Original subtitles

Hello I'm Matt and welcome to DIY Perks 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

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 just a standard USB

webcam and they can be used for all sorts of things.

For example, you could make a home security setup because they're so thin

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... guess that's super cool as all

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

cheap webcam.

You can find a link with the correct search terms in this video's description

help you to find them.

Anyway regardless of the reasons for wanting to repurpose one the first job

to actually disassemble the screen bezel so you can get at 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

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

only have four wires to think about, two being for power and the other two being

for data.

Now, the webcam wires themselves, however, are seldom colour coordinated,

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

ring around a screw hole, and find out using a multimeter on beeper mode which

of the wires it connects to.

For me, it's this yellow wire, making it 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

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

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 recognised

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

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 wires on the webcam too.

Now each wire can be individually soldered together according to the

that was discovered with the multimeter.

So black for ground, green for data positive, white for data negative, and

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

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 you disassemble,

or specifically purchase a good one online, you can actually get pretty

quality. Mine, for example, is full 720p, and looks pretty decent for a

So I hope you found this video useful for something, and if you're new to this

channel, DIY Perks Extra, then maybe consider subscribing so you don't miss

next upload.

But other than that, I'm Matt, you've been watching DIY Perks Extra, and I

I'll see you next time.

Goodbye for now.