Problem using C2 on my motorcycle

kensteele

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Need a little help with getting the C2 to operate properly on my bike. I'm a pretty aggressive rider and a typical ride has a lot of bumps and sharp turns...it's a pretty harsh ride on my sportbike. No matter where I mount the C2 on the bike or on my helmet, the recording will quit. I start the C2 on the internal battery and it records fine but the second I hit the throttle, recording ends and C2 will power off. I get a small file on the microSD card of only a few minutes. Is this normal? Are there settings to help with this? Of all my cameras, the C2 has the best picture and I'm hoping I can use it so any advice would be great! Thanks.
 
^right now, i just mount the camera and let it run using the camera's own internal battery. i start it up a couple of minutes before my ride and it records fine for the first few minutes. then i start to move out, and i hit the throttle and the first bump....end. this is what i see when i playback the one and only file saved to sd...me getting ready for the ride and leaving my driveway and that's it. for testing, i only take 10-20 minute rides and when i return home, the camera is off. at that point if i press the power button and let the camera sit still, it records long...so the battery did not die during the ride.

when i make the mount permanent, i will be plugging the camera into the motorcycle battery.
 
Motion Detect = disabled

G-Sensor: I've tried both Normal and Off.

I am using a Sandisk Extreme Plus 64gb microSD card similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/B00DM1BDPK

try a 32gb card or smaller and see how it goes, 64gb 'can' work but is not officially supported

you might want to test that card also using h2testw
 
thanks for the quick reply.

it's night here so i'll go riding tomorrow but in the meantime, i found a 32gb Sandisk class 4 micoSD to try. when i insert the card and turn on C2, the red light blinks slowly and everything works fine. If I shake the camera up and down briskly, trying to simulate a motorcycle ride, in about a minute the red light blinks rapidly and the unit will shut off. i can reproduce this over and over. Currently I have Video Clip Length = 3 min and Power Off Delay = 30 secs and Shooting Delay = Off.

I will try to test the cards using h2testw.

Brief history, I tried to use my C3 on the motorcycle but I get a lot of magenta flash so I want to start using C2 instead. The C3 on the motorcycle will record a long time and never cut off but as you know, the C3 lens is out front and the body is tucked away (doesn't bounce around). C3 on the bike WORKS well with these microSD cards. The C2 that I am now trying to use was my primary car-cam and since my car runs smoothly and softly, I have hours and hours and hours of footage on these micoSD cards, no problems.

If this is a matter of using the right microSD card to handle the situation, I'm open to trying things. thx.
 
As this SD card is working well on your car, but has problem when shake the C2 up and down, please have a class 10 SD card.
Please format SD card in camera by first press shutter button and then soon press power button till green led blink.
 
I found a class 10 SD card 32gb and re-format in the C2. Before going for a ride, I tried shaking it again and it powered off. This is with the setting G-sensor = Normal. See the video here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7E-56Lqhp0aZ2V4UUl3UTVMd00/view?usp=sharing

However, when I change the setting G-sensor = High it is very difficult to reproduce, only one time did the camera power off. Most of the time, the video continued to record. So the real test is to go riding and alas, today it has started to rain and I cannot resume testing until maybe tomorrow.

I will let you know what I find but it appears the highest G-sensor setting may work better than Normal/Off. I am pretty sure regular bike cruising is ok but unfortunately my ride is very spirited and quite bumpy at times. I understand the camera may fail to write properly under harsh conditions but it should not power off so that you can no longer record the remainder of the ride. It is not possible for me to constantly check on the camera condition until the ride has ended.

So I may be able to go back to C3 if the narrow lens clears up the magenta flash issue.
 
Hello Kensteele.

I`m not an expert on this matter but watching your video I’ve realized that what is happening to your camera is very similar to a voltage controlled shutdown.

In other words, your C2 may have a faulty battery (this is just an opinion) , or maybe the battery leads or connector may cause a voltage drop due to vibrations (mechanical failure).

So, your freshly charged battery should have 4.1V , in operation (recording) the voltage will drop gradually to 3.6V. When the camera detects 3.455V (and this takes a fracture of a second) the system will shut itself down.

If your battery connector got loose or a wire is damaged, the vibrations could cut off the power for a split second , enough for the camera to consider it a negative voltage spike and shut itself down.

Try testing your C2 powered from USB power bank or a AC adapter ( with the record on power cable/ not the data transfer cable) to see if my presumptions are correct or not. (Don`t take the camera apart unless it`s absolutely necessary.)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqHy6YazEnUNF93Vnc4WG92aE0/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqHy6YazEnUbl9ET0JPa1ZNOGs/view?usp=sharing
 
^thanks for the suggestion CTPAX0101. well, it appears you might be onto something. while i can easily recreate a premature power-off situation by manually handling and shaking the c2 running on it's own internal battery, i cannot replicate the same while it is connected to a usb power bank. my next step is to re-mount the c2 on my motorcycle and connect it to the motorcycle battery. hopefully this will resolve the problem which i think i can live with; i will post back what i find. appreciate the response. :)
 
@CTPAX0101 after connecting my c2 to power while mounted on my motorcycle, the unit does not power off no matter how aggressive i ride...so it's working properly (it appears the previous suggestion is a valid assumption). i appreciate the help in resolving this problem.

unfortunately i had to reassigned the c2 back to permanent automobile duty because the video captured during my harsh motorcycle ride is very shaky and mostly unusable. it's no wonder it couldn't operate on battery alone, some of the vibrations when going over the bumps and hard breaking....you can't make out anything it shakes so badly.

i'm going to blame it on the mount (original c2 mounting bracket) as unsuitable for a lower forward location on my bike, i had to use electrical tape to secure the camera to the bracket so i wouldn't lose it. that's too bad because the c2 video is absolutely beautiful...but i'm still experimenting with c3. :)
 
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