A129 Parking mode stops working after ~2 hours

[viofukt]

I'm not obsessing, I'm trying to get all the info, if your camera turns off and the voltage is fine it's most common that the vehicle is CAN-BUS system and the ECU is turning power off when it sees a load that doesn't belong there, turning off at close to the same time period each time is typical of this, you still didn't mention which circuits you're connected to, vague information doesn't help unfortunately

It seems odd that the body control unit would cut power to stop the drain and then restore it again immediately afterwards. I'm also not sure how the load would be monitored given that the voltage doesn't sag.
That being said it's a very easy theory to test - I'll tap the battery directly and see where we are in a few hours.

I don't see how I've been vague - I've provided exact voltages and vehicle conditions. I've told you how the device is connected. I haven't piggybacked off other circuits. I've used empty fuseways that are either permanent live (for battery +) or live with engine running (for accessory).

you may be able to find a circuit that's not affected by the ECU but this is a common issue on a lot of late model German cars, people end up using a Cellink Neo for this same reason

And you said I was being vague!

 

[viofukt]

Is the camera still powered when you enter your car?

If it is still powered, have you tried the other fps parking modes, auto event detection, or low bitrate parking mode?

If not, give them a go and since if there’s one that ends up working for you

The camera is completely off when I get in the car and goes through the full boot process.

Switching modes is a great idea - if I can get the behaviour to change by changing the camera mode we can be fairly sure its the camera that's broken and not the hardwire module or installation.

 

[Gooffeyguy]

Do you know how the hardwire kit communicates the presence of a voltage on the accessory wire to the camera?

Technically, no.

I have mine installed into a later model GM suv that uses a CAN-BUS system. Most all of the fuses in the fuse box have voltage, and if they don't they do when you operate the switch/accessory it goes to (door lock switch for example, doesn't have voltage at the fuse when ignition is off, but when you press the button there is).

I had to use the Upfitter box that's located under the dash on the firewall. There are fused ports for constant, ignition, and RAP (Retained Accessory Power). The RAP is when you shut off the vehicle and remove the key and the power still works the radio, windows, etc for up to 10 minutes or until you open the drivers door. The RAP only puts out a milliamp current and I have my accessory wire hooked to this.

It is much like a remote turn on lead on an aftermarket radio to turn on amps

 

[CasualSaiLo]

It seems odd that the body control unit would cut power to stop the drain and then restore it again immediately afterwards. I'm also not sure how the load would be monitored given that the voltage doesn't sag.
That being said it's a very easy theory to test - I'll tap the battery directly and see where we are in a few hours.

I don't see how I've been vague - I've provided exact voltages and vehicle conditions. I've told you how the device is connected. I haven't piggybacked off other circuits. I've used empty fuseways that are either permanent live (for battery +) or live with engine running (for accessory).


And you said I was being vague!

Some cars have fuses that seem to indicate a permanent live, but then they actually turn off after a few hours. Make sure that's not what is happening with your car

Have you tried moving your fuse taps to a different seemingly permanent live fuse, not one of the empty fuse slots?

 

[viofukt]

Some cars have fuses that seem to indicate a permanent live, but then they actually turn off after a few hours. Make sure that's not what is happening with your car

Have you tried moving your fuse taps to a different seemingly permanent live fuse, not one of the empty fuse slots?

I have my multimeter wired in parallel with bat+ and ground on the hardwire kit. The fuseway stays live. That is to say that it is live when ignition is switched off, stays live for at least 2 hours with the car locked, and shows as live when I return to the car after 3 hours to find the camera powered down. I have yet to test a direct wire to the battery to eliminate power management in the car.

 

[CasualSaiLo]

I have my multimeter wired in parallel with bat+ and ground on the hardwire kit. The fuseway stays live. That is to say that it is live when ignition is switched off, stays live for at least 2 hours with the car locked, and shows as live when I return to the car after 3 hours to find the camera powered down. I have yet to test a direct wire to the battery to eliminate power management in the car.

