Crackling noise in audio - 129 Duo

CaptnEric

Active Member
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Location
Melbourne
Country
Australia
Dash Cam
VIOFO A129 DUO, Thinkware F770 1CH & 2CH
I've had my 129 Duo for about a year now and all was going well except for the usual parking g-sensor issues most were having.

Since yesterday, however, the video footage audio has started having crackling noise, like similar to when you plug in earphones halfway into 3.5mm jack and you get that crackling noise. Never happened before and I haven't changed any settings for at least 4 months. I've been taking the dash cam out of the car couple of times a week to check footage and haven't dropped or damaged it in anyway. It's been kept dry and have always wiped it with microfibre cloths to keep it dustfree. I noticed the crackling happens when I drive over uneven roads and speedhumps mostly.

I tried searching here if there were any threads on the issue but failed to find any. Perhaps I wasn't using the correct keywords.
Has this happened or happening to anyone else?
Could the microphone have become faulty?
I'd like to know if anyone else is experiencing the same or similar issue before I contact Viofo Support.
Perhaps anyone from @viofo want to help me out?

PS:
I'm on firmware 1.9
Hardwired using my old Dod DP4 hardwire kit (power connected to dash cam directly)

Thanks guys!
 
Can you post a clip so that we can hear it?
 
Can you post a clip so that we can hear it?

Hey @Nigel , sure mate. I have uploaded the footage on Youtube.
Here's the link Footage of Crackling Noise
Youtube has downgraded the quality of the video but the audio still seems good enough to hear the crackling.

You might want to put your sound up. You'll notice the crackling happens when I drive over uneven parts of the road or when I drive over "cat's eyes" and speed humps. It's as if the microphone is distorting the audio. I'm thinking either the microphone is too sensitive, picking up every noise therefore causing "clipping" or something is loose inside the dash cam housing that's interfering with the microphone.
 
That is something small and loose rattling.

Try putting some sticky tape over the camera buttons and see if the problem disappears.
Also try giving everything around the camera a tap and see if anything rattles, but whatever it is is not much bigger than the camera buttons, it is not cables, and I think it is attached to the camera, not the mirror or any other device.
 
That is something small and loose rattling.

Try putting some sticky tape over the camera buttons and see if the problem disappears.
Also try giving everything around the camera a tap and see if anything rattles, but whatever it is is not much bigger than the camera buttons, it is not cables, and I think it is attached to the camera, not the mirror or any other device.

Thanks Nigel. Ok I put sticky tape over the buttons and took the polarising filter off. Shook the dash cam and there is no noise of anything loose coming from inside the housing. I know the polarising filter fits a little loose over the lens so I'm going to go for a drive tomorrow without the polarising filter on and see if that makes a difference
 
sounds like the camera has some movement on the mount

Yeah I checked that too but I couldn't feel any movement when I put the camera on the mount. The fitting felt quite solid.
But I'll check it again tomorrow when I go for another drive. Thanks jokiin
 
Thanks Nigel. Ok I put sticky tape over the buttons and took the polarising filter off. Shook the dash cam and there is no noise of anything loose coming from inside the housing. I know the polarising filter fits a little loose over the lens so I'm going to go for a drive tomorrow without the polarising filter on and see if that makes a difference
I think the polarising filter is too big to make that noise, if it is the filter then maybe just the glass is loose. I still think the buttons is most likely.
 
I think the polarising filter is too big to make that noise, if it is the filter then maybe just the glass is loose. I still think the buttons is most likely.

Ok thanks @Nigel. The glass on the filter isn't loose after checking it. I'll check out the buttons tomorrow by taping over them and see how the audio is
 
Ok, just came back from another drive.

I have attached 2 videos...first one with the polarising filter off, the buttons taped and the power cable connected to the mount.
The second one I kept the polarising filter off, buttons still taped but this time I connected the power cable direct to the camera.

After watching the videos, I noticed the crackling/buzzing noise didn't happen in the second video when I had the power cable connected directly into the camera. I don't know what made me do this but I had a feeling maybe there might be interference of some kind from having the power go through the mount? I wanted to eliminate that as a cause but maybe IT IS the cause. I also don't know if it's the way the cable is tucked up inside the headliner or not or whether the mount is faulty. Whatever it is, powering it through the camera has eliminated the noise. I am using my old DOD DP4 hardwire kit so don't know if that is causing it as well, maybe incompatible? But until a few days ago this crackling/buzzing noise wasn't happening.

I am outside of the 12 month warranty period by 2 months so having it repaired or replaced free of charge is a long shot.
I'll just have to continue powering it through the camera for now till I upgrade to the 129 Duo Pro next year.

@Nigel hopefully you'll have a better idea what might be the issue. The links to the videos are below

First video - Filter off, buttons taped and power connected to the mount

Second video - Filter off, buttons taped and power connected directly to the camera
 
  • I'm convinced that is a physical rattle, not an electrical issue.
  • The second video does have some of the noise, not much, but it is still there.
  • Sounds like something quite small, around button sized, to me, maybe try rearranging the tape, or an extra couple of layers of tape, since on the first video it seems to have got worse compared to the previous video.
  • If you hold the camera to your ear and give it a vigorous shake, do you not hear anything rattling? Whatever it is sounds quite loose.
  • Moving the cable suggests that it might be mount related, possibly try sticking something like a foam or felt pad over the serial number so that the mount is a tighter fit, maybe just a few layers of tape there. The A129 mount is quite good, but that is done on the A119, you even get a pad supplied with the A119 from the factory.
 
