Just installed a N5 in my car

Vantrue will probably send me that hard wire kit with another camera in the future, for now i just use the N5 with a regular hard wire kit, so only low voltage can cut off my N5 while it is in parking guard mode.
The issue with the old Vantrue hard wire kits, asidfe for it or the camera not having a timer option is the low voltage cut off are lower than the 12.2 volts i like to use,
So right now my battery are heading for a really low cut off as i have enabled parking guard on the N5 again today, this time just using G-sensor for event trigger.
 
kamkar said:
yes that is the new kit, it can be used with any parking guard mode in ( i assume ) any Vantrue system, but of course once the low voltage cut off or the timer limit selected is reached it will turn off the camera.

You do not have to use the timer of course, you can just use the low voltage cut off, and then get how ever many hours that will give you ( depending on battery size and state / charge of course.
Click to expand...
So if the low voltage limit is NOT reached, then when timer expires the camera moves from normal recording to the parking mode that has been set, right? Or don't we know until someone tries the new product? The instructions for it are not clear :-(
 
kamkar said:
( to protect your car battery, lead acid batteries are not made for deep discharge so below 12.2 volts and it will actually eat into the service life of your car battery )
Click to expand...
The truth is that any lead acid battery, be it a Gel Cell, AGM or flooded batteries such as DCBs, should be cut-off at 11.6 volts. Not doing so increases the risk of damage to the battery and if taken down deep enough into the batteries charge, will ruin the battery. Having said that, the absolute lowest level a lead acid battery can be discharged to, UNDER LOAD, is 10.8 volts but this is not recommended.
Click to expand...
 
I think there's quite a lot of evidence that 11.6v is way too low if you don't want to reduce the service life of the battery. Normal car starter batteries are designed to supply high currents to start the car, not to be discharged too much. E.g.:

www.ecosoch.com

Curious Case of 50% Depth of Discharge for Lead Acid Battery | EcoSoch

Lead acid battery should be discharged only by 50% to increase its life" - is an oft used phrase. This means that we should cycle them in the 100% to 50%
www.ecosoch.com www.ecosoch.com

Maximising Battery Life - Century Batteries

www.centurybatteries.com.au www.centurybatteries.com.au
 
The Internet is teeming with this information and in each article the data is different.
From personal experience: Discharging the battery to 11.8V does not harm him. Tested on lead-acid and AGM batteries.
At the moment, a lead-acid battery is installed which is 6 years old and no problems have been observed.
 
o yeah on the internet of information you will find many nuggets, of various substance, some could be solid or even gold, other much softer and foul smelling.
 
Video of my N5 taking a picture on its own, and the picture of me not really getting it, but at least prove my hand was not on the event button.

 
Karagandinez said:
The Internet is teeming with this information and in each article the data is different.
From personal experience: Discharging the battery to 11.8V does not harm him. Tested on lead-acid and AGM batteries.
At the moment, a lead-acid battery is installed which is 6 years old and no problems have been observed.
Click to expand...
Fascinating. Is your battery regularly discharged to the 11.8v cut off (Vantrue use 11.6 I think)? Or is the car usually used before it drops to 11.6/11.8v? Is it an AGM battery?
 
Each manufacturer has wire kits for the parking mode of their dash cams.
Vantrue is no exception.
 
kamkar said:
yes that is the new kit, it can be used with any parking guard mode in ( i assume ) any Vantrue system, but of course once the low voltage cut off or the timer limit selected is reached it will turn off the camera.

You do not have to use the timer of course, you can just use the low voltage cut off, and then get how ever many hours that will give you ( depending on battery size and state / charge of course.
Click to expand...
It seems this is a missed opportunity. If the timer just delayed parking mode then you could have full recording for x hours and then move to Collision Detection parking mode (which consumes very little battery). So you would still have some protection after the timer expired until the battery voltage became too low.
 
As i recall my car read 12. 5 or 6 volts after being parked overnight with no parking guard.
Now as i run parking guard on 70mai Omni and / or Vantrue N5 my gauge read 11.8 volts the next day, as none of the two have the higher cut off values i would prefer.
Or that is it for sure do when the N5 system have been on parking guard, TBH i have not checked what volts are after overnight omni parking guard, but the camera are still on the next day cuz it pan around when i enter the car.
Having the N5 on overnight with motion detect, both cameras was " dead " the next day.

Using 12.2 volts for cut off, and timer ( 3 hours ) i have never really seen any dip in the voltage as the 3 hours are nothing.
I would not like to be in a place where i feel parking guard for as long as my battery will allow is needed, then i think i would prefer to move to a better place or park in a better place.

