B1W blocking my cars sat nav GPS signal

aabs

aabs

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Since installing my Blueskysea B1W my cars built in sat nav cannot get a GPS signal.
If I remove the the dadhcam the sat nags GPS signal returns.
I have read posts about wrapping the dash cam in baking foil but are there any other alternative methods to resolve this issue.
I have my cam hard wired behind my rear view mirror and ideally don't want to move it.
My next step is to put a small faraday filter on the micro USB lead but putting this out there for other suggestions from other users who may have resolved this problem already
 
I've not heard of the B1W causing GPS issues before, my guess is that you have placed it within 1 inch of the car's GPS antenna and just moving it down or across 2 or 3 inches will solve the problem...
 
I think the issue will be the cam itself as there's apparently no overall PCB shielding inside such as you find in SG cams; an economy measure for an economy cam so not real fault in this as intereference isn't a widely found issue with B1W. If you've got a powerbank try using that to power it, as battery power is 'cleaner' electrically. If that solves the problem try a different PS, and if not then moving the cam will probably be necessary. How far to move will be an experimental process.

Alternately if your GPS has it's electronics under a cover up there, and the cover is easily removable, what I'd try first is taping foil on the outside of the cover between it and the cam to test, and if that works then remove the cover and glue the foil inside of it. If none of this works then you may need a better shielded cam but even that does not guarantee that you won't still have this problem.

Phil
 
Same problem here. B1W is nearly completly blocking any GPS signal. Power source is not the problem, feeded it from different sources and an external power bank.

So it looks like the B1W is another useless cam if you need your GPS.
It is fixed at the top of the windshield and GPS antenna is underneath the dashboard. Not really close.
Really dissapointing they did not do a proper shielding of the camera.

Nothing I would recommend to someone.

My 5 year old mobius cam still has a better image quality and more options to adjust the image. Or is there any firmware for B1W to adjust image quality?
 
Welcome to DCR @Wallace666 :)

It might work if the cam is positioned to one side or the other- it's hard to know. Part of this is that the GPS sensor is "looking upward" to the sky for signals and that's where the cam is. The other part is that the cam needs to be able to access wifi, so any shielding in the cam might reduce that ability. You could try placing a metal shield of some kind under the cam,maybe aluminum foil held on with blu-tack for testing. Might or might not help.

I don't think any FW has been done for image quality improvement. The IMX323 sensor had a relatively low pixel count so is limited in resolution, but that is what gives it better low-light performance which will be better than Mobius then. It is a budget-level cam and one's expectations should take that into account.

Of all the older AR0330 sensor cams, Mobius is probably the best as they tuned the image quality well, and they used higher grade lenses. It's still a viable dashcam but only lacking in low-light performance and some features that many cam buyers now want. And no other cam comes close in it's adjustability which is why most folks experimenting with lens swaps use it. Mobius is unique in that regard.

Phil
 
Might be interesting to know what model of car is having these problems? Not saying that it is the car at fault, but until this thread we have not been seeing many issues and I'm not aware of any change to the B1W.

Wallace666 said:
My 5 year old mobius cam still has a better image quality and more options to adjust the image. Or is there any firmware for B1W to adjust image quality?
Click to expand...
That might depend on how you measure quality. The B1W is not designed for movie making, it is designed as a security camera for recording number plates at the expense of other aspects of image quality, and it will continue to record number plates in darker conditions than the Mobius.
 
Nigel said:
I've not heard of the B1W causing GPS issues before, my guess is that you have placed it within 1 inch of the car's GPS antenna and just moving it down or across 2 or 3 inches will solve the problem...
Click to expand...
Me neither.. and it seems to me that it should not, at least not unless its physically sitting right on top of the GPS unit. Even then, that SHOULD NOT block GPS as they don't operate at close to the same frequency ranges. GPS uses L1 (1600Mhz?) or L2 (1227 Mhz?) and the B1W is 2.4G!
Like you suggested, the OP might try moving the cam ?
 
I've heard of a few cases where a cam's PS would interfere- those are usually somewhat cheap and nasty for RF noise, and of course the cabling will be involved with that. I wouldn't expect a lot better from dashcams themselves TBH. Seeing a spectrum analyzer and RF probe used to check this stuff would probably induce a heart attack to folks in the know about these things :rolleyes:

Phil
 
Wallace666 said:
Really dissapointing they did not do a proper shielding of the camera.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that! This will vary from car to car. Could you mind to wrap the USB car charger with RF filter tape?
 
