BlackVue DR900X-2CH DMS Plus

[rcg530]

Today, I received this dash cam from Pittasoft:



This dash cam (a total of three in the 2-channel DMS series) uses the BlackVue DR900X Plus front dash cam along with the new AI-powered DMC200 driver monitoring system device which includes an interior camera (the second channel in this 2-channel product).



The DR900X Plus front dash cam is powered just like any other DR900X Plus front dash cam with a cigarette port adapter or a 3-wire hardwiring adapter. The DMC200 is powered with a separate 2-wire hardwiring power cable (constant power and ground).



I hope to get this installed in my dash cam test vehicle in the next week or two so I can start gathering info for my review.

 

[rcg530]

I started some bench testing of the DR900X-2CH DMS Plus dash cam.

There are two power connections for this configuration. The front camera uses the typical cigarette port (power port) plug or 3-wire hardwiring cable. The DMC200 requires its own 2-wire hardwired power connection (constant power and ground).

The BlackVue website lists the power consumption for this unit as:

Normal Mode (WiFi On/GPS On/2CH): Avg. 700mA/12V
Normal Mode (WiFi Off/GPS On/2CH): Avg. 660mA/12V
Parking Mode (WiFi On/GPS Off/2CH): Avg. 650mA/12V
Parking Mode (WiFi Off/GPS Off/2CH): Avg. 620mA/12V

My initial power consumption testing is showing the DR900X-2CH DMS Plus consumes about 50 to 100 mA under the stated values. I have my test unit in parking mode (WiFi On/GPS Off/2CH) and it is consuming 550 mA to 565 mA when the BlackVue chart shows 650 mA. My DC power supply is powering both the DR900X Plus and the DMC200, so the answer to the question you might ask is yes I'm measuring the full current load for this configuration. When I put a multimeter with an amp clamp around the constant battery power wire going to the DMC200, it shows it's consuming 290 mA to 310 mA in parking mode.

This dash cam configuration does consume a lot of power so keep that in mind when making a decision on how you're going to power this dash cam.

My testing is gonig to require a different power consumption test for this setup since the DMC200 is hardwired to constant power. I'll have to test when the front camera's battery protection logic turns off the front camera due to low battery voltage or the parking mode cutoff timer has expired will the DMC200 go to "sleep" and not continue to consume large amounts of power.

One thing to note, the DMC200 is connected to the front camera using the rear camera connection port via a coaxial cable. For that reason, the DMC200's internal camera is labeled as the "rear" camera even though it is monitoring the interior (driver) of the vehicle.

 

[bkdodger]

Thank you for posting ...I've had this cam installed locally and now about two weeks in ...it was hardwired ..I've noticed while park near home close enough connected to my home wifi ...I've seen a few notifications voltage close to approaching value set .. I'm currently working from home mostly so less driving than normal ..

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

 

[rcg530]

DR900X-2CH DMS Plus - Power Consumption Test Results

I've been testing a few of the DMS features along with monitoring how much power the DR900X-2CH DMS Plus consumes (milliamps) in the various modes of operation. I wanted to see how much of the total power draw was being consumed by the DMC200 by itself. I placed multimeter inline of the constant battery power wire going to the DMC200 to track the DMC200's power consumption. I also wanted to make sure that when the DR900X Plus camera was powered down that the DMC200 was not consuming power since its hardwire cable is connected to constant/battery power.

DR900X Plus - Powered using 3-wire hardwiring cable (battery, accessory and ground)
DMC200 - Powered by a separate 2-wire hardwiring cable (battery and ground)

DMC200 - LED colors "Flashing Blue" vs "Steady Green"

The DMC200 actively searches for or tracks the detected driver only while the front camera is in normal driving mode. The DMC200's LED will be "flashing blue" when it is searching for a driver" and it will change to a steady green when a driver has been detected. If the DMC200 AI logic detects the driver has violated one of the enabled monitors, the LED will turn red and if the DMC200's sound output feature is enabled, it will beep. The beeps will get longer as the driver continues to violate the particular requirement/activity it's monitoring.

The power consumption values (milliamps) consumed by the DMC200 will increase about 25 mA to 40 mA when there is a person's face in view. The milliamp values I show in my chart for the DMC200 is when a person's face is in view of the DMC200's camera while the front camera is in normal recording mode.

Parking Mode - DMC200

The DMC200 is only actively monitoring the driver while the front camera is in normal recording mode. I wondered if when the front camera goes into parking mode, would that change the status (LED color) or power consumption of the DMC200 and the answer is no it does not change the LED color nor power consumption.

When the DMC200's LED is "flashing blue" and it is searching for a driver's face, it consumes more power than when the DMC200 has detected the driver and is simply monitoring the driver's actions.

