A119v2 Strange Behaviour

[TonyM]

I've had my A119v2 for about a month and so far it has worked flawlessly. I'm running the latest FW3.4, and have the power cable plugged into the GPS module. It's not the Viofo power cable. I had a 5m USB cable already routed to the camera location which used to power my GC unit for the last year without any issues. The power source is an Anker 5-port 12v-to-USB hub that I use to power a number of cameras - it's connected to 4 at the moment. I have one of the thin EVA foam pads between the camera and the GPS unit, and the connection seems fairly secure.

This morning the camera was acting strangely in a number of ways. For a start, it was recording 1080p60 when it should have been 1440p30.

The OSD also showed that there was no GPS. I wasn't too worried about that, as the weather conditions were poor and I have 5No action cameras recording close to the A119, so interference is quite possible!

The first 5No 3min clips recorded ok, but with no GPS overlay. Then the A119 began restarting about every minute. Most of those files I cannot playback. One that did record OK has this 'flickering' effect:

After arriving at the office, I watched and recorded the OSD while it was recording:

I stopped the recording, changed settings to 1440p30 and set it going again. Now the GPS is working again and it all seems ok... for now.

I've run the same camera configuration before without errors like this. I have sometimes noticed that the video on the A119's screen is flickering, but it didn't seem to affect the recording so I figured that's just what it does. I have screen saver turned on most of the time anyway.

So does it look like a power supply problem? Is it interference? Why would the camera start in 1080p60 mode?

I can start by unplugging everything else then add them one by one to see what happens. I'll also plug the power directly into the side of the A119 rather than into the GPS module.

 

[jokiin]

I'd looking at a power related issue as the most likely culprit

 

[Harsh]

I think we're using the same 5 port unit by Anker. Switching to the supplied cable took care of the flicker and restarts with the A119S for me.

 

[TonyM]

I'd looking at a power related issue as the most likely culprit

I think we're using the same 5 port unit by Anker. Switching to the supplied cable took care of the flicker and restarts with the A119S for me.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll see if I can find which of my cables is the original one. Does it have one of those ferrite things on it?

 

[Harsh]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll see if I can find which of my cables is the original one. Does it have one of those ferrite things on it?

No ferrite core, the connector moulding is shiny.

 

[TonyM]

I think I fixed the flickering issue by changing to a better quality cable.

I don't understand why a power issue might trigger the camera starting in 1080p60 rather than 1440p30. I'll keep watching to see if it happens again.