Drained battery. Broken 3-wire VIOFO hardwire kit or other issue ?

[CaptureYourAction]

Did you try testing using the input voltage from the point it shut down and referencing ACC from that point? That's what I did on the two tests that never shut off. If it shut down at 12V, disconnected power and reconnect, reference ACC to that voltage then remove, then start decreasing input voltage. I didn't test it starting off with low voltage to see what it would do, I may try doing that today later on. I guess I could also start very low and go up in voltage to see at what point it starts passing voltage.

I did the test below exactly. Isn't this basically what your saying? If not, I can try another test.

Set the power supply to 12.4v and set the hardwire kit to 12.2v, powered on and then disconnected the ACC so camera went into parking mode, set the supply voltage to 11.4v, camera turned off after 100 seconds

Left the input supply voltage at 11.4v and the hardwire kit at 12.2v cutoff, connected the ACC and the camera powered on and started recording, disconnected ACC and camera went into parking mode, 100 seconds later the camera powered off

 

[valkyrie]

I did the test below exactly. Isn't this basically what your saying? If not, I can try another test.

Set the power supply to 12.4v and set the hardwire kit to 12.2v, powered on and then disconnected the ACC so camera went into parking mode, set the supply voltage to 11.4v, camera turned off after 100 seconds

Left the input supply voltage at 11.4v and the hardwire kit at 12.2v cutoff, connected the ACC and the camera powered on and started recording, disconnected ACC and camera went into parking mode, 100 seconds later the camera powered off

I don't know it will make any difference at all just starting at the 11.4V value is outside of even a +/- 5% tolerance and I would expect shutdown, (I will test mine like this here in a bit). You indicated earlier that you were getting shut down within .1V-.2V on each of your tests so seems like your seeing much closer tolerance than that. I don't know that beginning testing at a value already so far below cut off is doing the same thing I did.

What I'm suggesting is if your testing HK3 set to 12.2V and it shuts off at 12.1V, Disconnect power , Reconnect Power at that 12.1V, Connect Acc and reference it at same 12.1V, Then remove ACC, Then begin decreasing voltage until it shuts down.

 

[Nigel]

I just got the same results with a kit from a batch I received about two weeks ago from Viofo. Possible both kits I tested were new version, but can't be sure since there isn't any way to tell them apart from the outside.

I've tested it with a variable power supply instead of the battery and it works perfectly

Bit puzzled now, I went back to the battery and that passed too! I'll have to try and recreate the conditions I had before, there are a few things that were different, such as leaving my variable power supply connected, which would have provided some capacitance which the battery on its own might be lacking.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

I don't know it will make any difference at all just starting at the 11.4V value is outside of even a +/- 5% tolerance and I would expect shutdown, (I will test mine like this here in a bit). You indicated earlier that you were getting shut down within .1V-.2V on each of your tests so seems like your seeing much closer tolerance than that. I don't know that beginning testing at a value already so far below cut off is doing the same thing I did.

What I'm suggesting is if your testing HK3 set to 12.2V and it shuts off at 12.1V, Disconnect power , Reconnect Power at that 12.1V, Connect Acc and reference it at same 12.1V, Then remove ACC, Then begin decreasing voltage until it shuts down.

If the cutoff is set to 12.2V and it kills power to the camera when the power supply reaches 12.1V (will probably be 12V according to my earlier tests), then I would expect it to kill power again after I power it again (then remove the yellow acc wire), since this is basically what I already did. I doubt powering the camera again at 12V or 11.4V will make a difference, but I’ll give it a shot anyway. I shouldn’t need to decrease power beyond the 12V though, as it should power off after 90-100 seconds (unless the thinking is lowering the voltage during the first 90-100 seconds is what is tripping up the kit).
We should keep in mind that these are bench tests with a variable power supply, which is predictable. What’s occurring in the different vehicles and different fuses users are using may not be so predictable.

 

[valkyrie]

If the cutoff is set to 12.2V and it kills power to the camera when the power supply reaches 12.1V (will probably be 12V according to my earlier tests), then I would expect it to kill power again after I power it again (then remove the yellow acc wire), since this is basically what I already did. I doubt powering the camera again at 12V or 11.4V will make a difference, but I’ll give it a shot anyway. I shouldn’t need to decrease power beyond the 12V though, as it should power off after 90-100 seconds (unless the thinking is lowering the voltage during the first 90-100 seconds is what is tripping up the kit).
We should keep in mind that these are bench tests with a variable power supply, which is predictable. What’s occurring in the different vehicles and different fuses users are using may not be so predictable.

