A119 V1 - camera / capacitor life, Dashcam life?

[mpcp]

Good Day,
I purchased the A119 V1 back in August 2016. Haven't had any problems until January 2021 when I noticed the last file was always corrupted. I believe this to be a capacitor problem. I see from the forum that some people have replaced capacitors and gotten their camera working. I also had a DOD LS430w (purchased June 2016) with a battery and that crapped out around the same time as the A119. I was wondering what sort of life cycle (years?) should I expect from a dashcam and from a capacitor? Is 4 years for a dashcam or a capacitor short? What has been peoples experience with the Viofo A119 V3 or the A129 Plus Duo? The reason that I ask is I amtrying to decide if it is worth it to replace the capacitor or just toss the cameras and upgrade to maybe the 119 V3 or the A129 Plus Duo.

thanks.

 

[SawMaster]

The V3 is one of the better cams you can get today, and the best for low-light recording. So I'd consider an upgrade to it.

2016 was kind of early in the supercap timeline so there's a chance the caps used today may be better- I don't know for sure. I would expect supercaps to normally last as long as the cam but I have seen reports of a few random failures and their replacement. Given your location I'd guess heats could get high, and the salty air could be a bit corrosive so these things could shorten a cam's service life. I would say that a good cam should last at least 5-6 years, the oldest I know of still in use has went past 7 years now. In that much time technology moves ahead and resolution improves enough to make a new cam worthwhile, both to get that better performance and in hope for trouble-free use in future days.

Both your cams are good quality and might be worth repairing if they seem like they will last a few more years. I would do that if I couldn't afford something newer. But I think I'd go for new if I could; it would be a shame to replace battery and caps only to have something else die in another year, and given how good the V3 is makes me think this way even more strongly. Or you can do the A129 Plus; it has a few issues mostly in parking use, but it's vid quality is great and it should give you as many more years of service as the V3 would.

Phil

 

[mpcp]

The V3 is one of the better cams you can get today, and the best for low-light recording. So I'd consider an upgrade to it.

2016 was kind of early in the supercap timeline so there's a chance the caps used today may be better- I don't know for sure. I would expect supercaps to normally last as long as the cam but I have seen reports of a few random failures and their replacement. Given your location I'd guess heats could get high, and the salty air could be a bit corrosive so these things could shorten a cam's service life. I would say that a good cam should last at least 5-6 years, the oldest I know of still in use has went past 7 years now. In that much time technology moves ahead and resolution improves enough to make a new cam worthwhile, both to get that better performance and in hope for trouble-free use in future days.

Both your cams are good quality and might be worth repairing if they seem like they will last a few more years. I would do that if I couldn't afford something newer. But I think I'd go for new if I could; it would be a shame to replace battery and caps only to have something else die in another year, and given how good the V3 is makes me think this way even more strongly. Or you can do the A129 Plus; it has a few issues mostly in parking use, but it's vid quality is great and it should give you as many more years of service as the V3 would.

Phil

Hey Phil,

Thanks for the feedback on the capacitor lifetime. It was a concern if I was upgrading to the A129 Plus Duo. Very smart to figure out that I am in the Tropics and that it is hot. The salty air isn't so much an issue as I am inland away from any such sea blast. However the heat has been an issue. I had measured the inside of the car - i.e. windscreen/rear view mirror to get upwards of 65C and if the camera is left in a parked car direct sunlight it would get up that high if not higher. When I drove of with the AC on, the camera would never cool sufficiently and go into a repeated boot cycle. I would have to take down the camera and cool it in the AC vent and then put it back up. So I would take it down when parking and also put up sunscreen to keep the internal car temperature lower.

Yeah the LS430w was a good camera. I tried to replace the battery and that worked for a while but then maybe the battery failed and I was getting corrupted files. So I started manually turning off the camera and then it reached a point where I think there is some issue with the circuitry I would turn off the car and then come back and find the camera screen on showing white. I don't know where it was getting power because it is hard wired to the ignition. I had to manually reboot the camera to get it working and now it has really gone. So I think that one has gone beyond a reasonable repair.

I was in 2 minds as to the 119V3 or the A129 Plus but decided to go with the A129 plus because of the upgrade to the rear camera. I don't use the parking mode normally but hopefully they iron out that problem before I need it. If the A129 starts to misbehave, I will have to consider the V3 for the second vehicle.

Thanks again.