INNOVV Power Hub 1 – Review

The INNOVV Power Hub 1 is a 40A rated relay unit with five outputs each fused at 5A out of the box. The battery wiring is 12 AWG so good to 41A and the output wiring is 16 AWG and good to 22A each, however INNOVV specify 15A max per line to a total of 40A. Lastly there is a yellow sensing wire that needs to be connected to a switched 12V source. All cables are of a decent length, especially the yellow wire which is 1.45m long. At key-on this line will trigger a 10 second delay timer in the unit, after which it turns on. At key-off, there is another 10 second delay before it powers down.

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid Power Hub 1 mounting bracket In the box is the Power Hub, a couple of brass crimp/solder tags to connect positive/negative to the battery and a bag of ‘posi-lock’ connectors and a ‘posi-tap’ connector to join the sensing wire to a switched line on the bike.

Installation was easy if a little thought-provoking due to the very limited space on the Capo. In the end I decided to put it above/behind the battery and made a 1.5mm aluminium plate to mount it onto and that worked out just fine. I used the ‘Posi-Locks’ to attach the circuits with a sleeve of adhesive shrink-wrap over the top to add a little weather resistance to the connection. I hooked the yellow sense wire into the injection relay, so the Power Hub would detect key on/off, this was a soldered joint so I didn’t use the ‘Posi-Tap’ connector.

Next up I swapped out fuses where necessary for higher or lower values to best suit the attached accessory ….. then key-on! The blue LED flashes and 10 seconds later the relay activates and all the attached circuits power-up including the INNOVV K1 camera system. Thank goodness I hadn’t got any wires crossed! 😀 Key-off and the same happens in reverse – blue LED flashes for 10 seconds then the relay drops out.

Five months later …..

Sometimes its old age, wear and tear, faulty parts or manufacturing, but in the end technology fails. Of course we’d much prefer the former rather than the latter option, because that is when we have to invoke a warranty claim or get it repaired by the manufacturer. And that my friends can be unbelievably frustrating and seriously tarnish how you feel about the company in general.

So when the INNOVV Power Hub 1 developed a fault shortly after fitting it, I was intrigued to see how INNOVV would react. A quick email, no fuss, no argument, just another unit in the post straight away – good customer service, that’s what I like! Now the eagle-eyed among you will know that a few months ago I fitted the ‘Beasthonda’ fuse box to the Capo …… that was because of the Power Hub 1 issue. So when the new one arrived I wasn’t about to undo/redo all the work again, so this time the Power hub was installed behind the windshield for a few months testing, then removed and installed in my old Range Rover engine bay.

To be fair the Power Hub didn’t stop working or fail to do its job, it just forgot how to count to 10! In the end it was switching on/off almost immediately or definitely within 10 seconds. To date the replacement has worked faultlessly enduring sub-zero winter temperatures and the heat of a V8 engine bay, throw in a good dose of rain and snow and I think it’s fair to say it is an all-weather unit!

Conclusion

It is a well packaged device that does the job required – no fuss. The wiring is good quality and ample for the rated current although I personally wouldn’t push it beyond 20A total just to allow a safety factor and extend the working life of the relay.

In operation I measured a current draw (at 13.8V) of 190ma ON and 6ma OFF. Now 6ma may not be much but it is worth bearing in mind if your bike sits off a battery tender for long periods of time.

So – final thoughts ….. firstly, it would be nice if a mount was provided. Secondly, looking at a nest of new red wires and fuse holders and thinking back to the nest of black wires and fuse holders I had before, I realised tha cable-markers t one fundamental flaw remained. In a day, a week or next month, I’m not going to remember which red wire feeds which circuit. To this end I think INNOVV could make a couple of simple changes which would help immensely. First, add a numbered/coloured sleeve marker on each line, either side of the fuse holder to identify each circuit 1,2,3,4,5. Second, pop a sticker in the box, so that the owner can write down the details of what’s connected to each of the numbered cables and stick it somewhere near to the Power Hub. That way you can look up the appropriate circuit/cable number on the sticker, then rummage around for the matching numbered fuse holder – easy!

INNOVV Power Hub 1

23/04/201703/05/2019

MOTRAG cooking set and gas burner – 2.7Kw!!!

Maybe I’m a tight git or just a fussy bugger, but when I’m on the road I like a mug of tea (or coffee) my way – not some overpriced bucket of gut-wash served up at Costa-Bucks on almost every street corner and in every motorway services. If it’s a short trip I’ll take a flask, if it’s a biggie I take a Trangia … or at least I did!

