Interior cam input not responding

[jsmith]

Oh, I need no convincing about how important a dashcam is with personal experience 🙂 Basically when the A139 was hooked up to the Powercell 8, the refurbished A139 kept rebooting numerous times. Then the refurbished A139 got extremely hot, too hot to even touch. Takes over 30 minutes to cool off but still warm to the touch. This is the exact same thing that happened to my original A139. Rebooting numerous times followed by over-heating. Burnt smell like burnt plastic or electronics, not that I know what the smell is.

Not sure what caused the constant rebooting of the A139. There are posts in these forums saying it's a known issue with the A139. I'm not sure how they came to that conclusion.

Basically I purchase these dedicated external dashcam batteries so I can install myself without having to bring it into a shop (to do hardwiring). That is the purpose of these batteries as there is an easy do-it-yourself option, plug some cables and plug into the cars cig-lighter. Once the warranty on my car has expired, that's when I will try and do a hardwire setup and not void any warranties.

I'm guessing your powercell damaged BOTH cameras....

Sounds like you're going to be eating the cost of a 3rd camera unless Viofo want's to be ultra generous. Either use the 12V adapter next time to power and live without parking mode, buy a different and NEW battery pack, or simply hardwire the camera to the car.

 

[DashCamUser123]

I'm guessing your powercell damaged BOTH cameras....

Sounds like you're going to be eating the cost of a 3rd camera unless Viofo want's to be ultra generous. Either use the 12V adapter next time to power and live without parking mode, buy a different and NEW battery pack, or simply hardwire the camera to the car.

Or it can be the A139. There is a thread here that said it's a known issue.

Not sure what anyone else that has the rebooting problem is using to power the A139 (hardwire, etc.).

Is there a built-in safety feature inside the A139? And my USB-C is arriving today so will test what is going thru the USB-C into the A139.

The refurbished Powercell 8 using the Viofo spliced cable for the A139 / A229 runs 1-Channel just fine. Same with the Viofo cig-lighter. So, what is it about having 2 more channels plugged in? You would think it would be under-powered and not over-powered. If the Powercell 8 is providing TOO MUCH power via the USB-C then it should also provide the same TOO MUCH power for a 1-Channel or maybe the A139 will be drawing less power from the Powercell 8?

 

[lufa6977]

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The refurbished Powercell 8 using the Viofo spliced cable for the A139 / A229 runs 1-Channel just fine. Same with the Viofo cig-lighter. So, what is it about having 2 more channels plugged in? You would think it would be under-powered and not over-powered. If the Powercell 8 is providing TOO MUCH power via the USB-C then it should also provide the same TOO MUCH power for a 1-Channel or maybe the A139 will be drawing less power from the Powercell 8?

Will the A229 run 2 or 3 channels when attached to the Powercell or the CLA?

It is possible you were sent a defective A139, but I would bet a dozen donuts that VIOFO thoroughly tested it prior to shipping. Still, 'dookie' happens and it can fail after arrival.

 

[DashCamUser123]

I have the A139.

My PLugable USB-C tester arrived. Made by ChargerLab the same company that makes the Power Z KM003C USB-C tester which has an accuracy reading of within 1%. So I plug the PLugable into the A139 (my old one) and then plug the USB-C from the Powercell 8 into the tester. Running 1 Channel only. 5.09 volts 0.58 amps 2.95 watts. The watt can fluctuate up to 3.25 w but settles around the 2.95 watts. Anything unusual?

My A139 (1 Channel) was facing the sun today (24* C) and it does get very hot to the touch. Think this is normal and of course I should park not facing the direct sun.

 

[lufa6977]

That looks reasonable for one channel. Here is an image I just took of my A229, one channel, with the GPS module attached. Power is from the car battery. I am using a Pluggable brand tester as well.

Sorry about the A229, I misread that you had also tested it with the same Powercell. Not sure what is going on here, but, if you do have an A229 multi channel, you could try it on the Powercell and see if all channels work. Of course, there may be some risk to that. It is possible the Powercell will not supply the demand for a 3 channel, but you would only know that if the pack as a whole was tested, or individual cells were tested. A bit like a car battery that will read 12 volts but have a bad cell, so low capacity but good voltage.

When facing the sun, the unit will get hotter than the handles of hell, I know my A229 Pro does, almost cannot touch the screen.

 

[jsmith]

I have the A139.

My PLugable USB-C tester arrived. Made by ChargerLab the same company that makes the Power Z KM003C USB-C tester which has an accuracy reading of within 1%. So I plug the PLugable into the A139 (my old one) and then plug the USB-C from the Powercell 8 into the tester. Running 1 Channel only. 5.09 volts 0.58 amps 2.95 watts. The watt can fluctuate up to 3.25 w but settles around the 2.95 watts. Anything unusual?

