Couple of Q's. regarding possible non-overwriting fault and battery life.

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Shaky

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I've had my 622GW for about a year and a half. It's normally left in the car in the garage but gets taken out when I go anywhere and park up to avoid it tempting tea-leaves. I don't have the parking sensor turned on so when I'm not in the car, it won't be occasionally turning on to record.. I will say that the car gets very little use (just over 3k miles in that period) so I don't know if that affects anything ? It was bought as a bundle from Nextbase - camera, card, rear window camera, hardwire kit so I presume all have passed their checks.

First question is that the battery lifetime is now ridiculously low. I had the camera out yesterday, plugged it into the usb charger until the blue light went out, signifying it was fully charged I believe ? When I turned it on, it only stayed live for about 2-3 mins which doesn't seem very good at all to me ? I also had the auto power-off turned off (I usually have it turned on when I'm using the camera normally) and judging by the battery indicator flashing and showing empty, at which point the camera shut down, it's not the auto-off function.

Second question is regarding the over-recording function. If I understand it correctly, the camera, once it senses that the SD card is full will start to overwrite the oldest recordings with no intervention on my part ? This does not seem to be happening. I don't normally check the recordings as I've been lucky enough to not have any incidents in the last 18 months of driving but yesterday, I decided to have a look through the recordings as I've noticed quite a lot of people on here having an issue with the quality. That's when it hit me that the newest recording was dated 9th July 2022 but I spent a week from 11th to the 15th July travelling backwards and forwards to a training course, which hadn't recorded ! Not to mention the few little trips her and there since then, also not recorded ! Good job i ain't had any incidents really coz I wouldn't have had the evidence for the insurance.

The camera still makes the little "ding" sound if the G-sensor picks up anything but it obviously isn't recording anything onto the protected area of the card as that latest date stated earlier wasn't a protected file. The card was showing full as well so I'm guessing that's the issue ?

I haven't noticed any settings that can be altered to tell it to NOT overwrite older files and there hasn't been any alarms, audible or visual from the unit warning me of any problems. I also checked that the card wasn't full of protected recordings that would cause the issue but that folder only took up about 30-odd GB of space leaving plenty for the normal files to be overwritten.

I decided to format the card (via the camera settings which judging by the amount of time it took just deleted the allocation table, not the actual files) but obviously it'll take a while for it to fill up again coz of the lack of use it gets so I may have to leave it plugged into my usb wall charger left turned on and let it fill up with recordings of my living room - lol.

It's running on the latest 10.5 FW which I also did at the same time as formatting the card, which incidentally I thought had failed coz the My Nextbase Viewer (which I've only just d/l and installed to my lappie) started playing up and wouldn't connect to the camera after the update, although it's done it since.

Any ideas from you knowledgable lot or Nextbase support would be gratefully received as the camera is now out of warranty and tbh I'm a little peeved as it's not really had much use at all.

TIA
 
BUMP ;)

Nobody any ideas or opinions ?

Or am I best leaving it and seeing if it sorts itself out ?
 
Hello,

Thanks for your message, I'm sorry to hear that you're having two issues with your 622GW. It sounds like you need to do a battery test, and format the SD card more often.

I'd recommend performing a battery test:

1. Unplug the Rear Dash Cam (if applicable) and remove the Dash Cam from it's windscreen mount.
2. Take the Dash Cam indoors and remove the SD card.
3. Using the USB cable provided in the box, plug it into a mains power supply (2 Amp recommended), make sure to plug the cable into the body of the camera, not through the car mount.
4. Go into the Dash Cam menu and make sure that Parking Mode is turned off (if applicable), if Parking Mode is enabled, this will affect the test.
5. Leave the camera on charge for 4 hours (or more) with the camera turned on. When fully charged, the blue charging LED should turn off.
6. Unplug the power cable, the camera should shut down.
7. Turn the Dash Cam on (using only battery power) and time how long it takes for the battery to run out and the camera to shut down.

Please note:
After performing this test, your Dash Cam will need to charged again, before reinstalling in your car.

Please let me know how long the battery lasts during the above test.


Regarding the SD card, the camera will record continuously in small segments (1,2, or 3 minutes). It will record these segments consecutively until the SD card is full. Then the oldest piece of footage will be deleted and the newest will be saved in it's place. This will continue looping and is called Continuous Overwriting. The Dash Cam does this automatically to allow for more footage to be recorded and the old, unnecessary footage to be deleted without manual intervention.

However Protected Files are not overwritten in the same way as normal files. If you do not format regularly, these files can build up and reduce the capacity of storage available for normal footage. It is essential to format every two weeks to delete any protected files and clear the card ready for continued usage.

We recommend formatting the SD card every two weeks, if this hasn't been done I'd recommend a full computer format (not a quick format). the card should then work along with regular formatting on the dashcam.
On the Dash Cam:
a) Turn on the Dash Cam
b) Stop it recording
c) Open Settings
d) Go into Setup
e) Click 'Format'
f) Follow the instructions.

If the SD card still isn't working correctly after regular formatting, you will need to replace the SD card and ensure the new card is regularly formatted from the start.

Kind regards,
Millie
Nextbase Technical Support
 
Thanks for the reply Millie, I'm currently trying the battery test procedure now and will report back as to how it fares.

