I just completed a 14,000 Mile trip through the US, Europe, and a good deal of Asia. The entire trip, the Innov K2 was running, and capturing video. During this timeframe, my Sena Momentum INC Pro helmet's camera failed, so I was left with just the Innov K2 to capture my trip.
In my case, I ride a 2015 BMW GSA, and the control unit for the K2 is installed under the seat, attached to a power distributor. The unit was installed at the BMW dealer in Charlotte, by a Tech that I really trust, and who did an excellent job.
First of all, this thing (the K2) was bulletproof. It started and stopped, just as expected, each time I started the bike, and it never missed. The video quality when riding more slowly, was exceptional, but the quality when riding faster is slightly less than perfect, but still very good, and certainly acceptable.
I used a 256 GB SD card, class 10, and I never completely filled the card, although we rode some days, as many as 16 hours, and 400 miles. Pls keep in mind that riding in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and China will be on severely compromised roads, so our average speed was lower, and a 400 mile day is a very long day.
While I love this camera, there are a few areas that need to be addressed.
1) I needed to have a set of tweezers with me at all times, in order to remove the SD card so that I could download the video.
2) The spring mechanism that holds in the SD card is strong enough that, on one occaision, it shot the SD card across the chamber that is under the seat, and the SD card ended up lost, somewhere in the body work of the bike.
3) The rubber cover that covers the SD Slot is too fragile, and it broke. This rubber piece has a tab on one end, and from opening up the cover, and closing it twice each day, the rubber piece broke, and made it much more difficult to get at the SD card. I'm going to need a new rubber piece sent to me.
4) Because the connector ends on the camera are as large as they are, the installation onto the bike was more complex, and more costly than I could have imagined. It was simply not possible to "slide the cable head through the cable channel on the bike", so the tank had to be removed, along with all the body work, in order to run the wires properly, in the wire harness channel.
5) I was unable to get the unit to accept the latest F/W upgrade, so I'll need to figure that out, once the bike arrives back in the US.
6) After installing the new app on my IOS device, I needed to delete the app, and reinstall from scratch, in order to have it connect to the WiFi network broadcast by the K2.
These issues are relatively minor, but a bit annoying. So, they need to be fixed, but we cannot overlook the conclusion that this camera system is fantastic. Numerous times during the trip, someone would say to me that they thought that I did something, or wanted to know if I recorded an event that happened, and because the camera automatically starts recording, my answer was always yes, and I used the video to show what happened numerous times. I also used the video on my Blog, on a number of occasions. So, if you're interested in seeing the quality, you can visit www.motocliffnotes.info and look through the videos. You'll quickly find those that were recorded using the K2.
And finally, because the front and rear cameras record to files, which are started and stopped within a 1/0 of a second of each other, I was able to easily build files which had picture in a picture, using Adobe Elements Premiere 2018. You really should look at some of these videos. The F+R views are compelling.
This system is awesome, and I can't wait to use it again, for my next trip.
How do I go about getting a replacement cover, for the recording unit?
Sample videos of PIP
Rock, you and your team offered to send me a new rubber grommet, to replace the grommet on the K2 that has torn, and is difficult to open, providing access to the SD card. After a couple of months, the parts have made it through customs, and I've received them.
Unfortunately, the grommets you provided are not correct, and I've been trying to communicate with Jade or Cathy, but unfortunately, your email system is rejecting any and all replies from me, to your email addresses.
So, I'll use this forum to let you know that I have successfully opened the unit, prepared to replace the grommet, and discovered it is not the right size for my K2. Jade asked me to see if I can cut the grommet to size, but I have to say that the shape of the correct grommet is very complex, with nuances, and very specific shapes. I don't believe that cutting a grommet to size is the right approach.
In addition, after opening up the K2's case, I found that as I re-inserted the 5 screws into the cover, the plastic threads seem to be degrading. I'm afraid that if I open it again, I'll discover that the threads will no longer serve to hold the unit together effectively.
So, I'm asking that, as soon as you can, that you send another grommet, and a new cover.
Seems like this all points to the trigger lead (yellow wire) connection on your bike as being suspect.
