220 Drive Pro possible battery issue!

[Lexar]

Hi,

I've got a 220 pro, firmware is latest version and was on the unit straight out of the box so no need to update that.

It's connected via a usb cable into my cigarette light socket which in turn has a dual usb adaptor plugged into it, I've used that system for other dashcams and it's worked fine.

Since I've had the unit at the beginning of September this year it's worked fine, I leave it permanantly in the car only removing the sd card if I need to review any footage.

Sunday I had to go out, started car and the camera kicked in and then went through a sequence of trying to start up but kept failing unitl it refused to do anything anymore.

As I was in a hurry I couldn't spend any time trying to resolve the issue and drove to my destination, came back to car about 3 hours later started car and the camera worked fine.

Monday morning leaving for work, I experienced the same issue again didn't have time to take a proper look and drove off, about 20 - 30 minutes into my journey I had to stop for some lights, while waiting for the lights to change I removed the USB from the socket and connected it up again to which the camera sprang to life and continued to work for the remainder of the journey, on my way home from work the camera worked without issue.

Tuesday morning same journey to work and the camera started as usual no problems and appeared to function okay.

Now the only difference I cam think of in all of that period is that we had a sudden drop in temperature overnight which may have lead to whatever charge was left in the battery draining and the time driving actually put some charge back in!

The period between Monday and Tueday morning the temperature had risen slightly or should I say wasn't as cold and the time before that was Saturday morning which again the temp was find and the camera worked fine.

Does anyone know what the situation is with batteries in these things, any camera I’ve had has had a capacitor in it, so I’m not sure what to expect, thing is the temperature was well within the range that the manufacture states, I live in the Northern England not Siberia!

Also if it is the battery, shouldn’t the unit work regardless so long as there’s a constant power supply? I remember the first day I got the unit, I plugged it into my laptop and it refused to turn on, after about 15 mins or so it started up so that’s what I’m basing my premise on that it’s a battery issue.

 

[2000rpm]

Are you sure the USB cable and adapter are supplying what the cam needs? Different cams can have very different power requirements.
Try using the adapter supplied with the cam. It's possible that a barely-adequate power supply has affected operation and battery charging. I once ruined a cam's battery with an insufficient power supply - it took a few weeks.

 

[Lexar]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

My set up is using one of the following along with a usb cable, I was under the impression that this would supply enough voltage for the camera to operate, although I wouldn't know for sure and what's more wouldn't know how to measure that.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=g...p8HPAhWE9h4KHc61COIQvwUIGygA&biw=1516&bih=703

I will remove the usb cable and use the one provided by the manufacturer and see what happens.

Thanks

 

[2000rpm]

Suitability depends on the Amps and on whether the adapter really does achieve what it claims. 1A is enough for most cams (output of 1A per cam @5V). Some cams are supplied with 1.5A or 2A adapters. A small number just send 12v straight to the cam.
Your choice of cable - length and thickness gauge - can affect how much power gets to the other end. Most dashcams use 22AWG to 24AWG but most USB cable is often 28AWG (thinner, less conductive) .

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Also if it is the battery, shouldn’t the unit work regardless so long as there’s a constant power supply? I remember the first day I got the unit, I plugged it into my laptop and it refused to turn on, after about 15 mins or so it started up so that’s what I’m basing my premise on that it’s a battery issue.

Shouldn't use a laptop USB to power the camera. Probably not enough power there.

 

[Lexar]

Hi,

Once again thanks for the input, regarding using the laptop to power the unit, I contacted Transcend support, one of the things they advised me to do was to try and connect it up to a PC, although I see no real difference in using the laptop. My friend who also bought the same unit as me about a week before has experienced similar issues although his camera has now died on him and he was using a hard wire kit.

It seems I've got a bit of testing to do, I'll connect the camera up to the supplied power cable and see how we get on although I hasten to add that I drove home tonight with the set up illustrated earlier and there was no issue.


Thanks guys.