A139 Pro: Failed to capture accident today, no recording from rear camera, but shows up in live view.

[SPL15]

Rear ended at a stop light today , no footage from the rear camera, other driver had different story than I had for why the accident occurred
Said I nearly missed the stop light, darted into his lane & then jammed on my brakes at the last second in front of him.

Rear camera failed to record anything, & appears to have not been recording for at least 2 days.
Fortunately, front camera showed enough contextual evidence which supported the story I told of me having already been in that lane for about 150 yards or more, then calmly & safely stopped at the red light for way more than long enough for the other party to have safely stopped in a controlled & competent manner. Accident actually occurred because the other party saw the left turn lane moving due to a green arrow & monkey brained the gas thinking everyone had a green light.

Have had continuous issues with this useless POS buggy dashcam since a few days after purchase in February.
Have submitted plenty of support tickets, with always the excuse of they can’t recreate the problem.

App unable to load videos / timing out (Mostly fixed by secret firmware)
Constant recording of my dark garage in parking mode, causing my 512GB card to only record around 2 days worth of footage (Unfixed)
Locking up without any indication that it’s locked up (Unfixed)
Now today, got rear ended. Front camera recorded fine; however, the rear camera (ie the useful footage) was nowhere to be found (unfixed)

Rear camera shows up in the app during live view, but there are no recordings from it.
Using Viofo’s branded 512GB SD card.
No amount of resetting addresses the issues
It’s a buggy POS that everyone should avoid.

If people aren’t having issues with newer purchased A139 Pro’s, it leads me to suspect there was a hardware rev at some point, where all of us who purchased earlier samples are stuck with a buggy POS. I’m done being Viofo’d unpaid test engineer, and I’m not paying a bunch of money to ship this thing back to China & then waiting a month or more for a refurb replacement.

Sorry, I needed to vent about my constant & continued annoyance with this dash cam

</end_rant>

 

[Panzer Platform]

Yo SPL,
It breaks my heart to hear such a bad experience.
It’s sounds like you’ve done everything you can as a good customer.
It sounds like you got a lemon unit.

If I were in your situation since the camera is still under the 1 year warranty, I would file a warranty claim, and send the camera back including that 512GB SD Card.
If the claim is denied, I would then file a dispute with my credit card company requesting a full refund.

Moving forward, based on my own personal experience I have found running two separate single channel dash cams have less recording malfunctions than one 2-channel dash cam, but again that’s just my own personal experience.

I’ve been testing / using an A139 Pro since November 2022, and the majority of my testing has been in 1-channel configuration using 64GB, and 128GB SD Cards. I just recently got my hands on a 256GB card, and I’m testing that one out in the A139 Pro, and A119 Mini 2.

Three months ago I connected the other 2 IR & rear camera to make the 3-channel configuration. I prefer to drop the front resolution to 2K30fps when the 2 “slave” cameras are connected. All in all I have not experience any recording malfunctions.

Oh yeah I recently discovered the difference between the “old” hardwire kits, and the upgraded ones specifically designed for the A139 Pro. Basically the old ones were made from 24AWG wires, and the upgraded version is made from 20AWG+24AWG wires. This increased the maximum power output from 11.5 Watts to 17.5 Watts. I doubt this is causing your malfunctions, but it would be nice to check what hardwire kit you have when you rip it out.
Here is a link to show how to identify the hardwire kits;

A139 Pro Test & Review PP

That explains it. 1 Minute video will be 437 MB. Yes but further down in your post you said the A139 Pro is making 1.3gb files on 3 min loop. Mine is doing 300mb less for some reason

dashcamtalk.com

-Chuck

 

[TonyM]

Rear camera failed to record anything, & appears to have not been recording for at least 2 days.
Fortunately, front camera showed enough contextual evidence which supported the story I told of me having already been in that lane for about 150 yards or more, then calmly & safely stopped at the red light for way more than long enough for the other party to have safely stopped in a controlled & competent manner.

Good to hear that the main camera did its job and was enough evidence, despite the impact being at the rear.

Agree with pp that you've been through a lot of unnecessary testing with that camera. Time to move on and try something else.

 

[safedrivesolutions]

Rear ended at a stop light today , no footage from the rear camera, other driver had different story than I had for why the accident occurred
Said I nearly missed the stop light, darted into his lane & then jammed on my brakes at the last second in front of him.

Rear camera failed to record anything, & appears to have not been recording for at least 2 days.

