Portable flash drive to connect to a rear camera?

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Miker Biker

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Hi all,

So I recently installed a rearview camera with a dash mount monitor on my GSXR (long story short, my left eye vision isn't %100 so I'd rather have one more way to see the blind spots).

System was easy enough to mount and wire up and provides a solid 170-degree view of what's behind me day or night.

What crossed my mind, was it wouldn't be bad if I could link a flash-memory device into the chain of things so that whatever's being sent to the monitor is also getting recorded. connection in the wire could be RCA but I've found RCA-to-USB converters that will give me a standard USB output plug.

So really all I'm missing is an actual storage device (which could potentially be hooked to the bike battery if it's not running on its own battery).

Suggestions?

Thanks all,

Mike
 
I'm curious as to how you mounted your dash mounted monitor. Do you have any pics? I was thinking of doing a rear view camera as well.

Also I'm unsure which flash drive would be best for a bike, being that there is high vibration and exposed to the elements. Some of the USB flash drives are flakey enough as it is. You'll need to research this.
 
You would need some kind of processor/basic computer to accomplish this. You cannot simply connect a USB device to an RCA cable and have it magically record.

That said, you can get tiny Android devices that could interface to your camera but you will need extra hardware to convert from RCA to a format it can process. You'd probably be better off just installing a different camera that uses USB directly.
 
As has been mentioned, your idea of connecting a USB flash drive to the USB to RCA adapter you got won't work. That USB cable has to be plugged into a laptop to record anything.

My suggestion is to install a second rear camera. It'll record on its own SD card and automatically overwrite old events when it it gets full. It'll be powered from the bike while it's running using a 12v to USB adapter. Look at the Mobius camera for $87 shipped, it does great looped recording at 1080p30.
 
Miker Biker said:
I've found RCA-to-USB converters that will give me a standard USB output plug.
Click to expand...

This is a crazy misunderstanding of the technology at work. USB is simply a serial bus protocol, and a USB key is just a memory unit whose interface is that serial bus. Without something instructing how to write to the memory, you won't record anything, and furthermore a straight up RCA-USB "cable" would require an analog to digital (or vice-versa) converter, that at the USB end requires something to instruct/communicate with it. Given the USB key is a simple memory unit, you can rule that out as providing the necessary processing required. Does the camera not already provide a recording mechanism as well as video output? What kind of camera is this?

I hate to say it but johncruiser's solution is really the simplest one here.
 
johnscruiser said:
As has been mentioned, your idea of connecting a USB flash drive to the USB to RCA adapter you got won't work. That USB cable has to be plugged into a laptop to record anything.

My suggestion is to install a second rear camera. It'll record on its own SD card and automatically overwrite old events when it it gets full. It'll be powered from the bike while it's running using a 12v to USB adapter. Look at the Mobius camera for $87 shipped, it does great looped recording at 1080p30.
Click to expand...

Showing up as $97.95 before shipping. Where are you getting them for $87?
 
TorontoBoy said:
I'm curious as to how you mounted your dash mounted monitor. Do you have any pics? I was thinking of doing a rear view camera as well.

Also I'm unsure which flash drive would be best for a bike, being that there is high vibration and exposed to the elements. Some of the USB flash drives are flakey enough as it is. You'll need to research this.
Click to expand...

So here's a link to the mounting system I'm using http://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-B-342U - I found a place in Toronto (Radioworld) and they sell the complete mounting system, it also works well for mounting gps units, phones etc.

Also, just fyi, here's the camera system I picked up and the seller I got it from, pretty easy to rig.... http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Rear-View-Ca...ors-/171046362160?hash=item27d3285c30&vxp=mtr


Thanks for the response!
 
iegod said:
This is a crazy misunderstanding of the technology at work. USB is simply a serial bus protocol, and a USB key is just a memory unit whose interface is that serial bus. Without something instructing how to write to the memory, you won't record anything, and furthermore a straight up RCA-USB "cable" would require an analog to digital (or vice-versa) converter, that at the USB end requires something to instruct/communicate with it. Given the USB key is a simple memory unit, you can rule that out as providing the necessary processing required. Does the camera not already provide a recording mechanism as well as video output? What kind of camera is this?

I hate to say it but johncruiser's solution is really the simplest one here.
Click to expand...


