Reviewing and Testing the Vantrue Nexus 5S

I’ve had the N5S camera installed in my car for a little more than 3 months now and I’m liking it more and more! It’s a great 4 channel camera and it has operated flawlessly during this time. I’ve had it installed with the suction cup mount and the 12v utility plug adapter - all three pieces have performed great.

I just hardwired it into my car and connected it to my new DIY LTO parking battery so I can have 360 degree parking coverage. It also provides great coverage out the side windows while driving - something none of my other cameras can do! Post #68 above shows a plate capture of a moving car out the side window.

One small detail - be sure not to mix up the rear video cable with the cable from another camera during installation. If you mix them up like I did (oops…), you’ll know right away because the rear cabin camera feed will be blacked out on the screen. The rear camera USB cable for the N5S has TWO pairs of video wires inside, one for each camera. It worked much better after I installed the correct cable. 😉
 
EricSan said:
I’ve had the N5S camera installed in my car for a little more than 3 months now and I’m liking it more and more! It’s a great 4 channel camera and it has operated flawlessly during this time. I’ve had it installed with the suction cup mount and the 12v utility plug adapter - all three pieces have performed great.

I just hardwired it into my car and connected it to my new DIY LTO parking battery so I can have 360 degree parking coverage. It also provides great coverage out the side windows while driving - something none of my other cameras can do! Post #68 above shows a plate capture of a moving car out the side window.

One small detail - be sure not to mix up the rear video cable with the cable from another camera during installation. If you mix them up like I did (oops…), you’ll know right away because the rear cabin camera feed will be blacked out on the screen. The rear camera USB cable for the N5S has TWO pairs of video wires inside, one for each camera. It worked much better after I installed the correct cable. 😉
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Correct. I tested this out of curiosity and pmed @Jeff_Vantrue for further confirmation after receiving a black screen. Other cables are not capable of carrying the data to support 4 channels.

I like the 5S a lot. I've actually opted to run it full time over keeping the higher quality N4S Pro. I get a nice view of my side windows (front and rear) which no other cameras provide. My other cameras make up for the higher quality front and rear capture. Not to say the N5S doesn't do a solid job at capturing.
 
Hi, can you please measure the consumption while driving and in parking mode set to motion detection? Thank you.
 
znedlob said:
Hi, can you please measure the consumption while driving and in parking mode set to motion detection? Thank you.
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Sorry for my delay - I've been traveling for a bit and haven't had much spare time. Here is a full set of power consumption figures for the Vantrue N5S 4-ch camera. I'm glad that you asked for power consumption figures - I installed my N5S in the car before making these measurements. Your question gave me the motivation to make the measurements I should have made before. 🙂

Anyhow, here is the data:

N5S Power Consumption.webp


All measurements were made with the VP03(II) Hardwire Kit and the windshield GPS unit attached, mimicking real-world usage scenario. Since the main benefit of this camera is the four-channel recording capability, I made all of my measurements with all four channels running.

I also made a fun new discovery this time around. I've been reluctant to make these measurements since installing the camera because it complicates the logistics. The rear camera cable for the N5S is rather unique - it has two separate runs of wire that carry the signals from two separate video cameras. There are also extra power delivery requirements for two cameras plus a set of four IR LEDs in the rear cabin camera to record at night. The discovery is that the USB-C to C 10Gbps 100 W, 1m cable that came with my Dell USB-C monitor and connects it to my Dell laptop for charging and transmits audio/video signals ALSO has sufficient pairs of wires to substitute for the 5m cable that comes from Vantue. This made making measurements much easier because I could work in the house instead of the garage.

I used a relatively empty 64G Vantrue SD card to make these measurements. This is an important data point for the Impact Detection parking modes because it influences start up times. Larger cards take longer than smaller cards and full cards take longer than empty cards when the camera is waking up.
 
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EricSan said:
Sorry for my delay - I've been traveling for a bit and haven't had much spare time. Here is a full set of power consumption figures for the Vantrue N5S 4-ch camera. I'm glad that you asked for power consumption figures - I installed my N4S in the car before making these measurements and once you run the rear video cable under the headliner, all of these measurements become much more difficult because you have to work in the car instead of at my desk in the house...