Thanks for the detailed reply @Nigel !

  • I'm convinced that is a physical rattle, not an electrical issue.
    Ok cool that's good to hear
  • The second video does have some of the noise, not much, but it is still there.
    Yes true after listening to to it again
  • Sounds like something quite small, around button sized, to me, maybe try rearranging the tape, or an extra couple of layers of tape, since on the first video it seems to have got worse compared to the previous video.
    Considering your opinion is a physical rattle and the buttons were taped, maybe the hardwire kit cable is rattling against the windshield when connected to the mount? The connector does sit very close to the windshield...maybe I might put a small foam on it to cushion it. But I will also try putting another layer of painters tape over the buttons. But if it is the buttons that make the noise, it's quite impractical to leave the tape on because it hinders the use of the buttons plus it looks quite ugly with the tape on lol
  • If you hold the camera to your ear and give it a vigorous shake, do you not hear anything rattling? Whatever it is sounds quite loose.
    Yep I did this after posting the thread. I took the CPL filter off and taped the buttons and gave it a good shake. Made sure I was in a quiet room. I could not hear any noise coming from the camera housing or from inside of it. This is why I'm inclined to believe it could be the hardwire kit cable vibrating against the windshield
  • Moving the cable suggests that it might be mount related, possibly try sticking something like a foam or felt pad over the serial number so that the mount is a tighter fit, maybe just a few layers of tape there. The A129 mount is quite good, but that is done on the A119, you even get a pad supplied with the A119 from the factory.
    Oh ok, I will do that as well. I don't have any foam pad slim enough to go between the mount and the camera, does Viofo sell those foams separately? If not I'll try put tape. Do I stick it on the camera or the mount...or it doesn't matter?
 
Oh ok, I will do that as well. I don't have any foam pad slim enough to go between the mount and the camera, does Viofo sell those foams separately? If not I'll try put tape. Do I stick it on the camera or the mount...or it doesn't matter?
The A119 mount works differently so that foam would not be correct. I would try something stuck to the camera, over the serial number, although I'm not really expecting it to work, it sounds like something small rattling to me.
 
Ok thanks @Nigel , I'll try everything you've suggested and be back with the results in the next couple of days
 
maybe the hardwire kit cable is rattling against the windshield when connected to the mount? The connector does sit very close to the windshield...maybe I might put a small foam on it to cushion it.
quite possible, the mics in the cameras are sensitive enough to pickup something rattling nearby that you can't hear yourself while driving
 
Thanks @jokiin , I'm going to investigate further in the next couple of days
 
Hey guys, I'm back!

Had a chance to do 3 good microphone tests today. I took the advice given by @Nigel and @jokiin, so thank you very much guys, it worked!

The links to the 3 videos are below with a brief description of what I did in each video. As far as I could hear, the crackling and buzzing noise is pretty much not there anymore and I'm happy with the results. The modifications I made are not obtrusive at all and cannot be seen from the driver's seat nor the front passenger seat. I removed the tape from the buttons in Test #2 and #3 and confirmed that taping the buttons didn't make a difference.

So the result seems to suggest that putting some form of a thin cushioning material between the hardwire connector (via the gps mount) and windscreen AND between the camera and gps mount stopped the small amount of movement that caused the crackling/buzzing noise to my satisfaction.

@viofo should put some kind of foam on the back of the 129 Duo or on the gps mount. Maybe even sell the foam separately.

Thanks again for all your help guys, especially @Nigel :D

Microphone Test #1:
I taped the CPL filter on the top and bottom to stop free movement with clear tape and also used same tape on the buttons. Placed a small piece of 3M tape on the hardwire cable connector with the protective film on the windscreen side intact (connected via gps mount). Placed 1cm x 1cm size clear 3M tape on the back of the camera, over the serial sticker to cushion between gps mount and camera

Microphone Test #2:
Same as Test #1 except I removed the tape from the buttons to see if it made any noise. Happy to say there was no noise.

Microphone Test #3:
Same as Test #2 but this time I turned the radio on to see if the radio sounded crackly. Happy to say radio was clear.
 
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I wonder if it was the GPS module inside the mount that was rattling? If it comes back then maybe take the cover off the mount and have a look. Not too easy with the mount stuck to the glass though, it will be hard to get to the screws! As long as it is fixed then I would leave well alone.

Not a common problem, but it would be nice to know the cause.

"A warm home is a safe home" - not what I expect to hear on Australian radio :eek:
 
I wonder if it was the GPS module inside the mount that was rattling?

That's interesting, but if the gps module inside the mount was rattling I doubt the 3M foam tape between the mount and cam would've worked, would it?
Either way I don't think I could be bothered to take the mount off and be game enough to open it. Hopefully the noise won't come back.

"A warm home is a safe home" - not what I expect to hear on Australian radio

Yep, it's one of those ads that seem to border on stupidity. It begs belief that some of these advertising execs have university degrees to come up with "slogans" like that. But we have lots of other ads on radio and tv here that are quite clever, unfortunately that one wasn't one of them lol. I deliberately used that part of the footage with no music so Youtube doesn't mute the audio due to copyright.
 
if the gps module inside the mount was rattling I doubt the 3M foam tape between the mount and cam would've worked, would it?
Might push the centre of the top panel in a little locking the module in place. I'm having difficulty thinking of anything else that might explain it. If you ever do open it up, let us know, but as long as it is working...
 
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