individually
soldered together according to the
function that was discovered with the
multimeter so black for ground
green for data positive white for
data negative and red for power
positive now each can have some
electrical tape added to prevent
them from touching each other and
after anchoring the wires to the
main PCB it's time to give it a test but
do remember that as with everything it's
at your own risk looking good so with
it working now we need to make it look
a bit prettier it's entirely up to you
how far you take this but for mine I got
a short length of aluminium and drilled
a hole in it after painting it black
I glued the webcam inside looking outwards
through the hole then using double-sided
tape it can easily just be mounted
on top of a monitor now I have a free
webcam nice video quality wise if you
either strike lucky with the laptop he
disassembled or specifically purchase a
good one online you can actually get pretty
decent quality mine for example is
full 720p and looks pretty decent for a
webcam so I hope you found this video useful
for something and if you're new to
this channel DIY electronic
extra then maybe consider
subscribing so you don't miss the
next upload but other than that I'm
Prim you've been
watching DIY electronic extra
and I hope I see you next time good
bye for now
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