VIOFO A129 non-IR 1080p Modified Firmware MODs Archive

[mellda]

Is it A129? Is it normal recording, low bitrate, timelaps (what fps), motion/impact detection or just stand-by?

 

[mellda]

I would think that the camera ACC should be connectedt to the car ACC (not to the Cellink). This is because the ACC to the camera/hardwire kit is only a sensor wire, it won't power the camera. Further, it needs to know if the car is running or not. Now, if the Cellink provides the same ACC-like circuit (since it itself knows if the car is running or not because it is getting charged or not) then that may work. I'm not too familiar with the Cellink.

The ACC and battery+ is the same but with the only difference. ACC is off when car is off. The cellink has its own voltage simulating the battery+. And it has also the ACC from battery so that's why it can provide the battery ACC and its own voltage (instead of battery+). I found this picture showing the same



So the celling can give the ACC "sensor" and voltage to the camera and the celling is charging only when car is on.

I have no personal experience so it is possible that I am wrong and I would be glad if you correct me.

 

[Forsberg]

My car battery is almost dead, but still kicking - 65% in the winter.... so I plugged my ADATA 12000 powerbank. It lasts for about 10 hours of parking mode. For me it is enough in this moment as I work 7 hours daily and I park on private terrain so it is ok.

I wonder only how long my powerbank would last this kind of usage...

 

[marekelb]

It has only 6.000 Ah. It is not much. I can see there is Celling Neo with bluetooth and I can stack more of Neos together. F800 Pro consumes 350 mA so one Neo gives me 17 hours. I need 3x Neo to have 2 days of parking mode? I suppose the A129 is similar. The 3x Neo is 24 Ah and the car battery has 60 Ah. It means that after 2 days of parking mode when I start the car, the Neos starts charging? Is it ok that it takes immediately 24 Ah? Is it good for the battery? And how long does the Neo lasts in car? Should I buy new Neos every year, two of five?

http://www.autowrzuta.pl/showthread.php?tid=6736&pid=267461#pid267461

 

[mellda]

http://www.autowrzuta.pl/showthread.php?tid=6736&pid=267461#pid267461

Nice test. The recording time looks better than I thought.

 

[mellda]

Has anyone know if the SG9663DC has better or comparable video quality than A129? I mean day/night front/rear. Reading licence plates and good night vision. When I considering A129 and F800, the A129 has better day video quality of front camera but worse night vision. No idea about the rear camera. I saw here that SG9663DC is mentioned as a best video and F800 as buffered parking mode so I assume SG is better video quality than F800. But I know nothing about rear camera or night vision. I still want the best camera. I need this features:
- excellent video quality (considering front/rear camera and day/night vision) : I know DOD RC500S is great (front/rear,day/night), the A129 has also excellent video quality (of front camera - day/night), F800 has a little worse video quality of front camera,but the night vision is better then the others, I have no idea about the SG
- low bitrate parking mode and timelaps to be able to record 1, 2 days (using the Cellink NEO): A129, F800 and DOD has this feature. I suppose the SG has the same.
- easy way to switch on/off the parking mode: I will park at home every day and I won't need the parking mode there. F800 has a power button (the easiest way), the A129 has a display and menu (also quite easy), DOD has only menu app AFAIK, what about the SG?
- good notification about an error: A129 has beeping and display notification, F800 has voice notification. No idea about SG and DOD

 

[jokiin]

- low bitrate parking mode and timelaps to be able to record 1, 2 days

our parking mode is currently limited to 24 hours max, won't suit what you want at this time

 

[BCHobbyist]

I won't need the impact/motion sensitivity when using low bitrate parking mode. I could see the front camera night comparison here and you are right that the F800 Pro is better. I think I don't need brightness control because it seems the automatic exposure seems to work well. When using the celling neo I think I don't need the cold weather battery. I will let the camera recording until neo is fully discharged. Does the "event folder over-write file handling" mean that the event videos are stored separately from normal videos and are not overwritten during loop recording of normal video? I think I won't benefit from this. When timelaps or low bitrate parking mode is enabled, there cannot be recorded impact/motion detected videos in the same time.
Do I need the 3-wire hardwire kit when using NEO? Can I connect the camera in this way?

View attachment 43832

EDIT:
The celling is charging only when the car is on. In this way I will avoid the car battery draining during parking mode.

You have great ideas and very logical setup but unless i'm wrong all power banks provide continuous voltage with only 2 wires. The A129 is being tested with proprietary 3 wire Kit for ignition and idle voltage sensing, the CeLink NEO doesn't pass that information to A129 since it's not using the VIOFO hardwire kit.
Currently the A129 connected without the new 3-wire kit has issues in Parking Mode, the way its described in manual to get full Parking Mode functionality the 3-wire kit is required.

