Dealing with maximum ambient temperature?

[DigitalCorpus]

Above the Equator, we're going into winter. Below, you're going into Summer. Do we have anyone in Australia or elsewhere who have an N4 Pro who've used it in hot, > 30 °C, environments? When I was testing the dash cam here at home, I recorded external case temperatures of 53 °C in a 27-28 °C environment, a rise of 25 °C over ambient.

With the sun was low in the sky, an ambient air temperature of 32 °C, direct sun through tinted windows, my black seats were 65 °C.

Vantrue's website isn't explicit enough and states "Working temperature" which doesn't define this as ambient temperature or operating temperature, but the upper limit is 65 °C. Given the temperature rise of 25 °C over ambient (which should mostly hold true over it's operating range) . Human skin can sustain burns at 43-45 °C. Yes, you can remove the camera from it's mount, but will you burn yourself in the process?

Is there thermal protection built into the camera and what point will it warn the user and/or trigger a shutdown? When you get into a hot car and forgot to remove it before you left last time, will it skip booting up all of the way?

 

[Decking]

Yes Agie is out that way, I’m sure he’ll pick up on this.

 

[kamkar]

Most cameras, at least the little ones get warm, my dji osmo action V1, i sure as hell would not put it down my underwear after a lengthy recording session.
I dont feel like it is a issue handling it, but you would probably feel it more if you palmed it and just kept it in the same place in your hand.

I have also felt several toasty dashcams over the years, but i have never seen one crap out during regular recording, but parking guard in the sun will do it, and then the build in high heat safety kick in and shut down the camera.
A thermal shut down normally mean the camera are off ( period ) but it is my understanding a few can actually wake up and resume operations when the temperature have dropped, but those are rare

The N5 i was given to test did not see any summer temperatures worth mentioning, as it dont get very hot in Denmark, and this summer was weird as most of it was in the spring, and after June that was pretty much it, even if July and August are also summer months here, just not with the weather this year.

 

[DigitalCorpus]

I noted in my testing that even if you only record the front camera, or front + rear camera, the cabin camera isn't disabled. This might aid in some thermal budget savings. I assume the N4 Pro has a similar internal construction of the N5. Saw that teardown.

 

[Dex_]

Is there thermal protection built into the camera and what point will it warn the user and/or trigger a shutdown?

Then internal thermal CPU sensor >= 130 degrees of Celsius in 10 minutes - dashcam is turn off.
Then another thermal resistor show increased values (can't say exactly value cause it is connected to ADC and in FW I see only ADC value) in 10 minutes - dash cam LCD is turn off.

I posted my FW mod here with thermal monitoring to txt file in SD-card. You may find temperature values log example in this post.
You may find some additional info and my posts about this dashcam in Russian 4pda forum topic

 

[Agie]

Above the Equator, we're going into winter. Below, you're going into Summer. Do we have anyone in Australia or elsewhere who have an N4 Pro who've used it in hot, > 30 °C, environments? When I was testing the dash cam here at home, I recorded external case temperatures of 53 °C in a 27-28 °C environment, a rise of 25 °C over ambient.

With the sun was low in the sky, an ambient air temperature of 32 °C, direct sun through tinted windows, my black seats were 65 °C.

Vantrue's website isn't explicit enough and states "Working temperature" which doesn't define this as ambient temperature or operating temperature, but the upper limit is 65 °C. Given the temperature rise of 25 °C over ambient (which should mostly hold true over it's operating range) . Human skin can sustain burns at 43-45 °C. Yes, you can remove the camera from it's mount, but will you burn yourself in the process?

Is there thermal protection built into the camera and what point will it warn the user and/or trigger a shutdown? When you get into a hot car and forgot to remove it before you left last time, will it skip booting up all of the way?

Above the Equator, we're going into winter. Below, you're going into Summer. Do we have anyone in Australia or elsewhere who have an N4 Pro who've used it in hot, > 30 °C, environments? When I was testing the dash cam here at home, I recorded external case temperatures of 53 °C in a 27-28 °C environment, a rise of 25 °C over ambient.

With the sun was low in the sky, an ambient air temperature of 32 °C, direct sun through tinted windows, my black seats were 65 °C.

Vantrue's website isn't explicit enough and states "Working temperature" which doesn't define this as ambient temperature or operating temperature, but the upper limit is 65 °C. Given the temperature rise of 25 °C over ambient (which should mostly hold true over it's operating range) . Human skin can sustain burns at 43-45 °C. Yes, you can remove the camera from it's mount, but will you burn yourself in the process?

Is there thermal protection built into the camera and what point will it warn the user and/or trigger a shutdown? When you get into a hot car and forgot to remove it before you left last time, will it skip booting up all of the way?

I did mention this in my review that I have concerns, but considering the high internal temperatures the chipset can handle, maybe my concern is potentially unwarranted. The key word here being potentially. That being said, the N4 Pro has a giant heatsink so you would think that would help things out.

