Failing SG9665GC V2?

Actually, based on what you just said about the rated tempture of the processor I suppose I could put the camera in the freezer for a period of time and see what happens upon start-up.

pretty much the same way it's done in the lab
 
pretty much the same way it's done in the lab

Yeah, I guess that's true! Let me start with a simple test of the SG power supply in my truck and go from there. I don't want to overwhelm myself with testing here, especially at this point. Still, the freezer idea intrigues me because it provides a level of control and repeatability that I otherwise wouldn't be able to achieve.
 
Up until recently this camera has started up and worked perfectly at -25º C or below.

You know, I appreciate your suggestions about testing but the big question here is why a new, upgraded USB cable instantly and reliably resolved the problem for three or more weeks regardless of how cold it's been. My sense is that there is some other issue going on. If it is indeed an aging DSP that has become less low temperature tolerant, then it is probably getting worse. As for being a power supply problem the dual port USB power supply I'm currently using with the USB cable seems to work fine at low temps with my other cameras (Mobi), thus suggesting that that power supply is not sensitive to sub freezing temps.
 
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A prodigious troubleshooting rejoinder from a preeminent dash cam manufacturer.....suitable for framing! :smuggrin:

frame it if you want, trying to troubleshoot an intermittent fault in something that's 10,000 miles away isn't the ideal method to work out what has gone wrong
 
frame it if you want, trying to troubleshoot an intermittent fault in something that's 10,000 miles away isn't the ideal method to work out what has gone wrong

Lighten up man! :eek: It was just a bit of humor in response to your nebulous and essentially supererogatory reply. ;)
 
Short of testing and replacing electronic components there's not a lot a person can do for a wonky cam. As an old-timer who remembers how large those components had to be for tube-type (valve) electronics, I am still amazed that the tiny devices we have today can handle the power they do and last as long as they do in the tough automotive environment :) Especially the hundreds or thousands of them inside of microchips o_O With consumer-grade electronics like this, my approach is to consider them as disposable after a reasonable service life has passed, as repair costs or efforts will probably exceed the cost of a new gadget :whistle:

It feels kind of like having a friend or good neighbor leaving town when a long-trusted good device fades from your daily life but such is the way of things today :( If you feel you've gotten your money's worth just replace it. See it as the perfect opportunity for an upgrade :cool:

Phil
 
Lighten up man! :eek: It was just a bit of humor in response to your nebulous and essentially supererogatory reply. ;)

Crikey Dashmellow, did you have Merriam-Webster for breakfast yesterday? :D
 
With consumer-grade electronics like this, my approach is to consider them as disposable after a reasonable service life has passed, as repair costs or efforts will probably exceed the cost of a new gadget :whistle:

It feels kind of like having a friend or good neighbor leaving town when a long-trusted good device fades from your daily life but such is the way of things today :( If you feel you've gotten your money's worth just replace it. See it as the perfect opportunity for an upgrade :cool:


I'm not quite sure what you mean by “consumer-grade electronics like this, but I can't think of another category of consumer electronics products, especially cameras of any kind where it is “normal” to consider them “disposable” except for those old 35mm ones that were specifically sold as disposables. In eight years of using dash cams it's astonishing to think about how many cams I've owned that I've had to prematurely take out of service because they became unacceptably unreliable or were outright dead. It all adds up to many, many hundreds of dollars.

It seems only in the world of dash cams have we become so accustomed to such high failure rates, glitches, problems and ongoing need for troubleshooting and vigilance. Only in the world of dash cams have so many of us become enured to the habit of checking to make sure our cameras are working properly each time we leave our houses every morning because for many of us, more than once, we've discovered only after the fact the our dash cams were indeed not functioning for one reason or another. And these are “mission critical” devices where learning only after an incident has occurred that the camera you've been relying on for key evidence was not working can have very adverse consequences for the user.

@SawMaster, I understand that as an aficionado of low priced dash cams such as the, G1W-S, G1W-HC, G1W clones and the B1W I can appreciate where you are coming from in regard to the concept of a sub hundred dollar camera being perhaps "disposable", I've been there too with some of the very same cameras, but when it comes to higher end cameras like the SG9665GC and similar I'm afraid I have to disagree with you. I cannot think of any another 200 dollar consumer camera of any kind, other than dash cams that I would consider "disposable”. Come to think of it, as someone who has spent a lifetime involved with cameras both as a vocation and an avocation I've never had any camera fail after a couple of months or after only a few years, regardless of cost.

The fact of the matter is that dash cams, even higher end, better built models like the Street Guardian are essentially “consumer gadgets” that have far more in common with toys like your average GameBoy than any other type of traditional “camera”. By this I mean that the device consists of a printed circuit board screwed into an injection molded plastic housing with an LCD screen and a lens. While some dash cameras may use better components such as metal lens holders or more heat resistant plastic and perhaps better attention to good soldering technique and general quality control in manufacturing, they are all made like this in one way or another and mostly with off the shelf parts which were originally “borrowed” from the CCTV camera industry. “Real” cameras are built to entirely different, higher standards, even modest priced point-&-shooters and camcorders. They are always built around a rigid chassis and to a level of precision we just don't see in dash cams. “Real” cameras are more than a PCB screwed into a plastic shell.

Sawmaster, so often you mention your budgetary concerns when it comes to purchasing dash cams and related items. And so I'm a bit taken aback by your advice to, "See it as the perfect opportunity for an upgrade " considering that we are talking about a 200 dollar camera here. Like you, not everyone can just go out and drop $200.00 on a new camera any time they feel the need or the desire.
 
