No Webcam, No Problem: Matt Perks Shows How to Convert Salvaged Laptop Cameras to USB
With external webcams in short supply, the YouTuber's video showcases how to salvage cameras from discarded laptops.
The current shortage of webcams is throwing a spanner into many people's work-at-home efforts — but DIY Perks' Matt Perks has a possible solution: Salvaging webcams from deceased laptops and turning them into a USB-connected external camera.
"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," Perks explains of the salvaged cameras. "For example we could make a home security setup — plus they're so thin and discreet and you could even do an eye contact webcam system.
"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."
The salvaging process is reasonably straightforward, involving dismantling the bezel surrounding the screen — "if it's dead already it doesn't matter if you have to break things," Perks points out — and leaving enough connecting wire to hook to a USB connector.
"The webcam wires themselves, however, are seldom color-coordinated which does mean that we have to discover the purpose of each one independently," Perks notes. "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. 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."
"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."
Perks' full video can be found on the DIY Perks Extra YouTube channel.
