General advice and park mode issue

[Mattyboyc0806s]

Hi all, I recently bought a A129 4K camera on recommendation from the good people on this forum, installed it yesterday and from what I’ve seen I’m happy, it’s a big improvement on my previous Mini 0806s which my darling Dachshund decided to eat!! . I am by no means into photography or even understand bit rates or whatever I’m just looking to get the best out of my camera that I can. I know these will seem daft questions to most of you but I’m looking for recommended settings of resolution, bit rate and all the other image related stuff, I only have the front camera but may add the rear one later. I do have a park guard problem though, I have set the camera to low bit rate recording but looking at the footage this morning it seems the camera was fine up until 21.49 then turned off until I turned the ignition on at 09.32, have I set some thing wrong?? I am using a Samsung pro 64gb card. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
Matt

 

[Nigel]

Higher bitrate = better image quality, but the highest only becomes useful if you are driving fast under trees, or want to use the footage for movie making.
Lower bitrate = more video stored before the camera loops and starts deleting old video, so there is a compromise of image quality against storage time.
I don't suggest using less than medium bitrate, for most people the maximum is not necessary and it may be better to have more time.

On the parking mode, maybe it turned off due to low battery voltage if you are using a hardwire kit?

 

[xiongguoy]

Are you using the 3 wire hardware kit?
The camera will turn itself off if it gets too hot or when the voltage is too low.

For bitrate, resolution, framerate, usually you go as low as you can accept to maximise recording time.

 

[Mattyboyc0806s]

Thanks for the reply’s, I am using the genuine Viofo 3 wired hardwire kit, so will give the car a run today, leave the settings as they are and see what it does tonight, as for the resolution I left it on the pre set one, any suggestions on which resolution is the best for all round quality?

 

[Nigel]

Thanks for the reply’s, I am using the genuine Viofo 3 wired hardwire kit, so will give the car a run today, leave the settings as they are and see what it does tonight, as for the resolution I left it on the pre set one, any suggestions on which resolution is the best for all round quality?

On Viofo products, the default settings are the best for most people.
For resolution, definitely 4K (2160).
For bitrate, the maximum is best, although for length of recording it may be better to turn it down one or two steps and see if you are happy with the results. Skies may become a bit blocky at medium.

The only settings you may want to change are the timezone, but since you are in the UK, the default of GMT+0 is good, and I use that all year, don't mess with daylight savings time. And you may want to turn the speed/location/time overlays on/off. Then there is a choice of parking mode, which I prefer off or low bitrate since I don't trust the others to catch everything, and if I want parking mode then I want to be sure it catches the thing I turned it on for.

 

[Mattyboyc0806s]

I hear you on the parking mode, that was one thing I did want so will leave that on low bitrate. I think I’ll reset it to default then adjust the ones you mention and leave it at that, I’m happy with the picture of what I have seen so far. I have the gps off as I don’t really want the speed stamped on the video, that was one nice feature the mini had, you could turn just that off and leave the coordinates on although I can’t think of many times when I needed a camera and didn’t have a clue as to where I was. Thank you for all your help you have been great.

matt

 

[Mattyboyc0806s]

Quick update in the parking mode, last night it recorded from 18.32 to 22.48 then nothing??. Camera was set to low bit rate so should have recorded until I turned car on and I certainly don’t think our current nighttime temperatures here in the UK are anything to worry about. Open to any suggestions.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Quick update in the parking mode, last night it recorded from 18.32 to 22.48 then nothing??. Camera was set to low bit rate so should have recorded until I turned car on and I certainly don’t think our current nighttime temperatures here in the UK are anything to worry about. Open to any suggestions.

What do you have the low voltage cutoff set to? You battery may be dipping below that point overnight, cutting power to the camera.

 

[kamkar]

I know with my 2012 car, parking mode with a 12.4V cur off are not more than a few hours, but just lowering to 12.2 gave me a lot more hours.

 

[Mattyboyc0806s]

Ok, I have it set to 12v I will try lowering it to the lowest which is 11.8v and see how it performs tonight.

 

[Mattyboyc0806s]

When I turn the ignition off I have a blank screen with these two red lights on. This is what I had the low voltage switch set to, I have lowered it to the 11.8v setting, does this seem correct?

 

[Nigel]

When I turn the ignition off I have a blank screen with these two red lights on. This is what I had the low voltage switch set to, I have lowered it to the 11.8v setting.

On low voltage, all those LEDs will turn off, including the one in the hardwire kit.

 

[Mattyboyc0806s]

I am hoping it is a battery issue where the car has been sat for a good while, I ran the car today and changed the hardwire setting so I’ll format the card quick and see what we get tonight. Thanks for the help.

 

[SawMaster]

11.8V may give you a no-start condition, this level is near what is considered to be a dead or flat battery. Another thing to be aware of is that it's common for HWK settings to be off by 0.2V in either direction. That can be significant when you're working with the lowest levels.

Phil

 

[Mattyboyc0806s]

11.8V may give you a no-start condition, this level is near what is considered to be a dead or flat battery. Another thing to be aware of is that it's common for HWK settings to be off by 0.2V in either direction. That can be significant when you're working with the lowest levels.

Phil

So i lowered the voltage on the HWK to 11.8v, car started without any problems this morning but the camera recorded nothing. Battery voltage is showing over 12v on a meter then over 13v when running so i can't believe its the battery and it certainly won't be our overnight temperatures.

 

[Nigel]

So i lowered the voltage on the HWK to 11.8v, car started without any problems this morning but the camera recorded nothing. Battery voltage is showing over 12v on a meter then over 13v when running so i can't believe its the battery and it certainly won't be our overnight temperatures.

What was the battery voltage shown on the meter?
And where did you measure it? At the battery terminals or at the fuse?

Also, did you check to see if the red LED on the hardwire kit had turned off?

If you only drove for a few minutes yesterday then the battery may not have charged enough.
If you didn't drive at all after plugging in the hardwire kit then the hardwire kit will not have turned on. It only turns on when you start the engine.

 

[Mattyboyc0806s]

Thanks Nigel, I did only do a short run to be honest and voltage was taken at battery. What I will do is let it run tonight, then in the morning take battery readings from battery, fuse and check the HWK light, that way I will have all the answers for you. Thanks again.
Matt

 

[Nigel]

Thanks Nigel, I did only do a short run to be honest and voltage was taken at battery. What I will do is let it run tonight, then in the morning take battery readings from battery, fuse and check the HWK light, that way I will have all the answers for you. Thanks again.
Matt

Note that when the hardwire kit turns off due to low voltage, the battery voltage will rise due to the decreased load, so turning off at 11.8, we should expect the voltage to be a bit higher in the morning. It may also be useful to know what the battery voltage is about half an hour after parking.

 

[Mattyboyc0806s]

I will be going out later so will take a reading at battery before and also when I return and park it up for the night, tomorrow I will take readings at battery and fuse and check the light in the HWK. Shall I leave it at 11.8v or put it back to the 12v setting?.
Thanks again

 

[Nigel]

Leave it on 11.8V, and give the battery voltage 10 minutes or more to settle after you park before taking a reading.