Mr Beams MB390 Modded

The MB390 wireless battery-powered LED ultra-bright weatherproof spotlight puts out 300 lumens of bright white light. This battery powered spotlight instantly turns on when motion is detected after dark and switches off again after about 20s. Essentially it's designed as an easy install security light.

I bought on impulse from Amazon on a lightening deal for £20, with an eye to using it as an external light on the van. Since it used 4 1.5v batteries, I thought that a 5V USB supply might be enough to power it - and it did, consuming about 400mA.
However I wanted it power up any time, not just at night, and the on time would be far to short for normal camping use. Once you remove the waterproof cover, there are 4 screws holding the top cover with the Fresnel lens. This is the main PCB

Removing the light dependent resistor - with the red top, disables the dusk sensor - allowing the unit to operate day or night.
Bending the two clips at the bottom will release the PCB to get access to the underside.

The IC at the bottom is identified as LP0001, which is commonly identified as a BISS0001
Micro Power PIR Motion Detector IC.
This is the application datasheet, showing the typical design

According to the data sheet the on time  Tx ≈24576 xR10 x C6；
On the Mr Beams PCB tracing the tracks from the IC, this equates to R9 & C10. Since R9 is 100k, this means that C10 is 10nF. So Tx = 24576 x 100k x 10n = 24.5s
To increase the time, piggy back another cap onto C10 (to the right of the IC) to to increase the capacitance.
I chose a 100nF cap - so Tx = 24576 x 100k x 110n = 270s, about 4.5mins.
The default action of the detector circuit is to retrigger when the PIR detects movement. So in normal use when sitting in front of the lamp, it should regularly reset the 4.5 minute on cycle, avoiding the need for manic arm swinging to turn the lamp on again.

The black and red power wires ware rerouted to the external USB  cable, via the top battery connector, just in case I ever want to use batteries again

Finally, I removed the mounting base, and reamed out a hole to fit a suction mount scavenged from an old mobile phone kit. This allows us to fit the lamp to the side of the van in the evenings. I usually leave it on all night, to act a security light if anyone passes by.

Dash Cam

Although I'm not overly paranoid about such things, but after watching a YouTube video last year, where a pedestrian throws himself onto the bonnet of a stationary car, it was in my mind to get a dash cam. Also it may be nice to capture some of the more exciting roads we sometimes end up on.
As usual there is a great resource online at https://dashcamtalk.com.
After reading up for a few hours I went for a Mobius Action Cam, because of its small size, since I'll probably keep it mounted all the time.

I did not want to mount it to the windscreen, both to keep it discreet and because it may have interfered with the thermal screen. So I hacked up an old table cloth clip, to fashion a clip to attach the camera to the head lining.

This is the original clip (Clas Ohlson)

After sawing the motif off, and trimming and bending the spring steel clip, this is what I ended up with

With a bit of sticky velcro

Mounted camera

The mini USB at the rear is connected to the van 5V supply, via a relay powered by the ignition 12V.
The camera is configured to start automatically when the power is connected, and stop 10s after the power is cut. The recording function created an new slip every 5 minutes, and will record over the first clip again when the card is full.