The Rideye bike camera

Dashmellow

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The developer calls it the RIDEYE" - The Black Box Camera For Your Bike. Rideye was started by Cedric Bosch, a mechanical engineer and avid cyclist. Bosch was inspired to start the project after a friend of his was struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run accident.

rideye.jpg

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This is an interesting project on Kickstarter that is basically a dash cam designed specifically for the bicycle market. Technically, it is not up to the standards we enjoy in our dash cameras as it only records in 720P (at least for now) and there is no indication that it displays or records any information on the footage such as date and time. It does record in five minute segments and can record up to ten hours on 32GB of internal memory or 2.5 hours in the 8GB model but I'm sure we would want a removable microSD card. It has a tri-axis G-sensor but lacks some of the other features we expect on our dash cams. Yet it has one major feature that I have never seen on any other camera of this type that I think could be an interesting solution to the challenge of parking mode as it claims 24 hours of battery life. It claims to do this with the "latest" Panasonic Lithium-ion batteries which appear to be two protected NCR Panasonic 3.6V - 4.2V 3400 mAh 18650Bs.

Prototype.jpg

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These are the same batteries used in most laptop computers (usually eight of them) and that are gradually gaining acceptance in other products. 18650 batteries are also the same ones used in the Tesla automobile. While heat is an issue here as with all batteries of this type a lot of work has gone into making them safer and they have been used more and more in challenging environments. I have a lot of personal experience with this type of battery and they require caution and common sense but I've never had any problem with them even when used in sometimes hot environments like high output flashlights. I don't yet know if they would be suitable for dash cam use but the Rideye is an intriguing concept.

This is a pretty new product in the early stages of development. There's no reason not to believe that future iterations of the Rideye won't graduate to 1080P or add new features such as time and date stamps, etc., assuming the product gets off the ground and becomes a viable niche business and so I thought it worthy of discussion here. I imagine many people would opt for a GoPro or perhaps a Mobius for this purpose but the battery life of this thing could be it's killer feature. The creater of the Rideye may even come to realize there are other possible markets for a camera with this kind of battery life that he could branch into with further development.

Here and there on this forum we've discussed the option of using auxiliary battery power packs with dash cams but this built-in high capacity approach could perhaps spark some interesting DIY modifications to existing cams. It wouldn't be too hard to use the guts of a Mobius and protected 18650 or even perhaps lower capacity 14500 3.7 volt (AA) Li-ion batteries to power a dash-cam-worthy version of this type of camera to be used in time lapse or parking mode for extended periods of time.

 
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I think this one was better https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ccessory-hd-camera-and-tail-light-co?ref=live

certainly a market for this type of product though

There certainly does seem to be a market for dedicated bicycle cameras and I really like the Kickstarter concept you posted as it's nice to see something unique and clever that is more than a rectangular box that shoots video. The primary reason I find the Rideye so interesting is that I can't think of any other action or dash camera that uses a pair of high capacity 18650 Li-ion batteries. There is a lot of interesting potential for what might be done with that much battery capacity in a small package.
 
they both have advantages and neither are exactly as I'd do it, I have another one which has built in GPS and logs the track just like a dashcam does

I'm sure there's room in the market for a few different types, choice is a good thing
 
There would be a number of interesting features that could of special interest to cyclists. It looks like this product class could become it's own market niche. I'm really interested here in the idea of very long battery run times of several hours at a time in a dash cam for parking mode without the need for 12v power from an automobile. We haven't seen this capability before.

Edit: I'll bet you could do an interesting dedicated bike cam.
 
There would be a number of interesting features that could of special interest to cyclists. It looks like this product class could become it's own market niche. I'm really interested here in the idea of very long battery run times of several hours at a time in a dash cam for parking mode without the need for 12v power from an automobile. We haven't seen this capability before.

Edit: I'll bet you could do an interesting dedicated bike cam.

the large battery is fine for this use, I wouldn't think about it for car use, not using current battery technology at least, who knows what may come

personally I'm more interested in doing dedicated cameras for motorcycles than bicycles, will take some time before I can get to that, don't have the resources available right now but there's definitely a market for them
 
It would be a good idea to have cams and light in 1 unit, perhaps that could get Danish cyclists to remember the damm light when its dark.
A version with GPS logging would be nice for the more hardcore "pedalpushers"
Today ppl cant make do with what i did as a kid, just do a 100 - 200 km ride at least every other day, 3-4 hours in the saddle every day was no problem for me back then.