App unable to load videos / timing out (Mostly fixed by secret firmware)
Constant recording of my dark garage in parking mode, causing my 512GB card to only record around 2 days worth of footage (Unfixed)
Locking up without any indication that it’s locked up (Unfixed)
Now today, got rear ended. Front camera recorded fine; however, the rear camera (ie the useful footage) was nowhere to be found (unfixed)

Rear camera shows up in the app during live view, but there are no recordings from it.
Using Viofo’s branded 512GB SD card.
No amount of resetting addresses the issues
It’s a buggy POS that everyone should avoid.



</end_rant>

Many of my clients with 256GB or bigger cards have told me that the dash camera (Viofo A139 Pro) via Wi-Fi app is not loading all the videos. Even sometimes it shows them that it has not been recording for days. When looking at it over a desktop computer, all the videos are there. I have heard about it on Iphone and Android. I have also looked at it on my own phone and it has been 100% good for me in most instances. For me I have not recreated the challenge on my own device.

I will say a few things are buggy with the app. I do not think it is so much the dash camera as I feel the app has some challenges. Now maybe you actually have a problem with your camera and rear camera is defective.

But lets assume nothing is wrong with that rear camera
-1.) Have you turned off cellular data on your phone when viewing videos? Whether it be in menu of phone or putting it into airplane mode?
-2.)How long are your videos set for? 1,2,3,5, or 10 minute recordings? If it is set for 1 minute I do feel this has been a lot more of a waiting period for videos to load. I tell most of my clients with bigger cards to have 3 minute or longer videos.
-3.) When you get in the car does it say "Recording 2 channel started" ?

Cheers

 

[SPL15]

Many of my clients with 256GB or bigger cards have told me that the dash camera (Viofo A139 Pro) via Wi-Fi app is not loading all the videos. Even sometimes it shows them that it has not been recording for days. When looking at it over a desktop computer, all the videos are there. I have heard about it on Iphone and Android. I have also looked at it on my own phone and it has been 100% good for me in most instances. For me I have not recreated the challenge on my own device.

Confirmed no rear cam videos on SD card via SanDisk Pro SD card Reader

Doesn’t matter if cell data is on or off. No rear cam recordings. App connects fine

3 min segments. 1 minute is too short, more than 3 creates too large of files for my liking. And really, it shouldn’t matter

Ive got the annoying voice prompts turned off. I’ve learned to listen to the beeps when the ignition is turned on to see whether the camera is locked up & not recording anything.

I’ve updated to the latest firmware Viofo released & reset all the settings. We’ll see if any of the issues are resolved

 

[SPL15]

Oh yeah I recently discovered the difference between the “old” hardwire kits, and the upgraded ones specifically designed for the A139 Pro. Basically the old ones were made from 24AWG wires, and the upgraded version is made from 20AWG+24AWG wires. This increased the maximum power output from 11.5 Watts to 17.5 Watts. I doubt this is causing your malfunctions, but it would be nice to check what hardwire kit you have when you rip it out.
Here is a link to show how to identify the hardwire kits;

A139 Pro Test & Review PP

That explains it. 1 Minute video will be 437 MB. Yes but further down in your post you said the A139 Pro is making 1.3gb files on 3 min loop. Mine is doing 300mb less for some reason

dashcamtalk.com

-Chuck

I’ve actually upgraded the HK3-C myself to 16 AWG 12V side, & 18 AWG 5 Volt side.

This was to reduce voltage drop, which in turn improves power efficiency to maximize parking mode runtimes. The buck regulators, both internal to the dashcam & internal to the HK3-C power cable, are constant power devices; reduced voltage input (such as parasitic resistance from caving) requires increased current draw in order for a given wattage output.

I also came up w/ the easy mod on the HK3-C to disable its input voltage cut-off to be able to extract maximum capacity out of dashcam battery banks.

In addition, I added a bit more output capacitance & re-wound the buck regulator inductor w/ multi strand conductor to improve efficiency & increase max current output capability (as well as reduce some of the spurious high frequency switching noise going to the camera)

The PMIC that’s used in the HK3-C is capable of handling up to 2.5 amps output if I remember right. Assuming I’m recalling the 2.5 amps max output capability of the PMIC correctly (could be remembering wrong), the “new” HK3-c design would need to have a completely different power management IC to output 17.5 watts (3.5 amps), but I could be misremembering the specs, it might be 3.5 amps.