I’ve been using a Trangia for donkeys years …. they’re reasonably compact, easy to set up and heat predictably although there is a definite knack to setting the flame adjuster if you don’t want cooked fingers as well. The wind shield does a good job and the whole thing is well planted and has a low center of gravity to keep it stable – in other words well designed.

So when Manuel at Motrag asked me to try out the cooking kit and gas burner he sells through his website I must admit to not being 100% enthusiastic. I like my Trangia. Anyway since last summer I’ve used his setup and have to admit (begrudgingly! 🙂 ) it does have some distinct advantages and to be fair the shortfallings are easy to work around.

The burner is a work of art! Very small and very powerful. Back to back tests between the gas burner and the pre-heated Trangia had the 0.6L kettle boiling in 4 minutes and 8 minutes respectively, so it certainly has some punch to it and of course using a gas canister is far less messy than using Methylated spirit. The gas canister and burner pack away into the two halves of the pot kit (2x pots – 0.4L & 0.8L) and this in turn packs away into a neat bag. Overall the Motrag kit is 155mm high x 125mm diameter – approx. 1.9L volume and weighs in at approx. 540g INCLUDING a full gas canister. In contrast the Trangia 27 (2 x 1L pots, 0.6L kettle & frying pan) is 100mm high x 185mm diameter – approx. 2.7L volume and 880g in weight EXCLUDING fuel, certainly making the Motrag set more pannier/top-box friendly if space is a premium.

What are the down-sides of the Motrag kit? well the gas canister is approx. 10cm diameter in comparison to the 18cm of the Trangia, also the height that the pan sits is 14.5cm in comparison to the Trangia’s 11.5 (lowest) making it more unstable and definitely needing firm level ground to work on. Add to this the fact that the Motrag burner is a small diameter with no support means that pans/kettle have to be placed very carefully or they fall/slide off the side – been there, done that! Finally the lack of a wind shield makes it awkward to use on a windy day – most days in Northern France it seems!

However there is a work around for both issues. Firstly it isn’t rocket science to design (and 3D print) a fold-way set of legs to hold the canister base and increase its stability, secondly a cunningly cut tin-can is used as a slide-down wind shield for the pots and seems to work just fine!

So …. bottom line, will I keep using it?

Yes definitely. For solo trips it suits me down to the ground, it’s compact, clean and neat. The burner is just absolutely awsome – I swear you could spit-roast a whole hog with it! 😀

However when two-up I think the added flexibility of the Trangia just pips it and so it’ll still be my stove of choice for those trips. What I really don’t like about my old Trangia is the residue where the raw aluminium rubs together – however they do a nice hard anodised (27-6HA) version with none-stick pan – luxury! So that’ll be on the shopping list this year I recon! 😀

A huge thank you goes out to Manuel at Motrag for sending the kit for review – cheers fella!

23/04/201703/05/2019

A bit more INNOVV-ation!

All I can say is – WOW! Since the link was added to the INNOVV website about the K1 review, I don’t think I’ve ever had so much traffic or comments in one day. Absolutely fantastic and wonderful to swap emails with so many other riders!!

So as a follow on, today I’ll answer a couple of questions that folks have raised. Firstly, ferrite cores, what are they and what do they do. In a nutshell wires can act as aerials, bringing unwanted high-frequency signals into (or out of) an electrical circuit, such that this interference causes problems. By fitting a clip-on ferrite core you prevent these unwanted signals from entering or leaving – in this case the DV recording unit. In my case for example, when I tapped the horn button (Stebel Nautilus Compact Tuning – 18A!) the DV recorder would always reboot itself. Since fitting the ferrites – no problems at all when using the horn! The ferrites I bought are for 3.5mm cable and fit all the INNOVV wiring just fine.

Secondly, the button/LED replacement I made. Here’s a breakdown of the existing button – just a momentary push-to-make switch and a red LED, nothing more. As mentioned in the previous post, the voltage to the switch is 3.8v and to the LED 1.8v pulling approx. 11ma. The switch could easily be replaced by any momentary switch you like, that’s easy, unfortunately though the LED is drawing very little current and so this line cannot be relied on (without frying something!) to power a brighter LED that would typically draw around 20-30ma, so a new circuit is required. Now this could be as simple as using this line to drive a transistor such as in the diagram below. Here a fused switched 12v line provides the required voltage/current to drive an LED via a transistor. In this case the INNOVV provides the 1.8v (at 0.5ma) to switch the transistor. This circuit could all be assembled inline with the LED to save space …… however it would have to be meticulously assembled, if the 12v line touches the 1.8v line, then goodnight DV recorder!! Much better to buy a small box and a piece of strip-board from Maplin (UK) or RadioShack (USA) and build the circuit into the cable run.