Anyhow, here is the data:

View attachment 92104

All measurements were made with the VP03(II) Hardwire Kit and the windshield GPS unit attached, mimicking real-world usage scenario. Since the main benefit of this camera is the four-channel recording capability, I made all of my measurements with all four channels running.

I also made a fun new discovery this time around. I've been reluctant to make these measurements since installing the camera because it complicates the logistics. The rear camera cable for the N5S is rather unique - it has two separate runs of wire that carry the signals from two separate video cameras. There are also extra power delivery requirements for two cameras plus a set of four IR LEDs in the rear cabin camera to record at night. The discovery is that the USB-C to C 10Gbps 100 W, 1m cable that came with my Dell USB-C monitor and connects it to my Dell laptop for charging and transmits audio/video signals ALSO has sufficient pairs of wires to substitute for the 5m cable that comes from Vantue. This made making measurements much easier because I could work in the house instead of the garage.

I used a relatively empty 64G Vantrue SD card to make these measurements. This is an important data point for the Impact Detection parking modes because it influences start up times. Larger cards take longer than smaller cards and full cards take longer than empty cards when the camera is waking up.
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What are you using to measure voltage?
 
jsmith said:
What are you using to measure voltage?
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Thanks for asking - my technique for measuring power draw is a bit more complex than you might expect because dashcams don't draw constant current like most other devices. The power consumed by nearly all dashcams is highly variable and if you just put a meter on it, the measurement will bounce all over the place over time. This means you need to approach things with a bit more care and planning.

The Power Source:
Depending on which camera I am measuring and how much voltage I need, my power supply is either my DIY LTO battery pack (which ranges from 12.0v to 16.0v, depending on its present state of charge), or I'll use a 30v, 10A, 300w regulated bench top power supply. It depends on which one is most readily available at the moment and exactly what I'm trying to measure (for instance, if I need a variable power supply). For my protocol, which one gets used doesn't make any difference to my resulting measurements.

Digital Multi Meters:
I use two different meters simultaneously on the 12v input side of the 12v to 5v voltage regulator that is part of most hardwire kits. This way, my measurements include the total power draw (regulator + camera + GPS + resistance losses in cable runs), exactly as it will be installed in my car.

1) The first meter is a $20 generic Thsinde 19B+ meter from Amazon that is surprisingly accurate when compared to a 6-digit calibrated Agilent lab bench meter. On their DC scales, the Thsinde meters perfectly match the calibrated lab meter from the electrical engineering lab on campus where I work. I use this meter to record the voltage level of the power source. I measure to the 100th of a volt.

2) The second meter is a Fluke 117 that I purchased specifically for its ability to measure Min/Avg/Max figures in the milliamp range over time. The Fluke meter is placed inline with the Black (ground) wire of the hardwire kit 12v input. BOTH the Red and Yellow wires draw power: one provides the constant +12v that runs the camera and the other provides the +12v signal that toggles drive mode with parking mode (which color wire serves which function varies by manufacturer). Since both wires draw power, the most accurate location to obtain the measure of total current draw at all times by both the hardwire kit and the camera is the Black ground leg. The Fluke meter is placed inline (series) with the Black wire on the 12v input side of the 12v to 5v regulator in the hardwire kit.

Determining Power Draw:
Measurements for various drive modes are made after the dashcam's screen has turned off (this is typically how I run my cameras while driving). When I make the milliamp readings for parking mode, I disconnect the ignition trigger wire (this is either Red or Yellow, depending on brand) from the power supply, wait for the screen to turn off, then re-set the Fluke meter (to make sure the meter is monitoring only the current draw associated with Parking Mode). Then I set the meter to "average" mode. I let it sit for about a full minute to gather enough data to make a meaningful average (the only parking mode that ever results in a steady current draw is Collision Detection Mode). Then, I just use Ohm's Law: multiply average current draw as reported on the Fluke meter by the voltage reading on the Thsinde meter to obtain power consumption in watts. I usually round two one or two decimal places.
 
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Also just want to express my appreciation to @Jeff_Vantrue and the programming team for the update that retains the camera settings after performing a firmware update! This is a very welcome feature, thank you! 👍

I'm happy to see this feature spreading across camera models as new firmware rolls out!
 
