Camera that can operate in high temperatures

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tchavei

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Hi

Short background:

I live in Southern Portugal were summer temperatures easily reach 35C in the summer (obviously much higher in a parked car outside).

I own a Viofo A139 Pro for a bit over 3 years. It has worked well except during summer months where it sometimes would lock up, reset or turn off randomly which I can only attribute to excessive heat.

Today it seems the dashcam died for good. I didn't hear the welcome message when I entered the car, I unplugged / plugged it in (which normally solves it when it locks up) but nothing. Camera was obviously boiling hot (it's 34C outside right now) so I removed it and placed it near my AC to cool it down.

Unfortunately no dice. Camera won't power up. No light. Checked with another usbc cable. Nothing.

So I guess I'm in the process of buying something new. Any recommendations from the pros for something with 4k that is reliable even in high temperatures? Parking mode is a must.

Thank you
Tony
 
tchavei said:
I own a Viofo A139 Pro for a bit over 3 years. It has worked well except during summer months where it sometimes would lock up, reset or turn off randomly which I can only attribute to excessive heat.

Today it seems the dashcam died for good.
Click to expand...
What happens if you hold down the Reset button while connecting power?
Keep the reset button depressed for 5-10 seconds.
tchavei said:
Any recommendations from the pros for something with 4k that is reliable even in high temperatures? Parking mode is a must.
Click to expand...
VUEROID S1-4K
 
Chuck McCoy said:
What happens if you hold down the Reset button while connecting power?
Keep the reset button depressed for 5-10 seconds.

VUEROID S1-4K
Click to expand...
Thank you for answering.

Nothing happens. I stuck in a toothpick (felt the inner button being depressed. While holding it down, I connected the usbc cable and waited 30 seconds. No reaction. Not even a led flicker. I have to assume it's toast.
I also connected the cameras usbc cable to my phone and it starts charging so I can assume the power source is fine.

I'll check that vueroid. Thank you.

Edit: I just placed my nose on the case and it has that characteristic electronic burned out smell. 🙁
 
An option is to use this:

https://global.blackshark.com/products/black-shark-funcooler-5pro
1786892348225.webp


It will make more heat overall in the vehicle, but it moves it away from the dashcam. I've got one and the surface of it goes to ice cold in seconds.
 
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@tchavei
As a last resort I would SUBMIT A TICKET to see if there's anything VIOFO can do for an out of warranty malfunctioned unit.
 
Parking guard in Portugal, in the sun, i think very very few systems will be able to handle that.
One of the best options might well be vueroid as i understand they can shut them self off if they become too hot, and turn them self on again when it get colder.
Other can turn off too just fine, but not turn them self back on

I think !
Sadly i have not been privy to sampling a vueroid system.
 
Chuck McCoy said:
@tchavei
As a last resort I would SUBMIT A TICKET to see if there's anything VIOFO can do for an out of warranty malfunctioned unit.
Click to expand...
Done. I doubt there's a solution besides replacing it 😔

mentadent said:
An option is to use this:

https://global.blackshark.com/products/black-shark-funcooler-5pro
View attachment 93184

It will make more heat overall in the vehicle, but it moves it away from the dashcam. I've got one and the surface of it goes to ice cold in seconds.
Click to expand...

That's pretty neat ngl. Don't see an easy way to attach it to a dashcam though not mentioning the extra wiring and high consumption but indeed it might be the only option.

kamkar said:
Parking guard in Portugal, in the sun, i think very very few systems will be able to handle that.
One of the best options might well be vueroid as i understand they can shut them self off if they become too hot, and turn them self on again when it get colder.
Other can turn off too just fine, but not turn them self back on

I think !
Sadly i have not been privy to sampling a vueroid system.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's not easy for any electronic device. That's why I never really complained when the camera would occasionally freeze during parking mode in the summer. A quick off/on would make it work again for days/weeks. I guess this year was just too much for it.

A bit sad.

I'll see if I can get the vueroid 2ch for a decent price.
 
I have argued someone should put a frore systems fan in a dashcam.
These fans do not have spinning parts and so should be no problem in regard to noise.


Mind you i still do not think this would work in your case for a on windscreen system right there in the sun.
But the remote systems where you have the main unit hidden deep down in the car and at least out of direct sunlight + eventually a temperature regulated active cooling solution.
That in my perspective is the only avenue for successful parking guard use in hotter climates.

BUT ! sadly no one make remote systems and the ones that have tried had a hard time selling them, personally i think it is genius and i would go for that VS conventional systems even if i only use parking guard limited.
Not least since beside parking guard cooling advantages, you could also have a proper cooling and so use extreme bitrates if you want that, and the main unit could be made larger and so instead of a stupid little memory card host say a 2 TB NVME drive.
So for me it is just WIN - WIN
 
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It has squeezing slider clips meant for cellphones, but I think I would use some kind of rubber bands.
It is quite power hungry, like 20 watts over USB.

It is 'magsafe' so perhaps an adhesive magnet on the dashcam would work.
 
I am not sure if the shut downs was during normal operation or parking guard ?

I am personally assuming parking guard CUZ i have never seen a dashcam shut down due to heat up here in cooler Denmark, even if our all time high record got a kick up this year to 38 deg C and we also had several days over 30 deg C, which otherwise use to be pretty rare, last year i think Denmark had like one single day of + 30 deg C

2 or more days in a row with 28 deg C constitute a heat wave here, so use to be pretty rare.
 
kamkar said:
I am not sure if the shut downs was during normal operation or parking guard ?