Remember that if you want to use a green or blue LED instead of the red one, then the 560Ω resistor will need to be replaced with a 510Ω one to compensate for the different voltage requirement.

Now this where I admit I didn’t do it this way! That’s because I wanted to add a couple of other functions that I thought were useful, so I went and added a microcontroller into the melting pot. On the standard setup, when the button is pushed (long) the recorder starts or stops and the LED changes state – in other words, I have feedback from the unit while I’m riding along. However when the button is pushed (momentary) the LED does nothing …. the DV unit will say “Video file protected” and the red dot on the recorder screen will change to a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in it, but I can neither hear or see any of this from the saddle. So for file protect/unprotect I don’t have any usable feedback and I wanted to change that.

Now the microcontroller runs a combined red/green LED – this lights green when recording and off when not recording, if file protect is enabled then it toggles red/green for 0.5 seconds at 10Hz then turns red denoting that the file currently recording is now protected. Another push of the button reverses the process – red/green toggle and then solid green for unprotected file recording.

There is also one other feature ……. when file protection is enabled, it is ONLY for the current file. So if for example you activate file protection with a 10 minute file at 9 minutes 58 seconds elapsed, then 2 seconds later a new file will begin to record and it is UNPROTECTED, see the issue? So now, if I have activated file protection, the microcontroller waits until the new file begins recording and triggers file protection itself in the background and will continue to do so until I deactivate it. All the time I know I’m recording a sequence of protected files because the LED is red not green.

17/04/201703/05/2019

INNOVV K1 Dual Camera system – Review at 6 months

I joined the HD camera bandwagon back in January 2014 and since then have enjoyed (or not!) the delights and foibles of the GoPro Hero 3+ Black camera. Constantly charging a bucket load of batteries, taking it on and off the bike then getting frustrated when the current battery needs replacing/recharging in oh-so short a time.

In the end of course the penny dropped. The GoPro is simply overkill for day-to-day riding where (hopefully) nothing of any note happens. But if it did, I’d still like to capture it if possible, just in case it could help with an insurance claim or legal dispute. Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 INNOVV K1 DVR & GoPro 3+ Black

I realised that what I wanted wasn’t an ‘Action camera’, but a ‘dashcam‘ …. a subtle difference it seems! So here’s what I’d like it to do:-

Bike AND battery powered – turn on/off and record video with just the turn of the ignition key
2 cameras – forward and rear both recorded by a single unit
Full HD – 1920 x 1080 (30fps minimum) progressive with good low-light capability
Protect files – Either on demand or on collision detection
Be designed for motorcycles – waterproof and ruggedised.

And so courtesy of Jim at Abbey Motorcycle Instructors in Oxfordshire, an INNOVV K1 dual-camera kit found its way to the Capo. While the INNOVV didn’t tick all of my ‘wish-list’ it ticked more than most. The full specification of the K1 can be viewed here.

I’ll skip ‘what’s in the box’ and unpacking waffle because all this is available on the INNOVV website, along with quick-install instructions and owners manual. What I ended up with is the motorcycle kit (including the 12v/5v voltage regulator*) and a 128Gb memory card. The owner’s manual specifies 64Gb max but INNOVV sell the 128Gb, so I can only assume the manual hasn’t been updated yet following firmware updates.

To fit the kit to the Capo required a bit of sacrifice. The long serving and ultra-reliable Autocom Pro-7 unit had to come off the bike and has now been streamlined and put into the tank bag along with the ICOM PMR446 radio. You really can’t keep a good, but very old bit of kit down for long!

Installation

The INNOVV 12v/5v voltage regulator is wired into the tail-light loom and installed on top of the ECU with a (provided) double-sided sticky pad. I have to be honest here and admit that I already have an extra loom in place ready for the Active Brake Light System which is still being built. So in the meantime I pinched its Molex connector to power the K1. Next the GPS unit was installed in the Capo’s luggage bay just behind the ECU on a 3D printed bracket so it fits nicely next to the MCCruise electric servo.

With that done it was time to install the cameras. I decided I wanted them on the center-line of the bike rather than bias them one side or the other. I wanted them EU/UK road friendly! The rear is mounted just above the tail-light and the front on the headlight guard. Both are angled down about 7º to reduce glare, each has an excellent view of the road with only the edge of the top-box getting in the rear camera frame. The cameras are each physically identical (just different cable length) and have machined aluminium bodies that are waterproof and heavy-duty, however the lens (especially front) is vulnerable and would benefit from some protection. They each have three 1/4-20 UNC thread mounting points (normal camera thread) and come with basic steel L-brackets. However I decided to make my own to best suit the mounting points – the rear from a piece of steel plate, while the front is 3D printed and bolts to the headlight guard (AP8791235). The final two items in the box are the push-button and a small loom that plugs into the DV recoreder, joining both button and GPS USB’s to one connector, however I left this off for the initial trials – more about this later.

