Just installed a N5 in my car

kamkar

kamkar

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Dash Cam
10 years, many dashcams
Took a while ( hardwire ) and i found out several times that the underground garage i use, well the light turn off if there are no movement in the garage in 10 minutes or so.
Fortunately i EDC a little flashlight, so not really a big problem, but it did probably eat into the install time, but i remained dry CUZ outside the skies over my town was very grey indeed, so dident want to take a chance on that.
Also in all fairness, i did also remove some old wires in the car that was for systems no longer there, that also took a while, not least with the short wire for the A 139 interior camera, i have no idea how i got it where it was but it was hard to get out.

First hand impressions are good, the front unit in the system feel like a steel pipe with something inside it, the rear part are extremely light in comparison.
In my car i have the ball joint maxed out to be able to have a few CM of the front of the dashboard in the frame.

It sound as if the interior cameras are proper active IR cut filter ones, this is good it is the way it should be.

If i have to say something "bad" here on day #1, well that would be the lack of a CPL filter, but fortunately i have my old DIY dashmat, and though it is no longer as black as it once was, then it is a lot better than the gunmetal grey plastics my dashboard are made off.
 
Okay looked over memory card, and the camera have not recorded much, very sporadic recordings, i think it is safe to say the Silicon Power memory card do not work.
And thats just fine too i was surprised it would format, but what is a surprise the system do not give any alarm when it apparently can not record.

iu
 
Whipped up a little drive video from the N5, its me driving around the 600 year old town of Mariager.
First part are high speed video as it took way longer than anyone would bother sitting looking at a video, but in the end as i dive onto the town i drop ane anchor and the speed drop to normal, and it is a even lower than the normal 50 KMH town speed, so sub 40 KMH it is.

Also a very nice area around the town, i wouldn't mind living there, and i also think many of the very little towns have fiber optical internet, which for me is a must have.

 
I tried to change the N5 to a 2 channel system today ( front & rear ) and this was also very easy.
BUT ! there was no change in the bitrate, i was hoping for that.
 
kamkar said:
I tried to change the N5 to a 2 channel system today ( front & rear ) and this was also very easy.
BUT ! there was no change in the bitrate, i was hoping for that.
Click to expand...
Yes, I would really like to be able to switch, in the case of only two cameras, to a higher bitrate of the front camera. Moreover, the N4 Pro with three cameras already has a bitrate of 32.4 Mbps (versus 14.3 Mbps on the N5).
I think @Jeff_Vantrue and a team of engineers are monitoring the tests and our wishes and will be able to improve something.
 
BTW i am sad the Vantrue camera do not have a timer option for parking guard, of course it do not hurt me much that i am forced to run the system all evening / night / morning but at least using motion detect the low voltage limit was hit the next day.
I forgot to run another parking guard mode last weekend, so will try to remember this tomorrow.
 
kamkar said:
BTW i am sad the Vantrue camera do not have a timer option for parking guard, of course it do not hurt me much that i am forced to run the system all evening / night / morning but at least using motion detect the low voltage limit was hit the next day.
I forgot to run another parking guard mode last weekend, so will try to remember this tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Who does not allow you to purchase a special cable with a timer? :unsure:

Vantrue 3-Lead ACC Hardwire Kit

Vantrue 3-Lead ACC Hardwire Kit ,for N4, E1, E2, E3, S2, N2S, X4S.
vantrue.net vantrue.net
 
Yeah that is also a way to go, and me and Jeff already talked about that.
 
Karagandinez said:
Who does not allow you to purchase a special cable with a timer? :unsure:

Vantrue 3-Lead ACC Hardwire Kit

Vantrue 3-Lead ACC Hardwire Kit ,for N4, E1, E2, E3, S2, N2S, X4S.
vantrue.net vantrue.net
Click to expand...
Some manufactures provide the timer for free, conveniently located in the camera setup, instead of charging you extra for something that can be a zero manufacturing cost firmware option!
 
Yes the inline timer is just fine if you have a set time, like i generally have of 3 hours, and i have not felt the need to extend that, but if i wanted to do that, it would be so more easy to do in the camera menu VS on the wire that might be hidden good.

I think i am not the only person in the world where my hands often overtake my brain, and so i can make things or get well under way making things before i find out a smarter way to do it.
It is not really a bad thing, though if you are a company then you can soon use a lot of money where you did not have to.
 
Nigel said:
Some manufactures provide the timer for free, conveniently located in the camera setup, instead of charging you extra for something that can be a zero manufacturing cost firmware option!
Click to expand...
Although some manufacturers have a timer conveniently located in the camera settings,
you still have to pay for an additional cable to provide parking mode. ;)
On models from other manufacturers, I set the parking timer every time after flashing.
Here I can set the timer once and for all.
 
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need the timer to be set up in the camera and hardwire kit like street guardian, not with dip switches, needs to be an option on the camera and in the app so you can change it where needed easily.
you may normally have like me an option of 1 hour, but you may park somewhere one day where you need like 6 hours once off, easily done in app, not soo easy if on hardware kit with dip switches.
 
I have noticed, some times the N5 take a photo of its own, or at least i hear a shutter sound.
At least it have happened 2-3 times now, last time yesterday, i will pull memory card and look closer today.
 
kamkar said:
Yes the inline timer is just fine if you have a set time, like i generally have of 3 hours, and i have not felt the need to extend that, but if i wanted to do that, it would be so more easy to do in the camera menu VS on the wire that might be hidden good.

I think i am not the only person in the world where my hands often overtake my brain, and so i can make things or get well under way making things before i find out a smarter way to do it.
It is not really a bad thing, though if you are a company then you can soon use a lot of money where you did not have to.
Click to expand...

So how does the timer work? After the set time expires, does:
  1. The camera power get completely removed, the same as if the car battery voltage is too low, and the timer replaces parking mode, or
  2. The camera goes into the parking mode that has been set, so the timer just delays parking mode. Parking mode then works normally.
Also I guess the power to the camera get completely removed if the voltage is too low, regardless of the timer setting and when the ignition was switched off, right?
 
Yes the timer kill everything, so in my case after 3 hours parking guard the system turn off, the timer is running beside what ever parking guard mode you have choosen to use.
The timer most often go up to 48 hours, which is longer than you will get parking guard in any mode if you have a sensible low votage of 12.2 volts, and of curse a regular sized battery in your car.
You can fill the boot of you car with batteries and have weeks of parking guard, thats just not a option for most people.

Vantrue for instance do not have this timer in the camera menu, but one of their new hard wire kits have a option for timer cut off, but then it is set on DIP switched on the hard wire kit itself.
Street guardian and Viofo have the timer build in the menu.

There are a parking mode delay on some brands, that is handy CUZ otherwise if G-sensor is in play, and the hand over from regular to parking guard are instant then you slamming the door create a event, so cameras with a delay you have up to 90 seconds delay, ,mostly in 3 steps so 30 - 60 - 90 seconds delay you can choose in between.
The camera remain recording in regular mode untill the hand over delay are over then it change to parking guard, so if you use 90 seconds and exit your car in 10 seconds, well its not like you have a gap in your footage, just the camera will record regular footage for a few more seconds before parking guard engage.

yes low voltage do the same just cut off everything once the selected low voltage limit have been reached. ( 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 )

Aside from all that the final thing that will cut off your dashcam in parking guard, well that is heat, so pariked in direct sun on one of those rare summer days, well the electronics can not handle that for long as all electronuic components have a MAX temperature, so when MAX temperature is reached it shut off to protect itself.
In this case there are no user choice, that cut off is what it is from the factory, and most often in the 70 - 80 deg C range


My own favorite parking guard mode is low bitrate, here the camera record 30 FPS all the time + sound, beside that and the 3 hour timer cut off i also have G-sensor on, in case there should be a forceful event while i am parked.

OBS !!!!! Vantrue they combine low bitrate and low FPS ( time lapse ) in their low bitrate, i personally find that silly


It is a bit hit and miss with this ( parking guard ) and how the different brands handle that, also regular event creation, some still use a very short buffer in RAM, but these days i think most just save and lock the current segment that is being created when you press the button.
So if your timing are really bad, and you press the event button 1-2 seconds after a new file have started, or the same just before the file end, well in that case you will have 1-2 seconds from before / after you pressed the button, though it dont really matter CUZ what is not locked secure is still in and among the regular footage, which is no problem if you have a adequate sized memory card CUZ they you have room for many hours of video, and so you will have to drive that many hours after your event to loose anything usable that was not locked ways, and thats rare it happen for most of us as we only drive trips thats a few hours and rarely half a day.

And if you have a severe event, well you will not be driving anymore anyway and so your footage locked or not are still there.
If that case you should retrieve your memory card as soon as it make sense, i would personally let the camera record after a event if possible, to maybe get the other part lying on open microphone.
 
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That is a shame, so you are saying with this product it works like in my option 1 and means in effect that parking mode options can no longer be used? I would want it to work like in option 2 :-(
 
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.
 
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