FWIW, my vendor, ODCTronic, actually did swap out the DVR for me once. That didn't fix the problem, which is why I got a replacement power supply (which is now itself being replaced).
They bench-tested the DVR and reported it ran fine for weeks. I believe them, and think this points to more evidence that the power supply is a problem. They didn't specify, but I suspect they were using some sort of lab power supply to run the DVR test, rather than actually hooking the K2 power supply up to a motorcycle power system or 12V battery. I have checked and re-checked everything both of us (self and OCDTronic) can think of, multiple times now. It is easy to stay on top of the electrical situation on my bike, because I have a voltage monitoring LED that will tell me if system voltage falls low enough to affect the K2. I've also directly measured voltage where the K2 power supply is connected, at the battery terminals. It always gets 14.5V, which should mean that it will stay powered up any time the engine is running. At this point the only parts of the K2 that have not been replaced are the cameras, and the GPS antenna. But there is no evidence to suggest those are part of the problem, and I'd rather not swap them out "just in case."
Freespace,
Sorry to see that you're having problems. I don't have a dog in the hunt, as I'm not, in any way affiliated with Innov, but I like the idea of a small company, disrupting the industry, and in my opinion, the product is great.
That said, when I first installed the K2, I also had a power supply failure. Knowing computer h/w as I do, I have to say that there seems to be an alarmingly high failure rate for power supplies. Ordinarily, power supplies are the unsung heroes, simply providing power, for years on end, without issues. So, to see that I had a failure, and you had 2 more failures, I'm pretty alarmed at this statistical anomaly.
And so, it seems that we need a way to figure out what is going wrong, so that we can all understand what is causing the power supplies to fail. My thinking looks like this...
Is it simply infant mortality issues that are causing the failures? Are the power supplies manufactured inconsistently (poor QA), designed to inadequate standards (poor Engineering and design), or simply sourced from a number of different vendors (poor and inconsistent supply chain)?
Or, is there something about the way that the power supplies take their power source, which makes them vulnerable to fluctuations, or vibration?
Or, is there something about the environment that the power supply is in that might be causing the problem (rain, cold, wind, dirt, etc.).
In any case, it looks like Innov has an issue, which they would benefit from gaining a better understanding of.
Rock, do you agree that the failure rate of the P/S seems to be quite high, and do you agree with the framing that I've done, and do you have any idea about how to get to the bottom of the problem?
The system keeps shutting itself down for no reason.Does it do a correct shutdown or do you get corrupted files if that happens?
One possible point of failure is the plastic power connector. It is often malformed, so that both sides does nit fit, though it feels like everything is ok.
But I guess that, if you are about the get the third power converter, you already checked this.
So another possible point of failure could be a cold solder point somewhere at the DVR.
Did you already conntacted Innovv about your problems?
Curious whether OP is still getting trouble-free operation of his K2.
I'm sick and tired of mine, about ready to throw it in the trash and try another dashcam system. It just won't work reliably. I'm about to get my third power supply (second replacement). The system keeps shutting itself down for no reason. Bike running, 14.5V measured at the relevant connections, but it shut itself off at least 6 times yesterday while I was out riding. Second time this has happened in the last few months.
Yes, I am going to have to upgrade to the v0.61 firmware if I want to use a bigger SD card. Ugh. I don't want to lose the sequential file numbers, which apparently v0.61 takes away.
It wouldn't be a big deal if there were some way to set the DVR to show GMT rather than local time, but that hasn't been implemented yet.
update: never mind, I think I figured out a workaround to get the DVR on GMT if I want. So even less of an issue to lose the sequential numbers. I do agree somewhat with making the filenames shorter, they were getting pretty long.
@cliffordmusante
Thanks for you report and your blog. You really did an impressive trip. And it was funny to read you visited the Neanderthal Museum, as it is only a couple of minutes away from my home.
Regarding you little issues:
1) I needed to have a set of tweezers with me at all times, in order to remove the SD card so that I could download the video.There seem to be two different housings for the K2 with a rubber lip. At the K2 mounted in my bike, I have no problems to remove the sd card with my fingers. I simply push the card with the finger nails and that remove it with my fingers. A little bit fiddly, but possible. But on my second K2 this is impossible, as the gap for the rubber lip is smaller (=> too small for a finger).