Setup

With the kit fitted it was time to set-up the unit in the two recorder menu’s. Time, date and vehicle name are straight forward as was selecting camera orientation – one of mine had to be rotated. Initially I set both cameras to 1920×1080, then had a play with 1280×720 on the rear, but ultimately went back to full HD on both. Again all the settings (bar one) are covered in the manual. The one that is missing is ‘EDOG beep’ …….. INNOVV tell me this is to do with warning of being over-speed but requires the speed camera data to be installed. Besides, the ‘beep’ is under the saddle and inaudible for riders, so I leave it switched off.

The system also incorporates accelerometers in the front camera and they can be used to lock video files or start the cameras (Park Mode) when they detect an impact above a certain value. Setting this value is trial and error and at first I found it locked files when riding along our dirt/stone road. It’s something you can tweak over a few rides until it suits your roads/riding style I guess.

Operation and observations

With the Capo buttoned up, it was time to give it a whirl and see if it really is as fit-and-forget as I wanted. In short yes it is! We all have our little routines and mine is key-on, wait for the dashboard to finish its self-test, hit the starter and when the motor settles, turn on the lights. At that point the K1 turns on and immediately begins recording. I set mine for 10 minute segments, the selection is 1, 2, 5 and 10 minutes. At the end of the ride simply shut off the lights or ignition and the K1 reverts to its internal 3.7v 1100mAH battery** to finish the current file and store it, then it shuts down. It couldn’t be any more turn-key if it tried! The K1 also has voice (and beep/bong!) confirmations that tells you what it’s doing, but you look mighty odd jumping off your bike and sticking your ear to the pillion saddle, so I turned it off once confident it was working reliably.

With a 128Gb card installed it records for about 14∼15 hours before overwriting the first files it recorded. All video files can be viewed directly on the recording unit, with basic fast forward/reverse functions or remove the SD card and pop it into your computer. When you format the memory card in the recorder it adds a useful viewing program (Registrator Viewer 5.8 for Windows) that allows you to not only view the files but it can also show you location/speed/heading from the GPS data and data from the accelerometers. However, if you want to save your video as picture-in-picture format like you see dotted around the internet, you’ll need a video editing package such as Adobe Premiere Elements.

What about picture quality? I left the menu settings at default, however there are a few items specifically for tweaking the image quality – resolution, quality (Normal, Fine & Super Fine) as well as WRD (Wide Dynamic Range). This improves the cameras night-time images or images with strong back-lighting where objects appear more in silhouette. Personally I find the images pretty good but a little over sharpened such that there is some noticeable image ringing. Also the data rates differ front to rear, the front camera has a data rate of 12Mbs while the rear is reduced to 8Mbs and I found definite compression artifacts on the rear footage especially (for example) when riding along a tree-lined road where the image has lots of fast changing areas (overhanging trees) instead of a relatively constant sky. Maybe I’m being a little harsh here. After all it is a budget dual camera system not a high-end Sony/Nikon/Cannon! But having said that, and looking at the specification of the Ambarella OV2710 sensor and A7LA70 chipset I can’t help but think that image quality can be improved by tweaking the firmware. Maybe an update will be released in 2017?

Here’s a short video put together from K1 and GoPro (top left & audio) footage. The Capo popping on the overun has stopped since the new camchain tensioner was fitted and the slight front camera movement has gone since the new mount has been fitted ….. oh and some of the quality has been lost sending it over to YouTube. 🙁 I think I better do a new video!!

Parts not used

As mentioned previously, there is a push-button provided as well. This is used to lock/unlock (momentary push) the currently recording video file and (2-3 second push) to start or stop the recording. When recording an LED is lit in the button. Now here is quite possibly my biggest gripe of the K1 system. The button isn’t waterproof and the LED is so weak as to be almost impossible to see except in a dimly lit room (or car interior?). I decided to strip it to find out what makes it tick, then set about replacing it with something more useful.

The button has two functions – first it grounds a 3.8v signal line (the button push), second the LED is fed by a 1.8v 11mA signal from the DV recorder – both ground through a third wire. So I knocked up an interface box to improve the LED power and feed both signals forward to the old Autocom PTT (Push to Talk) button I still had on the handlebars. Now I have a waterproof, heavy-duty push-button and a much brighter LED that I can see in daylight.

