GPS :-(

[jimn]

Hi,

I've been looking for a dashcam for a while, using this site & techmoan for ideas, and it seemed like the 0806 had mostly got its act together so I decided to plump for that one. It arrived yesterday but unfortunately it is refusing to connect to GPS reliably. It did say it had a connection a couple of times initially but now it's just not happening, even when I stand outside. I know the answer to this, but it is going to have to go back to the seller isn't it, there's nothing stupid I could have done to cause this issue?

Cheers

 

[erkme73]

What are the symptoms? Do you have a constantly flashing green light, or is the green light completely out?

 

[jimn]

Flashing green LED and the satellite symbol has red circle under it.

BUT, I've just been playing around at my desk and left it plugged in and now that I've turned it back on to check the green LED, the LED is solid! Maybe it knows that I have started the returns process. And now after I picked it up it has started flashing again. Aaaaaargh!

 

[Nigel]

If it works everywhere but in/next to your car then it could be your car that is the problem...

 

[erkme73]

I can only speak to what I've experienced with my 9 units. The sensitivity of the GPS chip depends quite a bit on the orientation (how slanted the mount is towards the sky) and other structures near the unit. Unlike the GPS in my phone, which seems to get signal even in a parking garage or inside my home, these require a fairly unobstructed view of the sky.

During my initial testing, I had several of them on my kitchen counter, and those with the bases lying flat were eventually able to 'lock' - that is, a solid green light - but even then it took over an hour of just sitting there. Putting my hand over the chip, or moving them caused the light to start blinking again.

In my vehicles, my front-facing (windshield-mounted) unit seems to lock at least a full minute before the others (which have the mounts nearly vertical). Within the first 3-5 minutes, all four in a given vehicle are locked solid - where the green light doesn't blink again until I enter a parking garage.

However, even if the LED is solid for an entire trip, there are still drop outs (or inaccuracies) in the GPS log that cause Registrator Viewer to become 'unsure' (that is, instead of showing an arrow on the map, it shows a circle of uncertainty) of your heading. It doesn't seem to affect accuracy of the speed or direction of travel, as the coordinates are still accurate. They just have a "?" in the data field in the log. Perhaps the horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP) gets too high, and RV is warning the user not to depend solely on the data?)

 

[jimn]

I'm now wondering if it is a power/battery issue. If the device is turned off with power connected then it picks a fix quite quickly when it is turned on, then will lose the fix after a minute which seems to last longer if the screen is off or its not recording (although it is still very temperamental).

 

[erkme73]

I'm now wondering if it is a power/battery issue. If the device is turned off with power connected then it picks a fix quite quickly when it is turned on, then will lose the fix after a minute which seems to last longer if the screen is off or its not recording (although it is still very temperamental).

If you turn the camera on manually with power disconnected and start to record, how long does the battery last? Should be a solid 10 min. One of mine had a faulty battery. Aside from acting flaky, the camera wouldn't stay on but for maybe 5 seconds w/o power - even after a full charge (blue light out).

It took me <10 min to change the battery (US$8), and all is working well.

Here's a picture of the original battery, which looks like it was punctured/crushed during assembly:

 

[jimn]

If you turn the camera on manually with power disconnected and start to record, how long does the battery last?

Twelve minutes.

 

[erkme73]

Twelve minutes.

Then I would say your battery is fine, and not the culprit. Take a close look at the retractable pins on the GPS mount. They're spring-loaded and will compress when pressed, and should extend when released. I had one of the pins (the ground) not extend, it was providing intermittent contact to the camera. When the USB cable was plugged into the mount, I was getting random shutdowns, and the GPS would never lock - in fact the green light never came on.

When I plugged the USB cable directly into the camera, it no longer shut off, but the GPS still didn't work - not until the seller replaced the mount.

 

[jimn]

You mentioned in a previous post "even after a full charge (blue light out)", I've just had it on charge for a couple of hours and the blue light still hadn't gone out and when I manually started it the battery symbol was still going through its 'filling from bottom'. Does this sound right?

Then I would say your battery is fine, and not the culprit. Take a close look at the retractable pins on the GPS mount. They're spring-loaded and will compress when pressed, and should extend when released. I had one of the pins (the ground) not extend, it was providing intermittent contact to the camera. When the USB cable was plugged into the mount, I was getting random shutdowns, and the GPS would never lock - in fact the green light never came on.

