G1W-H: First heat resistance test

Module 79L

Module 79L

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Dash Cam
AT11DA, SG9665XS, G1W-H
Today we had extremely hot weather, with highs reaching 38ºC (100ºF) in the shade and a UV radiation level of 9 (the maximum is 11). I haven't had this conditions yet since I bought the camera so it was a good oportunity to see how it coped with them.

Left the car in the shade after lunch but nonetheless it was very hot inside. I have a digital compass with a thermometer inside the car and it indicated 37ºC (98.6ºF) but the compass is inside the glove compartment and the camera is closer to the roof (heat rises, as we all know), so I grabbed my laser thermometer and measured the camera's temperature. It showed 42ºC (107.6ºF).

I had to go out at 3 o'clock, right in the peak of heat, but I wasn't worried because the car has A/C. During the 10min round trip the car's thermometer indicated an external air temperature of 39ºC (102.2ºF) and on the journey back the camera was exposed to direct sunlight all the time.

When I returned it was cooler inside the car, so I measured the camera's temperature again with the laser thermometer and it showed 35ºC (95ºF) except on the battery side, where it showed 38ºC (100ºF).

The camera worked as usual, with no glitches or abnormal behaviour.

Tomorrow it'll be the second test (that's why I called this one "first") because we're expecting temperatures around 40ºC (104ºF)! :eek:
Where's the nail-biter emoticon when we need it? :D
 
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jokiin said:
the weak point will be the lens, it will lose focus when it gets hot enough, (...)
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Well, I was curious about that too, so the first thing I did when I got home was to dowload the files from the card and check if the recordings had any focus issues or if there were any corrupt files. Result: nothing whatsoever!
All the files were good and the picture quality was surprisingly far better than the one from the cloudy days early this week: much sharper and more contrasted!

It seems that these range of temperatures don't affect the lens or the camera that much, and I don't think that the A/C had that much influence in keeping things working well because the camera was still quite hot from its own operation.

Anyway, tomorrow we'll see how it goes. I'm not going to leave the car baking in the sun, of course, but I want to replicate as much as I can any similar situations I might have in the future, in the event that I don't have any shade available. When that happens I always try not to leave the car facing the sun (although that only protects the camera from direct sunlight, not from the heat), and I always carry a sunshade that I put on the outside of the windscreen when needed.
 
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Module 79L said:
Heaven is where the police is British, the cooks are Spanish, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian and it's all organized by the Swiss.
Hell is where the police is German, the cooks are British, the mechanics Spanish, the lovers Swiss and it's all organized by the Italians. :D
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Just got around to really reading this - love it! :D
 
SECOND TEST:

Today, as expected, the temperature rose to 40ºC (104ºF), so I left the car half way in the sun between 3 and 4PM. When I went back to take the measurements, the back was already in the shade and the front was in the sun up to the middle of the windscreen. Never at any point during this test the camera was directly exposed to the sun.

Before I could do anything inside the car I had to open all 5 doors for a couple of minutes because it was so hot inside that the air was almost unbreathable. After that, I checked the compass's thermometer (it was inside the glove compartment), which indicated 40ºC (104ºF), and the camera's temperature with the laser thermometer, which indicated 46ºC (114.8ºF). Then I went for a short drive just to record something and the camera behaved normally.

I don't think I'll need to run any more tests because it's unlikely that the camera will be subjected to today's conditions in normal use. I just wanted to stretch yesterday's limits a little further to see what tolerance margin I've got.
The first test was the one that mattered because it's more likely that the camera will have to work under those conditions than the ones I put it through today so, in the end, the results were positive.
 
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Module 79L said:
Today, as expected, the temperature rose to 40ºC (104ºF), so I left the car half way in the sun between 3 and 4PM. When I went back to take the measurements, the back was already in the shade and the front was in the sun up to the middle of the windscreen. Never at any point during this test the camera was directly exposed to the sun.

Before I could do anything inside the car I had to open all 5 doors for a couple of minutes because it was so hot inside that the air was almost unbreathable. After that, I checked the compass's thermometer (it was inside the glove compartment), which indicated 40ºC (104ºF), and the camera's temperature with the laser thermometer, which indicated 46ºC (114.8ºF). Then I went for a short drive just to record something and the camera behaved normally.

I don't think I'll need to run any more tests because it's unlikely that the camera will be subjected to today's conditions in normal use. I just wanted to stretch yesterday's limits a little further to see what tolerance margin I've got.
The first test was the one that mattered because it's more likely that the camera will have to work under those conditions than the ones I put it through today so, in the end, the results were positive.
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With those temperatures, surprised you've not traded in for a G1W-C before the battery goes bang ;-)
 
Rob J said:
With those temperatures, surprised you've not traded in for a G1W-C (...)
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One of the two problems I had with the G1W when the weather started to get hot was that the casing dilated and the camera became loose in the mount. I had to straplock the camera to the clip to prevent that from happening, but everytime I had to take the camera out of the mount I had to cut off the strap, put a new one in, and it wasn't very practical. As the C has the same casing as the normal I didn't want another G1W, even if it had capacitors instead of a battery.
The other problem was the out-of-focus on the left corner of the picture. I didn't want to risk buying another camera with the same problem and as the H was advertised as having a 140º angle lens, I thought it might be different from the normal and the C lenses. It is, the lens has no focus issues, but it turns out that the FoV is the same.

But anyway, these conditions aren't the norm and the camera never operates under them all the time. Also, I can always cool down the cabin before powering the camera. After all, even I can't "operate" properly with those temperatures inside the car. :)
 
The g1wh needs slight focussing from new and an hdmi and some small writing a couple of meters away does a perfect job..

I found in extreme heat it doesn't go out of focus but the picture can be like a reflection on a pool of water rippling just a little bit...

I also found the problems with heat tend to occur when you park up offset to the sun and it hits the camera on one side if you know what I mean ( sun visor protects from overhead sun on mine )






One of mine finally tossed out a lot of smoke and took itself out and annoyingly a 32g SD card with it....

I am NOT going to replace it with a g1wh despite their obvious reliability...

I will be replacing it with a DB power SJ 4000 for £38 because of the smaller form factor, 170 degree lens to protect the rear better , and the obvious other uses when needed - It can also be set further back from the rear window and up tight to the roof so as to be less intrusive in the rear with less reflections disturbing the image....
 
jokiin said:
the weak point will be the lens, it will lose focus when it gets hot enough, if you want a cheap mod that will also improve the quality buy yourself a Mobius C lens for it
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I'm still testing out the Mobius C lens conversion I did to my G1W-H and so far so good. Then again it's been an unseasonably cool June where I live but with July right around the corner that will soon change and I have plans to report on the results when that happens. While the metal barreled Mobius C lens is far more heat stable, the weak point and potential for focus issues will be the threaded lens tube on the G1W-H module base which is made from pretty thin plastic.

I'd recommend swapping a Mobius C lens into a G1W for the dramatically improved image quality alone, aside from the improved focus relaibility. Just keep in mind that it requires drilling a larger hole in the camera's housing to accommodate the larger diameter lens bezel.
 
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If
Dashmellow said:
I'd recommend swapping a Mobius C lens into a G1W for the dramatically improved image quality alone, aside from the improved focus relaibility. Just keep in mind that it requires drilling a larger hole in the camera's housing to accommodate the larger diameter lens bezel.
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Drilling holes of any diameter on any type of material is not a problem because I have the tools to do it. If I could find that lens in a physical or online store anywhere here in Portugal, I'd buy it and do the swap. As I can't find it here and I don't trust international online sales (for all sorts of reasons), and since the original lens is not having any heat related focus issues, I don't think I'm gonna risk buying the other lens online just to have a better PQ.
Maybe someday I'll buy a cheap second-hand Mobius and then try it. :)
 
Module 79L said:
If

Drilling holes of any diameter on any type of material is not a problem because I have the tools to do it. If I could find that lens in a physical or online store anywhere here in Portugal, I'd buy it and do the swap. As I can't find it here and I don't trust international online sales (for all sorts of reasons), and since the original lens is not having any heat related focus issues, I don't think I'm gonna risk buying the other lens online just to have a better PQ.
Maybe someday I'll buy a cheap second-hand Mobius and then try it. :)
Click to expand...

It doesn't have to be that lens. As long as it is of decent quality, has an appropriate focal length and has a metal lens barrel it should work. Of course, it will need an IR-cut filter installed,and be able to focus with the existing lens module. Yoy may be able to find what you need somewhere if you don't want to order online. Look for M12 CCTV lenses locally rather than dash cam lenses.
 
petepete said:
The g1wh needs slight focussing from new and an hdmi and some small writing a couple of meters away does a perfect job.
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I'm not an expert in optics but I don't think mine needs any adjustment.


petepete said:
I found in extreme heat it doesn't go out of focus but the picture can be like a reflection on a pool of water rippling just a little bit...
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Maybe that effect is caused by the firmware you're using, not the lens. There's glare and reflections, of course, but they're not created by the lens because they're out there, they're real.
 
Some of the G1W series cameras have excellent focus and sharpness. The camera would never have garnered the reputation for value that it has if that were not the case. You can spend the same money on a totally crappy camera and that has been true for some time. The focus issues have been hit and miss and depending on where you buy it the product has gone downhill since it was introduced.
 
Dashmellow said:
It doesn't have to be that lens. As long as it is of decent quality, has an appropriate focal length and has a metal lens barrel it should work. Of course, it will need an IR-cut filter installed,and be able to focus with the existing lens module. Yoy may be able to find what you need somewhere if you don't want to order online. Look for M12 CCTV lenses locally rather than dash cam lenses.
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Thanks for the tip, but as expected, I didn't have much luck. There's only one type of lens available locally (some AXIS M12) and it costs more than the whole camera.
 
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Dashmellow said:
Some of the G1W series cameras have excellent focus and sharpness. The camera would never have garnered the reputation for value that it has if that were not the case. You can spend the same money on a totally crappy camera and that has been true for some time. The focus issues have been hit and miss and depending on where you buy it the product has gone downhill since it was introduced.
Click to expand...
When I started looking for dashcams I found several G1W's on OLX, some with the orange boxes (they were called Black Box) and some with the black and blue boxes (the Advanced Portable Car Camcorder's), but I've never seen any with the silver box, like the one Techmoan bought for his review, back in December 2013.
I remember that one of those Black Box's had kind of a bluish front panel. Maybe I should've bought one of those instead...
 
Module 79L said:
Thanks for the tip but, as expected, I didn't have much luck. There's only one type of lens available locally (some AXIS M12) and it costs more than the whole camera.
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The only other solution would be to buy online. I know it can be risky and a hassle, especially when purchasing from Asia but I've had far more successful experiences than failures. eBay and PayPal offer certain protections as well, so this tends to cushion any risk. Come to think of it every dash cam related purchase I've ever made over the last 5 years has been online.
 
If it came from an EU seller I would risk buying the lens online, because of cheaper postage, shorter delivery times and no Customs hassle.
 
Module 79L said:
If it came from an EU seller I would risk buying the lens online, because of cheaper postage, shorter delivery times and no Customs hassle.
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Well, most of these Asian vendors offer free shipping these days. I can understand the other concerns but if the choice is between delivery times and a possible customs hassle and no other available source for what you want, why not? That's a rhetorical question you don't need to answer of course, but if it were me I'd probably go for it anyway.
 
Yeah, but you live in the USA and I live in Portugal. That makes a big difference when it comes to the way Asian vendors treat the customers.
 
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