A119 Keeps Restarting

[Leopold]

Powering the A119 directly off the side of the camera is the best option for V1 customers if you bought from a seller that won't exchange for V2.

Yes I've heard that, also heard that contact to the GPS module can be lost intermittently in the same way although this is not so critical for most purposes.

As my cam is mounted now there is no room for direct powering of my A119, the side port is totally blocked by the rear mirror housing that has a lot of other optronics built into it. My goal was a very "stealth" mounting so I'd like to keep it the way I mounted it if it can be made to work.

I'll see if I can enhance the workings of those springy pins enough to get a close to 100% secure contact. With some carefully selected oxide cleansers/lubricants.

 

[Leopold]

I'll see if I can enhance the workings of those springy pins enough to get a close to 100% secure contact. With some carefully selected oxide cleansers/lubricants.

Results from first day of driving with the contact enhancing & pin lubrication treatment: zero faults. Looks great but it is too early to cheer.

What I used was CRC Oxide Clean to get rid of eventual contamination in the springed pin arrangement on the GPS mount and also on the recessed contact strips on the A119 (v1) unit. Then I used CRC "Elektro" 2-26 to lubricate and protect these contact areas, also to lubricate the springy pins further on the GPS unit. Working the pins by hand until they felt like really free in their springed motion, individually. I never sprayed any of those agents, just used cotton swabs and dabbed the pins carefully in the mounted GPS and for the golden strips in the A119 I used an appropriately sized hex screwdriver and thin cotton patches that were impregnated with the two agents. First a session with the Oxide Clean, Then a session with the 2-26. A toothpick or match would work just as well of course to reach the recessed golden strips in the cam.

Seems to work fine so far. It is so little that make the design fail, and so little to make it work perfectly. I think I altered the balance now to obtain perfect contact with this easily applied fix (which is the same I use for all intermittent low voltage contact problems in everything from potentiometers to lamp sockets).

What you get if the A119 is restarting all the time due to unstable power supply is: corrupted files. Maybe they are retrievable by some kind of special software but I see in the recorded files that on all instances of spontaneous restart I got unreadable files. No more of that at the moment, perfect files and perfect recording.

I will follow up on the reporting from this contact cleaning / lubrication approach.
__
PS. I didn't like to spam the forum with small updates but I did some extensive driving today, also on bumpy gravel roads. No problems at all, perfect contact with the GPS mount - day two with the lubrication fix. Also received those foam pads in the mail today but I'll wait a week to install. Need to see how the lubrication strategy works in itself for securing stable power before adding more variables to the equation.
__
Day 3 with the lubrication fix: no restarts, no problems... now I'm beginning to think this will really work!

 

[Leopold]

So now this oxide cleaning & lubrication has worked perfectly for five days of driving under very different road conditions. Cycled the 32G microSD many times over with 6 - 8 hours of driving and checking how it turned out every evening.

Not a glitch, everything is recorded perfectly. My guess of the key issue is to get those springy pins working more or less without friction, and of course contact enhancing agents may help too.

Just mounted this foam pad I ordered (got two actually), mainly to adress the slight vertical vibration I see on some clips from bumpy roads. Regarding effect on power stability I expect it to be neutral in that respect, maybe slightly positive in that mount vibrations are minimized (the mounting became much more steady).

Have quite a lot of driving in the weekend now and I'm eager so see the results.

 

[Leopold]

The "lubrication fix" as described above seems to work very well. Still, no faults whatsoever and all files are perfectly terminated.

Naturally, I find no reason to continue reporting on perfect function.

I will only post if I encounter problems.

This could very well be an effective solution strategy for people experiencing troubles wit uncertain power supply through the GPS mount.

Too early to tell but I promise I'll follow up on the long term performance of this very easily implemented "fix".

 

[whitecitadel]

Glad you posted this (and a fix) as I have been having the same issues, and its not the supply to the camera as I already changed that.

Is the v2 only different in that it has some tape on the mount to make the connection more secure? I am going to contact the seller I got mine from with the issue and see what they say I think...

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Glad you posted this (and a fix) as I have been having the same issues, and its not the supply to the camera as I already changed that.

Is the v2 only different in that it has some tape on the mount to make the connection more secure? I am going to contact the seller I got mine from with the issue and see what they say I think...

V2 models have a completely different connection design.