Thank you for measuring the consumption. I want to install N5S in the new Škoda Peaq. I will use VIOFO BP100 between the car battery and the camera for longer recording. If I calculated correctly, VIOFO BP100 with an extension battery should allow 34 hours of power supply with motion detection including LTE module.

PLÁNEK VANTRUE.webp
 
Your diagram looks very similar to my own implementation (I don’t have the LTE module), it should work very well!
 
znedlob said:
What battery are you using?
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My battery is a DIY LTO-chemistry that is good for 20,000 charge/discharge cycles. It should outlast me. Development credit goes to @GPak. Images and description starts here: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...r-dash-cam-parking-mode-diy.50484/post-659033

It gives me 200+ hours of dual channel recording on a single charge. It is hard wired to my car's battery with a relay that charges the battery while the engine is running. It works great.
 
Is there anywhere posted the hours of storage per SD card while the vehicle is running? I apologize if I've missed it, though I did read through this thread trying to find it.
 
NotThatGuyThatOtherGuy said:
Is there anywhere posted the hours of storage per SD card while the vehicle is running? I apologize if I've missed it, though I did read through this thread trying to find it.
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I thought I posted this somewhere already, but I can't find where I saved the link, so it's just easier to post it again. This is a table of data rates for both drive mode and low bit rate parking mode. The third table shows how long various card sizes will last for parking mode. Just substitute the numbers for drive mode and you'll get what you are looking for.

N5S Data Rates2.webp
 
EricSan said:
I thought I posted this somewhere already, but I can't find where I saved the link, so it's just easier to post it again. This is a table of data rates for both drive mode and low bit rate parking mode. The third table shows how long various card sizes will last for parking mode. Just substitute the numbers for drive mode and you'll get what you are looking for.

View attachment 92302
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I'm actually not the best at this, but my math says 4 channels in drive mode is ~22GB/hr. Does that seem right?
 
NotThatGuyThatOtherGuy said:
4 channels in drive mode is ~22GB/hr. Does that seem right?
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That looks right. I came up with 21.69GB/hr with all 4 cameras running at highest resolution (or, we've both made the very same mathematical error 😉 ). Because there are 4video channels, this camera calls for a large memory card if you frequently make long trips or have a long daily commute. At 22GB per hour, a 128G card will barely last 5-6 hours. I'd aim for a 512G for this camera - that will provide about 23hrs of drive time recording.

The disappointing part is that memory card prices have tripled in the past year due to the AI/data center build out. In June 2025, I purchased a Vantrue 512G card for $85. Last week, Viofo raised the price of their 512G card to $240. Still a good time to buy SanDisk/Micron stock 😉.
 
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I bought a 2TB Samsung 870 EVO last winter for $189. Currently on Amazon it's $600 after coming down from $1039.99, and Samsung has lowered their MSRP to $879.99
 
Not to my knowledge, though I do know that Vantrue recently redesigned another rear-facing camera so it shares this similar barrel shape. Perhaps there will be a clip-on rear polarizer coming soon - that would be a great addition! @Jeff_Vantrue - any commentary on the possibility of a rear polarizer?
 
EricSan said:
Not to my knowledge, though I do know that Vantrue recently redesigned another rear-facing camera so it shares this similar barrel shape. Perhaps there will be a clip-on rear polarizer coming soon - that would be a great addition! @Jeff_Vantrue - any commentary on the possibility of a rear polarizer?
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It makes a real difference out here in the desert. I've only been running a front camera, so CPL there will be nice, but wow when I look at videos from my current camera it obviously needs a filter.

Is there a universal option or similar size I could put on myself?
 
NotThatGuyThatOtherGuy said:
Is there a universal option or similar size I could put on myself?
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There are two potential options for a polarizer: I've seen another brand that had a polarizer with a "ring" clip that is meant to fit a camera similar to the N5S rear camera. I don't remember what brand it is, though, so you have to look around. The other option is a Viofo rectangular one that you can attach with some funtack. Have a look here - I used the CPL-300 on several other rear camera with success. The funtack holds well.

https://www.viofo.com/collections/cpl-filter
 
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