All the problems... is it only me?

[xiongguoy]

All the problems that I have been reading about:
Random beeps, random power offs, parking mode not working, files not deleting when full, missing recordings, WiFi problems, etc, etc,...

Am I the only one not experiencing any of these? or is there something wrong or missing some where?

Got the A129 Duo Pro and IR Cam in Nov'19 with the 3 wire hardware kit and using a Samsung EVO Plus (not EVO+) U3 128GB Card.
Been following all the threads here since. Flashed to 1.2ACC.T 20191101 the 2nd day.

Never ever hear any beeps while driving.
The first few weeks I have been removing the card every day and checking the contents on my computer.
No missing footage, parking mode seems to be working fine, auto purges at around 20% storage.
Have only formatted the card once after the firmware flash, since then been letting the camera doing its own auto purge/looping/rotating or whatever you call it.
There is always around 2-3GB free.
Now I only remove the card to check the contents once a week, or when I want to keep something interesting.
So far still no sign of missing recordings, or any of the problems others have described.

My only issue is the night glare, but after some consulting, it may not be fully the cameras fault.

My Settings:
Front 2560x1440P 60fps Rear 1920x1080P 30fps
Maximum Bitrate
10 minutes loop recording
WDR On, HEVC On
Advanced Parking Mode Auto Event Detection
Parking G-sensor and Parking Motion Detection both set to low
G-sensor and Motion Detection both set to off
Screen Saver 15s
Boot Delay 5s

I choose the A129 Duo Pro (at that time) because it had the best 4K/2K60FPS quality, as compared to Thinkware and Blackvue, which where I am, are 3 times the price.
And the other 2 had features that I do not need/may not want so no point paying for those extras.

To me this is a cheap Chinese camera, so I don't expect much of it, but so far it has outperformed my expectations and has earned its worth in value.

 

[DT MI]

Am I the only one not experiencing any of these? or is there something wrong or missing some where?

You have to keep in mind that on any internet forum you're far more likely to hear problems versus praise - it's just the nature of forums, be they about cameras, cars or anything else.

 

[reverend]

Try changing the front channel to 4k and see how you get on [emoji106]

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[xiongguoy]

Try changing the front channel to 4k and see how you get on [emoji106]

I mainly want it because of 60fps, and 2K quality is good enough for me.
I will try the 4K and see how it goes.

 

[kamkar]

60 FPS are fine if you have a need to slow something down a little, but otherwise in my testing 2 similar cameras just the 30 / 60 FPS being the difference really it was extremely marginal if the 60 FPS camera was better or captured a little detail and the 30 fps camera did not.
So while i was once very big on getting 60 FPS in cameras ( before it was a option ) then when i finally got to test it, it really was not the break thru i hoped it would be.

 

[xiongguoy]

So I changed to 4K and been running the pass 2 days.
Still no problems no beeps.

I'm considering this possibility:
I re-partitioned my cards, I left 2MB free at the start, so the partition starts at sector 800h, not 63h or 80h or 0h which some cards come default.
I partitioned them to round even numbers, so my partition size is 118GB, not 119.2 GB, ending sector is a nice rounded xxxxxFFFh.
I do this to allow over-provisioning and give the card more space for sector reallocation.
I format it as FAT32 with 64k clusters instead of the default 32k.
This reduces the number of clusters the system needs to handle and keep track.

 

[Paul Iddon]

So I changed to 4K and been running the pass 2 days.
Still no problems no beeps.

I'm considering this possibility:
I re-partitioned my cards, I left 2MB free at the start, so the partition starts at sector 800h, not 63h or 80h or 0h which some cards come default.
I partitioned them to round even numbers, so my partition size is 118GB, not 119.2 GB, ending sector is a nice rounded xxxxxFFFh.
I do this to allow over-provisioning and give the card more space for sector reallocation.
I format it as FAT32 with 64k clusters instead of the default 32k.
This reduces the number of clusters the system needs to handle and keep track.

That's very interesting to read.

However, dare I suggest 99% of people won't have a clue how to do the partitioning - even if you gave them step by step instructions!


My 2 A129 Pro's do not bleep either - both continue to record without a hitch.

Having said that I do habitually format in camera all my memory cards in all my dashcams regardless.

Paul.

 

[reverend]

From memory you don't use parking mode either do you Paul? Or I don't think you used to.

I just checked the 400GB card and that's also 64KB sectors and has a larger 32MB offset before the partition starts and that was prepped with GUIFormat i think.

In theory if the cards have wear levelling they'll also have some extra NAND for the reallocation purposes.

Silly question but do your cars have ECO functions with smart alternators? I've been wondering if my smart alternator is causing some of the problems and possibly for other users of high drain dashcams too. Time will tell. I've tried new batteries you name it all over winter and Eco wouldn't fully kick in - as soon as I took the A129 Pro out and swapped for the A129 Duo Eco suddenly started kicking in more.

 

[Paul Iddon]

No, I don't use parking mode.

And my crate is a 2002 Ford Focus Ghia saloon.