My A139 (1 Channel) was facing the sun today (24* C) and it does get very hot to the touch. Think this is normal and of course I should park not facing the direct sun.

You said it yourself..... There could be an issue with that battery pack. Getting hot to the touch and smelling like burnt plastic or electronics is NOT normal. That battery sounds like it has an issue with providing too much voltage.

It got so hot to touch and smelled like burnt plastic or burnt electronics.

 

[jsmith]

That looks reasonable for one channel. Here is an image I just took of my A229, one channel, with the GPS module attached. Power is from the car battery. I am using a Pluggable brand tester as well.

Sorry about the A229, I misread that you had also tested it with the same Powercell. Not sure what is going on here, but, if you do have an A229 multi channel, you could try it on the Powercell and see if all channels work. Of course, there may be some risk to that. It is possible the Powercell will not supply the demand for a 3 channel, but you would only know that if the pack as a whole was tested, or individual cells were tested. A bit like a car battery that will read 12 volts but have a bad cell, so low capacity but good voltage.

When facing the sun, the unit will get hotter than the handles of hell, I know my A229 Pro does, almost cannot touch the screen.

I would bet 99.9% his power cell is F-U-C-K-E-D. Causing the A139 to get hot and emit a burning smell isn't normal.... I highly highly doubt he has two defective cameras from Viofo. It's possible, but it's far more likely that Powercell is over volting and frying the the circuitry, too.

Both units did the same thing.....

It got so hot to touch and smelled like burnt plastic or burnt electronics. (same experience with my original A139, hooked up to the refurbished Powercell 8 and kept rebooting after a month of use).

 

[DashCamUser123]

You don't know that at all and only speculating. The USB-C tester shows normal output from the Powercell 8. My question is what is causing the A139 to constantly reboot? This is when the A139 turns hot. Reading other accounts in the forums here it would appear it is more common an issue than I had previously thought. Cameras do fail.

 

[lufa6977]

Well, what we do know is the testing has been done with the same Powercell, the same harness, and two different A139 dash cams. We also know that heat does affect dash cams, (my A229 Pro will attest to that), and we know the A139 does sometimes have boot loops. Actually, many of the dash cams can do this, and it can be caused by several reasons.

What we do not know is if you were to test with a USB power bank, yours or someone else's, a known good USB cable, and test in your house with a dash cam that is room temperature...does the A139 boot loop immediately, and if the dash cam fails after a few minutes on the power bank.

Power issues are probably the number one cause of issues with any of these dash cams, and this is why VIOFO will recommend a test with the CLA and a USB cable. I have the impression you are testing the new cam with it attached to the windscreen, so if it is already hot, we really do not know if the issue is heat, power or the dash cam.

No one is busting on you, but you really should test this A139 away from that Powercell, not attached to a hot windscreen, and with a good USB cable.

 

[DashCamUser123]

When I am testing it, it is nice and cool weather. Not hot. When I park my car it can get hot, very normal if the sun is out. A139 still works as it's supposed to. They don't make these cams to be fragile to heat because people use the cams in all kinds of temps. Where I live is nowhere as hot as say some places in the USA like Arizona etc.

 

[jsmith]

You don't know that at all and only speculating. The USB-C tester shows normal output from the Powercell 8. My question is what is causing the A139 to constantly reboot? This is when the A139 turns hot. Reading other accounts in the forums here it would appear it is more common an issue than I had previously thought. Cameras do fail.

Cameras go bad and it's of no dispute. I had a supercapacitor die in a Viofo A139 3 Channel but that was after 1 or 2 years (forget). Viofo did replace with a refurbished one, and the refurbished worked fine, but I decided to give it away. I then purchased an A139 Pro to replace the A139, and it's been working fine for many years.

One camera, I would say "OK" you got a faulty unit. But two cameras exhibiting the same behavior under the same conditions is unlikely. The common factor here is the PowerCell battery pack.

You stated that you tried plugging it in to the 12V socket, and reset the camera's default settings, and 3 channel still does not work.

The only other test is a bench test. Plug in the 3 Channels to a computer or into a power source within your house.

If you've plugged everything in to the correct ports, then it'd seem the electronics have once again been damaged by the PowerCell.

 

[DashCamUser123]

Here is a thread in the A139 Pro forum back in early 2023 describing the exact issue I have been experiencing with my A139. It's not a new problem. Look at the last comment from SooksVI: Yes, smell of burning plastic, multiple restarts and only rcords in 1-channel. My exact experience.