Any possibility that the fuse might turn on when you open the door? Your problem would seem to indicate it's either the hardware kit or your fuses. I had previously suggested trying other parking modes because I thought it was still powered

Your issue is different from mines in where the dash cam was still powered, and showing all the signs of it recording, but stops writing to the micro SD card after some time. I had a video of the problem if you were interested in seeing

Just an update

For anyone interested, here's a video that I captured the other day showing the problem: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xd28xf9y0p8g7bi/IMG_1318.mp4?dl=0

I got home around 5pm, and went to check up on my dash cam at around 10pm. I purposely walked in front of the dash cam to trigger the motion detection, and got inside my car. You can see that the recording light is on and indicating it is writing to the micro SD card. I started the car to get it to change to driving mode. It then started to record a driving mode clip. I stopped the recording and went to view the past history. You'll see that it stopped writing to the micro SD card around 5:45pm.


It's been over 48 hours with low bitrate parking mode and that has been working excellent, which leads me to believe it is not the Samsung Evo Select micro SD card. Also, I got the not writing to micro SD card problem with my lexar 633x micro SD card when in Auto Event Detection parking mode, which seems to reinforce that it is not the micro SD card.

At this point, I'm not sure what the issue is. Could it be a firmware related bug with the Auto Event Detection parking mode?

I got the dash cam when it was on V1.5. I upgraded the firmware to V1.9, pressed the reset button on the camera with a paper clip to reset it, and also clicked "default settings" through the menu after resetting.

 

[viofukt]

Any possibility that the fuse might turn on when you open the door? Your problem would seem to indicate it's either the hardware kit or your fuses. I had previously suggested trying other parking modes because I thought it was still powered

Your issue is different from mines in where the dash cam was still powered, and showing all the signs of it recording, but stops writing to the micro SD card after some time. I had a video of the problem if you were interested in seeing

I have the multimeter sat on the dash with the camera pointing at it so I can see if the fuse is live without unlocking the car and also see the voltage level throughout the parking mode recording.

In my case the camera completely loses power - no red light after 2 hours and the boot logo is displayed next time I start the ignition.

I'll have a look at your video when I'm not on mobile.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

I have the multimeter sat on the dash with the camera pointing at it so I can see if the fuse is live without unlocking the car and also see the voltage level throughout the parking mode recording.

In my case the camera completely loses power - no red light after 2 hours and the boot logo is displayed next time I start the ignition.

I'll have a look at your video when I'm not on mobile.

There is a red led inside the hardwire kit that is lit when it is supplying power to the camera. You should be able to see it through the vents on the kit housing. Next time the cam shuts down after the 2 hours or so, look at the hardwire kit and see if the led is still on. If it’s on, there should be power to the cam and the issue would likely be to kit output or the cam itself.

 

[an1uk]

My A129 DUO seems to stop recording after a certain amount of time in event detection parking mode with v1.9, even though the camera is still powered (lights on), but only when using a Kingston endurance 128gb card. It doesn't happen with a WD Purple 256gb. Though with the WD I have another issue in that while driving the camera sometimes beeps (appears to be when card is full) - again an issue not experienced on the Kingston card. Cards purchased from reputable sources and tested fine with h2testw. Just ordered a Sandisk endurance 256gb which I hope will fix both issues.

 

[DimitrisTS]

I am having the same issue. The camera is hardwired and shuts down after some random time in parking mode.

After monitoring the voltage with a multimeter it seems that the voltage can drop momentarily at 11.9 - 11.8 volt.
The car is a Prius, which after you turn it off at some point some electronic stuff gets activated to check or whatever...
More over the car uses a very small 12v battery.

Since the voltage drops low only for a moment and then goes up again to 12.2 - 12.3 volts, can I do something to prevent the hardwire kit from cutting off the power? A capacitor or something.... )

Any advice would be great!

