Hands on the Livue LB100. $100 korean 720p dashcam

[Hardwired]

It is. No matter how you set the G-sensor sensitivity, the parking mode G-sensor is always set to high. I got this info from the Korean website (using google translate), and I also tested it myself.

Well that makes sense, there's no reason to have any vibration while parked unless something is happening, by definition. So it makes sense that the camera would want to record anything that's happening because that's what it's there for in the first place

 

[Hardwired]

Just got my LB100 in the mail today. One question about the ball mount:

It seems to be made of cheap plastic and I can easily see it breaking in the future. The ball is just dry plastic on dry plastic and does not move easily even when I loosen the tightening nut.

Can anyone recommend an appropriate lubricant for the ball joint?

thanks

 

[nitehawk]

It is. No matter how you set the G-sensor sensitivity, the parking mode G-sensor is always set to high. I got this info from the Korean website (using google translate), and I also tested it myself.

Thanks for that. Tested it out too and indeed it is very sensitive in parking mode.

Just for everyone's information. I downloaded the new viewer from winy's website. The new viewer looks much nicer and is much more stable and useable. There is a very recent version now (2nd May 2013). I compared cfg files from the "current" viewer and this new viewer and they are identical at hex level. To confirm I turned the voice volume back on and hopped down to the car. Voice guidance came back on. So this new NEW VIEWER does actually save the cfg file correctly!!

I recommend everyone downloads it :idea:

 

[Hardwired]

Just got my LB100 in the mail today. One question about the ball mount:

It seems to be made of cheap plastic and I can easily see it breaking in the future. The ball is just dry plastic on dry plastic and does not move easily even when I loosen the tightening nut.

Can anyone recommend an appropriate lubricant for the ball joint?

thanks

Regarding this, I figured out the problem. There is supposed to be a rubber gasket where the ball meets the joint, and mine is apparently out of place. I'm having a hard time putting it back in place but I will figure it out. Definitely a cheap mount but it will do the job once I have it set up

 

[Mr-H]

Just got my LB100 in the mail today. One question about the ball mount:

It seems to be made of cheap plastic and I can easily see it breaking in the future. The ball is just dry plastic on dry plastic and does not move easily even when I loosen the tightening nut.

Can anyone recommend an appropriate lubricant for the ball joint?

thanks

Regarding this, I figured out the problem. There is supposed to be a rubber gasket where the ball meets the joint, and mine is apparently out of place. I'm having a hard time putting it back in place but I will figure it out. Definitely a cheap mount but it will do the job once I have it set up

The little rubber o-ring gasket sits in the indent in the piece of the mount that sticks to the windscreen. This provides enough resistance so that the ball doesn't move around of it's own accord and also I guess could help damp out some of the vibrations transferred from the windscreen to the camera.

Both the GPS mount and the standard mount that I got had the o-ring stuck to the ball itself, I guess only just through pressure rather than production.

 

[Hardwired]

The little rubber o-ring gasket sits in the indent in the piece of the mount that sticks to the windscreen. This provides enough resistance so that the ball doesn't move around of it's own accord and also I guess could help damp out some of the vibrations transferred from the windscreen to the camera.

Both the GPS mount and the standard mount that I got had the o-ring stuck to the ball itself, I guess only just through pressure rather than production.

Yeah I just figured that out, it sits on the indent on top of the ball. It needs something on the bottom of the ball too because there's too much friction and I can't rotate the mount which defeats the whole purpose of a ball type mount. So far it seems my best option is to get some silicone spray to slick up the joint

 

[Mr-H]

Hi there

First time on this forum. I bought a LB100 with GPS from lightnspace. The LB100 works but the GPS doesn't.

I opened it up to find that on one side of the unit there is a very small battery. I tested it with my multimeter and it showed a voltage of about 0.19v. I pulled the battery off the board using a fine blade and I can see the battery is a MS621FE, which according to my google searches to possibly a Seiko 5.5AH 3v battery. The battery is spot welded and does not seem to be an easy to replace item. My google searches also seem to show that the battery is rechargeable, so I tried charging it for about 2 days straight. The most the voltage got up to was 1.2v but it unexplainably dropped to 0.5v. Each time I tested the GPS unit, it did not work.

So it is quite possible the faulty GPS units are being shipped with dud batteries.

Now if only Kevin from lightnspace would return my emails...

First post here too, although I bought the LB100 off the back of the review by mtz!

I've got the same fault as you with the GPS though, it worked once - both lights flashing away happily, but subsequent startups give no GPS data, and only the solid green light for the power, not the flashing one.

I'm going to head up to maplins (uk electronics/hobby store) and see if they have any of the batteries in stock and try switching it out - I've opened the GPS module now and completely mullered one of the screws meaning that obviously the warranty is sitting on a cloud playing a harp, so I have nothing to lose by doing so!

Fingers crossed it fixes it! I'll report back if this works.

ETA: It seems these are difficult little gits to get hold of! Maplins haven't heard of them, RS Components don't list them, Farnell do list them (cheap too - £1.11ea), but they have a £20 minimum order value before they'll accept an order, eBay have them listed from the USA and Hong Kong, and the sole UK seller of them is on holiday until the 15th May. I'll just have to use it without the GPS until then I guess!

Further ETA: The battery is pretty simple to replace as they come as a unit with the tabs attached. Just heat the solder up on the board, pull the old one off and solder a new one on.

Just to add to this, I have now ordered two of the MS621FE cells, which should be here probably early next week. Fingers crossed that switching the apparently faulty cell works and it restores the GPS module to full functionality.

