GPS delay on connection

Quidagis

Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2014
Messages
62
Reaction score
22
Country
Colombia
I have installed two Thinkware dash cams in my 2014 Subaru Forester, one F770 on the front and a F50 on the rear. No major problems with any of both cameras, however the F50 GPS takes much too long to connect. Anybody having same issues or know how to solve this?

Firmware is the most recent: 1.00.07

F770 GPS works flawlessly.

Just this morning it took 10 minutes to connect and this was 2 days ago (it took 7 minutes)...

Please, click on TimeStamp link in video description to jump to GPS connected message or just click on 0:49.

 
Last edited:
Have you tried moving the GPS antenna position? It hasn't got one of the heated elements running under the antenna has it?
 
@Maddog1974

Thank you for your reply.

No heated elements. Antenna relocation made no difference.

It appears to me that this model in particular has its issues. GPS delay acquiring satellites and shock sensor is oversensitive, even when impact sensitivity is set to minimum (1 Insensitive ) small potholes trigger incidents. Not happy with that either. Anyway, it is what it is... Thinkware entry level camera.
 
Last edited:
I can't explain the GPS delay on your unit i'm afraid. I would say the average connection time for the F50 is between 60-120 seconds after start up. A long shot but you don't have any phone chargers plugged into cigar sockets do you that may be throwing out some interference that's impacting the GPS signal? We have come across this when fitting Trackers to Lorries & Cars on occasion.

As for the Sensitivity, i have one fitted into the front of my daughters Renault Clio (2005 model) that's set to minimum and i'e heard the odd 'incident' recorded but not many and that's usually after hitting a fairly large bump. I was thinking your boot lid isn't a little loose is it. If the boot is closed can you push it any more closed for example. Wondering if it's got a little bit of play there which could cause vibrations....
 
Hey @Maddog1974 .

No, no phone chargers at all and the F50 is hardwired. Next try will be to connect to the 12V socket on the rear and see what happens. Maybe it's the hardwire cable causing interference. I'll let you know how it goes.

Boot lid is tight, no significant vibrations. The impact sensitivity should be the same as with the F770 that I set to the minimum too, and have no issues. I believe this could be fixed by a firmware update, or maybe not?.

Thanks again.

Here... https://www.bestbuy.com/site/review...am-black/5371600?feature=video+quality&page=2 I found these comments about how"very sensitive" the darn thing is.

I4uPXCI.png


tLd3jnw.png


9w8bdt2.png



By the way, on a side note, I didn't buy the F770 rear cam because of the issues with memory cards. I thought, and appears I was right (in my particular case anyway), that two cameras recording simultaneously onto the same memory card is what causes all those compatibility problems. I've used three different cards on the F770: Thinkware 64 Gb, SanDisk Ultra 64 Gb, and Ridata 64Gb... no problems so far, zero, nada. Next try will be 128Gb, Ridata maybe or Samsung EVO+.
 
Last edited:
Have you flashed your camera with new firmware recently? Sometimes things go wrong if the flash process is not done correctly.

Try re flashing your camera with the same firmware and it might be the fix to your problem.
 
Have you flashed your camera with new firmware recently? ...

No, I have not flashed because I received the camera with the latest firmware (1.00.07). And I am a little concerned that if I flash the firmware all I can get is a bricked dash cam, it appears Thinkware is prone to bricking devices when flashing.

Yesterday afternoon I unplugged the hardwire cable and connected to the 12 volt socket, GPS connected message after 3 minutes or so. Next try will be 12 volt socket early in the morning and see what happens.

BTW, this morning it took 20 minutes to acquire signal from satellites, totally forgot to connect to 12 volt socket :mad:. I have noticed that this happens early in the morning, maybe it's because the car has been parked in underground garage overnight. I'm not sure.
 
Last edited:
Hm.. based on my experience with the F50, the GPS will take ~ 2 - 3 min to lock on its first use. After that, it will lock within 10 - 20 seconds of starting the car.

I did receive 1 unit where the GPS will not lock for 20 minutes. This was also a defective unit where the F50 will sporadically record footage and/or not record anything at all unless I unplug and replug the unit in.

In other words, you might have a defective unit.
 
@EFTC

What about the impact sensor over sensitive? Any problems with that?
 
@EFTC

What about the impact sensor over sensitive? Any problems with that?

I am sorry but I have no fix for that. You just have to change the setting until you reached a compromise. My F50 was mounted in the back of the car so the sensitivity settings will be different than if you have it mounted at the front.
 
Back
Top