There’s a thread I created in the batteries & hardwire section that details the HK3-C design capabilities & limitations. I listed the PMIC & some other design aspects in the there

Edit: Here’s the thread https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...ut-for-external-battery-bank-operation.48718/

Looks like it’s 3 amps the PMIC is rated for on the HK3-C version I’m using, so 15 watts maximum output @5 volts. For 17.5 watts, they’re either using a different PCB design, or someone’s a bit confused on how buck regulators work.

 

[VIOFO-Support]

Rear ended at a stop light today , no footage from the rear camera, other driver had different story than I had for why the accident occurred
Said I nearly missed the stop light, darted into his lane & then jammed on my brakes at the last second in front of him.

Rear camera failed to record anything, & appears to have not been recording for at least 2 days.
Fortunately, front camera showed enough contextual evidence which supported the story I told of me having already been in that lane for about 150 yards or more, then calmly & safely stopped at the red light for way more than long enough for the other party to have safely stopped in a controlled & competent manner. Accident actually occurred because the other party saw the left turn lane moving due to a green arrow & monkey brained the gas thinking everyone had a green light.

Have had continuous issues with this useless POS buggy dashcam since a few days after purchase in February.
Have submitted plenty of support tickets, with always the excuse of they can’t recreate the problem.

App unable to load videos / timing out (Mostly fixed by secret firmware)
Constant recording of my dark garage in parking mode, causing my 512GB card to only record around 2 days worth of footage (Unfixed)
Locking up without any indication that it’s locked up (Unfixed)
Now today, got rear ended. Front camera recorded fine; however, the rear camera (ie the useful footage) was nowhere to be found (unfixed)

Rear camera shows up in the app during live view, but there are no recordings from it.
Using Viofo’s branded 512GB SD card.
No amount of resetting addresses the issues
It’s a buggy POS that everyone should avoid.

If people aren’t having issues with newer purchased A139 Pro’s, it leads me to suspect there was a hardware rev at some point, where all of us who purchased earlier samples are stuck with a buggy POS. I’m done being Viofo’d unpaid test engineer, and I’m not paying a bunch of money to ship this thing back to China & then waiting a month or more for a refurb replacement.

Sorry, I needed to vent about my constant & continued annoyance with this dash cam

</end_rant>

Deeply apologize for all the inconvenience our DC brought to you. It is better to turn on the voice notification to confirm if all the channels are working normally during the using. If the rear camera stops recording, you can contact our customer service to get a new one. To avoid recording many videos, you can update this firmware: https://we.tl/t-7Ifa8hfOhj

 

[SPL15]

Deeply apologize for all the inconvenience our DC brought to you. It is better to turn on the voice notification to confirm if all the channels are working normally. If the rear camera stops recording, you can contact our customer service to get a new one. To avoid recording many videos, you can update this firmware: https://we.tl/t-7Ifa8hfOhj

Rear camera was operating correctly, as its video feed showed up on the mobile app’s live view screen. The issue was the dashcam was not recording the rear camera’s video feed, even though the rear camera was operating correctly. Updating the firmware & resetting the dashcam today has gotten rear camera video to record again, for now…

I do not want to listen to the headache inducing voice notifications to ensure the dashcam is recording all the channels or not locked up in an inoperable state. The dashcam should record all of the channels that are enabled and not lockup several times per week, which requires me to unplug it from power.

What firmware version is that link for? Is this the latest firmware that is publicly released on Viofo’s website? If not, I do not wish to be an unpaid beta firmware tester for Viofo anymore and will just wait for the public release version.

 

[Search&Rescue]

Just my personal guess!!!
I think that other users should be asked to recreate such a situation.
Send a video image of the rear camera via WI-FI to the screen, and then check if there will be a recording from this camera.
IMHO, the WI-FI image has priority and MAYBE that's why there is no recording.
I will be glad if, as a result of experiments by other users, my theory is not confirmed.
Best regards, Sergey.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I’ve actually upgraded the HK3-C myself to 16 AWG 12V side, & 18 AWG 5 Volt side.

I also came up w/ the easy mod on the HK3-C to disable its input voltage cut-off to be able to extract maximum capacity out of dashcam battery banks.

In addition, I added a bit more output capacitance & re-wound the buck regulator inductor w/ multi strand conductor to improve efficiency & increase max current output capability (as well as reduce some of the spurious high frequency switching noise going to the camera)

If you are using the A139 Pro with a modified hardwire kit, I wonder if that will void the warranty on the camera?
@VIOFO-Support Can you confirm this?

Time to move on and try something else.

