A119 malfunction

[DavidUK]

@viofo - got in the car this morning and A119 was beeping... "Beep-beep...beep-beep...beep beep..." etc.
Had a fiddle with buttons and the double beep went to a single one but carried on continuously.
Unplugged it during my trip.
When I stopped I plugged it back in and it carried on beeping whilst showing "Memory error" on the screen.
Removed the cam and drove home.
Took the cam out of the car at home and plugged into 5v supply (not from computer).
Cam now constantly restarting every 9 seconds. Screen flickers then turns black. No error message.
Advice on what to do please? I haven't reset it at this point.
S/N is G16270004.
Thanks.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

How does it behave with no card inserted?

 

[DavidUK]

With no card it behaves the same, restarting every 9 seconds, each time asking for a card (as below), screen flickering, white lines flickering across screen (as below)...

 

[DavidUK]

I have now tried a reset. Inserted paperclip into reset hole, held it there for 10 seconds, then released.
Cam powers up and repeats the issue above, constantly restarting every 9 seconds.
Powered off by removing power cord (the power button does nothing).
Powered on again by inserting power cord. Back to the same issue.
I'll hang on for @viofo to respond, but looks like it may be dead.

It's been three years since I bought this for around £60 after investigating the market. What's new and better (and reliable) for the same money now?

 

[CaptureYourAction]

What power supply and cable did you use in your house? The A119 needs a good quality power cable and power supply. Cheap cables can cause this issue as well as under powered USB wall chargers. I have an Apple USB wall charger that will cause similar issues with the A119. Use the short USB data cable that came with the camera.

Reinstalling the firmware may help as well.

If all else fails, open up the camera and inspect the capacitors and ribbon cable from the lens to the main board.

 

[DavidUK]

I'll try it back in the car. The power cable there is the Viofo supplied one and has powered it fine for 3 years.
Will report back on what happens back in the car...

 

[DavidUK]

Put it back in the car 2 weeks ago and working fine again. Until... I put the battery on to charge with a CTEK conditioner, via the correct 12v socket.
Back to the car 4 days later and it was beep... beep... ing again. The first time was also after returning to the car after it had been on the battery conditioner.

This 2nd time, reset the cam in situ and it was fine again.

 

[DavidUK]

Cam seems to have been OK so long as I remember to unplug the power if using the battery conditioner.

However, just went out and on my way back saw something the Police may be interested in. But my A119 had only recorded the first 3 minutes of my 40 minute trip.
On 20th April it recorded the whole 40 mins.

My wife also saw something on 24th which could be useful but her 32GB card had only 2 days recordings in her A119.

So, what's up with mine... and what's the maximum size micro SD which can be used?
Many thanks.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Cam seems to have been OK so long as I remember to unplug the power if using the battery conditioner.

However, just went out and on my way back saw something the Police may be interested in. But my A119 had only recorded the first 3 minutes of my 40 minute trip.
On 20th April it recorded the whole 40 mins.

My wife also saw something on 24th which could be useful but her 32GB card had only 2 days recordings in her A119.

So, what's up with mine... and what's the maximum size micro SD which can be used?
Many thanks.

256GB is the max size.

 

[DavidUK]

Just found this: https://www.viofo.com/en/dash-cam/30-a119-v2-1440p-30fps-1296p-30fps-1080p-60fps-car-dash-cam.html

Says 128GB??

 

[LateralNW]

While not answering your question I can confirm I use 128GB cards in v119 V2&3 V129 Duo and IR models.
All work fine.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Just found this: https://www.viofo.com/en/dash-cam/30-a119-v2-1440p-30fps-1296p-30fps-1080p-60fps-car-dash-cam.html

Says 128GB??

Just not updated. 256GB works fine.

 

[Kremmen]

It shouldn't matter what size card as they overwrite older with newer.

Is the card full and does the time & date sequencing look right ?

 

[DavidUK]

Time and date looked correct, I didn't check if it was full. Can do.

As it had only recorded the first 3 minutes of yesterday's drive I can only imagine that it failed to overwrite or that the power dropped out. When I put the card back in it powered up fine but I've found sometimes in my wife's car hers doesn't always start up every time. Mine's behind the rear view mirror so more difficult to spot this, but if it went off mid-drive I wouldn't have noticed anyhow as the screen would have turned off after the first few seconds in normal use.

Thinking about it, as I powered it up when reinserting the card it should now have 30 minutes of footage of my garage wall (that's how long the 12v socket stays live.) Will go check later. It may only have 3 minutes again.

 

[Kremmen]

Yes, check the power, some power socket USB adapters don't push out enough oomph, also, some are not deep enough and cause a make/break over bumps.