Can WiFi turn on automatically?

[sowiq]

I'm a new owner of A129 Pro. I'm finding a little complicated to enable WiFi in the camera, once it's been turned off and on again.

Is it somehow possible to make it to enable WiFi automatically, once it's turned on? Or maybe some shortcut I'm not aware about?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nigel]

Just long press the wifi button (right button), not very complicated!

 

[sowiq]

@Nigel this worked like a charm, thank you!

I was a little confused, as the right button has no indication that it can do things with WiFi. But it apparently can.

 

[Nigel]

I did tell Viofo to put it under the WiFi LED and label, but they never did!

 

[OzAdam]

I did tell Viofo to put it under the WiFi LED and label, but they never did!

Nigel that makes far too much sense! That's why they never did it!

 

[fremnet]

Hi.
I have one of these sitting in my cart, along with the hardwire kit (gonna hook it up to a cellink) and the CPL (cos this is Australia the sun is harsh)

I just thought I'd clarify something about the wifi.

If I configure it on, will it stay on forever? I've been working on a system to download and archive the videos on a server at home (it has plenty of free terabytes, should be good enough to store 12 months of footage before it has to delete anything) and I want it to be automatic, I want to park the car in the drive way, have a device on my network connect to it and grab all the videos (I'm sure I'm going to have to poke around the guts of the app or something to find a usable API, I haven't really looked yet)

I wanted to do this with my Navman MiVue but turning the wifi on forces a lower resolution, and while I'm playing about hacking it's firmware... I thought it might actually be more fun to upgrade and get 4k.

So, will the wifi stay on once turned on? (even if the camera reboots?)

 

[sowiq]

@fremnet I'm not sure about switching into and from a parking mode, but I can confirm that WiFi gets disabled automatically after reboot and currently there is no other way than turning it on manually.

 

[OzAdam]

Hi.
I have one of these sitting in my cart, along with the hardwire kit (gonna hook it up to a cellink) and the CPL (cos this is Australia the sun is harsh)

I just thought I'd clarify something about the wifi.

If I configure it on, will it stay on forever? I've been working on a system to download and archive the videos on a server at home (it has plenty of free terabytes, should be good enough to store 12 months of footage before it has to delete anything) and I want it to be automatic, I want to park the car in the drive way, have a device on my network connect to it and grab all the videos (I'm sure I'm going to have to poke around the guts of the app or something to find a usable API, I haven't really looked yet)

I wanted to do this with my Navman MiVue but turning the wifi on forces a lower resolution, and while I'm playing about hacking it's firmware... I thought it might actually be more fun to upgrade and get 4k.

So, will the wifi stay on once turned on? (even if the camera reboots?)

Mine seems to turn off automatically soon as I disconnect (or shortly after) the phone app. It certainly doesn’t remain on after the camera reboots I know that much.

The non 4K version (A129 Duo) reduced its recording bitrate when WiFi was on I believe. Not sure if the Pro does also.

 

[fremnet]

Alright, I guess the camera can sadly stay sitting in my basket, this is why I want to swap from MiVue - Can't even change the default password on their phones without patching the firmware...

Edit. Thought I'd be polite and thank you for the input. Thank you for your input

 

[OzAdam]

There is a WiFi menu that allows changing between Off, 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. I have only ever used the button to control WiFi. I will have to test out the menu to see if WiFi is persistent when activated this way. Perhaps someone who has had more experience with the A129 Pro WiFi can add their thoughts.

I’ve found WiFi on dashcams to be lacklustre in general and wouldn’t really place much weight on this feature for a buying decision. Most have horrendously slow transfer speeds as well as limitations (e.g. image quality reduction and extra heat generation). For example on this camera at (and I quote Jeremy Wong) "H.264 Maximum bit rate Front cam: 3840×2160 30fps – Overall bit rate: 60.3 Mb/s equates to 431MB per 1min file".

For a 10 minute drive it’s about a 4.3 GB file. I have seen my camera max out at 10 MB/s - one of the faster cams for WiFi apparently. Take a longer drive and wireless transfer times will really blow out.

This is why I want to swap from MiVue

You should change anyway! This dashcam is worlds better for video quality.

 

[Nigel]

Alright, I guess the camera can sadly stay sitting in my basket, this is why I want to swap from MiVue - Can't even change the default password on their phones without patching the firmware...

Edit. Thought I'd be polite and thank you for the input. Thank you for your input

I don't think you will ever get a 4K camera with wifi permanently on, the wifi creates too much heat within the camera for it to stay on through a hot summer day.

With the A129 Pro you can turn it on by pressing the button when you park up at home, your app can connect up and download the files, then disconnect and the wifi on the camera will automatically turn off again.

It does have faster wifi than all the other cameras by 5 - 10 x, however the files are also rather larger, so downloading everything over wifi is probably still not very sensible unless you have set a low bitrate. It does produce reasonable results at lower bitrates, but then why buy the dashcam with the best image quality, only to then set it to low quality?!

 

[fremnet]

Speed isn't important, I'm not downloading them to watch them, I'm downloading them to archive them for 6-12 months, doesn't matter if it takes 6 hours to do it

Perhaps instead of a wifi on all the time, a wifi on in parking mode, or wifi on in geo-fenced location (ie: car is home, turn wifi on).

I'm all about automation and honestly tired of misplacing microsd cards or not getting around to taking the video I want off the camera (I get about 1.5 days worth of recording currently, anything older than that gets overwritten so if I don't do it when I get home or I forget when I get to work, probably lost)

Don't even get me started on the video from the bike, that's 3 separate cameras including the madv360 - wish I could automate those but I need to dismantle everything for charging anyway

 

[viofo]

The Wi-Fi will be automatically disabled in parking mode to reduce heating.