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I'm not slagging off your loss- that amount of cash down the tubes does hurt. But right now I've got 3 Ham radios and a home stereo dead or dying- around $500 to replace them- and only one radio will get an attempted fix. I've gotten long enough usage from the rest to not feel bad about them other than I liked them a lot. No longer in production plus tiny SMD electronics for the most part- just not worth fixing really. Even for me. And certainly not worth fixing to sell; I'd likely take a bigger loss doing that. All this stuff was buit to something of a price-point moreso than top quality; essentially consumer grade electronics same as dashcams. I may try a HD in my dead laptop- that would be worth the effort but no more than that. Can't say whether I'd call a laptop "consumer-grade electronics" or not, but it was just $300 when new so perhaps. I just think it should have went more than 2 1/2 years even if it is cheap for a laptop.

Were any of this stuff top-of-the-line gear I'd probably feel differently, but I've lived through the times when you fixed old stuff instead of buying new, and into today where most things are essentially disposable when they die or after paying for one repair. $200 would be a boon to me right now but really, it's not a lot in today's terms where the cheapest new car costs ten times what you could get one for when I was young. A hundred dollar bill is much like what a twenty was when I started working and I'm not making 5X than much today in wages. So while I feel your pain, it's something to think about. I don't know how long you've had your SG but I know that with my cheap cams I'm happy if they last 3 years which is a pretty good deal balanced against their cost. And honestly, my cheap stuff was mostly outdated or nearly so when I bought it so whatever replaces it will definitely be an upgrade in comparison- it practically has to be due to that. Nothing lasts forever and as fast as technology moves today things are not worth a lot before much time goes by since folks want the newer faster better stuff.

So rather than focusing on losses, I try to look for wins however they may come. Doesn't make the losses any more palatable but that approach keeps me from getting depressed over it all.

Phil
 
I'm not slagging off your loss- that amount of cash down the tubes does hurt. But right now I've got 3 Ham radios and a home stereo dead or dying- around $500 to replace them- and only one radio will get an attempted fix. I've gotten long enough usage from the rest to not feel bad about them other than I liked them a lot. No longer in production plus tiny SMD electronics for the most part- just not worth fixing really. Even for me. And certainly not worth fixing to sell; I'd likely take a bigger loss doing that. All this stuff was buit to something of a price-point moreso than top quality; essentially consumer grade electronics same as dashcams. I may try a HD in my dead laptop- that would be worth the effort but no more than that. Can't say whether I'd call a laptop "consumer-grade electronics" or not, but it was just $300 when new so perhaps. I just think it should have went more than 2 1/2 years even if it is cheap for a laptop.

Were any of this stuff top-of-the-line gear I'd probably feel differently, but I've lived through the times when you fixed old stuff instead of buying new, and into today where most things are essentially disposable when they die or after paying for one repair. $200 would be a boon to me right now but really, it's not a lot in today's terms where the cheapest new car costs ten times what you could get one for when I was young. A hundred dollar bill is much like what a twenty was when I started working and I'm not making 5X than much today in wages. So while I feel your pain, it's something to think about. I don't know how long you've had your SG but I know that with my cheap cams I'm happy if they last 3 years which is a pretty good deal balanced against their cost. And honestly, my cheap stuff was mostly outdated or nearly so when I bought it so whatever replaces it will definitely be an upgrade in comparison- it practically has to be due to that. Nothing lasts forever and as fast as technology moves today things are not worth a lot before much time goes by since folks want the newer faster better stuff.

So rather than focusing on losses, I try to look for wins however they may come. Doesn't make the losses any more palatable but that approach keeps me from getting depressed over it all.

Phil

I appreciate your interesting reply but I'm not talking about ham radios or home stereos. I'm talking about cameras here, specifically the nature of dash cams and their chronically inherent unreliability and failure rates. When I have some time over the next day or so I will elaborate further.
 
It's all electronics and it all fails sometimes. Nothing new in that, not even when talking only of dashcams.

Phil
 
It's all electronics and it all fails sometimes. Nothing new in that, not even when talking only of dashcams.

Phil

"It's all electronics and it all fails sometimes?" How long has the radio in that old van of yours been working without any problems?
 
I sure was bummed out my +5 year old GFX card decided to crap out on the first day of the year, the money i had to take and pay for the replacement card i would have liked to have spent on a new generation some time this summer or fall instead.
Not that the 5 years of operation was short to me, but it would have been damn nice if it had held together a few more months.
And now i am put further in the hols as i have to pay for my mothers shopping as my 16 YO nice drained her bank account, so really suck indeed but nothing i can do but say NO to my old mother, and that's not going to happen unless i would take a bite of the 12 gauge right after that.
And i have no plans for a 12 gauge burger anytime soon.

@SawMaster i have a radio you can get if you want to, it is a Hotline HL-1140 AKA ZODIAC M 3000 or MAYCOM EM 27 , just one minus i cant find the damn power plug that go onto its rear.
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/car-audio-head-unit.4137/post-48631
I doubt i will get to use it ever again, so would be good if you could put it to good use.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B001JT5QMI
 
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"It's all electronics and it all fails sometimes?" How long has the radio in that old van of yours been working without any problems?

You presume much- it does have issues but it still plays music although I rarely turn it on these days. There's something loose in the antenna (an easy fix if I were inclined to look into it) and the LCD display is so dim you need a flashlight to see it in the daytime (which is no problem since I've got presets). The front speaker cones in the doors are falling to pieces which after 27 years is to be expected as they are paper. The engine-management computer is probably going bad too (which I'm still sorting out). Any my much newer still-dead minivan has an even worse radio in it along with a couple other electronics issues too.

Nothing lasts forever, especially today's consumer electronics which is no longer simple or made to be as robust as it once may have been made. The wonderful miniaturization of electronics we clamor for has that downside built into it. It's the way of the world whether we like it or not, and if things were all made only to that higher level I couldn't afford them, so maybe it's not so bad an approach after all. It's all in how you see things.

Phil
 
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