Crap Cam or Crap Card

[lothian]

I recently purchased a ‘TOGUARD' model CE66, yet another generic Chinaseum-quality three-camera product hustled under some private label on Amazon.

I plugged in a Class 10 64gb SD card and installed the whole shebang into my car. It seemingly worked normally for a week. Then the camera had two issues:

First: The thing cycles ON/OFF at engine startup.
When I start my car, the device powers on then powers off—three times in quick succession—before it finally stays powered on. This behavior is new—it did not occur before two days ago—and now happens consistently each time I start the car.

Second: The camera intermittently writes a bunch of non-playable MP4 files to the SD card.
Playback is fine for files created throughout its first week of operation. Afterwards, it intermittently wrote non-playable MP4 files to the SD card, always with sizes of 0, 20.06, 40.06, 60.06mb. The chinglish instructions indicate that the card can be formatted either on a PC or via the device, so I chose the latter. I was surprised to discover that the device formatted the SD card as exFAT rather than FAT32. That is extremely peculiar as FAT32 is the typical file format for most every device of this sort.

Maybe the SD card is bad, or maybe it simply needs reformatting. I'll whack two birds by formatting a new 128gb Samsung Evo as FAT32 and give it another go; though this attempt doesn't seem germane to the power cycling behavior. Ponderous, no?

Of course I discover all of this when I went to retrieve a video file of a crash that occurred in front of me. And of course the MP4 file with date/time attribute that coincides with the crash is non-playable while most files before and after the incident play just fine.

<plaintive sigh>

C'est l'vie

 

[DAP]

Since the error messages, if they exist at all, are so poor, usually the only way to tell what is at fault, is to swap out the camera with a different brand, and/or the memory card with a different brand. It also helps to not buy the cheapest no-name product you can find. Instead look for things others have bought and not found to be total crap.
If you are going to try and get away with the cheapest possible stuff, at least buy and install multiple cameras (not all the same brand) so you at least have a chance of one of them working when you need it to.
Redundancy is a good thing, especially since dashcams and memory cards are not known for their reliability.

 

[kamkar]

Welcome to the forum.

What memory card do you have in the camera and where did you get it from, fake memory cards are pretty abundant.

You can try powering the camera up with no memory card in it, it is also worth checking the connections to the rear camera, maybe try to unplug so you just run the front cameras.

On some cameras if you try and playback a corrupted file on the camera itself it can get fixed by the camera.

 

[SawMaster]

Could be the card, but if it worked well for two weeks then I'd also be suspicious of the power supply (PS). Can you do some tests powering the cam with a wall-type phone charger or a powerbank? I have had some cheap PS's fail in short periods of time where they were still providing current but apparently not enough, and swapping to a better PS solved the unreliability.

Whatever your approach, try one thing at a time. And if you haven't already bought a card, I'd recommend a Samsung EVO Select from Amazon. Just be sure it's both sold and shipped by Amazon to avoid fakes.

Phil

 

[tiojose]

Hello world!

@lothian same issue here, were you able to fix it? (I'm trying to get manufacturer support but no clear steps by the moment)

Thanks in advance.

 

[lothian]

DAP, in comments above, offers the best advice.

Yes. I "fixed it"—meaning, my problem, not the dashcam—by making use of Amazon's generous return policy. I purchase a different, though similarly-featured Chineseum-brand P.O.S. dashcam, along with a new Samsung EVO card for prudence sake. I’ve had zero issues thus far.

 

[NicoleT]

Just found this thread trying to work out what's going on with my Toguard camera. I'm not sure of the model. I've had it a couple of years, and it was working fine until recently.

Lately, it's started corrupting the last video on any journey. The one where the power's shut off part way through. Obviously in the event of an accident, this is the one clip you actually want.

Exactly the same issue with it power cycling several times with the ignition. Having dismantled it, I can see that the LiPo battery inside has swelled quite badly. It looks like the issue is that the internal battery is faulty, and not giving it enough time to write the final file to the card before gracefully shutting down after external power is disconnected.

Since it's out of warranty and I'm otherwise happy with it, I'm thinking of modifying it to take an external power cell. Otherwise, I'm open to suggestions for a reasonably priced camera that actually overlays GPS speed on the video, rather than needing a special app to view it.

