Flashing GPS icon on A119 Mini 2

H

hdphilli

New Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2023
Messages
2
Reaction score
1
Location
BC
Country
Canada
Newbie here & just opened the box. Powered up the unit (with mini Sd inserted) and have a flashing GPS icon & no explanation in instruction booklet.
What does this mean? I assume that there might be three scenarios: maybe no icon (no sat signal?), flashing icon (??) & steady icon (system working ok?).
 
hdphilli said:
Newbie here & just opened the box. Powered up the unit (with mini Sd inserted) and have a flashing GPS icon & no explanation in instruction booklet.
What does this mean? I assume that there might be three scenarios: maybe no icon (no sat signal?), flashing icon (??) & steady icon (system working ok?).
Click to expand...
Good luck with your camera.

Where did you try it?
If you are doing it at home or in the garage, this means you cannot receive a signal. I recommend you try it outside, in a place where the sky is visible.

When the GPS is not inserted into the slot, the GPS icon does not flash.
It says no GPS. If the GPS icon is blinking, it means it cannot receive a signal.
 
Last edited:
Other things to check :

Is it mounted in the GPS mount and is the power plugged into the mount, although on some models being mounted is sufficient
 
hdphilli said:
What does this mean?
Click to expand...
Welcome to the club.
Depending on where the space satellite is in relation to your terrestrial location, and signal strength, (being indoors, surrounded by tall buildings, etc.) it may take anywhere from 1 second to 30 minutes to get a GPS lock based on my experience.

The good news is Viofo fixed this issue with the new Quad Mode GPS module on the A229 Pro & A229 Plus, (GPS, BeiDou, Galileo, and GLONASS).
I’ve found they get GPS signal lock much, much faster.

Screenshot 2023-11-12 10.25.29 PM.png
 
Panzer Platform said:
The good news is Viofo fixed this issue with the new Quad Mode GPS module on the A229 Pro & A229 Plus, (GPS, BeiDou, Galileo, and GLONASS).
I’ve found they get GPS signal lock much, much faster.
Click to expand...
I've found the A229 Pro/Plus quad mode GPS module to take much longer to acquire a GPS signal lock. The A119 Mini 2 will obtain a lock within 1 minute of exiting the garage, while the A229 Pro with the quad mode GPS module can take anywhere between 2 minutes and 8 minutes to obtain a signal lock.
 
rcg530 said:
I've found the A229 Pro/Plus quad mode GPS module to take much longer to acquire a GPS signal lock. The A119 Mini 2 will obtain a lock within 1 minute of exiting the garage, while the A229 Pro with the quad mode GPS module can take anywhere between 2 minutes and 8 minutes to obtain a signal lock.
Click to expand...
1 minute for me too on the A229 Pro. I live in a metro area though not out in the sticks lol so experience may be subjective
 
Karagandinez said:
It is not necessary to supply power to the GPS module; it is enough to connect it to the DVR itself, and the GPS module will receive power from it.
Click to expand...
My comment above is not about where the power cord was sourced from.

Since I think that the camera is new and probably tried it at home, I wanted to point out that the GPS sign will be active when it is in the GPS slot, if it establishes a connection, the sign will be cleared, if it does not connect, the sign will flash. If the GPS wasn't in the dock (not the power jack), it would say no GPS. So, in my opinion, the problem is that the connection cannot be established instantly.
.
 
ogzogz said:
My comment above is not about where the power cord was sourced from.
Click to expand...
My comment doesn't apply to yours...
This was a comment on:
"and is the power plugged into the mount".
I pasted your comment as a response to:
"Other things to check :
Is it mounted in the GPS mount".
 
Thanks all for thoughtful comments...
Panzer-platform was correct----it took over 30 minutes for the GPS signal to finally lock-on and record coordinates on the video image stamp.

On further reading, this seems to be inherent in many GPS systems take a while to lock on after a cold start ( new or moved to a distant location or shut off for a long time eg days/weeks), especially those without internet data link. Such units need to first download the "Almanac and Ephemeris Data(???)" from a satellite before attempting to calculate a location fix. . Ref http://gpsinformation.net/main/almanac.txt.
In comparison, you cellphone GPS can roughly locate itself from cell phone towers and then download the data from the web almost instantly.
 
I remember when I powered up my new A119 V3 for the very first time, it took about 10 minutes to find position. The car was in a built-up area with a tall building near the car. Thereafter, it found position at the same location within a minute, sometimes within seconds. Last summer I didn't use my car for almost a month. When I started the car, it again took many minutes to find position.

This has to do with the reception of the GPS Navigation Message containing current/valid "almanac" and "ephemeris" data, which takes some time to transmit fully. Reception can be hampered by nearby trees, buildings etc.

More on the Time To First Fix (TTFF) here:
https://www.lifewire.com/time-to-first-fix-ttff-1683313
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the forum hdphilli.
Once i got a brand new system from street guardian and was having GPS problems, as in it was a very long time acquiring a fix
Talked to the SG boss about it and he thought it was a faulty battery in the GPS, in the end i just plugged another GPS antenna into the camera and it worked fine after that.

SG using remote GPS antenna and not in mount like Viofo do, though i still think the Antenna itself are probably much the same.
 
mmm. since i got my A119 mini2's, and been reviewing the test footage from start, in my garage, to pulling back in. Never seen it take more and maybe 10 secs to get lock and show stats on the video. Have seen it cut out, not show stats occasionally while driving, but only for maybe 5 secs, then it comes back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top