622GW battery replacement.

[wojzal]

Hello. The battery in my 622GW died a while ago, and wasn't charging. I was not able to update the firmware, because the CAM could not power up with USB cable connected to the PC. In a normal mode (installed in the car), the camera would work fine. I found a battery, that is very similar to the original. After the replacement, the camera turns on, charges slightly with the USB cable connected to the power supply. When it is installed in the car, it starts to overheat drastically, becomes very hot. The picture on the LCD changes hue to blue color, and starts to show a black stripe on the left side of the screen. When it is disconnected from power, it cools down and works again later. I am assuming the problem is with the replacement batteries. I tried two different the same batteries. I am going to install the old, original battery and see if the issue exists. Again, it did not exist before the replacement.

Is there a replacement battery available, that works with this dashcam?

Attached are the pictures of the batteries: original on the left, replacement on the right.

 

[Shaky]

I think it's fairly well documented that this dashcam runs hot (look at the posts on this board) and mine used to as well. I don't think the battery pack has a very long life either, mine gave up the ghost after a couple of years even after not much use. It seems to be a fairly standard LiPo battery that Nextbase fit to it of 320-370mAh capacity so unless you've managed to unfortunately purchase a counterfeit battery (there are literally 1000's out there) maybe the charging cct in the dashcam has gone tits-up ?
Nextbase do advertise a replacement battery for the camera for a tenner (UK Price) but they don't seem to have any in stock atm.

 

[152bobby]

I haven't came across any dashcam that has a decent built in battery to do anything with, not even long enough to download a video clip. I doubt even fitting a new Nextbase genuine battery will make any difference!!

 

[User39]

I have to say that although the device has a 12m warranty, the battery is limited to 6m. Put it another way, this very expensive dash cam is likely to fail after 6 months and you cannot get it fixed. Ours has failed and all we can say is so much for sustainability. It is scrap.

 

[Kremmen]

Nextbase do offer a battery replacement service, but, as you say, it shouldn't fail after just 6 months.

Must have been sat on a shelf for ages

Shame you didn't come here to research as most Nextbase series 2 dashcams seem to have a short battery life

Other brands using super caps are far more reliable

 

[Shaky]

Well I thought I'd report back on here to give my experience of both Nextbase's after-sales and also the fitting of a replacement battery. Firstly, I decided against taking a risk with eBay/Amazon for the purchase as I've been stung with dodgy replacements in the past & seeing as Nextbase offer a replacement forra Tenner inc P&P, I ordered directly from them. They don't advertise the battery on their support pages, oddly enough so I sent a message to the support email addy. After getting a reply back with a figure of £35 to send them the cam for them to do it, (I'm from Yorkshire and that nearly gave me heart-failure ) I declined and explained I just needed the battery that I would swap-out myself. I then got a reply with a link to the correct 3.7v, 370mAH for the stated £10

Battery came a couple of days later, packed inside it's own little plastic case with a sponge wrap & with a replacement sticky pad to attach to the battery holder. Tbh I can't see any of the eBay ones being supplied like that but I'm willing to be proven wrong so thumbs-up to Nextbase for the packaging and also the quick turnaround.

As for the fitting, the 622GW isn't too difficult to get into, a total of 12 tiny screws to remove (precision screwdriver required really) and 4 catches to release to get access to the battery and then three wires to de & re-solder. Took me about 20-30 mins in total without trying to rush it so shouldn't be an issue for anyone who has the necessary skills and a decent soldering iron/station.

I agree with all on here that it's a bit of a PITA to have to deal with replacement batteries and especially as some soldering is required but at least my 622GW now keeps the correct date & time and stays on long enough to save the current file once the ign. is off instead of shutting-down mid record and corrupting the file.

The old battery was slightly "puffed-up" so was deffo well past it's sell-by date. I've noted the date of replacement so it will be interesting to see how long this one lasts before it also needs replacing. I've seen that LiPo's can be a bit awkward to keep at their best and seeing as my car doesn't really get that much use, I'd appreciate any pointers of anyone on here as to the best way to store the Cam when not in use. I basically use the car 2 or 3 times a fortnight so any ideas would be welcome.

All-in-all a reasonably stress-free job and tbh I can't fault Nextbase's battery price and delivery times.