Car charger is not the problem. As I already wrote, I tried different power supplies, including a battery pack.
This was my first idea and in that case, I would swap it to a linear voltage regulator. But this is not the problem, camera itself disturbs the GPS receiver.

Nigel said:
Might be interesting to know what model of car is having these problems?
Click to expand...
In my case I recognized the problems in an Outlander Sports.

Overall I like the size of the B1W and image quality is ok for a dash cam. But blocking GPS signal is absolutely inacceptable. And this is not a problem of the car, it is a problem of the camera.
 
Can you trying turning off the WiFi of B1W? With the WiFi off, there should be no signal coming out from B1W to interfere with anything. Anyway, my WiFi is always off unless I want to access it to review videos.
 
Wifi is already always off, doesn't make any difference.
 
Wallace666 said:
And this is not a problem of the car, it is a problem of the camera.
Click to expand...

It is a problem of incompatibility and the car or it's GPS manufacturer is part of that problem. Many people with GPS and the B1W cam aren't experiencing this problem so compatibility is possible even if you are having problems, which proves my point. If it were a cam problem only, then everyone would be experiencing the same problem, wouldn't they?

Given the many different cars, GPS builders, and varying installations of car systems it is virtuallly impossible for a dashcam manufacturer to be able to create a cam that will be compatible with all of them. Especially when you're speaking of a budget-friendly cam which obviously cannot have the best of everything in it. Rather than blaming and bashing what truly is a good cam for it's price you should buy a different cam which might give better results. If you find the same problem in that (which you probably will if it's mounted in the same place) , then maybe you can try to get the car manufacturer to change how they do things or alter your car to make it compatible.

The members here and the cam manufacturer are all trying to help you resolve this but you're unwilling to take our experienced advice. If you want Koenigsegg performance you do not buy a Skoda and then complain how slow it is expecting someone to magically give you what you want.

Phil
 
Yesterday I tried it again, and also my phone is blocked. Not completly, but still only a small amount of the sats.

SawMaster said:
The members here and the cam manufacturer are all trying to help you resolve this but you're unwilling to take our experienced advice.
Click to expand...
Which advice do you mean? Everything you mentioned is already tested. Only thing what can be tested is to shield the camera with foil.
And if you are speaking of another cam, why doesn't produce the mobius at the same mountpoint these problems?

So for me the B1W has not properly designed circuit and emitts to much EMV. But it looks like this is something noone wants to hear here.
 
i have heard that the cam also disrupt the radio signal. I don't doubt you. Perhaps blueskysea will take note of this and test their next dashcam model better for shielding. Or perhaps a B2w with improved shielding. Not a bad idea actually. Feedback from users in forum like this is how a manufacturer can take all the feedback and improve upon their product.
 
Wallace666 said:
Yesterday I tried it again, and also my phone is blocked. Not completly, but still only a small amount of the sats.


Which advice do you mean? Everything you mentioned is already tested. Only thing what can be tested is to shield the camera with foil.
And if you are speaking of another cam, why doesn't produce the mobius at the same mountpoint these problems?

So for me the B1W has not properly designed circuit and emitts to much EMV. But it looks like this is something noone wants to hear here.
Click to expand...
I have 2 GPS in my car and it doesn't block either.

All digital electronics cause some radio interference, that can't be avoided, but your car should be able to cope with this. Given that most people never complain about these problems it seems likely that the problem is more to do with your car than the camera. There is probably a good reason that many cars put their GPS antenna up in the shark-fin aerial on the roof and not as you describe "underneath the dashboard." where most satellites will be blocked by metal in the dash, firewall, roof etc.
 
So you excuse a bad design by blaming others for it? GPS antenna in the front dashboard is widely used. Also the problem that it can be recognized on a mobile phone as well, shows that there are a lot of interference.
Additional, as mentionend by abudin, I also know people having problems with DAB+ radio receivers.

There are also some videos out there, showing the GPS problem.

As company it should be on incentive to fix this problem, not to conceal it.
 
DAB interference is hard to eliminate completely, GPS interference though they should be able to improve but it will be a hardware fix
 
Looks like i found the problem. Has nothing to do with the position of the camera or the bad car GPS. Problem is the camera itself. Not the camera model, looks like especially my camera has this problem. I exchanged it to the same model (a friends camera) at exactly the same position etc. and don't have any GPS problems.

So I would say it is not a design problem (as mentioned before). Maybe a bad quality management. I can not say how many cameras have this problem, so I recommend everyoneto check GPS signal directly after purchasing a new one to ensure it has not this problem.
 
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