Peter Wilson
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2013
- Messages
- 582
- Reaction score
- 94
- Location
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Dash Cam
- Mini 0801 DashCam and Blackvue DR550GW, iPhone 4S.
Right looked for a 1080p dual camera after the hell I had with my Blackvue 550.
Saw Tech-moans review. Liked found the camera £150 a lot less then the other dual camera systems. Put my Mini 0801 in my mates car and my mini 0803 in my wife's new ride.
This is my experience so far.
Starting with a good point for you More competent motor geeks out there,
however a bad point for the K1S camera system.
The Camera switches very quickly from driving mode "power connected" into parking mode "power off". Most cars disconnect all unnecessary power when cranking as the surge while turning over the engine can damage some delicate equipment also because the starter motor requires a lot of power so anything not important draining power while cranking is turned off.
because the cranking in most cars takes a fraction of a second but power is connected as soon as the ignition is turned past the first click you have the following... ignition on then off while cranked then on once running.
The camera detects power Instantly records and knows its in drive mode, then goes into either parking mode or off while cranking. the turning to parking mode or off takes a couple of seconds as the software writes its EOF and stops recording. by the time its turned off the engines started. trouble is the software is turning off and wont detect the power again until its in the "sleep mode" which detects a change in voltage. (the powered connected so the voltage has not changed the camera wont start up or will sit in parking mode).
Now this could be fixed with a simple delay in the software. eg turn on instant record. power loss wait 15 seconds if power still not on then shut down. if power detected stay on.
Now I wired a relay into my car. Earth and 12 volt from the Alternator running signal wire. most cars have one.Then I power a separate 12 Aux socket for Dash cameras and Power hungry items direct from the battery through a separate fuse and then through the switched part of the relay.
Now Interesting point.
The USB cable used to assess the unit for firmware and playback on the right side of the unit under the memory card powers the dash camera however it does not turn the camera on it just charges it.
The first time I installed the camera I used the internal battery for the parking mode and took the car for a drive. the battery recorded most of the night. I went to school in the morning then home and the camera recorded for about five minutes. I went the long way to my mates house and thought it might be fully charged but no it was not only an hour maybe ninety minutes.. I plugged my USB cable with permanent power into the right hand socket and left my ignition controlled power in the left hand side. Now the camera records for days in parking mode. PS I have a massive AUX battery for starting cars and my 240 volt mains in the back of my truck also used for beacons etc.
Now. the fun I am having....
I started out with the first firmware it made beeping noises to tell me something was going on but not what was going on. I did note the camera kept not recording while driving for a second or two. then start recording again. I also noted that the camera kept beeping regularly after 5 minutes like it had started recording when the record light didn't flicker. the beeping was three distinct noises the most common was quieter then the others and just went beep.. the starting recording noise happened regularly and the loud beep which was stop recording sometimes happened.
I have since put update 180 onto the camera and now It talks to you.... making it clear what's going on.
The GPS beep is telling me its found a GPS signal. I am sure thats not needed again and again. its a pain in the rear. It never seems to lose gps.
The stopping recording and starting is doing my head in. the power cables in my car are solid and nothings moving i can also see the little white light is still on when i have left the permanent power cable out. The camera thinks about things then says starting recording.
the Screen saver does not always kick in sometimes its just a black screen sometimes its the speedo and time. the trouble is i have to turn the engine off or disconnected the power and connect it again to get it on.
The Motion detect is automatic in parking mode. eg the motion detect option doesn't affect the parking mode. when in parking mode it records when it detects movement. it also shouts on the loudspeaker recording started gps active recording stopped.... WHY... the motion detect is rubbish. It will detect a tiny fly at 100 meters but not see a car park right in front of you. It need to be a frame capture then comare to a frame later on and it needs some sensitivity setting. my cameras full of drops of water running down the screen and a couple of birds landing but only 50% of the cars that drive past and the people who walk past are captured. Just one last thing if the camera didn't shout HERE I AM enough sometimes if it detects a little more movement than normal the screen will spring into life.
Right one last thing before I go and shoot myself up with a bit of whiskey and sleep.
