C5 installation in South America

Hi there,

The new Innovv C5 has arrived in South America ! I will be using it on my ride leader bike. Like many riders, I like the idea of having the C5 filming all the time, just in case an accident occurs ... But aside from that, it will be filming a lot of beautiful scenery and windy roads from one of the many Compass Expeditions tours in Patagonia, the Andes, the Altiplano,... I'll make sure to send some videos now and then !

In this post, I'll show you guys how I installed the camera on one of our BMW F800GS bikes. Important for the installation is the fact that I switch bikes often, for various reasons: during tours I ride the bike that is not booked by a client, usually a different one every time. In between tours, I sometimes transfer bikes from one country to the other, etc...

Because of this, the installation basically had the following 2 conditions:

1. No cutting into the wiring of the bike

2. Fast removal and installation on any bike of the fleet

With the Innovv DC/DC converter that was very easy:

I put some battery connection terminals on the positive and negative wires powering the camera unit. That makes it easy to connect and disconnect to a battery.

I connected the yellow switched wire of the DC/DC converter to the positive output of a standard 12V automotive cigarette plug. With this setup, I can connect the plug to the 12V contact of our motorcycles. These 12V contacts only charge when you turn on the motorcycle, so voilà, the C5 has switched power, on any bike.

After these electrical connections are made, it's just a matter of tucking away the excess wires safely. The wires of the C5 are long enough to be used on any bike.

On most bikes, there's more than enough space for the DVR unit under the seat. With a single ty-rap, the excess of the power and camera cables is taken away and the unit is secured against bouncing around.

Once the fairing and seat of the bike are back in place, the only thing left visible is the 12V connection close to the key.

I'm still experimenting a bit with the best position for the lens on these bikes, so I quickly connected it with ty-raps for now. This simple setup is giving me very good results: the videos are vibration free, the colors are beautiful and the wide angle films everything and everyone in front of me.

The installation as you see it here takes maximum 20 minutes, so I can easily switch the camera from bike to bike in no time. For a next "design" I may even put all 3 connections of the DC/DC converter into the 12V cigarette plug. This will make it even more easy and fast to install on any bike and even our support vehicle in a few minutes tops.

To see the installation of the camera on a R1200GS, check out the post on the Compass Expeditions website.

See you next time for some videos from Patagonia !