Later this year I'll be testing the N4 Pro and A229 Pro out here in Australia. See how they go with the extreme temperatures, but using original firmwares and just a bit of basic temperature measuring devices. It may not capture the full extent of any damage sustained, but it will sure give them a workout.

 

[DigitalCorpus]

Then internal thermal CPU sensor >= 130 degrees of Celsius in 10 minutes - dashcam is turn off.
Then another thermal resistor show increased values (can't say exactly value cause it is connected to ADC and in FW I see only ADC value) in 10 minutes - dash cam LCD is turn off.

I posted my FW mod here with thermal monitoring to txt file in SD-card. You may find temperature values log example in this post.
You may find some additional info and my posts about this dashcam in Russian 4pda forum topic

I will definitely have to check that firmware out. That will be able to take quite a bit of mystery out of the guesswork and can help provide some guidance if anyone else searches for it. I look forward to being able to do some ambient vs case vs sensor temp. Makes me really want to open up the cam, but right now my free time is about to get sparse. Don't know how you got you hands on this level

I did mention this in my review that I have concerns, but considering the high internal temperatures the chipset can handle, maybe my concern is potentially unwarranted. The key word here being potentially. That being said, the N4 Pro has a giant heatsink so you would think that would help things out.

Later this year I'll be testing the N4 Pro and A229 Pro out here in Australia. See how they go with the extreme temperatures, but using original firmwares and just a bit of basic temperature measuring devices. It may not capture the full extent of any damage sustained, but it will sure give them a workout.

Believe it or not, without airflow a heatsink doesn't "cool", it just behaves as a heat spreader. This isn't bad, but will do less than you think by lowering the effective power density of the SoC/chipset. Since there isn't airflow through the case there is limited effect. Having been inside . Also, no fault is running bone stock firmware for the sake of the initial tests as that is how people will run the devices 99% of the time. Whether you use a thermocouple, IR gun, thermal camera or something similar, running it as the manufacturer intended is never a bad thing.

I don't think there will be measurable long term damage as the engineers should know what they're doing and set things accordingly. Should. This is why testing exists

 

[Agie]

I will definitely have to check that firmware out. That will be able to take quite a bit of mystery out of the guesswork and can help provide some guidance if anyone else searches for it. I look forward to being able to do some ambient vs case vs sensor temp. Makes me really want to open up the cam, but right now my free time is about to get sparse. Don't know how you got you hands on this level


Believe it or not, without airflow a heatsink doesn't "cool", it just behaves as a heat spreader. This isn't bad, but will do less than you think by lowering the effective power density of the SoC/chipset. Since there isn't airflow through the case there is limited effect. Having been inside . Also, no fault is running bone stock firmware for the sake of the initial tests as that is how people will run the devices 99% of the time. Whether you use a thermocouple, IR gun, thermal camera or something similar, running it as the manufacturer intended is never a bad thing.

I don't think there will be measurable long term damage as the engineers should know what they're doing and set things accordingly. Should. This is why testing exists

Thats it, I hope to make some findings. The obvious ones will be focus issues after having left the car out in the hot sun. I'll be running both the Vantrue and Viofo in 3 channel mode at their max bitrates in 4k, so it's going to be a fun one to watch!

 

[DigitalCorpus]

What cards are you using, btw, @Agie? Current market + warranty lead me to pick up several MB-MJ256KA/AM. With the *case* temp doing 25 °C over ambient, I'm not liking the prospects of how hot the uSD card slot will be. I'm suspecting it'll be at least 10 °C hotter than the case. I've been toying with getting a thermal camera, but have several K-type thermocouples and a no contact IR "gun".

 

[Agie]

What cards are you using, btw, @Agie? Current market + warranty lead me to pick up several MB-MJ256KA/AM. With the *case* temp doing 25 °C over ambient, I'm not liking the prospects of how hot the uSD card slot will be. I'm suspecting it'll be at least 10 °C hotter than the case. I've been toying with getting a thermal camera, but have several K-type thermocouples and a no contact IR "gun".

Currently using Viofo 128Gb card and a couple of Samsung EVO plus and Samsung Pro plus.

Used to use SanDisk, but have had issues with their cards failing even endurance line so have typically stuck with Samsung etc

 

[DigitalCorpus]

@Agie, do we want power usage information here or a separate thread? Cause power = temps.

 

[Agie]

@Agie, do we want power usage information here or a separate thread? Cause power = temps.

You're the master purveyor of the information mate, so you place it wherever you feel is appropriate. It all helps in the dissection of this model

 

[Journeyman]

Used to use SanDisk, but have had issues with their cards failing even endurance line so have typically stuck with Samsung etc

I thought SanDisk were the go-to brand with Samsung coming in 2nd as far as quality. Has that changed or is this a dash cam thing?

 

[Agie]

I thought SanDisk were the go-to brand with Samsung coming in 2nd as far as quality. Has that changed or is this a dash cam thing?

Pretty much reversed over the last few years, in my eyes at least

 

[Milamber]

I just ordered this camera and I live in Australia, Monday will be 38 degrees as we warm up for the week. I’ll be testing this camera in dry heat, it’s going to be getting toasty.