I remember my first bike, holy s..t did i get sore in my ass from that saddle :D the next month i was riding with padding in my pants untill my ass was hardned.
 
Yes, for both bicycles and motorbikes there could be all kinds of specialized features. A camera using the 18650 Li-ion cells could have a decent powered LED front headlight built right into it and a rear camera could have a pulsing or flashing warning beacon for example. GPS would be good too. In theory, one could also add logging features specific to cyclists such as incline and decline over mileage and altitude. (lots of mountain hill climbers where I live) You could also include a compass, thermometer, barometer, chronograph and timer functions. The miniaturized chips with these functions already exist and are available in products such as watches. A "dash cam" for bikes could become a little information/data tool with the camera and microphone being merely one of it's functions. Considering what some people often spend as enthusiasts on their bicycles and motorcycles the market for higher end more complex products could be very attractive.
 
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Jokiin, your point about batteries is well taken but as we know, no current battery technology is really great for dash cams . On the other hand there probably isn't too much of a safety trade off over the cheap no-name LiPo packs currently used in most units over high quality protected Li-ion cells. These cells may be better and safer in the scheme of things. The high quality and current chemistry of the Panasonic 18650s has a pretty good track record even under challenging conditions but no battery is completely safe. Yet it is the Panasonic NCR18650A Li-ion cell that is used in the Tesla S sedan...almost 7000 of them and from what I have read they endure pretty stressful loads, charging and heat despite the alarmist stories in the news about fires occurring. I suppose another option might be to use IMR LiMn or LiFePO4 18650s which use safer chemistries. These cells might even be better suited to the drain characteristics of a dash cam than standard LiCoO2 18650 cells.

In any case, 18650 batteries practical or not, the Rideye camera got me thinking about the idea of having a dedicated high capacity battery option for parking mode that would preclude the need for altering the wiring in an automobile yet might allow for convenient temporary alternative power for a camera. For example, I personally have no need for overnight parking mode but I can see going downtown for an afternoon of shopping and wanting to monitor my vehicle for a few hours. Perhaps the option of using 18650 battery cells might need to be a remote one you could have in the console or under a seat so you wouldn't have to keep the cells directly in the hot sun behind a windshield.
 
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Already my crazy mind wonders if someone could simply mold a Mobius case sized to fit these batteries inside :rolleyes:
The 18650's do seem to offer the best of everything in standard sized cells but they'd be rather big and heavy for a dashcam. I wonder if the Mobius charger would be up to this task? We're talking a lot more energy than the stock LiPo.

Phil
 
Already my crazy mind wonders if someone could simply mold a Mobius case sized to fit these batteries inside :rolleyes:
The 18650's do seem to offer the best of everything in standard sized cells but they'd be rather big and heavy for a dashcam. I wonder if the Mobius charger would be up to this task? We're talking a lot more energy than the stock LiPo.

Phil

It wouldn't be all that hard to fashion a DIY version of what you are talking about using one of the many plastic cases available to hold 18650 batteries. They come in many sizes to hold different quantities of cells. As for the charger, I'm not sure, but I think it would work only it would probably take awhile to bring the cells up to full charge. Another interesting idea that might be more in scale with the original Mobius would be to use 14500 li-ion cells (AA) instead in the appropriate plastic battery case.

18650.jpg
 
I assist at a rest stop for 2 organized bike rides each year; today was the smaller one. About 400 riders passed my stop this morning; I saw only two that had waterproof GoPro cases mounted, none had cams. I was too busy to ask for details. I did notice a huge increase in the use of handlebar trip computers- perhaps 40-45% of the bikes had those where last year it was only 8-10%. Also the use of daytime front strobes grew from only a few last year to maybe 10% this year. If this is a trend toward electronics then bikecams might follow.

My next event is mid-October and I will report back here then.
Phil
 
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