Hopefully, this answers the questions some have asked about the kit I use…
Camera
A 480 TVL CCD bullet camera that I bought from Rfconcepts in kit form (with power, mic etc.)
I have bought various mounts from: Dogcamsport
and
ActionCameras
Generally, you can buy the 480 line cameras for around £60 now. The seed mic that came with the kit is good, but needs some sort of shielding (I know someone who has used the bic pen case for this) to try and reduce wind noise.
Recorder
The recorder I currently use is a Mustek PVR-H140, which is a 40GB hard disk recorder. It records at 640x480, 25fps with an average of 2000Mbps (on highest quality). This equates to approx 1GB per hour of footage. (ASF format)
Power
I am running the camera from a 12V dc rechargeable power pack that I bought from ebay, which is much more convenient and lasts longer than the standard 8 x AA battery pack that usually comes with the kits.
Most of the recorders require 5V dc power and the internal batteries on the Mustek are past their best now, so I bought a USB power pack from this site:
You can also buy regulated 12/5V wiring products (on the Dogcam site) to hardwire power for the devices into the bike loom.
The main problem I have encountered is with the recorder. Having an internal hard drive, it is susceptible to shocks and has occasionally cut out and corrupted or even stopped the recording, which is really annoying if you only get one minute of twenty minutes on track!
I’ve since bought an Archos 605, the 4GB flash version, which also takes SD cards (currently up to 16GB). Being completely solid state, it should take any shock or vibration and not affect the recording. Haven’t got the travel adapter yet, so I have not tested this for the format/quality and recording times etc.
All the recording gear sits in a small magnetic tank bag on the VFR.
Here are a couple of pictures of the different mount setups I have used, current one under the headlamp on the VFR. I have also used the camera with suction mounts on the helmet and carried the recording gear in a bumbag, with great results…….tested the mounts at 130mph on track!
HTH…
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