Date and time resets after a few days

IAmATeaf

IAmATeaf

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Dash Cam
Viofo A119 v3
My V3 which is less then 2 years old keeps resetting the date and time every 2 or so days and I'm wondering why?

After reading a few posts here about their dashcams not recording I pulled the SD card to take a look. Initially couldn't find clips from the last few days so I started scrubbing through them all and eventually found clips from the 8th dated Jan 10 2019 which then resets back to 1st Jan 2019. Really makes it difficult to find clips and I'm also now wondering if it's maybe overwriting clips when the date/time resets.

Does this have an internal battery and why isn't it the time being set by the GPS module as I though that is what should happen? I've seen another thread for a v2 where it's suggested that an internal battery maybe kaput and that it's a special battery?

Any help and guidance would be appreciated.
 
Thanks for that, how long do you think the battery should be able to keep the time set? I’ll bring it in doors and leave it on charge for a day and see if it resolves the issue.

I use my car weekly so am surprised it’s unable to keep the time for only around 2 days.
 
IAmATeaf said:
Thanks for that, how long do you think the battery should be able to keep the time set? I’ll bring it in doors and leave it on charge for a day and see if it resolves the issue.

I use my car weekly so am surprised it’s unable to keep the time for only around 2 days.
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Do you drive on a daily basis? How long do you drive? Remember short trips aren't really enough duration to offer a significant charge. It's like on parking mode. If I don't drive my car far and it sits out recording, hardwired to the fuse box and using the battery, then my battery doesn't get a chance to recharge. meaning the voltage cutoff of 12.2 (50%) is reached far quicker.

I presume @SawMaster is right on the RTC batter (as I don't know if it's rechargeable or not).
 
IAmATeaf said:
Thanks for that, how long do you think the battery should be able to keep the time set? I’ll bring it in doors and leave it on charge for a day and see if it resolves the issue.

I use my car weekly so am surprised it’s unable to keep the time for only around 2 days.
Click to expand...
A good battery should hold the time and date for at least a few weeks. I've had test cameras sit around for longer than that and they kept the time and date when fired back up. Since it's about two years old, it likely won't last that long. If giving it a good long charge doesn't help, try reloading/updating the firmware. Be sure to manually default the cameras settings after the update, then press and hold the hard reset button on the side of the camera for about 5 seconds.
 
I mainly work from home so really only drive the car once a week.

I did some checking, seems that the battery only lasts around 21 days max which in my opinion is pretty rubbish considering a PC CMOS battery can maintain the clock for over a year!

@viofo any comments on this please?
 
A PC battery is probably considerably larger than what they can fit in a dashcam.

Having said that, I've had mine sat idle for a few months during lockdown and the clock was fine. I'd have also thought a weekly journey would charge the battery sufficiently for the next week.
 
I'd have expected longer service from the RTC battery but occasionally one dies sooner. I don't know who they source the batteries from but many Chinese cells aren't very good or are rubbish. There are some good ones too but in general the best batteries will be Korean or Japanese made and do cost more. Size definitely plays a role here.
Anything mass-produced will have the occasional "dud" so likely just a bad battery since we don't hear of this problem much with this cam.

A cell phone repair shop or a good PC repair shop can replace the battery fairly cheaply, and it's worth doing with this cam.

Phil
 
SawMaster said:
I'd have expected longer service from the RTC battery but occasionally one dies sooner. I don't know who they source the batteries from but many Chinese cells aren't very good or are rubbish. There are some good ones too but in general the best batteries will be Korean or Japanese made and do cost more. Size definitely plays a role here.
Anything mass-produced will have the occasional "dud" so likely just a bad battery since we don't hear of this problem much with this cam.

A cell phone repair shop or a good PC repair shop can replace the battery fairly cheaply, and it's worth doing with this cam.

Phil
Click to expand...
The RTC battery above is from a Viofo camera and was from Japan. Could simply be the OP doesn't drive enough to keep it charged (he said he drives about once a week). Over time, I'd think drainage would win over the minimal charging. That said, the above battery was from a camera that was much less than 2 years old, so duds certainly to occur.
 
Wow didn’t realise the one in the cam was so small?

I’ve got the cam on charge, will keep it on charge for 48hrs as suggested and will report back, hopefully with good news.
 
I don't do many miles either. I have a USB cable on my desktop and I rotate a few units just to keep them charged.
 
Well the cam has been on charge for close to 60 hours now so will check it in 2 days or so time.
 
Well not good news, went to go shopping today and the date time and all other settings have reset so it does look like the battery is fubared.

I’ve got the tools and skills to replace the battery but have no idea what the replacement should be.

@viofo is this something that you can help with pretty please [emoji3]
 
Anybody have pics of the internals of a V3 which I can maybe gawp at to check where the battery is?
 
@gse Thanks for that, so the battery is 6mm by 2.1mm so bloody tiny.
 
IAmATeaf said:
I haven’t, would that help? Can’t see how, from the recordings I can see that it kept the date/time up until April of this year after which it has regularly reverted back to 01/01/2019.
Click to expand...
Couldn’t hurt. I’ve seen it help with lots of other odd issues. Just be sure to manually default the cameras settings, then press and hold the hard reset button on the side of the camera for about 5 seconds After updating.
 
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