Inconsistency entering / exiting parking mode?

[scalar]

=== UPDATE: this is now resolved ===

Hi All,

I have newly purchased the SG9663DC flashed with the latest v1.35 firmware installed in a Volvo C30 with the hard-wire kit and I am finding inconsistency with the dashcam entering parking mode.

I have identified a constant-live for the yellow battery connector in the form of the rear cargo compartment cigarette lighter (actually missing on this vehicle but present on the Volvo V50 estate with which this car shares almost everything) and I am using the red switched accessory connector on the drivers heated seat.

I tapped into this circuit as it seems something that would never be live without the engine running and did not want to use anything safety related (lighting, power steering etc.) I initially had the ACC connector to the stereo but once this has been switched on it is still usable to some degree with the keys out of the ignition, hence moving the ACC to the heated seat.

I parked the car up last night at about 6pm and the dash cam beeped which I assume this means it had sensed the voltage drop on the ACC and had entered parking mode. The "rec" light continued to blink as I locked the car.

Reviewing the footage today it has recorded in real-time all night to my 128GB Samsung endurance SD card. I assume the memory card filled up and it began to overwrite as the earliest footage I have is from about 03:30am which would be roughly 9 continuous hours at 30fps.

At about 10:00am I see myself approach the car from the rear camera in 30fps where I proceed to unlock it. I reposition the car to perform maintenance work on it (i.e. started the engine briefly) then left with the keys in the ignition only to stop it automatically locking or setting the alarm off as I placed it on axle-stands.

From this point onward it appears to have correctly entered parking mode again and I have time lapse footage all afternoon whilst I worked around it.

I then took the car for a test drive where I can see the camera has successfully exited parking mode and I have real-time footage up until I came back home and powered the dash cam off so I could remove the memory card to review the footage I am discussing in this post.

As I believe I have identified proper constant and switched live circuits to tap into and the dash cam behaves correctly some of the time could someone provide further troubleshooting steps for me to perform as it would seem firmware related unless I am missing something.

PS - is there any on-screen icon that indicates whether the camera is in parking mode?

Many thanks

 

[mcaf123]

There is a little clock icon on the right hand side of the screen when it's in parking mode

 

[scalar]

Hope not to distract from my original post but figured this might be worth mentioning.

I have just been back out to the car to re-insert and format the memory card with the intention to leave the dashcam in parking mode tonight.

1) I unlocked and got into the car.
2) I *did not* put the keys in the ignition.
3) Installed the SD card.
4) Powered on the dashcam by holding the power button down for 5 seconds as it had previously been forcefully shut down to remove the memory card.
5) The camera boots and enters 30fps normal recording mode.
6) I press "rec" to interupt the recording and then "menu" to review parking mode settings.
7) I attempt to enter the "shutdown timer" to check my setting is still at 24 hours but I cannot as the dashcam reports I must have the hard wire kit installed.
8) I put the keys in the ignition and turn to position 2 to enable accessory power.
9) The dashcam will now let me enter the "shutdown timer" menu
10) Suspicious that the camera has forgotten that it is configured for 3-wire power I review the power settings, however, it is still correctly configured for 3-wire.
11) I take the keys out the ignition, wait a few seconds and the camera enters parking mode as indicated by the clock icon (thanks mcaf123).
12) I leave and lock the car and hopefully it will continue to record in parking mode.


Is this expected behaviour regarding, 7, the "shutdown timer" menu? The dashcam correctly remembered the 3-wire power configuration, however as it was powered on "from cold" using the constant live only and that it never sensed the "acc" voltage then should it not look at power-configuration and let me enter this menu.

I am undecided whether the inability to enter this menu is logical behaviour or hints at why it recorded all of last night at 30fps.

I believe yesterday I did something similar, i.e. re-inserted the memory card, powered the camera on and left it overnight expecting it to fall back into parking mode where in fact it proceeded to run at 30fps all night. I do not think the camera is entering parking mode until it has seen power on the ACC wire at least one time since booting. If you just quickly pop out to the car to replace the memory card, power it on and walk away I have a feeling this is preventing it from entering parking mode correctly.

I need to perform some further testing but potentially this might be an issue.

Cheers

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Once the camera shuts down in parking mode with the engine off you need to activate accessory power again for it have 3-wire options again. (that's normal) Better to start the engine again before making changes or turning the camera back on from an off state.

 

[Steve_Parry]

Love the detail and presentation of your descriptions, Scalar! Hope SGUSA's response addresses your issue, which I am following with interest.
Cheers
...Steve

 

[jokiin]

if you long press the power button to manually power the camera back on after you've parked the camera will be in normal recording mode and the timer doesn't apply, voltage cutoff still will though, it won't let you into the shutdown timer menu without ACC power being present, this is how it works, it will not switch into parking mode if you have powered it up like this

 

[scalar]

Niko, thank you for your prompt reply. I believe it was yourself whom I purchased the system through via Amazon.co.uk.

I'd heard Street Guardian after sales support was great and here you are answering my question on a Sunday only an hour after I have posted it, really nice to see, thanks!

I believe the circumstances I describe are probably a corner case and one that I've likely ran into due to the camera being new to me, i.e the frequent removal and replacement of the memory card, going back and forth to check it etc.

I believe once I am familiar with the device I am unlikely to find this behaviour an issue as the card will be staying put for the most part.

Having thought about it some more it makes sense that the camera booting from cold and only aware of the single power supply that it would enter normal recording as if it had been connecting to a cigarette lighter socket for example.