"I'm having this same issue all of a sudden. I sat back in my car and noticed the smell of burning or hot electronics, then the camera kept rebooting. The temperature outside was 98f but I'm sure it was actually hotter. The camera now only records in single channel. This is the most troublesome camera I've owned. I'm thinking to just switch back to a Vantrue camera."

S

Thread 'A139 Pro constant reboot loop'

Jan 22, 2023

I purchased (2) A139 Pro units for my vehicles and hardwired them using the Viofo hardwire kits. Both units are using Viofo SD cards and worked fine for about a week. One of the units started acting up and now is just constantly powering down and rebooting before it even gets to the announcement that the camera is recording. Record and Mic light come on and then it reboots. I have tried swapping the cameras in the vehicles to check that it wasn't an issue with the hardwire kit and the same unit keeps rebooting. I also tried swapping the SD cards and same issue. I even tried...

• ssq574
• Replies: 24
• Forum: A139 Pro

• 

 

[jsmith]

Here is a thread in the A139 Pro forum back in early 2023 describing the exact issue I have been experiencing with my A139. It's not a new problem. Look at the last comment from SooksVI: Yes, smell of burning plastic, multiple restarts and only rcords in 1-channel. My exact experience.

"I'm having this same issue all of a sudden. I sat back in my car and noticed the smell of burning or hot electronics, then the camera kept rebooting. The temperature outside was 98f but I'm sure it was actually hotter. The camera now only records in single channel. This is the most troublesome camera I've owned. I'm thinking to just switch back to a Vantrue camera."

S

Thread 'A139 Pro constant reboot loop'

Jan 22, 2023

I purchased (2) A139 Pro units for my vehicles and hardwired them using the Viofo hardwire kits. Both units are using Viofo SD cards and worked fine for about a week. One of the units started acting up and now is just constantly powering down and rebooting before it even gets to the announcement that the camera is recording. Record and Mic light come on and then it reboots. I have tried swapping the cameras in the vehicles to check that it wasn't an issue with the hardwire kit and the same unit keeps rebooting. I also tried swapping the SD cards and same issue. I even tried...

• ssq574
• Replies: 24
• Forum: A139 Pro

• 

Likely user error with improper hardwiring that ended up damaging the camera. Sure, it could be a bad batch, but the chances of you getting TWO cameras at TWO DIFFERENT TIMES exhibiting the same behavior under same conditions has a low probability.

I've been using my A139 Pro for 2 years without a single hiccup other than my complaint of LOW AUDIO (resolution is add external microphone)

 

[DashCamUser123]

Likely user error with improper hardwiring that ended up damaging the camera. Sure, it could be a bad batch, but the chances of you getting TWO cameras at TWO DIFFERENT TIMES exhibiting the same behavior under same conditions has a low probability.

I've been using my A139 Pro for 2 years without a single hiccup other than my complaint of LOW AUDIO (resolution is add external microphone)

One user had the same issue with both A139 Pro cams. Sometimes it is the cam. There is never a 100% failure rate so you got one that didn't have the issue. Others got ones that failed. Just because yours is working doesn't mean there isn't an issue with the A139.

 

[jsmith]

One user had the same issue with both A139 Pro cams. Sometimes it is the cam. There is never a 100% failure rate so you got one that didn't have the issue. Others got ones that failed. Just because yours is working doesn't mean there isn't an issue with the A139.

Yes... but those people weren't complaining of a second bad camera under the same circumstances.

As recommended, test the camera plugged into the wall or a computer. If 3 channel doesn't work, you can either ASK Viofo for a replacement (not sure they'll agree) or buy a another / different camera.

Either way, test out that camera WITHOUT hooking up to the Powercell to ensure operability.

 

[DashCamUser123]

Yes... but those people weren't complaining of a second bad camera under the same circumstances.

As recommended, test the camera plugged into the wall or a computer. If 3 channel doesn't work, you can either ASK Viofo for a replacement (not sure they'll agree) or buy a another / different camera.

Either way, test out that camera WITHOUT hooking up to the Powercell to ensure operability.

Actually, in that persons case it's worse. You would expect the cam to work in one of the 2 vehicles but both failed. That thread has given me ideas about other brands of dashcams to look at such as Vantrue. The Vantrue Pro N4 3-Channel has an overall satisfaction rating of 4.2 stars out of 5 by 10,362 customers on Amazon. I was impressed by that.

I noticed you just skim the posts here and seem to look for key words or phrases only. In one post you said I was using the A229 which is incorrect. At that point I realized, this person isn't even bothering to read, he may just be trolling and looking for key words just to pick on and attack.