 

[Kremmen]

Not 'finalising' the last file is a classic example of the internal battery being dead.

 

[kamkar]

I agree Nicole, you probably have a dead battery inside that camera, these can often be replaced but the hard way, not like go to the shop get a standard battery and plug it in.
No you need to take the camera apart, and inside you will find a swollen 1 cell battery, looking something like this.

You can most likely not get a replacement battery anywhere, so you need to find out the size and then go shopping from there, not least thickness can be hard to guess what it might have been.
But then once you have that you will find many 1 cell lipo batteries for sale online, it dont have to be the exact same MAH size as the old one, a little smaller dont matter.

The internal power source is what finalize the last recording, and you can not do anything external to change that so it will corrupt, but there are often a chance to restore coroupted files like that, the routine might even be in the sameras playback feature, so try and play one of those corupted files on the camera, then if that is possible, take out memory card and see if it can now play on the computer.

 

[NicoleT]

Thanks

I've cut out the old battery, and soldered up a spare 3.7V LiPo from a digital camera that long since went faulty. First impressions are that it's now working sensibly again, albeit with a big insulation tape wrapped blob stuck to the side of it, for now.

I can't find a like for like battery from the numbers (180711 and 042033 are the only number markings that look like they might be battery ID) but it's a 200mAh, and I've ordered the smallest 250mAh I can find to replace it. I could have gone smaller, but I worry about charge rate with lithium batteries. If it won't fit inside, then I'll just try to make a tidy job of mounting it externally.

 

[kamkar]

Aaa yeah if you can deal with a battery on the outside, then true you can go external too.

 

[SawMaster]

AliExpress seems to be the best source for LiPo dashcam batteries, but sometimes even that vast selection won't get you the exact right one. You're OK with something similar, usually even a bit smaller, but that may not last quite as long. The main thing is that is always closes the last file properly, that is enough.

If you like what the cam does for you there's no need to upgrade but a good cam with supercaps is the way to go these days- less trouble, more reliable, and usually better in high heats as well.

Phil

 

[DAP]

If you are replacing the battery, be sure to use exactly the same chemistry. There is a variety of lithium batteries available, and they all require their own unique charging profile. Use the wrong one and you could have a battery fire.

Lithium batteries will always eventually die. This is why many cameras now use super capacitors. Much less capacity, but they don't wear out.

 

[SawMaster]

If you are replacing the battery, be sure to use exactly the same chemistry. There is a variety of lithium batteries available, and they all require their own unique charging profile. Use the wrong one and you could have a battery fire.

Lithium batteries will always eventually die. This is why many cameras now use super capacitors. Much less capacity, but they don't wear out.

LiPo's (LIthium Polymer) like dashcams use are all much the same except for size and capacity (and maybe voltage). Only the voltage needs a match. You don't want to use a LiIon or LiFePO4 but those are not likely to be confused as they are going to be a different size and shape.

As long as you're close to the original mAH rating, any same-voltage LiPo will do.

Phil

 

[ptxyz]

same issue on my rexing v1p was solved with a replacement battery. my old one looked almost exactly like the pic kamkar posted.

too bad they don't sell them with the correct plug although, one could cut and splice without soldering...

 

[NicoleT]

My new battery that I bought on eBay arrived. The same dimensions as the original probably was before it inflated. It installed easily enough, though it only seems to charge to 1 of 3 bars. Perhaps it's old or poor quality stock, but the camera gracefully shuts down when the ignition is turned off, now.

 

[Michael23]

NicoleT,​

Those 2 numbers you quoted, one denotes the physical size of the battery.
eg; 180711 = 18mm x 7mm thick x 11mm. (Doubtful if it this size, as it may be way too thick.)
or 042033 = 4mm thick x 20mm x 33mm.

Just check the original to verify.

These batteries are usually just 3.7 Volts.....> One cell only.

I just replaced one in one of my dashcams.
Bit fiddly to solder but very do able.

Be sure to buy one with charging/dis-charging protection included.
This small circuit board is located at the top of the battery & is under the kafton tape.

Yep. You don't know how long the dashcams or batteries have been in stock.
The above dashcam failed to save the correct time/date & defaulted to 1970 or ?, every time it was turned on, after just a few months use.
"They" don't care how old anything is, as long as it's out-the-door.