IF ! i was in such a place, i would add a charge / battery splitter like campers have, and then a AGM battery dedicated to dashcam use.
Or maybe a dedicated dashcam power pack with 1 - 2 additional packs to extend the time it can work.
But both of those scenarios are probably more than i would like to spend my meager pension on.

wibbly said:
then you could have full recording for x hour
Click to expand...
That would not work as running regular continuous recording are not advised as it generate the maximum heat inside the camera itself, that is why there are things like Low bitrate or time lapse for parking guard, A : to generate as little heat as possible and B: to have as little as possible parking guard files.

So running regular recording for X hours on a sunny day, well that will just increase the chance that your system shut down due to high heat, probably even before a very delayed parking guard set in.
AND ! only a few systems are able to automatic boot up once it have cooled down,,,, like very very few systems can do that. the norm is heat shut down = permanent shut down until you start your car again.


Okay i know in Denmark and the UK those blue skies and 25 - 30 deg C summer days are not frequent, hell this year we Danes havent even had just 1 day with 30 deg C.
This past July here the wettest one on record, even if we have not had any catastrophic ammounts of rain, then we still had 2 X the norm for the month.
 
Last edited:
kamkar said:
That would not work as running regular continuous recording are not advised as it generate the maximum heat inside the camera itself, that is why there are things like Low bitrate or time lapse for parking guard, A : to generate as little heat as possible and B: to have as little as possible parking guard files.
Click to expand...
That is a good point. I'm not sure it makes that much difference though. In my review I measured, for example:
  • Normal recording mode ~ 750-820 mA
  • Motion detection parking mode ~ 710 mA
However, it does say to only use Collision Detection parking mode in the summer. That's just 9mA!

Does anyone know what the hardwire kits consume themselves? I guess they pull some mA even after the battery cut-off voltage has been reached, or time has been exceeded.
 
Last edited:
Yes the N5 i think deep sleep and so when it wake up to record it do not have any buffer from before the trigger, at læeast i do not hear any ding / bong in my G-sensor triggered recordings.
 
Rain ( normal amounts ) trigger G-sensor ( setting 5 which is high i think )


I have now changed to the default #3 setting for sensitivity.
 
I finally ran into the "N" series button issue, and it is clear what have been made wrong.

1: The use of a glue not suited for the task.
2: The lack of a anchor profile on the metal magnet that hold it all in place.

Now to me it look as if the magnet have been painted, so this in itself should mean it is fairly free of grease.
So to be that can not be the problem.
Vantrue should have scuffed up the glue side before gluing / before painting using a 60 grit sander / grinder, this would enlarge the surface for the glue ( or paint which i am most familiar with ) to hold onto, what we in the surface treatment game call a anchor profile.

Looking closer just now the glue dont seem to have let go of the metal part, but rather the plastic part, this could probably be alleviated by using a bit more glue as the plastic part are fra from flat and even.

IMG_20230908_171104.jpg

I will proceed to remove the glue on the metal part using a file, and then i am going to try my trusty old shoe goo on the 2 parts.
Not ideal but from my experience with the stuff it should be fine for something like this with very little mechanical forces acting upon it.

iu
 
kamkar said:
Video of my N5 taking a picture on its own, and the picture of me not really getting it, but at least prove my hand was not on the event button.

Click to expand...
I noticed you had some 'thundering bass' going on. Makes me suspect there's an issue where the camera is misinterpreting some audio input as a command to take a photo. I'm experiencing the same with an S1-Pro I'm testing.
 
No thunder here, just 4 factory door speakers.
As a guy that once ran 3 12 " woofers each fed 500 Watts, that was thunder, and i am still amazed i have no hearing loss.
 
Regarding memory cards and the N5, this is where i am as of now, where i am ready to but a new one in the camera tomorrow.

Sandisk high endurance - OK
Sillicon Power 3D nand ( brown ) - not OK
Kingston canvas go plus - OK
Kingston canvas select plus - OK
Adata High endurance - OK
 
Last edited:
kamkar said:
Regarding memory cards and the N5, this is where i am as of now, where i am ready to but a new one in the camera tomorrow.

Sandisk high endurance - OK
Sillicon Power 3D nand ( brun ) - not OK
Kingston canvas go plus - OK
Kingston canvas select plus - OK
Adata High endurance - OK
Click to expand...

I am considering the Kingston Canvas Go! Plus 512gb for my new (yet to arrive) Viofo A229 Pro. What is your level of confidence in this card?

thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top