You know when you forget what you wanted to say just after you type the last line... Well I had something most important and it clear gone out of my mind.... Maybe it will come back to me....
Saw Tech-moans review. Liked found the camera £150 a lot less then the other dual camera systems. Put my Mini 0801 in my mates car and my mini 0803 in my wife's new ride.
This is my experience so far.
Starting with a good point for you More competent motor geeks out there,
however a bad point for the K1S camera system.
The Camera switches very quickly from driving mode "power connected" into parking mode "power off". Most cars disconnect all unnecessary power when cranking as the surge while turning over the engine can damage some delicate equipment also because the starter motor requires a lot of power so anything not important draining power while cranking is turned off.
because the cranking in most cars takes a fraction of a second but power is connected as soon as the ignition is turned past the first click you have the following... ignition on then off while cranked then on once running.
The camera detects power Instantly records and knows its in drive mode, then goes into either parking mode or off while cranking. the turning to parking mode or off takes a couple of seconds as the software writes its EOF and stops recording. by the time its turned off the engines started. trouble is the software is turning off and wont detect the power again until its in the "sleep mode" which detects a change in voltage. (the powered connected so the voltage has not changed the camera wont start up or will sit in parking mode).
Now this could be fixed with a simple delay in the software. eg turn on instant record. power loss wait 15 seconds if power still not on then shut down. if power detected stay on.
Now I wired a relay into my car. Earth and 12 volt from the Alternator running signal wire. most cars have one.Then I power a separate 12 Aux socket for Dash cameras and Power hungry items direct from the battery through a separate fuse and then through the switched part of the relay.
Now Interesting point.
The USB cable used to assess the unit for firmware and playback on the right side of the unit under the memory card powers the dash camera however it does not turn the camera on it just charges it.
The first time I installed the camera I used the internal battery for the parking mode and took the car for a drive. the battery recorded most of the night. I went to school in the morning then home and the camera recorded for about five minutes. I went the long way to my mates house and thought it might be fully charged but no it was not only an hour maybe ninety minutes.. I plugged my USB cable with permanent power into the right hand socket and left my ignition controlled power in the left hand side. Now the camera records for days in parking mode. PS I have a massive AUX battery for starting cars and my 240 volt mains in the back of my truck also used for beacons etc.
Now. the fun I am having....
I started out with the first firmware it made beeping noises to tell me something was going on but not what was going on. I did note the camera kept not recording while driving for a second or two. then start recording again. I also noted that the camera kept beeping regularly after 5 minutes like it had started recording when the record light didn't flicker. the beeping was three distinct noises the most common was quieter then the others and just went beep.. the starting recording noise happened regularly and the loud beep which was stop recording sometimes happened.
I have since put update 180 onto the camera and now It talks to you.... making it clear what's going on.
The GPS beep is telling me its found a GPS signal. I am sure thats not needed again and again. its a pain in the rear. It never seems to lose gps.
The stopping recording and starting is doing my head in. the power cables in my car are solid and nothings moving i can also see the little white light is still on when i have left the permanent power cable out. The camera thinks about things then says starting recording.
the Screen saver does not always kick in sometimes its just a black screen sometimes its the speedo and time. the trouble is i have to turn the engine off or disconnected the power and connect it again to get it on.
The Motion detect is automatic in parking mode. eg the motion detect option doesn't affect the parking mode. when in parking mode it records when it detects movement. it also shouts on the loudspeaker recording started gps active recording stopped.... WHY... the motion detect is rubbish. It will detect a tiny fly at 100 meters but not see a car park right in front of you. It need to be a frame capture then comare to a frame later on and it needs some sensitivity setting. my cameras full of drops of water running down the screen and a couple of birds landing but only 50% of the cars that drive past and the people who walk past are captured. Just one last thing if the camera didn't shout HERE I AM enough sometimes if it detects a little more movement than normal the screen will spring into life.
Right one last thing before I go and shoot myself up with a bit of whiskey and sleep.
You know when you forget what you wanted to say just after you type the last line... Well I had something most important and it clear gone out of my mind.... Maybe it will come back to me....