Unfortunately, the DMC200's AI logic is not put into any sort of hibernation mode while the front camera is in parking mode. The DMC200 will not generate alerts while in parking mode. If the DMC200 is searching for a driver (LED = Flashing Blue) and the front camera enters parking, mode it will continue to consume more power than if the DMC200 had detected the driver (LED = Steady Green) and then the front camera entered parking mode. You'll see a "Flashing Blue" and a "Steady Green" in my power consumption chart to point out that power consumption difference.

GPS On vs GPS Off

Getting a BlackVue dash cam to establish a lock on enough GPS satellites is a difficult task when inside of a building (like my filming studio). You will see the "Normal Recording" power consumption values with a notation of "GPS Off" because of the difficulty to get a GPS lock as I just mentioned. The dash cam should be searching for GPS satellites while its located in my filming studio, but I don't know how much of a difference the power consumption values would be for those two states of the GPS (searching vs acquired).

Notifications via BlackVue Cloud

One of the obvious uses for this product is to have the "bad behavior" of the driver reported to someone while it's happening. You have two options to get the DR900X Plus front camera connected to the BlackVue cloud service (LTE using CM100LTE connectivity module or Wi-Fi hotspot). I ran a series of power consumption tests using a CM100LTE connectivity module. You'll see those values in their own set of columns in the power consumption chart.

How Power Hungry Is It?

Even at its peak consumption, the DR900X-2CH Plus, DMC200 and CM100LTE combined consume under 1 amp. I tend to look at the parking mode power consumption to see how much power the vehicle owner will need to account for using the vehicle's battery (using the "DR900X-2CH Plus" battery protection feature) or a dash camera battery pack.

That's it for now. More info as I get more of the features tested.

 

[rcg530]

You know you're committed to what you're doing when you're willing to cut the instrument panel cover vinyl to get a secure mounting base for the product you're reviewing. This is a spare instrument panel cover for my car, but they are hard to find.

 

[rcg530]

After installing the DMC200 into my car, I found that the round mount on the back of the DMC200 doesn't fit snugly into the mount base. It allows the DMC200 to wobble around a bit. The base of the DMC200 mount that is attached to the top of the instrument panel cover is rock solid with no movement. I was able to somewhat resolve the movement issue by adding a 1/2" x 1/8" piece of thin noise isolation felt padding on the bottom side of the round section on the back of the DMC200. I've reported my findings to Pittasoft.

 

[rcg530]

I just uploaded my DMC200 (provided as part of a DR900X-2CH DMS Plus dash cam) first look video. I found a few things that might need improvement. Pittasoft R&D's feedback to one of my suggestions was they would consider making a future enhancement to the AI logic for the Drowsy DMS function based on my findings. We'll see if they end up making that logic update.

 

[rcg530]

Pittasoft just released updated firmware for the three front dash cams that are part of the 2-channel DMS products (DR900X Plus, DR750X Plus, DR750X LTE Plus). My video is based on the firmware release just prior to the 11-May-2022 update.

[Firmware Updates] DR900X Plus, DR750X Plus, DR750X-2CH LTE Plus​

Dear BlackVue Users,
We recently released firmware updates for DR900X Plus Series, DR750X Plus Series and DR750X-2CH LTE Plus dash cams.
This update adds improvements to the reckless and drowsy driving detection features as well as fixes for stability.

Models Concerned:​

• DR900X Plus Series v.1.008
• DR750X Plus Series v.1.010
• DR750X-2CH LTE Plus Series v1.005

What’s New:​

1. Reckless driving function improvements:
   • Added sensitivity settings for Hard acceleration, Hard braking, and Hard cornering.
   • Speeding notifications UI/UX improvements.
2. Web Viewer push notifications UI/UX improvements:
   • Separated DMS push notifications from the other push notifications.
3. Added push notification in case of “Drowsy-2” status detection (for models with DMC200).
4. Bug fixes and stability improvements.

※ Compatible software versions:
BlackVue App: Android v3.34 / iOS v3.33 and up.
BlackVue Viewer: Windows v3.11 / Mac v3.12 and up.
BlackVue Web Viewer (Cloud)

 

[Vortex Radar]

Awesome testing and review! Thanks for taking the time to put together the review. I like the way you did the side-by-side with video footage and various status info and important details.

 

[rcg530]

Awesome testing and review! Thanks for taking the time to put together the review. I like the way you did the side-by-side with video footage and various status info and important details.

Thank you! I know you understand how much time and effort that type of review takes to get done.

 

[Vortex Radar]

Thank you! I know you understand how much time and effort that type of review takes to get done.

No kidding. It's always wayyyyy more than you'd think, lol. The extra details and thought you put into the edit and presentation are very nice touches.