 

[HonestReview]

I am having the same issue. The camera is hardwired and shuts down after some random time in parking mode.

After monitoring the voltage with a multimeter it seems that the voltage can drop momentarily at 11.9 - 11.8 volt.
The car is a Prius, which after you turn it off at some point some electronic stuff gets activated to check or whatever...
More over the car uses a very small 12v battery.

Since the voltage drops low only for a moment and then goes up again to 12.2 - 12.3 volts, can I do something to prevent the hardwire kit from cutting off the power? A capacitor or something.... )

Any advice would be great!

Your battery going bad on the prius? Droppng to 11.8 or 11.9 is very low:

12.6 = 100% Battery
12.4 = 75%
12.2=50
12.0 = 25
11.8 = Battery on its last leg

You can set the cutoff to 11.8 but don't be surprised if the camera drains the charge and the car won't start.

 

[Airborne]

If a car sits a few days the battery will drop in voltage, this is normnal, my truck is brand new and it looses voltage, reason I have a battery charger on mine, no more problem

 

[Airborne]

I am having the same issue. The camera is hardwired and shuts down after some random time in parking mode.

After monitoring the voltage with a multimeter it seems that the voltage can drop momentarily at 11.9 - 11.8 volt.
The car is a Prius, which after you turn it off at some point some electronic stuff gets activated to check or whatever...
More over the car uses a very small 12v battery.

Since the voltage drops low only for a moment and then goes up again to 12.2 - 12.3 volts, can I do something to prevent the hardwire kit from cutting off the power? A capacitor or something.... )

Any advice would be great!

Try a battery charger, works for me, they cost around 25 bucks. I keep mine on all the time now

Battery Tender Automotive Chargers

Keep your machines running smoothly with battery charger battery chargers from Battery Mart. We carry a range of ******* battery chargers for many applications.

www.batterymart.com

Amazon sells them also

 

[joe384]

my problem is I come back to the car, make sure to be in front where the cam would pick up the motion, get into the car and see the solid red recording light, wait for the recordign to stop and see it switch to standby (fast blinking) which it does, did this multiple times even just now, fire up the engine, wait for it to switch over to regular drive mode, then stop the recording, bring it inside, no events have recorded since I parked it, you can see me walking off, and thats the last thing it recorded before the engine started up and I took the card out.

It seems like I'm getting this problem too. After a few hours of parking mode, footage stops getting written to the micro SD card.

I have just realised I was having this issue with my inital camera (buffered parking mode would sometimes stop recording after a couple of hours even if the camera was still powered after coming back 8 hours later)
I have reviewed parking mode footage a few times with my new unit and it's been ok but I'll will try and do a proper test to see if it still happens and try and figure out if it's a firmware issue or just some weird voltage issue with my car.

 

[DimitrisTS]

I think the hardwire low voltage sensing is too sensitive. I wonder if it is possible to fool this little hardwire kit to never cut the main power while keeping the acc cable sensing normally connected to trigger the normal/parking mode.

This way I can install my own low voltage switch or even if I trust my battery's charge, just leave it on all the the time.

 

[AusMat]

My A129 DUO seems to stop recording after a certain amount of time in event detection parking mode with v1.9, even though the camera is still powered (lights on), but only when using a Kingston endurance 128gb card. It doesn't happen with a WD Purple 256gb. Though with the WD I have another issue in that while driving the camera sometimes beeps (appears to be when card is full) - again an issue not experienced on the Kingston card. Cards purchased from reputable sources and tested fine with h2testw. Just ordered a Sandisk endurance 256gb which I hope will fix both issues.