Yea my thought was that perhaps when HK3 was at it's cut off if Sense was connected at that point it would use that voltage as reference in a comparator circuit, and referencing at a lower voltage may not demonstrate the same behavior. Just trying to make sure we were testing similarly.

However I just went out and tested the 11.4V method you were using and it shut down exactly as yours in about 97 seconds. Additionally I ran through more tests at 12V & 12.2V setting (as those were the 2 that went amok on my earlier) and was unable to reproduce the results I did the other day. I was unable to get it into the situation where I could continue lowering input voltage as it persisted in passing voltage. So IDK what the difference is, testing was the same so I'm baffled.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Yea my thought was that perhaps when HK3 was at it's cut off if Sense was connected at that point it would use that voltage as reference in a comparator circuit, and referencing at a lower voltage may not demonstrate the same behavior. Just trying to make sure we were testing similarly.

However I just went out and tested the 11.4V method you were using and it shut down exactly as yours in about 97 seconds. Additionally I ran through more tests at 12V & 12.2V setting (as those were the 2 that went amok on my earlier) and was unable to reproduce the results I did the other day. I was unable to get it into the situation where I could continue lowering input voltage as it persisted in passing voltage. So IDK what the difference is, testing was the same so I'm baffled.

Ran two tests...

First test - Kit cutoff set to 12.2V. Power supply set to 12.4V. Powered on camera, then removed power to the yellow wire and camera went into parking mode. Dropped voltage down to 12V and kit shut off camera about 90 seconds later. I then connected yellow wire again with power supply still at 12V and kit cutoff set to 12.2V. After the camera powered on, I removed power to the yellow wire and camera went into parking mode. After about 90 seconds the camera shut off.

Seconds test - Kit cutoff set to 12.2V. Power supply set to 12.4V. Powered on camera, then removed power to the yellow wire and camera went into parking mode. Dropped voltage down to 12V and kit shut off camera about 90 seconds later. I then connected the yellow wire again with power supply still at 12V and kit cutoff set to 12.2V. After the camera powered on, I removed the yellow wire and the camera went into parking mode. I then decrease the voltage .05V every 15 seconds. After about 90 seconds the camera shut off and the power supply was down to 11.75V.

 

[valkyrie]

Ran two tests...

First test - Kit cutoff set to 12.2V. Power supply set to 12.4V. Powered on camera, then removed power to the yellow wire and camera went into parking mode. Dropped voltage down to 12V and kit shut off camera about 90 seconds later. I then connected yellow wire again with power supply still at 12V and kit cutoff set to 12.2V. After the camera powered on, I removed power to the yellow wire and camera went into parking mode. After about 90 seconds the camera shut off.

Seconds test - Kit cutoff set to 12.2V. Power supply set to 12.4V. Powered on camera, then removed power to the yellow wire and camera went into parking mode. Dropped voltage down to 12V and kit shut off camera about 90 seconds later. I then connected the yellow wire again with power supply still at 12V and kit cutoff set to 12.2V. After the camera powered on, I removed the yellow wire and the camera went into parking mode. I then decrease the voltage .05V every 15 seconds. After about 90 seconds the camera shut off and the power supply was down to 11.75V.

Thanks for re-testing like this. I'm still obsessing on why I came up with different results. Been rethinking it all night and have a couple ideas I'm going to test out in the next day or two. It's kind of a pita for me to test since it's already installed, wishing I had one to test on the bench. I almost ordered one from your ebay store and then got the results yesterday. Was also considering getting one of these and just putting it in series with the HK3 as a preventative measure. https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07929Y5SZ

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Thanks for re-testing like this. I'm still obsessing on why I came up with different results. Been rethinking it all night and have a couple ideas I'm going to test out in the next day or two. It's kind of a pita for me to test since it's already installed, wishing I had one to test on the bench. I almost ordered one from your ebay store and then got the results yesterday. Was also considering getting one of these and just putting it in series with the HK3 as a preventative measure. https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07929Y5SZ

There could be a certain set of variables that cause the things you saw during your test. These variables may never occur 99.9% of the time during normal usage.