Tony said it best.
This camera is not for you.
Time to move on, and find something that works for your application.
You're gonna drive yourself crazy with this thing. lol
-Chuck

 

[VIOFO-Support]

If you are using the A139 Pro with a modified hardwire kit, I wonder if that will void the warranty on the camera?
@VIOFO-Support Can you confirm this?

Tony said it best.
This camera is not for you.
Time to move on, and find something that works for your application.
You're gonna drive yourself crazy with this thing. lol
-Chuck

If the issue happens because of the camera itself, we still provide the warranty. If the problems occur due to the modified hardwire kit, you may need to pay us a little maintenance fee to get it repaired.

 

[Panzer Platform]

For 17.5 watts, they’re either using a different PCB design, or someone’s a bit confused on how buck regulators work.

This is entirely possible because I don’t even know what a buck regulator is. Lol
This is how I obtained the maximum power output of the two different hardwire kits.
Please tell me if I did this wrong.
I don’t want to post any false & misleading info when so much already exists.
-Chuck

 

[VIOFO-Support]

Rear camera was operating correctly, as its video feed showed up on the mobile app’s live view screen. The issue was the dashcam was not recording the rear camera’s video feed, even though the rear camera was operating correctly. Updating the firmware & resetting the dashcam today has gotten rear camera video to record again, for now…

I do not want to listen to the headache inducing voice notifications to ensure the dashcam is recording all the channels or not locked up in an inoperable state. The dashcam should record all of the channels that are enabled and not lockup several times per week, which requires me to unplug it from power.

What firmware version is that link for? Is this the latest firmware that is publicly released on Viofo’s website? If not, I do not wish to be an unpaid beta firmware tester for Viofo anymore and will just wait for the public release version.

This link is for special firmware to lower the sensitivity in Auto Event Detection to avoid too many videos. Other customers have tried it and confirmed it will help actually.

 

[SPL15]

If you are using the A139 Pro with a modified hardwire kit, I wonder if that will void the warranty on the camera?
@VIOFO-Support Can you confirm this?

Tony said it best.
This camera is not for you.
Time to move on, and find something that works for your application.
You're gonna drive yourself crazy with this thing. lol
-Chuck

Well, conveniently, I do not care in the least if it voids the warranty, as I have zero plans to pay shipping back to China & waiting a month for a replacement. If it breaks, it goes into the garbage.

Obviously the HK3-C power cable’s warranty is voided; however, it also wouldn’t void the warranty of the dashcam, unless it also voids the warranty to power the dashcam by ANY power cable other than Viofo’s branded units. If there was damage caused by modifications I performed, then that would void warranty; however, this is not the case, as I design these types of circuits for a living.

Yes, you are correct.
Viofo’s products are not for me; this A139 Pro has become simply a stopgap until I decide to pull the trigger on the Thinkware U3000.
Just waiting for reviews & any bug issues to be voiced / fixed, so I don’t end up wasting more money & time being another Dashcam manufacturer’s unpaid beta tester.

 

[Panzer Platform]

until I decide to pull the trigger on the Thinkware U3000.
Just waiting for reviews & any bug issues to be voiced / fixed, so I don’t end up wasting more money & time being another Dashcam manufacturer’s unpaid beta tester.

Boy, do I have good news for you.
@rcg530 is currently testing a U3000.
@safedrivesolutions also has upload a bunch testing videos on the U3000.
I’ll be getting my hands on a U3000 for test & evaluation in a few weeks, or when RCG530 is finished with it.
And of course Vortex Radar is testing one.
So far the U3000’s image quality looks kind of disappointing.
But parking mode is going to be it’s strength.
Maybe you can run your A139 Pro in 1-channel configuration along side the U3000 to still have the best image quality.

 

[SPL15]

This is entirely possible because I don’t even know what a buck regulator is. Lol
This is how I obtained the maximum power output of the two different hardwire kits.
Please tell me if I did this wrong.
I don’t want to post any false & misleading info when so much already exists.
-Chuck

I’m not exactly sure what this test is supposed to be showing. Are these the two different HK3-C cables?
What are the different conductor gauges you spoke of earlier, are these USB cable side, or 12 volt input side?
My speculative guess is that the only difference between the two is that the cabling is different, where power module is the same.