 

[BCHobbyist]

most random Dashcam restarts result from poor power connection,

 

[EJB]

My supplier is sending me a new GPS module to resolve this problem. I guess that it isn't the answer?
Will hold out for a new V2 version.
Bought two cameras from the same supplier, one in May and one in June the later camera is a V2 and works OK.

When plugged in directly to either camera the GPS coords don't get recorded on the video only when the GPS module (mount) is plugged in.

 

[Leopold]

I travelled 900 km / 560 miles this weekend, still no problems whatsoever.

So I think it is a good idea to simply clean & lubricate the GPS units' pins and also all other contacts like the micro SD card's gold strips, as described above. No problems even on extremely bumpy roads.

 

[EJB]

Pleased about your success, however many users are not willing to physically take a camera apart to effect a remedy.
To expect the user to re-engineer a product so it will actually work is not really an acceptable way of correcting a design fault.

What happens when this action is taken, the camera doesn't work....... it is then retuned for replacement and the company refuse liability because the case has been interfered with?

Still pleased that your remedy is acceptable to you though!

 

[Leopold]

Pleased about your success, however many users are not willing to physically take a camera apart to effect a remedy.

The remedy I used did not involve disassembling the camera. I describe the procedure in detail eight posts above in this thread, it involves only the use of an oxide cleaning agent (like CRC Oxide Clean), some careful exercising of the springed contact pins in the GPS unit to make them smoother in their action, and finishing with the application of an electric contact protection & lubrication agent (like CRC 2-26). Very small amounts should be used and the procedure takes only a couple of minutes.

 

[EJB]

Sorry Leopold I watched the above video (Post 22) and put two and two together, and got you....instead of 5!
I did try the 'clean' treatment, with suitable cleaning agents, but it didn't work unfortunately....I also tried a spacer between the camera and mount...it did work but why should I!

We travel to other European countries a number of times each year (from UK) and the GPS is important to us as a pinpoint of certain locations etc.....with the simple press of a button.

 

[Leopold]

Sorry Leopold I watched the above video (Post 22) and put two and two together, and got you....instead of 5!
I did try the 'clean' treatment, with suitable cleaning agents, but it didn't work unfortunately....I also tried a spacer between the camera and mount...it did work but why should I!

We travel to other European countries a number of times each year (from UK) and the GPS is important to us as a pinpoint of certain locations etc.....with the simple press of a button.

IMHO, the key issue with A119v1 & its GPS module is to ensure the contact pins in the GPS module moves completely unrestricted of friction. If they stick/bond in any way, you will have a problem with intermittent contact down the road. Without knowing for sure, I have a feeling this is the most important change I introduced with the simple "cleaning & lubrication" fix.
__
Edit: I also introduced the thin foam spacer but this was at a later point. I definitely recommend the foam spacer, makes the assembly much more steady and probably less prone to contact problems. But even without the foam spacer the pin lubrication & contact enhancing treatment was enough to solve the problem.

 

[5Cowbells]

IMHO, the key issue with A119v1 & its GPS module is to ensure the contact pins in the GPS module moves completely unrestricted of friction....

Perhaps this helps explain my good fortune (knock on wood) with a working 1 year old V1 , always powered thru the GPS mount, no foam spacer, and removed from the car each drive. Two possibilities - exercises the contacts keeping them relatively clean and/or relieves the pressure on the contact springs to help keep them "springy". Since my warranty has just expired, I expect a problem any day now.

 

[BCHobbyist]

The original version 1 GPS Mount and Backplate use gold pin contacts which provide poor connectivity if Dashcam vibrates on the poorly designed mount. Owners must stabilize the V1 mount before consistent operation can be expected. Recommend anyone with original V1 design claim warranty and upgrade to V2 and receive free EVA stabilizing pad. The Version 2 backplate allows simple contact cleaning to ensure future reliable operation with minimal maintenance. Leaving any device with bare contacts exposed to interior car fumes and grim will tarnish those contacts, daily removal can help but will increase wear on mounting surfaces and risk bending/breaking delicate pins.

I've permanently mounted my original A119S V1 with gold pins for 7 months, applied my GPS Mount Modification and Improved Conductivity by cleaning contact plate once with no issues. This level of owner tinkering shouldn't be required for any Dashcam but if you can't return your device at least there are proven ways to improve its operation.