This pro version maybe the one of the fastest downloading speed dash cam in the market.

 

[fremnet]

The Wi-Fi will be automatically disabled in parking mode to reduce heating

If it is already in parking mode can I turn wifi on and have it stay on?
Perhaps is there an api that I could use to turn it off when I'm done synchronizing video?

What I'm looking to do is automatically backup the video each night when I get home.
I don't mind if I have to stop the car first, let the camera go into parking mode and then push the wifi button, or perhaps an option is to configure a geofence, inside that area wifi turns on.

I plan to have the house look for "dashcam wifi" connect to it, download the videos, and then if it's possible turn off the wifi.

I know it seems a bit odd, but the first dashcam company that achieves the relatively simple goal (when compared to something like the complexity of ADAS or Lane departure warnings) of letting my sync off the videos when I get home (preferably automatic) gets my money. I could even open source my project.

 

[Nath]

Blackvue has the ability to connecto to home Wifi and then it's accessible via network. You can download everything what's inside an SDcard, watch mjpeg stream, etc. (in this forum are even some DIY softwares which handles automatic download of a footage)

 

[Nigel]

If it is already in parking mode can I turn wifi on and have it stay on?
Perhaps is there an api that I could use to turn it off when I'm done synchronizing video?

What I'm looking to do is automatically backup the video each night when I get home.
I don't mind if I have to stop the car first, let the camera go into parking mode and then push the wifi button, or perhaps an option is to configure a geofence, inside that area wifi turns on.

I plan to have the house look for "dashcam wifi" connect to it, download the videos, and then if it's possible turn off the wifi.

I know it seems a bit odd, but the first dashcam company that achieves the relatively simple goal (when compared to something like the complexity of ADAS or Lane departure warnings) of letting my sync off the videos when I get home (preferably automatic) gets my money. I could even open source my project.

Maybe you can put the Acc input through a timer so that it only goes into parking mode after an hour? Or only enable the Acc input on a GPS unit saying that you are not at home?

I think it is reasonable for Viofo to disable wifi in parking mode, it is them that has to provide the warranty if it dies of overheating while sitting in mid day sunshine in a closed car with the wifi on!

 

[OzAdam]

If it is already in parking mode can I turn wifi on and have it stay on?
Perhaps is there an api that I could use to turn it off when I'm done synchronizing video?

I doubt it. It sounds like Viofo have designed it to turn off the WiFi in parking mode for thermal management reasons. Not sure if there would be API access anyway – you would have to try this. A quick search shows people have written APIs for Novatek based cameras. Try some of these out and you might have luck. That would be cool if you could enable / disable WiFi on demand this way.

What I'm looking to do is automatically backup the video each night when I get home.
I don't mind if I have to stop the car first, let the camera go into parking mode and then push the wifi button, or perhaps an option is to configure a geofence, inside that area wifi turns on.

I plan to have the house look for "dashcam wifi" connect to it, download the videos, and then if it's possible turn off the wifi.

I see your point about doing this and I automate everything I can when needed. I did think about doing something like this myself but then released 99% of video my dashcam records isn't needed. I decided to go for a large SD card to give me some storage to keep older footage just in case. We all have different reasons wants and needs though. I see this as a decent feature and would want it on a dashcam. At least we would have the option to use it if wanted.

I know it seems a bit odd, but the first dashcam company that achieves the relatively simple goal (when compared to something like the complexity of ADAS or Lane departure warnings) of letting my sync off the videos when I get home (preferably automatic) gets my money. I could even open source my project.

I feel the manufacturers are of this opinion of 'its not needed' or they haven’t thought that far. They most likely believe it’s not worth spending any development budget on this feature as they might see it as unwarranted for most consumers. You however have a need for this thus have unfortunately limited solutions.

Blackvue has the ability to connecto to home Wifi and then it's accessible via network. You can download everything what's inside an SDcard, watch mjpeg stream, etc. (in this forum are even some DIY softwares which handles automatic download of a footage)

Yeah this is a good option if you need this feature. I tried it and it worked fine.

From the looks of it the A129 Pro acts as a hotspot in a server role rather than a traditional network client that would be willing to authenticate to an access point. I am basing this on my assumptions as I have not looked into its network stack implementation. I see no GUI way to set an IP or receive DHCP - API perhaps?

Maybe you can put the Acc input through a timer so that it only goes into parking mode after an hour? Or only enable the Acc input on a GPS unit saying that you are not at home?

I think it is reasonable for Viofo to disable wifi in parking mode, it is them that has to provide the warranty if it dies of overheating while sitting in mid day sunshine in a closed car with the wifi on!

I use timer relays to delay power in my car for various 12v gear. Can be set to delay turn on or turn off from 0.5 seconds to 6 hours. I’m sure you can get GPS controlled solutions also. The timer relay was very expensive though at around $100AUD.
I wish we could set geofenced parking mode locations. That way parking mode could be disabled automatically in the home garage or were needed.

 

[viofo]

You can connect the camera with a computer and access http://192.168.1.254 to download the video.

 

[R1KSU]

I got my Pro today and have used the existing A129 duo cables, I to have noticed the WiFi turns off every time the camera restarts, but when I try to connect to the app, the camera locks up, when it does connect I press the record button to try to get into the menu on the app and it just freezes. I have the power lead into the side of the camera, like the duo and IR models did.
Also the supplied USB car adapter only 1 side works correctly, one usb keeps turning the cam off and making it freeze up.
@viofo did you get my pm with the YouTube link Re the MT1?

 

[Nath]

Have you updated the firmware? I think they've addressed this issue already.