Sorry, it wasn't a misunderstanding of the technology, I probably should have been a little clearer. The cable has an analog-to-digital converter built into the line that converts the feed to an AVI file. However, the obvious problem is having an actual recording device that can follow the instructions - I'll admit "portable flash drive" wasn't the best subject description :). Another thought that crossed my mind was using an old android device - as suggested by someone above - that will take a USB feed into it.....thereby providing a device that I would be able to at least run a recording application on (with a memory card).

In regards to the camera, it appears to be designed as a peripheral only (i.e. alone it's essentially useless with out something to transmit the image to, in this case it feeds right to the monitor on the dash).

The main purpose of the rig was to have an extra rear view system, recording would be a nice-to-have, but I appreciate all the suggestions guys, thanks! I'll have a look into some of the ideas.

I've added links to the thread for the mounting system and the camera rig I'm using if anyone wants to look into them for themselves.

Thanks again everyone! I'll throw some pics up of the setup on my bike once I take them, stay tuned!

Cheers,

Mike
 
So you're going to keep the camera on all the time, or will you have some switch to turn it on/off when you're riding? It sounds like a great idea, but you'll have to see how it'll work at night as well as day.
 
i would say the cheapest and easiest way of accomplishing this is to buy a actual dash cam that records onto a memory card, crack it open remove the LDC that came with it and tap yours into it then do the same with the video signal wires, either use the dash cams camera or tap yours in and eliminate the dash cam one.
 
TorontoBoy said:
So you're going to keep the camera on all the time, or will you have some switch to turn it on/off when you're riding? It sounds like a great idea, but you'll have to see how it'll work at night as well as day.
Click to expand...

So the way it's set up is the power lines for each device are hooked direct to the battery, but when not in use you can disconnect each line from it's device (the monitor I normally pop off and slip in my pocket anyway if I'm leaving the bike, and the camera power connection is set up in the trunk so it's a simple pop the seat and unplug). There is the option of rigging the whole system into the wiring for one of the running lights so it switches off and on with the ignition, but I didn't want to get into splicing the wiring just yet, I may look at options for that down the road.

In regards to night vs day, they're both really good. The camera lens has LEDs around it which provide a night vision function that is almost as clear as the day vision (colours are a little more washed out on night vision but the image is just as sharp).

As mentioned I'll post some pics as I take them, including the wiring set up, etc.

And thanks EaZ8, I'll look into that as well, could be something to tinker with just to see what I can pull off.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Miker Biker said:
So the way it's set up is the power lines for each device are hooked direct to the battery, but when not in use you can disconnect each line from it's device
Click to expand...
If you connect everything to the license plate light then everything will only power up once the bike is actually running (and of course shut off when you turn the key off). There's usually lots of extra current carrying capacity on your plate light circuit. If you pop the plate light fuse then install a relay on the plate light wire and connect the other wire from the relay direct to battery (with an inline fuse). Make SURE to fuse everything that's direct connect to the battery (you don't need to fuse anything if you're just running it off the plate light wires).
 
johnscruiser said:
If you connect everything to the license plate light then everything will only power up once the bike is actually running (and of course shut off when you turn the key off). There's usually lots of extra current carrying capacity on your plate light circuit. If you pop the plate light fuse then install a relay on the plate light wire and connect the other wire from the relay direct to battery (with an inline fuse). Make SURE to fuse everything that's direct connect to the battery (you don't need to fuse anything if you're just running it off the plate light wires).
Click to expand...

The plate light is definitely where I would wire it in if I was going to make that connection. The wiring for the camera/monitor rig does have fuses to prevent an excess of current so there's no danger of wrecking the equipment in its current setup. As I mentioned, it'd definitely be nice to have it connected so it comes on with the ignition, but I'm not confident in my wire soldering abilities and I've heard some pretty bad long term problems resulting from the use of "bite" connectors.

Any thoughts on those kinds of connections? Or does everyone generally also stand by a good soldering job?
 
Miker Biker said:
Any thoughts on those kinds of connections? Or does everyone generally also stand by a good soldering job?
Click to expand...

I would use come bullet connections rather than solder. What ever you want to put on the bike you want to be able to re-move or disconnect it easily.
 
Two50noob said:
I would use come bullet connections rather than solder. What ever you want to put on the bike you want to be able to re-move or disconnect it easily.
Click to expand...
That work for connecting mid-wire? Anytime I've ever worked with bullet connectors usually has them at the end of the wires being connected. In this case I'd be looking to splice into the plate light cables mid-line.....so the wires would have to feed power out as well as still carrying power to their normal destination (the plate).
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