Modifying Viofo cable connectors

Vortex Radar

Vortex Radar

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So I’ve got a front/rear cable in my car for the A139 Pro that I’d like to convert to use for the A329S/T. However the connectors for the A139 Pro use smaller coax connectors and thus wouldn’t fit on the A329 series.

How feasible would it be to crimp new connectors onto the existing cable to repurpose it for a different model? I think that’s would be easier that splicing connectors from another Viofo cable due to the difficulties of matching impedance and not introducing noise with the splice. Thus I’m thinking that I could get the correct parts and tools for the connector swap and crimp on new connector tips. Also hopefully the thinner wire of the A139 Pro wouldn’t be an issue either.

@viofo @VIOFO-Support What do you think?
 
I would say to get a mcx to mmcx adapter, that would be a plug and play solution and would enable you to move between different camera brands and models. High quality ones are a touch pricey, but can be found more affordable on Amazon, Ebay, etc.

May be possible for @viofo to provide you one? Would be grand if they were available on their site, or by a support request.
 
Vortex Radar said:
So I’ve got a front/rear cable in my car for the A139 Pro that I’d like to convert to use for the A329S/T. However the connectors for the A139 Pro use smaller coax connectors and thus wouldn’t fit on the A329 series.

How feasible would it be to crimp new connectors onto the existing cable to repurpose it for a different model? I think that’s would be easier that splicing connectors from another Viofo cable due to the difficulties of matching impedance and not introducing noise with the splice. Thus I’m thinking that I could get the correct parts and tools for the connector swap and crimp on new connector tips. Also hopefully the thinner wire of the A139 Pro wouldn’t be an issue either.

@viofo @VIOFO-Support What do you think?
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Crimping a new connector should be quite easy with the correct crimp tool, probably quite difficult without. I've never tried an MCX connector though.

Splicing coax for digital data is not recommended, the signals will reflect off the join and could stop data getting through even with a good connection. Using adaptors potentially has similar problems but would probably work.
 
So the adapters I ordered arrived, but they don’t fit, booo. They’re they’re right size, but the side that screws onto a larger cable is too big to fit into the port for the dashcam since the tolerances on the side of the dashcam are tight around the port.

IMG_3920.webp
 
Look for something that is a male to female cable, maybe 6cm in length? If you Google something like this 'mcx to mmcx adapters narrow' you may see what will work for you. Past that, it will be interesting to see what @viofo comes up with.

edit: fixed the auto-correct word salad that slipped by me 🙂
 
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Ooh, this might work.. My A329S and A329T arrived today. Thanks @viofo!

They each came with an extra 0.3m long cable for the cabin cam and the telephoto.

IMG_4396 Large.webp


These fit into the side of the camera body no problem, and then I could get a coupler to connect that cable to the A139 Pro cable which can tuck behind the vehicle trim, and that should do the trick. I found some 2" cables on eBay that looks like it could work.

s-l1600.webp
 
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Success!!! Got the A329S front/rear cams linked via an A139 Pro cable! 🙂

IMG_4444 Large.webp


I ordered a pair of MMCX Female / MCX Female adapters from eBay here, and they did the trick! The A139 Pro's smaller MMCX cable clicks into the adapter while the A329's larger MCX cables simply slide in, but either way they work!

Definitely gonna save me a lot of headache now that I can reuse my existing cable. 🙂 Thank you @lufa6977!
 
Vortex Radar said:
but either way they work!
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Excellent, but if you do encounter any issues with the camera, do consider that it may be a cable problem and don't instantly blame the camera. With the extra joins, there will be signal reflections at the joins which could corrupt data and there could be power issues due to extra cable resistance.

It is a nice test though, good to know that the coax connection is quite robust 😎
 
Vortex Radar said:
Success!!! Got the A329S front/rear cams linked via an A139 Pro cable! 🙂

View attachment 81321

I ordered a pair of MMCX Female / MCX Female adapters from eBay here, and they did the trick! The A139 Pro's smaller MMCX cable clicks into the adapter while the A329's larger MCX cables simply slide in, but either way they work!