 

[Hardwired]

Just to add to this, I have now ordered two of the MS621FE cells, which should be here probably early next week. Fingers crossed that switching the apparently faulty cell works and it restores the GPS module to full functionality.

By the way, how much is the GPS add on unit and what does it look like?

Is it worth it to have location data on your video?

I would think it could be used against you in a speeding ticket case or if someone is suing you for an accident and wants to prove you were above the speed limit

 

[Mr-H]

Just to add to this, I have now ordered two of the MS621FE cells, which should be here probably early next week. Fingers crossed that switching the apparently faulty cell works and it restores the GPS module to full functionality.

By the way, how much is the GPS add on unit and what does it look like?

Is it worth it to have location data on your video?

I would think it could be used against you in a speeding ticket case or if someone is suing you for an accident and wants to prove you were above the speed limit

I'm not sure how much it is separately as I bought mine with the cam.

As for speeding etc, GPS data is no more accurate than taking the distance covered divided by the time taken to work out the speed of the car.

As an example, if two points you pass in your car are later measured by the Police to be 20 metres apart, and it takes 1.1 seconds (or 33 frames of video at 30fps) to cover that distance on the cam, then you're doing 40.67mph. If that's in a 30mph zone and you've done something bad enough to have the Police interested in analysing the contents of your camera, then they will do these measurements and GPS or not, you're going to be done for it, or it could be taken into consideration as an aggravating factor.

By driving with a camera in your car, you have to accept that while the footage it records can be used to exonerate you, it can also be used to convict you.

 

[Hardwired]

The Current consumption is 260mA to 300mA (@12V) depends on different modes. A 2 Amp fuse is more than enough.

Is there a fuse within the LB100 power connector itself?

The smallest fuses out there for my car are 2 amps and even those are hard to find. I'll probably put in a 3 amp fuse but concerned that a 3 amp surge could fry the cam if it's only supposed to operate on 1/10th of that current

 

[Mr-H]

The Current consumption is 260mA to 300mA (@12V) depends on different modes. A 2 Amp fuse is more than enough.

Is there a fuse within the LB100 power connector itself?

The smallest fuses out there for my car are 2 amps and even those are hard to find. I'll probably put in a 3 amp fuse but concerned that a 3 amp surge could fry the cam if it's only supposed to operate on 1/10th of that current

Yeah there is, it's a 2A glass barrel fuse, just unscrew the end of the cig lighter plug and it'll pop out (don't lose the spring!)

 

[g4z808]

Hi Guys i've had my LB100 since April 5

Heres a sample video i uploaded

Im wondering if it looks okay ? it feels like its blurry to me

 

[Brungle]

Updated my firmware to the latest version and can't get the time to set properly with the new viewer, I thought this was supposed to work now?

 

[nitehawk]

I haven't tried setting the time (not needed to) but I did change various settings (LED lights, voice guidance, recording volume etc etc) and they were all applied correctly once the SD card was put back in the camera. Is it just the time that is not getting set? Did you try setting anything else?

If you can check if other settings are getting saved I will compare cfg files at hex level again and check it out.

 

[Mr-H]

Well, my MS621FEs came today, so fitted one and the GPS worked - both power and record LEDs flashing merrily away at me :shock: :shock: :shock:




... however, it worked once and only once. Second start up gave just the regular single flashing record LED and solid power LED. Nothing else - suffice to say I'm not too impressed right now.

I will test the voltage on a meter tomorrow, it was brand new out of the packet showing a good 2.5v on the cell. I still have one left though so if the voltage on this one has inexplicably dropped then I believe the module will be at fault.

If that is the case, and it can suck down a brand new battery from the get-go, then I would certainly highlight serious reliability concerns with the GPS modules to any prospective buyers. We'll see what tomorrow brings but right now - I think it's a dud.

 

[algeeba]

Hi Guys i've had my LB100 since April 5

Heres a sample video i uploaded

Im wondering if it looks okay ? it feels like its blurry to me

I was checking my wife's LB100 video the other day and it also looked blurry to me. I thought I would be able to read the license plates on vehicles right next to me but I couldn't. Even larger signs such as gas station signs looked somewhat blurry. Well, I just finished checking Mtz original post and his video looks somewhat blurry as well.

 

[algeeba]

I understand I have to format the SD card about every 2 weeks of usage. Do I have to format it using the PC or the procedure shown on post #1 is all that is required. I tried the procedure once but I don't think I did it correctly because I checked the SD card on my computer and the files were still there. Also, I never heard the voice announce that the card was formatting but it did ask me if I wanted to format the card (and thats when I "released the REC button and after max. 1-2 seconds press it again for very short time").

 

[Wezzzor]

Can I ask did you get caught on any import duties in Ireland?

Thanks
W.

Yes I got stung for 9 euro from fedex themselves ab 2 weeks after the camera arrived. :roll:

 

[MartynB85]

Hi

I have this dash cam and i need some clarification on how it functions. Firstly i have wired it into my car, with a constant live, so that i can use the parking mode and i don't have a messy cable hanging around.

The manual states that it will turn on when i start the car, but how can this happen if the camera has a constant 12v power supply? How does it then know when i am driving and to record normally? Also how do you turn the camera off, so that you can safely remove the SD card? If i unplug it will the camera still function using the battery?

Thank you!

Regards

Martyn

 

[Mtz]

Camera will feel the motion of the car and enter in normal mode from the parking mode.
If you want to stop the car you must take out the cable from the camera.
When you will insert again the cable the camera will start in normal recording mode.

enjoy,
Mtz