 

[jokiin]

I would think that the camera ACC should be connectedt to the car ACC (not to the Cellink). This is because the ACC to the camera/hardwire kit is only a sensor wire, it won't power the camera. Further, it needs to know if the car is running or not. Now, if the Cellink provides the same ACC-like circuit (since it itself knows if the car is running or not because it is getting charged or not) then that may work. I'm not too familiar with the Cellink.

the Cellink has three wire output and can control the parking mode when used with the Viofo hardwire kit

 

[mellda]

You have great ideas and very logical setup but unless i'm wrong all power banks provide continuous voltage with only 2 wires. The A129 is being tested with proprietary 3 wire Kit for ignition and idle voltage sensing, the CeLink NEO doesn't pass that information to A129 since it's not using the VIOFO hardwire kit.
Currently the A129 connected without the new 3-wire kit has issues in Parking Mode, the way its described in manual to get full Parking Mode functionality the 3-wire kit is required.

I checked the NEO and as @jokiin posted, it has 3 wire output just because of the ability to activate parking mode. I got this information from this review and I can see it also in the product picture. The 3-wire NEO output can be connected to the hardwire kit of the cam.

But the 24-hour limitation of parking mode is new information for me. This is hardcoded in the firmware? Or why is there such a limitation? I want to record video in parking mode all the time the cellink is able to provide the power. If the power is sufficient for 2 days, why should it be limited to only 24 hours? I know that some hardwire kits have options for cut off timer. Is this the reason? I.e. is it cut off timer intentionally added to the hardwire kit or camera? If the limitation is implemented in hardwire kit, can I replace the hardwire kit with some stepdown modules lowering the output voltege from 12V NEO output to 5V?

Where can I find the manual describing the parking mode issue? I checked the manual of A129 and I cannot see it there. I cannot find the manual of hardwire kit on the official websites.

 

[jokiin]

But the 24-hour limitation of parking mode is new information for me.

you asked about SG9663DC, it has 24 hour limit, it doesn't suit your needs

 

[Rango]

@BCHobbyist so i set my camera to LOW settings to try out some footage quality and see how big files are at. I''m trying to get 12 hrs on 128GB sd card.

The result on 4UJ is actually 24/24 so it's 48Mbps total. Actually it's more like 49,200 kbps. So either low setting is set to 24/24 or there is no low setting and only is high setting even when set to LOW setting.

Notice also there is no 24/20 unless just low setting got messed up. I will try again but i'm pretty sure it took the LOW setting.

So either LOW setting values are messed up or simply there is NO Low setting at all and it's taking HIGH setting but that's not correct either as it's not 24/20 but 24/24. I actually don't mind 24/24 on high tho lol

 

[mellda]

you asked about SG9663DC, it has 24 hour limit, it doesn't suit your needs

You are right. I was confused I saw a YT video describing the parking mode of the SG9663DC and the guy told it as well and he also said the camera has only timelaps so this is insufficient for me. I noticed there is newer model - SG9663DC Pro but I haven't found any review so far. The only difference I found in specification is the better sensor in rear camera. I will search more.

 

[jokiin]

You are right. I was confused I saw a YT video describing the parking mode of the SG9663DC and the guy told it as well and he also said the camera has only timelaps so this is insufficient for me. I noticed there is newer model - SG9663DC Pro but I haven't found any review so far. The only difference I found in specification is the better sensor in rear camera. I will search more.

DCPRO also has a 24 hour limit

 

[mellda]

The specification says that the rear camera sensor is the same as the one in the front camera. Is the day/night video quality in normal and low bitrate recording the same?

 

[jokiin]

The specification says that the rear camera sensor is the same as the one in the front camera. Is the day/night video quality in normal and low bitrate recording the same?

not clear what you're asking, the results from front and rear are pretty much the same, rear cameras are often behind tinted glass and front cameras have some advantage when headlights are on but aside from that there's not much difference

 

[mellda]

not clear what you're asking, the results from front and rear are pretty much the same, rear cameras are often behind tinted glass and front cameras have some advantage when headlights are on but aside from that there's not much difference

That is what I was asking about. I'm trying to decide if to buy A129 or F800 Pro. A129 should have a little better day vision, F800 Pro should have better night vision. I checked here that the night vision difference is quite small so I tend to buy the A129. I need only normal recording when driving and low bitrate in parking mode. It seems the A129 has no disadvantages.

 

[jokiin]

the F800 might be a bit more flexible with the parking mode options, the video on A129 will be better though

 

[mellda]

the F800 might be a bit more flexible with the parking mode options, the video on A129 will be better though

I checked the parking mode options of F800 Pro and it seems it can offer 3 advantages:
- Motion Detection mode: recording is activated when motion/impact is detected and the video is buffered - I won't use this because I want to use the low bitrate parking mode
- the Energy Saving Mode (not buffered) - I would use this only rarely (when parking longer than 38 hours (I decided to buy Cellink Neo9 with 9 Ah and the manufacturer says F800 Pro should work for 38 hours)
- saving impact triggered videos in dedicated folder


I think I finished choosing my dash camera. It consumes lots of time. I spent 4 days/10 hours a day doing this. Thank you @jokiin and @BCHobbyist for your help

 

[bodycount28]

FWIW, a good video quality comparison done here: