Freezing Cold Blackvue DR500GW-HD

horsepower

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2013
Messages
75
Reaction score
9
Country
Canada
Dash Cam
Thinkware F800
I thought I would start a new thread to chronicle the problems I am running into with my new blackvue 500 camera, just incase anyone else has similar problems with theirs.

I purchased my camera from an authorized reseller that I found on their website... The reseller was very responsive and very good to deal with. I ordered and received my camera within 2 days.

The first thing I did with the camera (other than unboxing and mounting it) is remove the 16GB card that came with it and put in a brand new 32GB Lexar class 10 card. When I turned the camera on, I got the standard "initializing SD card" prompt, and after a bunch of flashing light patterns, the camera starts recording.... Great!

After 3 or 4 days of owning the camera, I started my car, only to notice, about 5 minutes into my drive, that instead of the blue GPS light and orange record light being on, it was only a green light. I unplugged the power, waited about 20 seconds for the green light to go out, and re-plugged... The camera came back on and started recording as normally.

About 15 start-ups later, I noticed the same thing happened again..... After about a week of this, I noticed it was getting more and more frequent... So I took the card inside and formatted it... This seemed to help the situation, however it was still freezing up after every 15 startups or so......

So I bought a second 32GB Lexar card... Again, the camera worked perfectly with this card for about a week... Then it started freezing up every 15th time or so. Then, it started freezing up more freqently.... I kept using the card, and it got to the point where it would lock up EVERY time it turned on... Then, it locked up and gave me the message "Please check SD card"...

So I took the card out, put it in my computer... The computer read the card no problems... I could see the video on it no problem... I formatted the card and put it back in the camera... The camera started working properly again, however only started 4 times properly before it locked up again. I formatted the card in the camera, and it worked twice after that before locking up again.

At this point, I am getting frustrated with the whole thing... So I went and bought a 32GB Sandisk Ultra card... it is twice the price of a regular card, but is their "professional grade" card... I formatted the card and am currently using it. So far, it hasn't locked up yet... But its only been 8 or 9 times its been turned on...

Anyone have any advice? Anyone seeing similar problems?? I am willing to live with the sub-par video and night time performance, if I could rely on it starting up every time... As it is now, I have to check it every time I start the car to be sure its recording....
 
I've been using a scandisk ultra 16gb card and format once a week , have had the camera not boot up properly once but put that down to me putting the ignition on and then start the car about 10 seconds later just as it was about to start recording the camera lost power when I pressed ignition..
 
Keep an eye on it and let me know! I am interested to know if I am the only one with this problem or not!


Bulky said:
I've been using a scandisk ultra 16gb card and format once a week , have had the camera not boot up properly once but put that down to me putting the ignition on and then start the car about 10 seconds later just as it was about to start recording the camera lost power when I pressed ignition..
 
Greetings. I have been wanting a dash cam for sometime now and I made the pitch to the wife. I told her it would be proof of where I was and how fast I was going, blah blah blah. She said okay order it. So placed order Friday, unit shipped Saturday and I have it on Thursday if Can Post doesn't misplace it.

I ordered mine with the 32GB card instead of a 16 so hopefully I won't have any issues. I like the quality of the video, the wifi feature and that fact that I don't need an external antenna and more cables to get in the way.

Once I get it I will put it in the car, take a spin around this snow covered city and post for all to view.

Also looking forward to your views on the 500 as well. Have a great day.
 
Hi horsepower,

Unfortunately Pittasoft Blackvue cameras have not been known for their reliability. We all had hoped that this new version fixed some of the issues but it will be a while until people provide more feedback. I'm sure if this issue is common, you will see many more posts shortly from other owners.
 
hi,
if you have read my thread on engish firmware you will understand that mine has the Korean firmware.
I have not had any problems with mine at all except for the language.
may I suggest you use the initial Pittasoft card and see what happens. I know this sounds lame but who knows, you need to explore all roads.
I'm about to order my second 500 cam from an authorized dealer and soon I will know if your problem is random or consistent.
 
Yeah, that was the point of starting this thread.. That is really the only problem that I have found so far, so I wanted to open a thread to keep tabs on it.


DashCamMan said:
Hi horsepower,

Unfortunately Pittasoft Blackvue cameras have not been known for their reliability. We all had hoped that this new version fixed some of the issues but it will be a while until people provide more feedback. I'm sure if this issue is common, you will see many more posts shortly from other owners.
 
That is my next troubleshooting step. I also agree, it is lame, but like you said, part of the troubleshooting process is not trying to fix the problem, but trying to find out what triggers it..

sunnyday said:
hi,
if you have read my thread on engish firmware you will understand that mine has the Korean firmware.
I have not had any problems with mine at all except for the language.
may I suggest you use the initial Pittasoft card and see what happens. I know this sounds lame but who knows, you need to explore all roads.
I'm about to order my second 500 cam from an authorized dealer and soon I will know if your problem is random or consistent.
 
Well, today the camera locked up on boot with the ultra sandisk card in it. Only happened once. I suspect it will get worse as time progresses. I will keep the pitasoft 16gb card handy, and once it becomes unusable, I'll swap it out.
 
Try changing the settings on your blackvue to make NORMAL mode's sensitivity lower/higher. When I first mounted the cam, it went from normal recording to event recording (Orange to Red). The cam didn't sense movement from the sensors and went into event mode instead of normal.

I'm just assuming that maybe your cam is going into park mode (green) automatically. Adjust the sensitivity in the settings and play around from there. Let me know if it helped.
 
I am not using parkinig mode on my camera. I have it turned off in the settings. All this is happening even before the camera is powered up. When you power on, the lights should sequence in this order:

Blue
Green
Orange and Blue
Green
Orange
Then flashing orange and blue as it records

When the camera decides to freeze up, it goes blue, then green. And hangs on green. The only thing you can do at this point is unplug the power and wait for the capacitor to drain.
 
Which version do you have horsepower ? English ? Korean ? , do you have the camera hard wired or plugged into the cigarette lighter socket ?, This happened to me again this morning , exactly what you describe . I also have parking mode switched off.
 
I wired up a cigar socket to come on with the key, and plugged the camera into that..

I have the english version. Bought from one of their authorized sellers here in Canada...

Now that it has happened to you twice, you should see it happening more often... Will be interesting to see if you get the "Check SD Card" message...
 
did you ever resolve your issues with the cam? Did the vendor respond to your problems?
 
I sent an email to Blackvue directly, and they told me to deal with the reseller... I sent him an email, and he gave me a few things to try, still no luck... I am going to send him another email right now for more suggestions... Why do you ask? Are you having similar problems?
 
As you fitted a nonstandard socket I would check all your connections, Maybe you have a bad one giving intermittent power probs

I had probs in the US when the power plug kept working its way loos in the ciggy socket I was using and had dropouts in the filming.
 
You are absolutely right Hillbilly... It is a small chance, but at this point I am grasping at straws... I have pulled the socket out and taped it up to ensure it keeps a firm contact.

I am just surprised that no one else is having this issue... .Perhaps I got a lemon?
 
Dang, after reading this thread, I don't think I want this dashcam anyone. A history of reliability problems from previous models, is not confidence inspiring. Espeically when it costs, $300!!!

I,m pretty happy with my f500lhd, but I just wished image quality was better.
 
Just to add , I've had no problems since !!
 
Yes, but we can agree the quality of recording is not for $300. I am thinking if it doesn't have the Wi-Fi option it wouldn't sell so much.

enjoy,
Mtz
 
Back
Top