Conclusion after 6 months use

Overall I’m pretty happy with the kit and enjoy letting it do its thing …. nowadays I don’t think about it and only check the cameras are clean before heading out. In fact I only checked the SD card yesterday after about a month – everything is recording just fine.

The one niggle I had early on was intermmittent locking-up or shut-down of the DV recorder. This was cured by fitting ferrite cores to all the leads. The only other change I’ve made has been the replacement of the bag provided for the DV recorder with a 3D printed frame – similar protection but with better ventilation for cooling – it does get VERY warm over time! Anyway, here are a few more bullet points that come to mind.

Good

Build quality, installation instructions & general performance
Price (pre BREXIT £/$ crash!) of approx £200
Availability of accessories and spares
Communication with INNOVV – quick response to emails.

Could be better

Improve video quality – reduce compression and sharpening
Waterproof heavy duty button with bright LED specifically for motorcycles
Supply a pair of lens protectors in the kit
Susceptible to RF interference – shielded wires or add ferrite cores to cameras/GPS/switch wiring
Waterproof cases for the GPS and DVR unit.

Other things to possibly consider for the future ….

Improved battery capacity and reduced drain when unit is switched off
Wireless or Wi-Fi capability for intercom or Off-Bike video file storage on a smartphone. Maybe the system could notify you via SMS if the Park Mode is activated by impact?
Combine the DVR and GPS units to reduce the overall number of cables and connections.

* The voltage regulator has been updated with a sensing wire to be attached to a switched 12v source while the red/black connect directly to battery supply. The regulator supplied in my kit did not have this upgraded function.

** This is the same battery as used in the old GoPro / GoPro2 – Battery model AHDBT-001 or 002. There are loads of aftermarket versions of these on the Ebay if you need to replace it.

09/04/201728/04/2019

Riding in France this year? Read on ………

As sure as I am that little Gnomes live at the bottom of my garden, it seems that with each passing year there are two things that will happen in France come the start of the holiday season. Air-traffic controllers will go on strike and a new or resurrected motoring law will be ‘policed’ with a view to catching out the unwary foreign motorist. If it isn’t Breathalysers, Day-Glow tabards, wearing gloves or reflective stickers on your helmet then you can guarantee it’ll be something else. This year it’s the ‘Crit’Air’ (emissions zone) sticker. Ever heard of it?

Nor had I until last week ….. but without it you’re in for a fine if you go into the center of Paris, Leon or Grenoble – the fine is currently €68 and applies to motorcycles foreign and domestic as well as cars, trucks pay a whopping €138 fine. To get the sticker costs €4.80 and that includes postage. You need to visit the website and fill in details and supply a scanned copy (jpg, PDF etc.) of your registration document. Once payment was made I had a receipt within the hour and a certificate that allows me to enter these zones (without a fine) 24hrs later, meanwhile the sticker itself is presumably winging its way to me in the post.

Two points seem to come to mind here. This may seem irrelevant to you if you have no intention of entering any of these cities – that’s fine – however the word seems to be that this will spread to other towns/cities fairly quickly. Secondly, I really don’t like having to provide the French with my personal and bike details ……. On what databases will this data end up and who will have access to it? Just makes me uncomfortable is all, then again handing over good hard-earned cash as a road-side ‘fine’ makes me even more uncomfortable! 😀

08/04/201703/05/2019

UV and dashboards don’t mix!

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid sun damage to dashboard LCD The youngest Capo dashboards are about 10 years old now, maybe a little older, while the majority including the Futura are knocking on 14 to 16 years old. Every board that I see these days has very poor light output on the Blue LED’s and signs of UV damage to some degree in the lens. Most worrying though is the marked increase in the number now showing UV damage to the large LCD panel.

LED’s of course can be replaced, so can the lens if you can stomach the €60 (Wendel Motorräder) or £52 (Fowlers UK) and have plenty of patience while you wait an eternity for it to magically appear. However the LCD panel is a different matter, you’ll need to find a damaged/unserviceable dashboard you can rob or replace the dashboard in its entirety as these parts are unobtainable and were never sold as spares by Aprilia anyway.

For quite a while now I’ve taken to slinging an old t-shirt over the dash when parked up in an effort to offer it some respite from the elements. Not perfect I know! So a while back it got me thinking about knocking something up on the 3D printer – and here they are. Three panels, 4mm thick with the underside recessed 1.5mm to keep it well away from the lens. A groove runs around the edge to take the same 3mm diameter neoprene seal material (AP8120615) as used between upper and lower airbox halves, so only a thin strip of soft seal actually makes contact with the lens.

If these turn out to be half-way useful, I might treat them to a layer of Zircoflex heat shield material and replace the flagging heat shield material on the plastic panels over the silencers at the same time!