Did you manage to figure anything out on this? I've noticed mine doing the same thing, only records a couple hours then just stops actually saving the SDCard, even though the camera is on AND recording theres no video saved to the card (can even happen when theres something clearly moving on screen, ie i had a car parking in a spot across from my car, caught the car starting to park, halfway through it just stopped instead of detecting something still moving and keeping on recording)

I'll invest in other/better SDCards if it is actually an SDCard problem (though i use 64Gb cards, i've tried about 3 different manufacturers which all worked perfectly in my old A119 dashcam)

 

[Airborne]

I think the hardwire low voltage sensing is too sensitive. I wonder if it is possible to fool this little hardwire kit to never cut the main power while keeping the acc cable sensing normally connected to trigger the normal/parking mode.

This way I can install my own low voltage switch or even if I trust my battery's charge, just leave it on all the the time.

A normal battery charger will cook your battery, make sure it is a battery charger and that will work for you.

 

[joe384]

Did you manage to figure anything out on this? I've noticed mine doing the same thing, only records a couple hours then just stops actually saving the SDCard, even though the camera is on AND recording theres no video saved to the card (can even happen when theres something clearly moving on screen, ie i had a car parking in a spot across from my car, caught the car starting to park, halfway through it just stopped instead of detecting something still moving and keeping on recording)

I'll invest in other/better SDCards if it is actually an SDCard problem (though i use 64Gb cards, i've tried about 3 different manufacturers which all worked perfectly in my old A119 dashcam)

Ok, so as I mentioned I had this issue with my original cam. I switched to low bitrate and then I forgot about it because I had a bunch of other problems.
Well, it looks like I've got this happening on my replacement. I got back to the car about 8 hours after I parked it up, left light was solid indicating it is recording.
I connected through wifi, and found the last clip was about 12:45, this was about 3h45mins after I parked up. The last clip seemed normal and was the same size as the others.
So the dashcam thinks it's recording (solid light) but doesn't actually write to the card.
Those that have read my posts before know that I have a 64Gbyte Viofo branded card, which passed all the tests I did on it.
It's starting to look like a firmware issue - although I'm sure some people have posted saying their buffered parking mode works fine.

 

[Dave Bert]

My A129 DUO seems to stop recording after a certain amount of time in event detection parking mode with v1.9, even though the camera is still powered (lights on), but only when using a Kingston endurance 128gb card. It doesn't happen with a WD Purple 256gb. Though with the WD I have another issue in that while driving the camera sometimes beeps (appears to be when card is full) - again an issue not experienced on the Kingston card. Cards purchased from reputable sources and tested fine with h2testw. Just ordered a Sandisk endurance 256gb which I hope will fix both issues.

I have been testing my A129 with a USB power adapter plugged into a wall outlet pointing out my window. I have found that the parking mode will kick in after 5 minutes and start working. But it seems to stop working after awhile and not always after the same length of time. I can see the camera working via the status LED. It will be flashing indicating that it is not recording and when a car or someone walks in front of it the LED would go solid for about 45 seconds and starts flashing again. When I check, that event was not recorded onto the sd card. I let the camera run a few days and than check the sd card only to find the first day of recordings on it and nothing after that. I have tried resetting and even reloading the firmware, also, formatting and trying different sd cards with the same result. Looks to me that the loop recording is not working properly in parking mode, it is not overwriting old recordings once the card is full.

 

[joe384]

I have been testing my A129 with a USB power adapter plugged into a wall outlet pointing out my window. I have found that the parking mode will kick in after 5 minutes and start working. But it seems to stop working after awhile and not always after the same length of time. I can see the camera working via the status LED. It will be flashing indicating that it is not recording and when a car or someone walks in front of it the LED would go solid for about 45 seconds and starts flashing again. When I check, that event was not recorded onto the sd card. I let the camera run a few days and than check the sd card only to find the first day of recordings on it and nothing after that. I have tried resetting and even reloading the firmware, also, formatting and trying different sd cards with the same result. Looks to me that the loop recording is not working properly in parking mode, it is not overwriting old recordings once the card is full.

Just to confirm, is this using v1.9 firmware on auto event detection? (Buffered parking mode)
That is what I'm currently running.
Also if you are running of a wall socket it rules out hardwire kits and wacky car electric systems.