 

[User39]

Following up my earlier comment about the battery life of the 622GW I managed to find the support email address for Nextbase. Not expecting much, they responded within a couple of days noting that there may be delays due to the time of year etc. It was a standard email asking me to please try this and report back. I found it a little patronising but I do understand that sometimes customers fly off and say this is wrong when in fact it is the customer that has made the mistake.
Anyhow I confirmed that the battery life was 40 seconds maximum and in response they sent me an email saying that it needed repair and would cost £35.00 (incl.' P&P back by the way plus my expense to send it). Another email shortly followed clearly stating what I needed to do to return the device for repair and attached to the email was an address label etc. Simple clear instructions to follow and 2 days after posting they acknowledged receipt of the package and within a further 2 days it was back in my hand with a new battery and updated firmware. I can only say that this was very good service and at a reasonable price at a fraction of a new device. The size of the device and the thought of dismantling it and putting it back together even if I can solder discouraged me from attempting a DIY job.
Co-incidentally, I have a high end Panasonic camera and I have had to replace the batteries today as they are starting to lose their memory after 3 years. Batteries do fail over time.
I agree with Shaky - "All-in-all a reasonably stress-free job and tbh I can't fault Nextbase's battery price and delivery times" and I am happy to put the record straight. In my case however instead of battery price I would put device repair.
Incidentally, while posting I would add that I have had no other problems with the device over 2 years and have been extremely satisfied with it.

 

[152bobby]

How lon

 

[152bobby]

Sorry, pressed the wrong button. With the new battery fitted, how long does it stay powered on just using the battery?

 

[Shaky]

Sorry, pressed the wrong button. With the new battery fitted, how long does it stay powered on just using the battery?

Just checked mine @152bobby and it lasted just over 10 minutes. Dunno if LiPo's are similar to Lion's in that they don't take a full charge until they've had 3 or 4 cycles but that seems to be about the same time as when I last checked it with the old battery when it was OK.

 

[Kremmen]

I'm not sure these batteries like being left on to fully discharge ?

They are more a backup to close the last file once main power is lost

Then again I don't think they like being kept at 100% charge

 

[Dashmellow]

Lithium cobalt batteries like Lithium-ion and Lithium Polymer are best discharged to about 20%, charged to about 80% and then stored when not in use at 50% charge to achieve the best performance and longest lifespan.
Most people don't do this of course, but some smartphones charge to these levels automatically.

 

[Shaky]

I'm not sure these batteries like being left on to fully discharge ?

They are more a backup to close the last file once main power is lost

Then again I don't think they like being kept at 100% charge

Yeah, my understanding also after reading up on them a while back after mine went south ! I can now understand why a lot of people on here don't rate Nextbase for supplying their kit with batteries instead of Super Caps. Because of my intermittent usage with mine, I would love to be able to convert one over to Caps but I don't believe the internal battery charging cct would work correctly with these ?

Lithium cobalt batteries like Lithium-ion and Lithium Polymer are best discharged to about 20%, charged to about 80% and then stored when not in use at 50% charge to achieve the best performance and longest lifespan.
Most people don't do this of course, but some smartphones charge to these levels automatically.

I might be being REALLY naive here but I would've though the charging cct in the camera took this all into account ?

Maybe someone from Nextbase could either confirm or deny this...............

 

[Dashmellow]

I might be being REALLY naive here but I would've though the charging cct in the camera took this all into account ?

My post is a FYI rule of thumb about best practices for lithium batteries in general in response to @Kremmen's remarks, not anything specific to Nextbase cameras.

Personalty, I wouldn't go near a Nextbase camera for a variety of reasons including and especially the fact that they don't use super-capacitors but that's another discussion. There are numerous reasons to avoid dash cams that operate on lithium batteries beyond just improper charging issues.

As for the charging circuit in a dash camera, they are not sophisticated or "smart" enough to manage battery charging to that degree. Smartphones on the other hand, are much more expensive devices that have enough memory and processing power to monitor and adjust charging levels on their batteries.

 

[Kremmen]

This will be presumably why Samsung, maybe others, have a setting that limits battery charge to 85%, which I use.

I agree though, Nextbase not switching to caps with the series 2 has proved to be a disaster for many