I am personally assuming parking guard CUZ i have never seen a dashcam shut down due to heat up here in cooler Denmark, even if our all time high record got a kick up this year to 38 deg C and we also had several days over 30 deg C, which otherwise use to be pretty rare, last year i think Denmark had like one single day of + 30 deg C

2 or more days in a row with 28 deg C constitute a heat wave here, so use to be pretty rare.
Click to expand...

You mean my viofo? It would only freeze up occasionally when parked. I heard it reset maybe twice while driving during the past 3 years.

Trying to locate a vueroid dealer inside the EU right now.

mentadent said:
It has squeezing slider clips meant for cellphones, but I think I would use some kind of rubber bands.
It is quite power hungry, like 20 watts over USB.

It is 'magsafe' so perhaps an adhesive magnet on the dashcam would work.
Click to expand...

That might be too much consumption for me for the seldom long trips I make. My A139 Pro would hold up in timelapse parking mode for around 9 days.

Thinking back, maybe I fried it because last week I used a aluminum sunshade on the windshield. Something I never did before. It might have baked sitting between the windshield and the sunshade. It did work fine for a few days since then.
 
O O O those sun shades, they literally sandwich the camera between the glass and a highly reflective surface, there are people that have seen dashcam buttons melt that way.

Still i would assume the viofo would shut down due to high temperature no matter the mode, and that in normal circumstances should be fine.
But this new info with the sun shade that is a deal breaker in my mind.

There is nothing more nasty than a hot car though.
then again i also remember discharging the first ship i was engineer on, and the agent picking me up, this was in Indonesia in summer and really hot, but his AC was on full tilt and directly on me, and to be honest it was horrible cold even for a guy from the deep north.
So i redirected nozzle to the window which instantly started to fog up and condensate

Also being trapped there for 3 holidays, exiting the hotel was like getting a big red hot hammer to the forehead.
Thank god Chinese Client left me plenty of pocket cash and in his hotel CUZ the company had me going to a holiday inn motel of some sort.
The Chinese guy said,,,,,, NOPE, this nice Danish guy will have my room in my fancy hotel,,,,,,, and i was not the one to complain.

Days before that Chinese cargo owner and Captain of ship nearly getting into a fist fight.
And after that i translated some company telexes sent to the ship, asking the captain to immediately excuse himself to cargo owner, which he of course did not do, so i translated telexes from Danish to English for the Chinese guy.

This was back around Y2K and my heat tolerance A LOT better back then, and thank god CUZ on ship Aircon broken in a degree i could not fix.
so sleeping on that ship, that was done in small increments.

1997 i see looking in my discharge book.
Those 21 days with that idiot captain was plenty, and it was also my last gig with that company for that reason, i was otherwise supposed to engage another ship on Fiji, but that got all messed up too.

enginot.webp
 
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tchavei said:
You mean my viofo? It would only freeze up occasionally when parked. I heard it reset maybe twice while driving during the past 3 years.

Trying to locate a vueroid dealer inside the EU right now.



That might be too much consumption for me for the seldom long trips I make. My A139 Pro would hold up in timelapse parking mode for around 9 days.

Thinking back, maybe I fried it because last week I used a aluminum sunshade on the windshield. Something I never did before. It might have baked sitting between the windshield and the sunshade. It did work fine for a few days since then.
Click to expand...


@VUEROiD

I believe there are two in the UK, but not sure if they sell the S1-4K or the S1-QHD. Both dashcams are excellent at heat management. You can look at review threads by:

@Karagandinez

@Julian23

@rcg530

.
.
 
lufa6977 said:
@VUEROiD

I believe there are two in the UK, but not sure if they sell the S1-4K or the S1-QHD. Both dashcams are excellent at heat management. You can look at review threads by:

@Karagandinez

@Julian23

@rcg530

.
.
Click to expand...

Thx. Uk isn't 🇪🇺 anymore. Right now my most realistic options seem to be direct from manufacturer online shop but I'll get hit with taxes and vat or one of the eu dealers. They're quite a bit more expensive (480€ up to 800€ 😳) but a couple could be worth it since 23% vat plus handling fees adds up.

I do have a SanDisk extreme 256gb card so might get away with the 64 GB option from store
 
tchavei said:
Just checked the sdcard. Apparently it died at 22:23 at night, while parked.

Doesn't rule out heat killing it but it wasn't being "fried" while it died
Click to expand...
Can you post a photo of the card?
Just curious.
 
We've found that some of the more power-efficient flagship models like the BlackVue Elite 9/10 (in power-saving parking mode) and Thinkware U3000 Pro (in RADAR parking mode) are good choices for hotter climates like yours. We have sold plenty of these to users who experience summer temperatures that exceed 35°C, and we haven't had any reports of high temperature-related issues or failures so far.

You may want to check out this torture test we did a few years back, where we ran the original Thinkware U3000 in a toaster oven for 5 hours with temperatures going up to 70°C, and it survived without any issues:

 
lufa6977 said:
Your card is not on the Viofo recommended list.

Viofo Recommended SDXC cards

.
View attachment 93197
.
Click to expand...

Well, it worked fine for 3 years. Don't see how that's related to the device dying though.

BlackboxMyCar said:
We've found that some of the more power-efficient flagship models like the BlackVue Elite 9/10 (in power-saving parking mode) and Thinkware U3000 Pro (in RADAR parking mode) are good choices for hotter climates like yours. We have sold plenty of these to users who experience summer temperatures that exceed 35°C, and we haven't had any reports of high temperature-related issues or failures so far.

You may want to check out this torture test we did a few years back, where we ran the original Thinkware U3000 in a toaster oven for 5 hours with temperatures going up to 70°C, and it survived without any issues:

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm keeping my options open. Not even sure it was the heat killed it since it died at night.
 
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