Numbers of times you ask the same question even though it had already been answered. I figured this pesron isn't even bothering to read so he's not here to help except with the basic rhetoric.

Listen, Viofo doesn't need an apologist. When customers bring forth issues it provides an opportunity to improve on the next product. Issues with the A139 constantly rebooting has been reported by other Viofo users, numerous times in these forums and elsewhere. No need to make excuses for Viofo. You aren't in any position to know what the exact cause is. Let the people who do know work on resolving it.

PS. I am ignoring a couple of forum posters here. They may or may not be the same person using multiple accounts. Doesn't matter, if you're not going to be helpful then I don't need to waste my time.

 

[jsmith]

Actually in that persons case it's actually worse. You would expect the cam to work in one of the 2 vehicles but both failed. That thread has given me ideas about other brands of dashcams to look at such as Vantrue. The Vantrue Pro N4 3-Channel has an overall satisfaction rating of 4.2 stars out of 5 by 10,362 customers on Amazon. I was impressed by that.

I noticed you just skim the posts here and seem to look for key words or phrases only. In one post you said I was using the A229 which is incorrect. At that point I realized, this person isn't even bothering to read, he may just be trolling and looking for key words just to pick on and attack.

Numbers of times you ask the same question even though it had already been answered. I figured this pesron isn't even bothering to read so he's not here to help except with the basic rhetoric.

Listen, Viofo doesn't need an apologist. When customers bring forth issues it provides an opportunity to improve on the next product. Issues with the A139 constantly rebooting has been reported by other Viofo users, numerous times in these forums and elsewhere. No need to make excuses for Viofo. You aren't in any position to know what the exact cause is. Let the people who do know work on resolving it.

1. That was @lufa6977 that confused your camera with being an A229, NOT me.......🙄

2. I am not a Viofo Apologist. I call problems the way I see them.

3. I tested the Vantrue N2x and E 1 Pro. They are solid cameras, but do have a key difference. They will do 15 FPS in parking mode (low bitrate) and Viofo does 30 FPS.

I am ending my response to this thread. It's clear you have no interest in bench testing the cameras, and believe that if this camera fails the bench test, it isn't your fault. Yet, you NEVER tested the replacement camera before hooking to the Powercell to see if they worked upon arrival. Good luck with troubleshooting. I do hope you get this resolved.

 

[lufa6977]

Actually in that persons case it's actually worse. You would expect the cam to work in one of the 2 vehicles but both failed. That thread has given me ideas about other brands of dashcams to look at such as Vantrue. The Vantrue Pro N4 3-Channel has an overall satisfaction rating of 4.2 stars out of 5 by 10,362 customers on Amazon. I was impressed by that.

I noticed you just skim the posts here and seem to look for key words or phrases only. In one post you said I was using the A229 which is incorrect. At that point I realized, this person isn't even bothering to read, he may just be trolling and looking for key words just to pick on and attack.

Numbers of times you ask the same question even though it had already been answered. I figured this pesron isn't even bothering to read so he's not here to help except with the basic rhetoric.

Listen, Viofo doesn't need an apologist. When customers bring forth issues it provides an opportunity to improve on the next product. Issues with the A139 constantly rebooting has been reported by other Viofo users, numerous times in these forums and elsewhere. No need to make excuses for Viofo. You aren't in any position to know what the exact cause is. Let the people who do know work on resolving it.

Or it can be the A139. There is a thread here that said it's a known issue.

Not sure what anyone else that has the rebooting problem is using to power the A139 (hardwire, etc.).

Is there a built-in safety feature inside the A139? And my USB-C is arriving today so will test what is going thru the USB-C into the A139.

The refurbished Powercell 8 using the Viofo spliced cable for the A139 / A229 runs 1-Channel just fine. Same with the Viofo cig-lighter. So, what is it about having 2 more channels plugged in? You would think it would be under-powered and not over-powered. If the Powercell 8 is providing TOO MUCH power via the USB-C then it should also provide the same TOO MUCH power for a 1-Channel or maybe the A139 will be drawing less power from the Powercell 8?

No, I don't think anyone is skimming over your posts. I did read your initial (in red) post as the PowerCell 8 having been used on the A139, and a A229. I presumed you also owned an A229. My mistake, and I owned up to it in a following post.

You don't seem to want help, as much as you want to have your posts and beliefs validated, especially pertaining to your belief the PowerCell 8 as not being the problem. As you have declined the advice from Jsmith and myself, have already done one warranty with VIOFO, and are now looking at another brand, there is not much sense in you seeking recourse with correcting this problem. There are a number of high quality dash cam brands available and you are already looking at one of them. I sincerely wish you good fortune with your next dash cam.