Banana pi BPI-D1 FAQ

Q&A:【Configuration and function】


Q:What is the weight of the D1 ? A:D1 net weight is 6.4g.

Q:Is there a power switch? A:Yes, there is.

Q:Could D1 be tethered to a pc and used as a form of Web cam? A:Not with the current design, no, but it but can be used as a IPCam.

Q:Is it possible to increase the capture framerate of the unit by reducing resolution or only processing a subset of the image? A:Currently supports the maximum frame rate is 30, You can study HM1375 manual to modify register parameters, using the I2C interface to achieve change.

Q:How much FLASH and RAM is still available with all necessary drivers and apps running? A:With all drivers and apps running, the remaining available FLASH is 8MB and the RAM is 64MB.

Q:Will this support the new 128GB microSD cards? A:We haven’t tested so large capacity MicroSD card.

Q:Is Bluetooth supported? A:Unfortunately the D1 doesn’t support the Bluetooth yet, but it supports UART, which you can use to add Bluetooth support.

Q:Does the board come in customized shapes? A:The D1 is a newly developed product, and doesn’t come in customized shapes yet. Please stay tuned though, as this is definitely an option we’re looking at.

Q:Any built-in motion detection? Is it possible to program it to only take videos when motions detected? A:Yes! The D1 features built-in motion detection functionality, and you can further program it as well.

Q:Have the external antenna? A:Yes, we will provide it.


Q&A:【Network】

Q:Is it possible to send the signal via 2.4 ghz transmitter instead of WiFi? A:Unfortunately, that functionality is not currently feasible.

Q:is there any possibility of using wired comms instead of WiFi? Ethernet or IP over USB? A:Wired communication is not available yet, but we’re looking to add this functionality soon so stay tuned.


Q&A:【Audio and video】

Q:Is there an audio/video analog out? A:The D1 features an audio analog out but not a video one.

Q:What is the approximate latency of the video over WiFi in both H.264 and MJPEG? A:About 0.5s, though it varies by video player and network environment.

Q:Any built-in motion detection? Is it possible to program it to only take videos when motions detected? A:Yes! The D1 features built-in motion detection functionality, and you can further program it as well.

Q:How come there’s no analog video out? It would be nice to use this as a FPV camera. A:communication is not available yet, but we’re looking to add this functionality soon so stay tuned.


Q&A:【Streaming】

Q:Is the data streaming rate really 500MB per hour? A:We actually provide two options for data streaming: VBR and CBR. For 720p HD quality, though, the 500MB/hr setting is recommended.


Q&A:【Lens】

Q:Is it possible to separate the microcamera from the rest of the hardware? A:A great thought, and we encourage makers to explore it further. From our end, however, we haven’t tested it yet.

Q:Are your lenses industry standard? Is there a powered zoom lens available? Is there a 5Ghz transmitter option? A:Unfortunately, “no” on all counts. However, the D1 stands out from current market offerings because of its open-source capabilities. With your support, we will continue to advance its features and compatibility, and will work to include the features and upgrades you’ve mentioned!

Q:Is there a zoom lens? A:We’re definitely considering it as an option. We’ve heard from a lot of makers about zoom lenses so we’ll see what we can do.


Q&A:【Battery】

Q:Is there an internal battery charger? A:You can either plug in an external battery or connect it to your computer to charge it. In addition, there’s a built-in lithium charging circuit. For more info please refer to: http://www.x-powers.com/download%20...%20heet%20v1.12_cn.pdf

Q:Can you provide some links for batteries that would small enough to work the camera for 24 hours? A:Yes. As long as it is 3.7 V lithium battery, and you need to own welding to the corresponding pin D1.

Q:Batteries will provide purchase? A:We don’t provide battery, need to purchase online.We have provided based on the USB port power supply cable, you can connect to any standard USB power adapter.

Q:What’s the power consumption and what power saving modes are available i.e. powering down the WiFi? A:D1 is currently only three states, one is off without power consumption, the two is the video (WiFi off) current 5V power is about 250mA, three is the video (WiFi open) current 5V power is about 350mA.


Q&A:【LED】

Q:Does the LED add-on consist of IR LEDs? Is the camera IR sensitive (e.g. special IR filter or no IR filter at all)? A:The add-on LED is a 940nm IR LED. The camera also has a dual-use filter for both day and night usage, letting through visible light and 940nm IR and filtering out the NIR. It captures color-images during the day and black & white images at night.


Q&A:【Interface】

Q:Will there be a Python class library for interacting with the GPIO and camera? A:We don’t support the Python class library at this point, but do support C interfaces.The Lamobo D1 features 8 GPIOs to facilitate customizable peripherals - accelerometers, for instance, are a popular choice. As it is fully open-source, the D1 is exceptionally programmable, so you can customize it to suit your needs.

Q:Has the camera board a I2C Interface? A:Internal I2C interface, but did not elicit.