Connecting the DC-Converter
Before you can connect your Innovv camera power supply to a HEX ezCAN, your Innovv DC converter will have three wires which need to be connected. A red wire, a black wire, and a yellow wire.
The red and black wires are used to supply power to the DC-Converter by connecting them to the battery or the cansmart adapter.
The yellow wire is used to inform the DC converter when to start or stop the connected camera. To do this, the yellow wire needs to be connected to a power source that only supplies 12V when the ignition of the bike is switched on, or when the motor is running. When the DC Converter detects 12V at the yellow wire, it will start the camera. When the voltage at the yellow wire drops to 0V, it stops the camera.
It may seem odd to have the yellow wire at all when you could just attach the red wire to the switched power so that the DC converter only receives power when the ignition is switched on. However, the reason a yellow wire is used is that the DVR is a small computer that boots up and shuts down similar to a regular computer.
This is important because it allows the DVR to close the current video file properly, otherwise it would risk corrupting the file. Once the DC-Converter detects 0V at the yellow wire, it signals the DVR to shut down (taking around 10 seconds). Then, after an additional 15 seconds, the DC-Converter cuts off the power to the DVR.
During the shutdown, the DVR will need power. Therefore, the red and black wire needs to be connected to a power source that supplies permanent power, or at least for 20-30 seconds after the ignition is switched off.
Connecting to Gen II (3-wire) ezCAN cansmart (no parking mode possible)
The current Gen II EzCAN cansmart adapter offers four outputs with triangular plugs and three wires each at each output. The solid-coloured wires supply normal power, and the third wire supplies switched power when the output is configured as an accessory port. The cansmart adapter supplies everything you need to connect to the DC-Converter.
However, one drawback is that the use of parking mode will not be possible because the cansmart controls when the DC-Converter gets power and when not. So, if you do want to use the cansmart adapter to power the camera, but also want to use the parking mode, read below to understand the 2-wire cansmart adapter.
In your package you will find four triangular plugs with two-wires preconfigured which will fit to the plugs at the cansmart. You will also find four single cables with terminals that can be pushed into the plug to make it a 3-wire plug.
To start, you need to push one of the single wires into one of the plugs to make it a 3-wire plug. Take care of the correct orientation of the terminal and make sure you pushed the terminal fully into the plug. You will hear a ‘click’ when the terminal locks in the plug. After this, put the seal into the plug.
Next, you can connect the DC-Converter to the cansmart plug as follows:
- Red wire of DC-Converter => solid orange wire at the plug
- Black wire of DC-Converter => solid black wire of the plug
- Yellow wire of DC-Converter => orange/white wire of the plug
For most, the easiest way to connect the wires is by soldering them and using shrink tubes for insulation. Other methods include crimp plugs. The triangular cansmart plugs are quite bulky which can make it slightly harder to route the cables. By using crimp plugs the cables can be routed through small spaces and then later connected to a cansmart plug.
Once the connection has been made, plug the cansmart plug into one of the outputs of the cansmart.
Once this is done, connect your laptop to the cansmart adapter and configure the port you have chosen as an accessory port. Set the delay to at least 30 seconds and the fuse to 5 amps. And that should be it. When you now turn on the ignition, your camera will start after 10 seconds. When turning the ignition off, the camera will shut down. After the configured delay, the cansmart will cut off power to the DC-Converter, avoiding any drainage of the battery.
Connecting to Gen I (2-wire) ezCAN cansmart (parking mode possible)
The Gen I exCAN cansmart adapter provides four outputs with two wires at each output. In comparison to the Gen II, there is no third wire which provides switched power. So, it is not possible to connect the DC-Converter only to the cansmart adapter because there is one of the wires missing.
You can use the cansmart adapter only as a switched power to trigger the DC-Converter. The same applies if you own a Gen II cansmart adapter but want to use the parking mode of the camera. In that case, you would also use the cansmart only as a switched power source.
The DC-Converter must be connected as follows:
- Red wire of DC-Converter => Positive port of the battery
- Black wire of the DC-Converter => Negative port of the battery
- Yellow wire of the DC-Converter => Solid-coloured wire of the cansmart
The above methods of soldering and shrink tubes can be applied for this too.
When done, connect your laptop to the cansmart adapter and configure the port you connected the yellow wire to as an accessory port with the fuse set to the lowest possible value. The delay can be set to 0 seconds if you want the camera to shut down immediately after the ignition has switched off. Or you can set it to a greater value (max 60 seconds) if you want the camera to keep recording for that time.
That’s it. The cansmart adapter now triggers the DC-Converter to start/stop the camera when the ignition is turned on/off. And with the red/black wires of the DC-Converter connected to a permanent power source (battery) you will be able to use the parking mode of the camera.
If you’re keen to know more or want some more information about our existing products, don’t hesitate to get in touch.