Inside the LS430W incl battery capacity and a rattle fix

bn880

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So, I had to disassemble my LS430W as it developed a large rattle when driving around, after a very small drop. Can be heard here:

Here are some pics I got while working on the problem:

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GPS antenna is a little cube up top. Single wire goes to main board.

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Chips covered. Battery completely unmarked.

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Speaker and LED board.

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GPS chip I gather. I don't know the brand/ID.

100_4287.JPG All the chips are covered by tin casings which are soldered to the board. Sorry.
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The above shows why the battery was loose, it was not glued to the board below and instead to the wires under it.

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Under the battery, lead from GPS antenna top, and wires to LED's bottom.


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Backside of LCD and LCD ribbon.
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Front cover.
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Speaker and another angle of front.


This camera stays on battery with LCD for about 10 minutes when not recording or taking photos, about 7 minutes when recording.
So I decided to pull out the unmarked battery for a test:
It measures 3.7mm*20mm*30mm without sticky tape.
Charging voltage and full voltage is ~4.22V
Test on precision (computer controlled) battery discharger produced a result of 174.074mAh down to 3.197V. (discharging was done through 15 Ohm resistor, current was between 270 and 213mA, discharge time 42.53minutes)
This is far lower than the claimed 500mAh, and as I predicted/expected.

By my measurements of the case it should be possible to replace the stock li-polymer battery with 6mm*20mm*30mm relatively easily. (7mm*20mm*30mm MIGHT fit as well, but it will be getting tight)

The camera draws around 450mA when on battery with LCD on but not recording, 550 to 610mA when recording in HD. Therefore it's best to get 25C or better li-po battery.


The lens base is 13mm*13mm with the screws 18mm apart. it is 12.5mm long.
Lens thread is 12mm OD.

All chips are covered up with tin covers which are soldered to the board. Probably to hide what they really are and also possibly to increase heat dissipation and at the same time prevent debris shorting any pins. [It's clarified by jokiin that it's actually mainly for electromagnetic interference] The covers are certainly nicely made and installed.


Few more pics to come.
 
Last edited:
More pics.
 

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Ahh, yes I was thinking of that too, but then thought, no way they took things that far in a dashcam :)
 
it's not that uncommon
Well in the DoD pics I saw I didn't see covers on the chips. So it is uncommon here, unless someone silently removed them.

Also DoD is known to try and hide their chipsets.

So you can't actually say for what reason they installed the covers, yes the technical benefits are there, but there are possibly other agendas as well.

Did the LS430W suddenly suffer and generate more interference than the LS300W? Or maybe this is to prevent the dashcam interfering with people's GPS's? Or even the built in GPS.. well, I guess it makes sense, and I am certainly glad to see the covers.
 
the covers are only added if they're needed to reduce interference, it's the kind of thing that's not known until the product is all done
 
Yep, thanks for clarification. So all and all the camera seems to be pretty well made, but the battery could be of higher capacity and the (misleading) specs should be updated... Battery installation could be better as well, but incorrect assembly around wires can happen with various manufacturers of electronics.

Edit: I would have removed the covers to take a look, but I really was just trying to check out the battery situation/rattle and also I need this camera to work. So didn't want to take any additional risk.
 
Nice shots... I'm sure DOD will be happy ;). Why did you not get DOD Canada to repair?
 
Just curious... No affiliation with them!

I like the DIY'rs... Keep up the good work
 
;D Several reasons not to have DoD Canada repair it:

1. I can get this turned around in a few hours (less if just a fix)
2. Figure out what the battery size/capacity is and what I can upgrade it to.
3. Provide some pics/specs for people on this forum, as I've checked out many from other users, very useful stuff for purchasing decisions, repairs, mods etc.
4. Well yeah, I wouldn't want to burn any money that I could invest in quality lipo batteries instead.
 
;D Several reasons not to have DoD Canada repair it:

1. I can get this turned around in a few hours (less if just a fix)
2. Figure out what the battery size/capacity is and what I can upgrade it to.
3. Provide some pics/specs for people on this forum, as I've checked out many from other users, very useful stuff for purchasing decisions, repairs, mods etc.
4. Well yeah, I wouldn't want to burn any money that I could invest in quality lipo batteries instead.
Totally understand. Great info
 
The tin covers are to reduce electrical noise/EMF not to hide things

Agree, this is to protect other devices from electromagnetic field that hardware produces to avoid interference.
For me seeing this type of components covering in dash camera give me more trust in the product. Many manufactures who stand by their product are using this type of tin covers.
For example good reliable Panorama II has it on both side of motherboard and also on CMOS sensor. ( sample photos below ).
Not all DOD ( TioTech ) products has this tin cover, but with LS430W they used it, - so this should give more confidence in performance and product quality.


Pano2 Inside 1.jpg

Panor2 Inside 2.jpg
 
it's one of those situations where you add them if you need them, we've put provision for them in our PC boards but some testing to go to decide whether they're needed or not, we did have them on our last product but it was because it needed them
 
it's one of those situations where you add them if you need them, we've put provision for them in our PC boards but some testing to go to decide whether they're needed or not, we did have them on our last product but it was because it needed them

Is there any rule when and where tin cover needed ? , - CPU brand difference, other surrounding chip-sets close to CPU, etc ? Because I see in most NT96650 based models there is no tin cover and no problem with interference, but for some reasons they decided to put it on LS430W.
 
Is there any rule when and where tin cover needed ? , - CPU brand difference, other surrounding chip-sets close to CPU, etc ? Because I see in most NT96650 based models there is no tin cover and no problem with interference, but for some reasons they decided to put it on LS430W.

on this model I would take a guess that it was to reduce interference with the GPS, they're pretty susceptible to this problem
 
on this model I would take a guess that it was to reduce interference with the GPS, they're pretty susceptible to this problem

OK, I see what you mean. This series has GPS module inside bracket mount ( too close to other hardware ), so thats why they used it , understand you now ;)
With other models ( external GPS ), - there is no tin cover, due to GPS module is far away from other dashcam hardware.
 
OK, I see what you mean. This series has GPS module inside bracket mount ( too close to other hardware ), so thats why they used it , understand you now ;)
With other models ( external GPS ), - there is no tin cover, due to GPS module is far away from other dashcam hardware.

External GPS is not as convenient but there are advantages to be had as well
 
Update on the LiPo battery: I have just replaced the stock battery with a: Turnigy nano-tech 260mAh 1S 35-70C Lipo Pack
Th pack measures 7.2mm x 20mm x 32mm
To my surprise it fit very well in the case, without any two sided tape (I used silicone adhesive)

These days with the old battery the camera would struggle to stay on for more than a few minutes (5-6), in the cold on short rides it would sometimes not even manage to stay up 10 seconds on the battery when the engine was shut off. (thus corrupting videos)

Now the runtime is: 39 minutes not recording
30 Minutes when recording HD


I attribute this to the higher quality of the Turnigy cell which is 35-70C (internal resistance). Which means that the 600mA drain when recording is not overpowering the battery and thus allows most of the 260mAh to be utilized!

I will get pictures when I update the next webcam, I was in a hurry.
 
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