As to the overwriting issue, I was already aware of how that works, hence why I posted the question as it doesn't appear to be working correctly. It was obvious to me that if the protected files had grown to such a size that they basically filled the card, the overwriting wouldn't be possible. As I mentioned, I checked the size of the protected files folder and it was only 30GB or so, leaving over 80GB free for the normal, unprotected files so I expected it to be overwriting, which it wasn't.

Anyway, I've formatted the card via the dashcam (don't remember seeing an option to carry-out a full format but will check again once the battery test has been completed.
 
Quick update.....Did the battery test as described and although the blue light went out after only 25 mins, I left it plugged into the wall charger for a couple of hours. Did the run-down test and it lasted 17 mins so I suppose the battery is prolly OK.

It did get bloody hot I noticed though, is this normal ?

I've left it turned on and recording while it's plugged into the wall charger and currently recorded about 65GB of video but I turned it off coz how hot it gets to give it a breather. I'll fire it up again tomorrow to check that it starts to overwrite OK.

Btw @ Millie, I can't find any settings either in the camera itself or using the Nextbase player on the Laptop to perform a full format. I guess the only way to carry that out is to have a standalone card reader ? I could always do it from within Windows using File Explorer as there is the option to format as exFat but that will obviously remove the .info file on the card as well.
 
you can format from the dash cam (and actually is recommended):

a) Turn on the Dash Cam

b) Stop it recording by pressing the red circle in the bottom left hand corner of the dash cam's screen.

c) Open Settings, the icon in the top left.

d) Go into Setup

e) Scroll across and click 'Format'

f) Follow the instructions
 
taffer87 said:
you can format from the dash cam (and actually is recommended):
Click to expand...

Yeah I knew that taffer. It's just that Millie recommended a full format, not the /Q option which I couldn't see any steps for on the dashcam. I now realise that I mis-understood her instructions and it does indeed have to be performed via my laptop/PC.

I just need her to confirm that it is OK for me to do this through Explorer while the dashcam is connected to the laptop or if i have to get myself an SD card reader.
 
ah ok didn't know that the dashcam formatting is a quick format only.. interesting
 
taffer87 said:
ah ok didn't know that the dashcam formatting is a quick format only.. interesting
Click to expand...

Well the format option on the dashcam is done virtually instantaneously whereas a full format (even on a speedy SD card) would normally take a minute or two so I reckon the dashcam format option only actually deletes the Allocation Table and doesn't actually delete the existing files. :unsure:

Tbh I can't see why there is a need for a regular format as the only time I've had to format my PC's SSD's is when I initially install them and I never have problems with them. The small one on my general use laptop is forever getting useless files deleted and overwritten. Maybe the controller chip used in the dashcam isn't sophisticated enough to keep on top of things and needs a manual intervention every once in a while ?

I don't really know and I'm not too fussed as long as it works OK :ROFLMAO:.

I'm not gonna try to do a full format though until someone from Nextbase support comes on here and confirms it'll be OK to do while the card is still in the dashcam to make sure I don't screw it up totally. :oops::ROFLMAO:.
 
Hi again,

It sounds like the battery is fine, which would indicate an SD card issue.
Here's how to format the card on a computer.
On a Windows Computer:
a) Plug the SD card into the SD card port, or plug the provided USB cable into the port on the top of the camera (select UPDATE on the cam's screen).
b) When the drive appears, right click on the drive.
c) Select 'Format' (Windows)
d) Ensure the 'Quick Format box' is not ticked. Please ensure it's formatted as exFAt or FAT32.
e) Follow the instructions.

There's no problem with the info file being deleted, just format the card in the camera after the computer and it will show again.

On a Mac:
To reformat an SD or micro SD card on your Mac, do this:
Download, Unzip and install the following program
This is a tool to format SD cards properly on a mac.
Ensure you select "Overwrite Format"

Kind regards,
Millie
Nextbase
 
NextBase Support said:
Hi again,

It sounds like the battery is fine, which would indicate an SD card issue.
Here's how to format the card on a computer.
On a Windows Computer:
a) Plug the SD card into the SD card port, or plug the provided USB cable into the port on the top of the camera (select UPDATE on the cam's screen).
b) When the drive appears, right click on the drive.
c) Select 'Format' (Windows)
d) Ensure the 'Quick Format box' is not ticked. Please ensure it's formatted as exFAt or FAT32.
e) Follow the instructions.
Click to expand...

Thanks Millie, I'll do that today.
 
Just a bit of an update for anyone who decides to go down the "format the card in the dashcam" route. The usb is deffo not usb3 as it took an absolute age to do it :sleep:. I didn't time it per se but it was well over 45 mins so if anyone wants to do a full format of their card, don't do it if you're in a rush :ROFLMAO: or alternatively, use a card reader if you've got one. Mine is a 128GB Nextbase card so I suppose it's one of the larger cards that this dashcam uses.

Funnily enough, the basic quick format that the dashcam itself does seemed to cure the overwriting problem as after leaving the cam recording, as I said I would earlier, the files had started to overwrite coz the card was 100% full but the earliest file was from two hours after I started the process so all's good now. (y).

Thanks for the advice Millie. ;)
 
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