I don´t know which housing is newer. But maybe Rock can provide you a housing with the wider gap.
2) The spring mechanism that holds in the SD card is strong enough that, on one occaision, it shot the SD card across the chamber that is under the seat, and the SD card ended up lost, somewhere in the body work of the bike.That´s something most devices with a sd slot have. My personal record is shooting the card about 2m across the garage :-). I placed a piece of cloth right under the K2 to avoid that the card slices away in case I drop it.
5) I was unable to get the unit to accept the latest F/W upgrade, so I'll need to figure that out, once the bike arrives back in the US.Depending on the current installed firmware, this issue could be due to your card is formatted in the ExFat format. V0.51 and V0.57 uses this format. Simply use a card not bigger than 32 GB, format it within the K2 and the update will be successful.
@freespaceimpedance
I'm experimenting with alternate firmware for the K2 that raises the video quality, at the expense of file size.The modified version of the V0.51 and V0.57 firmwares does not work with a 256 GB Card. I guess it is due to a bug in the ExFat implementation. The modified V0.61 does not have this problem (as it does not have ExFat anymore).
Thanks for responding.
I'm a little confused by one thing though - what did you mean when you said you "never completely filled the card?" Did you turn the K2 off at times? Normally even a 256 GB card would eventually fill over such a long trip (256 GB = about 28 hours worth of video), then the K2 would start overwriting the older video.
Do you mind saying which brand and model SD card you used? Obviously it was reliable. I've been using a 128 GB Samsung Pro Endurance card, but it would be nice to get more capacity. I'm experimenting with alternate firmware for the K2 that raises the video quality, at the expense of file size.
Hey Freespace,
It's been a while since I had a chance to look at the wiring in detail, as the install was done by Clint at BMW of Charlotte in early July, just before I left. That said, the problem that I had is that I have Clearwater lights, and other gadgets that all need a power source, and some of them need to be switched, while others need to be permanent. So, when I visited with Clint in early July, we talked about the problem of needing to have too many wires connected directly to the battery.
As it turns out, Clint had an extra PDU, which he gave to me, and which allowed me to connect one power source to the battery, while running all of the other devices to the PDU.
Using the bike in this configuration, I had no problems or issues at all. The PDU worked perfectly, and all of the units powered and shut down, as expected.
That said, I do have an issue with my clearwater lights that started with about 4 weeks of the trip remaining, and since I had limited time to troubleshoot the problem, I'll deal with it once the bike is off of the container ship, back in my hot little hands.
I agree that there are some issues that could have been solved differently. And, I think that Rock knows that as well. But, you simply can't argue with the fact that this system tolerated the heat and cold, and the harsh roads of the trip, and never even blinked. Bulletproof is just what us adventure riders need.
Are you saying you have the K2's power supply (red and black wires) connected to an accessory fuse panel, rather than directly to the battery? I had mine wired that way originally, but after some wacky behavior (K2 powering down randomly) I had to move the red and black wires to be directly on the battery posts.
Running wires is going to vary with the bike. On my Vstrom I got away with taping the K2 connectors to the end of a bamboo BBQ skewer, then using that to fish them under the tank.
I also dislike how fiddly it is to get the SD card in and out of the DVR, and share your frustration. I have to use a ruler, or credit card, or something similar to pop the SD card loose, then tweezers or careful finagling with said credit card to get it out fully. I don't remove the SD card as often as you did, but it's still quite annoying how difficult it is. And it is unavoidable to need to remove the SD card. Transferring videos over the WiFi connection is simply too slow. The WiFi is a really good feature, though. I use it as an indicator that the K2 is recording, since I always have my phone on my handlebars, connected to the K2's WiFi.
Sounds like an awesome trip, glad your K2 was reliable!
It is amazing to see that long distance trip with the team, I am proud that the K2 could work properly during whole journey.
About rubber cover, just take a picture to see how it is, and let us know the address, we can send the replacement to you. my email address is rock@innovv.com, let's keep contact.