 

[reverend]

At least you know where you are with the normal alternators - these new ones are all over the bloody shop in terms of their output [emoji23]

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[xiongguoy]

My car is a 1992 Toyota. I use parking mode.
For Samsung cards, they don't have hidden reserves for reallocation, you will need to manually allocate some, unlike sandisk or others.

 

[xiongguoy]

At least you know where you are with the normal alternators - these new ones are all over the bloody shop in terms of their output [emoji23]

Hmm, so we may have to put car make and model year, alternator and battery into consideration.
Does the alternator and battery of the car able to give consistent and sufficient output for the camera?
Maybe some of the problems others are experiencing are due to sudden voltage drops?

My alternator is 95w, I'm using a traditional wet battery which I check and fill the water level every month,
and I have a custom made voltage stabiliser with a 100000 uF capacitor bank.

 

[reverend]

Hopefully it's not the smart alternators causing problems but you never know. I know my car is definitely happier to charge the aux battery when the A129 Pro isn't connected
Cars are getting to clever for their own good sometimes!

The A129 Pro definitely needs a firmware update to iron out some of the issues, but maybe this sort of thing isn't helping matters.

 

[kamkar]

There are only a few smart things i would like in a car, heated seats - heated windscreen - heated steering wheel - airbags, and i think that's about it
ABS - and other stability and steering aids they can forget about, don't even need electric windows, and if they leave a hole i can even put in my own radio of choice.
Pretty much i want a good modern car with modern fule consumption, and otherwise 70ties technology level, and i want it cheap.

 

[Nigel]

Hopefully it's not the smart alternators causing problems but you never know. I know my car is definitely happier to charge the aux battery when the A129 Pro isn't connected
Cars are getting to clever for their own good sometimes!

The A129 Pro definitely needs a firmware update to iron out some of the issues, but maybe this sort of thing isn't helping matters.

If you are using the HK3 hardwire kit then it is hard to see how the alternator could possibly cause any issue.

A normal hardwire kit with low voltage cutoff could possibly turn the camera off briefly every time you accelerate hard and the alternator turns off to free up some extra power! Not sure the voltage should ever drop enough though, if there is significant load on the electrics then the alternator should stay on.

 

[SawMaster]

However, dare I suggest 99% of people won't have a clue how to do the partitioning - even if you gave them step by step instructions!

Pretty easy to do with the "MiniAide FAT32 Formatter" freeware CNET Download Link Here Just remember that you have to hit the "Apply" button on the top menu bar after selecting your choices. I'm not "high-tech" by any means so if I can do it with this tool anyone can And good to hear of the benefits of allocating more space behind the partition on this thread, I might give that a try next 'cam maintenance day'

Phil

 

[reverend]

If you are using the HK3 hardwire kit then it is hard to see how the alternator could possibly cause any issue.

Not really, my car has a smart alternator and two batteries - a main in the engine bay and an aux in the boot.

These days priority will always be economy and keeping emissions down while also trying to keep them charged. The ECO system isn't expecting the power to be reduced via the likes of a parking mode dashcam when the car is turned off.

When the car is first started the camera is already off which means the HK3 has cut off due to low voltage and then the smart alternator raises up to 14v and it's during this raise up period where the camera is unstable, at least from what I see here as it will sit and reboot multiple times and does that with multiple microSD cards. The A129 Duo seems to work fine in that period though with the same HK3.

It may be a combination of firmware and hardware tweaks are needed to fix this for all.

Who knows, maybe the test unit or HK3 are also faulty - if it was just me then fair enough but there are other people with very similar faults which points towards the HK3 / A129 Pro / Firmware.

 

[Nigel]

then the smart alternator raises up to 14v and it's during this raise up period where the camera is unstable, at least from what I see here as it will sit and reboot multiple times and does that with multiple microSD cards. The A129 Duo seems to work fine in that period though with the same HK3.

To me, that says that with the higher current requirement of the A129 Pro, the hardwire kit is not supplying enough voltage to the camera, it can more or less be confirmed by unplugging the rear camera to reduce the load. I think the hardwire kit should be able to supply enough voltage as long as the battery is above 9 volts, so the alternator should not be an issue.

Is it an A129 Duo hardwire kit, or a newer one compatible with A129 and A129 Pro?

I have seen a similar rebooting issue recently with a camera that takes even more power than the A129 Pro, had to swap to the cigar lighter adaptor it was supplied with before it worked reliably with all channels recording. I believe it worked OK once the super capacitor was charged, but the higher power cameras have rather large super capacitors which put a lot of strain on the hardwire kit while attempting to charge quickly.

 

[TonyM]

I find this talk of specialist formatting interesting, although I can only pretend to understand what you're saying. Isn't there a risk though that an uninformed user might setup their card in such a way that the camera performance is compromised, rather than enhanced?

For now I'm sticking with the "format cards in-camera" approach until I know better.

 

[Paul Iddon]

If anyone wants to try a well-specced card at a very good price, My Memory do a card that they say will write fast enough for the 4k Duo, and has a warranty that covers dashcam usage - they are based in the UK.

My Memory 128gb

I'm gonna get one to try soon.