 

[Nigel]

I'm suspecting that the voltage shown by the multimeter is an average while the HwK is seeing instantaneous readings which might include spikes from charging and dips from microprocessors occasionally doing things. The battery is not a capacitor, it doesn't smooth everything out very effectively. Maybe the HwK could have some filtering added to the values read from its ADC, given that it takes 90/100 seconds to respond anyway.

 

[valkyrie]

There could be a certain set of variables that cause the things you saw during your test. These variables may never occur 99.9% of the time during normal usage.

I know, just things that are measurable and repeatable drive me crazy when the results aren't consistent. The problem at this point is finding what that variable was. Me, the method, hardware, testing equipment, weather... lol there's a long list.

 

[valkyrie]

I'm suspecting that the voltage shown by the multimeter is an average while the HwK is seeing instantaneous readings which might include spikes from charging and dips from microprocessors occasionally doing things. The battery is not a capacitor, it doesn't smooth everything out very effectively. Maybe the HwK could have some filtering added to the values read from its ADC, given that it takes 90/100 seconds to respond anyway.

Depends on the type of DMM, there are Averaging DMM's & True RMS DMM's but they don't really read any different when measuring flat DC voltage.

 

[JustResurrected]

So after all Your tests I gave my hardwire kit one last chance yesterday. Turned on the car and left it for a few minutes, then turned it off, camera went into parking mode. The battery voltage was 12.95V. Cut off set to 12.4V. Checked the voltage this morning and there was 11.90V and camera was still running in parking mode.
Looks like my hardwire kit is just broken or....
Maybe it depends on which power in port we use (?) Viofo A129-G Duo has two power in ports but it is not clear from the instructions which one should be used.. Which one do You use?

 

[jokiin]

Unless it's the newest version it only works when connected directly to the camera, not via the mount

 

[JustResurrected]

Unless it's the newest version it only works when connected directly to the camera, not via the mount

I bought my viofo 2 months ago on Amazon and connected it via the mount and everything works great except cutting off the camera below the set voltage...

 

[jokiin]

Try connecting to the camera and see how it goes

 

[valkyrie]

Unless it's the newest version it only works when connected directly to the camera, not via the mount

Are you saying some HK3's have a dependency on the load device rather than just the source input voltage?

 

[jokiin]

Are you saying some HK3's have a dependency on the load device rather than just the source input voltage?

no I meant the newest version of the camera, the earlier ones the parking mode would not switch unless the hardwire kit was connected directly to the camera, didn't work if plugged into the mount

 

[valkyrie]

no I meant the newest version of the camera, the earlier ones the parking mode would not switch unless the hardwire kit was connected directly to the camera, didn't work if plugged into the mount

Thanks for the clarification, I thought you were saying early HK3 didn't shut down correctly depending on where they were connected. @JustResurrected said he's getting into parking mode and everything works fine except for HK3 not shutting off at selected cut off voltage. That's why I was confused on what you were saying.

 

[kadobay]

It's been about 45 days since I bought my viofo dashcam. I have been using the hk3 kit since 1 month.
In time lapse parking mode, the battery protection circuit is set to 12.0 volts.
After stopping my car and switching to parking mode, the device turns itself off after recording 3-8 hours during parking.
in this case, when I measured the battery voltage I saw 12.6 v.
the device was turned off today in parking mode.
When I measured the battery I saw the battery voltage 12.48 v.
Doesn't he have to record until it drops to 12 volts?
I have now set the battery protection circuit breaker to 11.8 volts.
I'll follow if the recording time will be extended and how much the battery voltage will drop.
Are there any similar problems?

 

[CaptureYourAction]

It's been about 45 days since I bought my viofo dashcam. I have been using the hk3 kit since 1 month.
In time lapse parking mode, the battery protection circuit is set to 12.0 volts.
After stopping my car and switching to parking mode, the device turns itself off after recording 3-8 hours during parking.
in this case, when I measured the battery voltage I saw 12.6 v.
the device was turned off today in parking mode.
When I measured the battery I saw the battery voltage 12.48 v.
Doesn't he have to record until it drops to 12 volts?
I have now set the battery protection circuit breaker to 11.8 volts.
I'll follow if the recording time will be extended and how much the battery voltage will drop.
Are there any similar problems?

Should probably measure the voltage at the fuse you tapped into.