AUto On.

[AdrianM]

Hi,

Myself and a bunch of buddies use the Neuros 2 as an in car video recorder for recording our 750 Motor club races here in the UK.  The Auto Record feature works fine and the quality is great, but we have one major hassle with the device.

As far as we can see the only way to get the unit into the ON state  is to use the Red button on the remote, and only after that state is achieved does the auto record feature become active. This means that we have to have the remote control in the race car with us which is a pain in case it is lost or damaged by the harsh environment.

It also means that if for any reason you lose power to the device (say due to an electrical failure or of cranking the engine drops the volts too much at  a restart) that the device reverts to standby mode and can't be woken up without the remote  ...  this isn't feasible on the grid :-)

It also a bit of a pain to operate when your concentrating on putting on race gloves and helmet.

So ... any chance of a firmware option so that the deveice can be set to boot into "ON" mode rather than just power up into standby.

Then I could have  2 big toggle switches on my dash.   1 for Neuros power.  1 for camera power.   Flip the first to wake up the system and after a second or so power up the camera and auto record will kick in to start the video.

Is it possible?

cheers

Adrian

[jamesh]

I have used a few of the Neuros Recorder-2's in race cars (FF1600 and F2000) -- having to turn on the power with the remote is a pain.

The scheme I came up with was to power it from a 7.2v or 9.6v R/C car battery through a R/C 5v Battery Eliminator (BEC) -- and turn it on before going to grid. The Neuros is set to auto-record when video is present -- so there's a switch in the power to the camera, when gets turned on (when I remember) before rolling out.

This proved to be enough of a pain -- too many things to remember -- that I'm in the process of switching to an OSD-based setup. That boots when the power is applied, and I can do the software myself...

James

[Ex-Navy]

How many people are interested in using the R2 as an in car system??

I am developing an OSD data acquisition system that will also record/display RPM, Speed, Exhaust Gas temp, lap time, GPS if necessary, using a Parallax Propeller chip.

The ON/Record from the remote can be duplicated through the Propeller chip and sent to the R2 when the switch is turned on.

I have tried a prototype on a F1200 and a Ducati bike.

The problem with developing an in car or motorcyle system with the R2 is whether the R2 will be supported much longer.

[924RACR]

Having just replaced my R2 (blew the old one up trying to mod it after a few good seasons), now I've got the new AutoRecord function firmware... looking forward to checking it out in a couple weekends. Previously we'd handled the power-on strictly manually, and generally it worked OK, usually remembered to shut down the recording before killing power. Now we've got a different setup, and will be using the autorecord.  Still is an annoyance to have to turn on the recorder with the remote, after switching on power, but at least now saving the recording should be more robust.

FWIW, I've been carrying the remote in my car for years now, works great, never lose it - velcro is your friend. I always kick it on at the 5 min warning on the grid, right before I put my gloves on.

[dyoungre]

All I  can say is, I'd really like to see the same function!
The other thing that would help - is there any software control of the record light - could it blink when in 'auto' mode, but not yet recording? That way, it indicates that 1) the R2 is not in standby mode, but 'on', and 2) the R2 is not currently recording.

I have the same use - and have similar issues with loss of power during crank. I need to add a zener to my 5v power supply, and then I think my BAC should maintain the required voltage during crank .... I'll let you know if that does the trick!

[flatsixracer]

I have the same use - and have similar issues with loss of power during crank. I need to add a zener to my 5v power supply, and then I think my BAC should maintain the required voltage during crank .... I'll let you know if that does the trick!

I had the same issue with voltage dropping while cranking the engine, which turned off my Neuros recorder and if it was recording the recording was lost. The problem was resolved when I connected the power converter 12v-5v and the cameras to where the electric seats use to be connected to or directly to the battery with a on/off switch between.  Note: The cameras still dim for an second, but at least the recorder doesn't shut off now.

The Neuros recorder is and was a great alternative for me to the expensive race cams, but as mentioned above there are too many things to think about.  I learned a lot about electronics and race cams in the process, but now I am thinking of investing in either the http://www.cam-fx.com or the  http://www.vio-pov.com.

[Ex-Navy]

Would you rather  have a control unit that provides both 5Vdc and 12Vdc to the R2 and Bullet cams, plus provide the necessary IR signals to
the R2 all on a separate battery??

Steve from Xavien.com is almost finished building a unit that eliminates the need for car power and the remote.

The unit also senses low battery voltages and finalizes the recording so you won't lose any race video.

He has just finished the first one.

www.xavien.com