A129 Pro Duo no longer turning on with ignition or staying on after battery died

[hillsnow]

Hi All,

I had the A129 Pro Duo professionally installed a few weeks ago with the hardwire kit. I kept hearing beeping while I was driving and tried a few things like turning sensitivity down and deactivating some features. This did not solve the issue so I updated the firmware to V2.1. The next time I drove the car a few days later after the update, my battery was dead and the camera was off. I got the battery jumped but as I was driving it around, the camera would not stay on for more than a minute or two before shutting off. I kept having to manually power it on with the button.

I think the 12V threshold is what is causing the camera to no longer start with ignition or stay powered for more than a minute. I suspect I need to drive around even more to bring my battery level above the threshold, but I am not sure. Does anyone have any insight or advice on this? Note, it has been cold here as well, so I imagine minimal driving, cold weather, and parking mode is what killed the battery, but I still thought the 12V threshold would have kicked in. Thank you!

 

[jokiin]

random beeps normally indicates a memory card problem, if it locks up with card errors and doesn't change to parking mode as a result of that you can end up with a flat battery due to it not shutting off, start by checking the card

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Are you applying power to the mount or direct to the camera? Go direct to the camera if your powering through the mount (this is a test to see if the mount connection is the issue).

 

[hillsnow]

Are you applying power to the mount or direct to the camera? Go direct to the camera if your powering through the mount (this is a test to see if the mount connection is the issue).

I am powering to the mount, but will switch to the camera tomorrow morning and see if that helps. Thank you

 

[hillsnow]

random beeps normally indicates a memory card problem, if it locks up with card errors and doesn't change to parking mode as a result of that you can end up with a flat battery due to it not shutting off, start by checking the card

Thank you, I have the Sandisk Ultra A1 128GB so may switch to Samsung.

 

[jokiin]

Thank you, I have the Sandisk Ultra A1 128GB so may switch to Samsung.

that would explain random beeps, wrong card for that camera

 

[hillsnow]

that would explain random beeps, wrong card for that camera

Just ordered a Samsung Pro Endurance 128GB

 

[hillsnow]

@jokiin will I need to re-update the firmware to V2.1 once I get the new Samsung memory card?

 

[jokiin]

@jokiin will I need to re-update the firmware to V2.1 once I get the new Samsung memory card?

firmware is stored on the camera not the card, the version won't change

 

[hillsnow]

Are you applying power to the mount or direct to the camera? Go direct to the camera if your powering through the mount (this is a test to see if the mount connection is the issue).

Hey @CaptureYourAction , I changed the power to go directly to the camera. It turned the camera on, and held it on past the usual 1-2 minutes, but it wouldn't shut off once the car was turned off. I checked and parking mode was disabled too. Hoping a new SD card will solve the issues.

 

[jokiin]

new card may have no impact on this

 

[hillsnow]

new card may have no impact on this

Any other suggestions if the new card doesn't solve the issue? Could it be what I suggested above where the battery isn't above the 12V threshold yet?

 

[jokiin]

if your battery is getting old it can be a bit of an issue with the hardwire kit switching correctly

 

[CaptureYourAction]

After you updated to V2.1, did you manually default the cameras settings in the menu? It's a good idea to press and hold the hard reset button on the side of the camera for about 5 seconds as well. If you did not do these things, I would start there.

How old is the battery?

There have a few A129 Pro cameras that developed a fault with the mount connections on the back of the camera. Yours not staying on or rebooting could be that issue. Why it won't shut off when you turn off the car, not sure. Are you sure the yellow wire on the hardwire kit is connected to an accessory fuse?

 

[hillsnow]

After you updated to V2.1, did you manually default the cameras settings in the menu? It's a good idea to press and hold the hard reset button on the side of the camera for about 5 seconds as well. If you did not do these things, I would start there.

How old is the battery?

There have a few A129 Pro cameras that developed a fault with the mount connections on the back of the camera. Yours not staying on or rebooting could be that issue. Why it won't shut off when you turn off the car, not sure. Are you sure the yellow wire on the hardwire kit is connected to an accessory fuse?

I did not manually default the settings, but I will try that. The battery is a few years old I believe. The Lexus Tech who jumped my car said it was showing up as good on his device. I can check the wires if the reset default settings and memory card don't solve the issue. Thanks for the input!

 

[CaptureYourAction]

I did not manually default the settings, but I will try that. The battery is a few years old I believe. The Lexus Tech who jumped my car said it was showing up as good on his device. I can check the wires if the reset default settings and memory card don't solve the issue. Thanks for the input!

You'll need to see what fuse the yellow wire on the hardwire kit is connected to and test it with a meter to ensure that fuse turns off when the car is off.

 

[hillsnow]

Update: replaced the SD card and did a reset to default settings. This did not solve the issue so it is most likely a wiring problem. Gonna take it back to the place that installed it since I don't have a meter or anything to test on my own.

 

[Ridgeline]

IMHO it’s time for all of us to admit these cams are junk. The manufacturer clearly doesn’t care about all of the problems we have had. If they were reputable they would have corrected these myriad common defects a long time ago.

 

[hillsnow]

IMHO it’s time for all of us to admit these cams are junk. The manufacturer clearly doesn’t care about all of the problems we have had. If they were reputable they would have corrected these myriad common defects a long time ago.

Yeah I am starting to regret my decision to get this particular dash cam. In general it had good reviews though.

 

[Dashmellow]

It's not this particular dash cam, per se, it's all dash cams. I've been using dash cams for ten years now and I can't think of a category of consumer products that is more unreliable and prone to failure as dash cams.