Definitely gonna save me a lot of headache now that I can reuse my existing cable. 🙂 Thank you @lufa6977!
Click to expand...

WoooHooooo! That is great news indeed. So very glad the adapter you ordered worked, now you and others will not need to rip out coax as you change dash cams. I would think the adapter will also enable different brands of dash cams to use the same, already in place, coax.
 
Vortex Radar said:
Success!!! Got the A329S front/rear cams linked via an A139 Pro cable! 🙂

View attachment 81321

I ordered a pair of MMCX Female / MCX Female adapters from eBay here, and they did the trick! The A139 Pro's smaller MMCX cable clicks into the adapter while the A329's larger MCX cables simply slide in, but either way they work!

Definitely gonna save me a lot of headache now that I can reuse my existing cable. 🙂 Thank you @lufa6977!
Click to expand...
Our sample is almost the same as this, so no need to send the sample to you now. 🙂
 
viofo said:
Our sample is almost the same as this, so no need to send the sample to you now. 🙂
Click to expand...

@viofo are you doing field tests (driving) and also bench testing with the 3 Channels A329 utilizing the A139 Pro cabling to check for any corruption of data or signal degradation by using an adapter?

Obviously, not having to rip out and redo the cable is great, but you want to ensure it works reliably, too.
 
jsmith said:
@viofo are you doing field tests (driving) and also bench testing with the 3 Channels A329 utilizing the A139 Pro cabling to check for any corruption of data or signal degradation by using an adapter?

Obviously, not having to rip out and redo the cable is great, but you want to ensure it works reliably, too.
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It is digital communication, it either works or does not work, so the testing is fairly easy!

Of course it is possible that there will be some issues appear, but most likely, Vortex would have seen them by now. The cable is the same specification, it is only the adaptors that were likely to cause issues.

Going forwards, the power supply through the adaptors is maybe more likely to cause issues than the communications, but that is not something that can be tested quickly.
 
Nigel said:
It is digital communication, it either works or does not work, so the testing is fairly easy!

Of course it is possible that there will be some issues appear, but most likely, Vortex would have seen them by now. The cable is the same specification, it is only the adaptors that were likely to cause issues.

Going forwards, the power supply through the adaptors is maybe more likely to cause issues than the communications, but that is not something that can be tested quickly.
Click to expand...

You can get interference in digital coax. Are you stating this isn't possible?
 
Nigel said:
It is digital communication, it either works or does not work, so the testing is fairly easy!

Of course it is possible that there will be some issues appear, but most likely, Vortex would have seen them by now. The cable is the same specification, it is only the adaptors that were likely to cause issues.

Going forwards, the power supply through the adaptors is maybe more likely to cause issues than the communications, but that is not something that can be tested quickly.
Click to expand...

The most I’ve done so far is plug it in, wave to the camera, and go “It works!” 😀 I haven’t looked at any footage or installed it in the car yet. I just shot a quick short to show how things work and I can always report back later once I get it properly installed and running.
 
Vortex Radar said:
The most I’ve done so far is plug it in, wave to the camera, and go “It works!” 😀 I haven’t looked at any footage or installed it in the car yet. I just shot a quick short to show how things work and I can always report back later once I get it properly installed and running.
Click to expand...

@Nigel is doing a pre-emptive happy dance cheer leading your efforts!
 
jsmith said:
You can get interference in digital coax. Are you stating this isn't possible?
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It is possible that when Vortex uncoils the cable, and looses some induction across the coils, it will stop working!

However it is digital, the likely outcomes are that it will either work, or not work, and we have already seen that it works. A little interference shouldn't be a problem, it has error correction, and it is quite high quality cable with plenty of shielding, less susceptible to interference than the big USB cables.
 
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