If so:

• What variable are you using to determine when to terminate how much current is being drawn?
• The power input in watts from the DC power supply will be around 15 - 30% higher than what is being output by the HK3-C power module.
  • Buck regulators “typically” are 70 - 85% efficient, highly dependent upon design, as well as current & voltage conversion ratio from input to output
  • Higher input voltage from the DC power supply will slightly increase efficiency of the buck switching regulator inside the HK3-C power module (& vice versa )
    • For a given output wattage, you will see input current reduce as input voltage increases (Constant power); however, the input power in watts should slightly reduce with the higher input voltage due to lower resistive losses (I^2R losses) of PCB traces & mainly the inductor wire from the lower current.
• To get power output, need to also measure voltage output
  • Should be relatively stable at 5.x volts at the PCB, but will be significantly less at the end of the USB cable, increasingly so as current increases, due to resistive losses of the copper cabling
  • With a 15 ft run of 24 AWG USB cable, I calculate approximately
    • 0.6 volt drop at 0.5 amps output current, w/ 4.4 volts at the end of the USB cable
    • 1.2 volts drop at 1 amp output, w/ 3.8 volts at the end of the USB cable
    • 2.4 volts drop @ 2 amps output, w/ 2.6 volts at the end of the USB cable
    • 3.6 volts drop @ 3 amps, w/ 1.4 volts at the end of the USB cable
    • The Dashcam will likely start to act funny if voltage drops much below 4 volts, so just under 1 amp of current draw is really the “useable limit” of the HK3-C cable in stock form w/ 15 ft of 24 AWG cabling to the dashcam.
      • This is why I modified my HK3-C cable’s USB side to be 18 AWG as far up as I could
        • This resulted in around a 0.15 volt drop w/ 4.85 volts at the USB cable end, assuming 0.5 amps of draw by the dashcam
          • Dashcam also runs slightly more power efficient with higher input voltage
• I certainly wouldn’t draw more than 3.0 amps from the HK3-C, as the power management IC (PMIC) is only rated for 3 amps output.
  • The PMIC may allow for more current to be drawn than rated; however, this is beyond what the finished cable assembly should be rated for
  • Common design practice is to never run any component in a circuit beyond 80% of it’s absolute max ratings
    • This would mean the HK3-C cable should only be rated at 12 watts of output (5 volts x 2.4 amps).
      • This is ignoring the real world limitations of cabling losses that cause excess voltage drop at just 1 amp of output current.
    • The other design limit is the HK3-C power module output capacitor & the inductor are not sized properly for 3 amps of output
      • Drawing this much current will drastically increase inefficiency / heat production of the power module, as well as cause excess noise that the dashcam‘s power management circuit must deal with.

We can take this discussion offline in a different thread or direct messages as well.
This kinda stuff interests me, it’s no chore, I’m an EE, I love this kinda stuff, I do it for fun on other forums for other hobbies I have.
I design power electronics for a living now, but I used to be a test engineering manager in consumer products before my current job; these kinda of questions & discussions are fun, I love this kinda stuff

 

[Panzer Platform]

I’m not exactly sure what this test is supposed to be showing.

I'm so sorry for not including any context, sorry about that. lol
All your questions should be answered in my original post here;
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a139-pro-test-review-pp.48049/post-595941

 

[Panzer Platform]

I have zero plans to pay shipping back to China

A139 Pro has become simply a stopgap until I decide to pull the trigger on the Thinkware U3000.

I was curious what Thinkware's warranty policy is for return shipping back to Korea.

The bad news:
The consumer must pay all shipping costs for warranty returns back to Thinkware.

The good news:
Thinkware has a warehouse is Los Angeles, CA that handles all USA returns.
So at least you don't have to ship internationally.
Shipping a U3000 to Los Angeles, CA from anywhere in the US 50 States will cost $15 with USPS 2-DAY Priority Shipping.

 

[safedrivesolutions]

Confirmed no rear cam videos on SD card via SanDisk Pro SD card Reader

Doesn’t matter if cell data is on or off. No rear cam recordings. App connects fine

3 min segments. 1 minute is too short, more than 3 creates too large of files for my liking. And really, it shouldn’t matter

Ive got the annoying voice prompts turned off. I’ve learned to listen to the beeps when the ignition is turned on to see whether the camera is locked up & not recording anything.

I’ve updated to the latest firmware Viofo released & reset all the settings. We’ll see if any of the issues are resolved

Thanks for responding.

 

[Aloux]

Same issue with rear recording missing.

I installed A139 Pro a couple of weeks ago. Using the Hardwire kit HK3-C with no modification (only 12V acc and no parking mode right now). Got a large rock cracking my windshield last night. so I checked the card today and no rear recordings despite seeing the rear video in the app (I can switch between front, rear, and front/rear combo in the app). Camera on the 03 firmware (was the latest until I checked today). I will update to the 06 that I saw on the Viofo website today and see if something changes.