When I plugged the USB cable directly into the camera, it no longer shut off, but the GPS still didn't work - not until the seller replaced the mount.

All the pins spring as I'd expect and were fully extended when I removed the 0806 from its base.

Many thanks

 

[erkme73]

I suppose it depends on what kind of current your charger is putting out. If it's charging on a lightweight (500ma) charger, it probably will take a while. I can't tell you how long mine takes to go full - but probably not more than an hour (if the camera is turned off).

The acid test is the battery-only run time, and it certainly sounds like yours is well within normal.

Maybe others can chime in for how long it takes for the blue light to go out. I know if I power cycle mine with the charger not plugged in, and then plug it in again, the blue light comes on again - even though the battery is presumably full.

 

[jimn]

I suppose it depends on what kind of current your charger is putting out. If it's charging on a lightweight (500ma) charger, it probably will take a while. I can't tell you how long mine takes to go full - but probably not more than an hour (if the camera is turned off).

It was an Anker 6 Port charger, with nothing else charging, so it will be serving the maximum the 0806 can take.

 

[erkme73]

I have one of those too. Just make sure the USB cable you're using is nice and short/thick. I ended up scrapping more than half of my cables after testing them (with this USB power meter) for max current - they were all testing 500ma or less.

 

[jimn]

Looks like we have lost some posts. From my emails I think this is the last one from @erkme73 :

@jimn - I don't know what I did differently, but I was off on my analysis of how the mount is powered. This morning I went to double-check the GPS light/signal when hooked up directly to the camera - and it most certainly DOES come on, whether plugged into the mount or the camera, or if powered from the battery w/o any cable connected. Sorry about that.

Definitely sounds like something is amiss with your unit. Have you tried @Nigel's firmware? No harm in trying, as you can always flash the latest official firmware if you're going to attempt an exchange. In fact, the mini0806.com website is actually hosting his firmware - so you probably wouldn't even need to flash back to stock.

I can't remember what I replied though.

 

[jimn]

I tried various firmwares, including the the DCT one, but nothing resolved the issue.

It's ready to go back, but I made this video to demonstrate the issue:

 

[erkme73]

Very interesting video. No matter how I power mine, I rarely get a solid green light if I'm indoors. Maybe if I leave it powered up for a few hours, I might come back to a solid green. But as soon as I put my hand over the mount, or move it, it starts blinking again.

Unless you're living in a roofless hut, I can't see how you're able to acquire a lock that fast. Thus, I wonder if you're not getting a false-positive lock due to the power source. Do you have another charger, or ideally, a battery-based power pack that you can use to isolate the camera from mains power?

Have you verified that the GPS coordinates displayed when you're locked solid green are accurate? You can type them into google and it should show you a fixed point on the globe.

 

[scubakid]

As you had the power connected to the GPS mount it would still be working so as soon as you power on the 0806 with the button you will get a lock as the GPS mount already has "lock" however as soon as you take the power off the GPS mount will reset and have to get lock again.

John

 

[jimn]

Very interesting video. No matter how I power mine, I rarely get a solid green light if I'm indoors. Maybe if I leave it powered up for a few hours, I might come back to a solid green. But as soon as I put my hand over the mount, or move it, it starts blinking again.

Unless you're living in a roofless hut, I can't see how you're able to acquire a lock that fast. Thus, I wonder if you're not getting a false-positive lock due to the power source. Do you have another charger, or ideally, a battery-based power pack that you can use to isolate the camera from mains power?

Have you verified that the GPS coordinates displayed when you're locked solid green are accurate? You can type them into google and it should show you a fixed point on the globe.

Yes, the logfiles produced when the device is started manually contain the correct coords for my current location. The logfiles produced when the device starts automatically just contain zeroes for the coords, irrespective of how long I leave it.

As you had the power connected to the GPS mount it would still be working so as soon as you power on the 0806 with the button you will get a lock as the GPS mount already has "lock" however as soon as you take the power off the GPS mount will reset and have to get lock again.

John

That's what I figure, it's just a shame that it won't lock when the main unit is powered on at the same time.

 

[RavenManiac]

jimn, I'm having the same problem with both of my mini 0806s. They've been working fine for the past 4 months. Did you ever discover the cause of your problem?

 

[jimn]

jimn, I'm having the same problem with both of my mini 0806s. They've been working fine for the past 4 months. Did you ever discover the cause of your problem?

Sorry no, it had to go back. The second unit was fine though and is still going strong.