Hi everyone,
I bought C5 model for my car. Decided to use Innovv camera, because it has separate camera and DVR units and that allows discrete installation.
Had some worries about power supply, because my car has start/stop system and can shut down petrol engine at any time and after that to trigger starter again and voltage drop to about 10 volts at that moment. I tested before car installation C5 with its original power module to power from regulated power supply at home. And it works well and stable from 9 to 15 volts. After installation on the car it also work well with car start/stop system.
I measured also, that in "stand by" mode C5 consumes only 3.5mA current, that is very good.
But I have some more questions:
1. How "G-sensor" option works - motion detection in front of the camera, or a shock sensor inside it. If it is a shock sensor, where is it located - in camera module, in DVR module or in power supply module.
2. Is power consumption in "stand by" mode depends from "G-sensor" option turned on or off? If it is "yes", how much is it?
3. Does the power supply module is just the power converter from 12 to 5v with added +10 seconds delay on on/off operation? If it is just the power supply, then:
a) If camera/DVR detects "G-sensor" event, how it can turn on to record that event.
b) How DVR can properly finish recording of currently recorded file, when power supply is turned off.
From curiosity point, I opened the DVR module to see if it contains Lithium battery or some capacitor... but it does not. There is only one very small 621 battery and I thing it it rated to only 5.5mA and can not supply camera in recording mode. I measured DVR consumption, it is about 200-250mA at recording. So, the small 621 cell battery seems to be used only to hold timer and other DVR settings, but not to recording after drop from external power supply.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Rock,
Thank you for the answers.
About the last question, finishing writing of the file when power cuts off. Hope that DRV detects power drop at some point and finished properly file writing. It seem that power supply module has some capacitor and can supply DVR for a moment to finish last file, because unexpected termination of file writing can follow to errors on the SD card.
Let share my experience after few weeks using C5 on my car.
- Quality of video is not bad, I understand that wide view optic follow to that some effects, too. But is not bad at all. In most cases number plates of cars around are clearly readable. In general, picture is fine.
- As I use it on a car, there are some reflections from dashboard to the front window. Of course, it is a general problem of filming through an window, not a problem of C5 in general. Ok, it is a bike model, I know... But It can be good if there is a some polarisation filter offered as an accessory, for in a car application.
- Internal microphone is practically unusable. Because of the feature DVR to be water resistant, the internal microphone can't do well its purpose. An external microphone is offered as an accessory, so it is fine if someone need good sound too.
In general I can recommend the product as fine. Best thing is that it is well build - DVR and camera modules are made from aluminium, not cheap plastic. Also, aluminium case of DVR helps cooling of the device.
And the most important - separate camera and DVR allows discrete installation.
But, there is one thing that is noticeable missing in the product, from my point of view. There is no way to manually "save"("mark") some video in a separate folder if I notice something interesting on the road. It is not a question of the G-sensor. From my point I just drive normally, but there something happens in front of me with other cars/people/objects and I want to have it to get it later. For now I need to remember or to write somewhere the exact time and later to browse all that hundreds of files to find that interesting moment. It is difficult do write or to remember times while driving.
If it is possible, I can recommend to have some external button as an accessory to use it as an "remote control" to "mark" that currently recorded file.
I don't know, if it is possible, but Rock, please check if it is technically possible to have such external button connected to the DVR plug for the external microphone or to USB port, or some intermediate adapter on the other USB-C port(camera plug). And to release new version of the firmware, without changing internal DVR hardware. That will be great, if you can realise that.
Thanks again.
Sorry for the delay reply. Below is the answers for your questions.
1. How "G-sensor" option works - motion detection in front of the camera, or a shock sensor inside it. If it is a shock sensor, where is it located - in camera module, in DVR module or in power supply module.
G-sensor is in DVR.
2. Is power consumption in "stand by" mode depends from "G-sensor" option turned on or off? If it is "yes", how much is it?
Once ignition turn off, power supply to the camera system cut off. G-sensor will not work anymore.
3. Does the power supply module is just the power converter from 12 to 5v with added +10 seconds delay on on/off operation? If it is just the power supply, then:
a) If camera/DVR detects "G-sensor" event, how it can turn on to record that event.
When power supply cut off, Camera system could not detect G-sensor even.
b) How DVR can properly finish recording of currently recorded file, when power supply is turned off.
The C5 has TS video format, it can save the last second video format when power cut off.