If the firmware logic checked for 3 wire power as per user configuration but only sensed 2 wire then entering parking mode until ACC present would seem a better behaviour to me?

@Vidar - thank you for the kind words!

 

[jokiin]

If the firmware logic checked for 3 wire power as per user configuration but only sensed 2 wire then entering parking mode until ACC present would seem a better behaviour to me?

can't set it up like that unfortunately

 

[scalar]

can't set it up like that unfortunately

Hi Jokiin,

Is this a hardware or a software limitation?

Thanks

 

[jokiin]

hardware

 

[niko]

Niko, thank you for your prompt reply. I believe it was yourself whom I purchased the system through via Amazon.co.uk.

I'd heard Street Guardian after sales support was great and here you are answering my question on a Sunday only an hour after I have posted it, really nice to see, thanks!

I believe the circumstances I describe are probably a corner case and one that I've likely ran into due to the camera being new to me, i.e the frequent removal and replacement of the memory card, going back and forth to check it etc.

I believe once I am familiar with the device I am unlikely to find this behaviour an issue as the card will be staying put for the most part.

Having thought about it some more it makes sense that the camera booting from cold and only aware of the single power supply that it would enter normal recording as if it had been connecting to a cigarette lighter socket for example.

If the firmware logic checked for 3 wire power as per user configuration but only sensed 2 wire then entering parking mode until ACC present would seem a better behaviour to me?

@Vidar - thank you for the kind words!

I kept eye on this thread but wasn't so quick to reply as @Street Guardian USA and @jokiin, was doing some work around my house. On a normal day I try to reply within 1h (if not driving), or max 12h (overnight).
If there is any assistance needed in the future you can ask either here on DCT or directly.

 

[scalar]

Hi All,

I thought I would provide a quick update on how I got on with the dash cam today.

I am pleased to report it has entered and exited parking mode perfectly. It recorded the entirety of last night in time-lapsed parking mode from the moment I left it until starting the car this morning where it correctly transitioned to 30fps normal recording. It then successfully entered parking mode when I parked up at work and once again automatically entered normal mode for the drive home.

I have removed the card to review the footage tonight and when replacing it will turn the key to position 2 after booting the camera so it can momentarily sense the ACC wire.

In summary when booting the camera from a long-press, fully switched-off state be sure to run the camera for a moment on ACC power so it will enter parking mode when removing the keys from the ignition and locking it up.

Thank you all for your input in getting to the bottom of this matter =)

 

[thesonofdarwin]

I'd like to follow up on this to ensure I understand what's going on as I have run into the same issue. Sometimes when I shut off the car, wait for it to beep and switch the parking mode the camera will run for exactly 5 seconds in parking mode before shutting off completely. Other times it will record in parking mode as expected. I also occasionally run into the situation that upon starting the car the camera has completely turned off and will not restart without manually pressing the power button. If it matters, I have the delay set at 15 seconds to switch modes when the car is shut off. So the two questions I have are:

1. Can someone explain step-by-step the trick to ensuring the switch from normal recording to parking happens consistently?
2. Why sometimes the camera completely shuts down and requires manual restarting. Is this normal behavior when the voltage limit is hit? I would expect that upon gaining full power again the camera would automatically turn back on.

 

[jokiin]

what firmware version do you have installed?

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Version 1.35 improved a few things related to parking mode, make sure you're on the latest firmware.

 

[thesonofdarwin]

Sorry I do have v.1.35 I thought I had included that in my original post but left it out upon edit. I upgraded from 1.33 about a week ago and that's when the new behavior began. I will say that 1.35 has been much less weird acting since upgrading. It's just this new behavior of not booting back up consistently, or shutting off instead of going into parking mode occasionally.

 

[jokiin]

check that you have the power input menu set to 3 wire, if it is then suggest going through the firmware update process again, make sure you default settings, set your personal preferences etc

 

[thesonofdarwin]

check that you have the power input menu set to 3 wire, if it is then suggest going through the firmware update process again, make sure you default settings, set your personal preferences etc

I will try reinstalling the firmware. I am certain that 3-Wire is selected because I've gone back over the settings multiple times wondering if there was something I've missed. Is there any chance this has anything to do with the mode switch delay? I arbitrarily chose 15 seconds, would shorter or longer yield different results? I wasn't exactly sure what that new option did.

 

[jokiin]

there is no mode switch delay, the boot delay setting doesn't need to be touched, that only applies to 2 wire input

if it sometimes powers off very quickly that's just as likely a power related issue rather than a menu setting

 

[thesonofdarwin]

I see, I assumed the boot delay was related to how quickly it switched modes because I noticed a speed difference between firmware versions.

I went and reinstalled the firmware and confirmed the settings (3 wire, 6 hour parking shutoff) so we'll see how it goes. Should the REC light continue flashing throughout parking mode recording? I noticed that it stopped blinking about 10-15 seconds after the screen shut off after I locked the car doors and walked away.

I don't see how it would be power-related because it used to have no issues recording for the full duration when parked, so I'm certain it's getting power. Or at least it was. I'll let it run for a few days to see how it's going.

Is there a reason the device occasionally would not boot automatically when the car is turned back on, requiring me to manually turn the camera on? Does this occur when the device reaches the voltage shutoff limit?

Both of these are new behaviors since 1.35. I had other issues with 1.33, but it always started when the car started and always recorded for the full set duration.