Is my A119 v2 on the way out?

[neilmcl]

I've had my A119 now since late 2016 and for the past couple of years I've noticed it resetting itself, well at least the date/time settings, so that all clips never get saved as they're always earlier than any already on the card. It does this only when the car's not been driven for a while. It feels like the onboard capacitor is no longer able to hold a lot of charge and depleting quite quickly, does this sound correct and if so is it time to get a replacement.

On the subject of replacements there's seems to be so many models now that Viofo produce, what is recommended in the sub £100/$100 range, I've seen both the A119 v3 and A129 for around the same price on Amazon?

 

[DT MI]

...for the past couple of years I've noticed it resetting itself, well at least the date/time settings,

It sounds like the RTC (real time clock) battery has failed. They are replaceable with a bit of work. I don't have that particular camera so not able to provide more detail than that but a bit of internet searching may yield more information - or someone with more hands on knowledge might.

As to replacing the camera with something newer that may be a viable option depending on the cost difference between repair/replace and what additional features you might get.

 

[kamkar]

The RTC battery is a small ( probably 10 mm or so in diameter ) button type battery on the PCB inside the camera, it is not directly replaceable, meaning you dont just click / snap the old one out and put in a replacement one.
But with a little DIY skill and a soldering iron it is entirely possible to deal with.
But you have to figure out what model battery it is, source one in the same size as i dont think anyone other than Viofo can tell that. There are probably a type / model number stamped on the battery like it is on more conventional button batteries.
It is probably a lipo battery.

The A119 V3 seem very popular for single cameras, there is also a A119 mini that is a little smaller if you want more stealth

Newer cameras have gotten better, and you now have 1440p resolution where 1080p use to be the norm, so it might be worth considering if a new camera was better than repairing the old one.
And mind you, i highly praise people that repair and keep running VS throw away and get new

 

[Karagandinez]

I would repair the A119 and hang it on the rear window for further work.
As the main DVR, you can consider A119V3, A119 Mini and A119 Mini 2 with a new sensor.
Why these models? Because they have a good reading of numbers of oncoming cars at night, but for me it is a priority.

 

[LateralNW]

I've had my A119 now since late 2016 and for the past couple of years I've noticed it resetting itself, well at least the date/time settings, so that all clips never get saved as they're always earlier than any already on the card. It does this only when the car's not been driven for a while. It feels like the onboard capacitor is no longer able to hold a lot of charge and depleting quite quickly, does this sound correct and if so is it time to get a replacement.

On the subject of replacements there's seems to be so many models now that Viofo produce, what is recommended in the sub £100/$100 range, I've seen both the A119 v3 and A129 for around the same price on Amazon?

Connect the dashcam to a usb mains connected power supply make sure the date and time are correct and leave it connected for a week.

This is one way to check if the Real Time Clock battery is still working.
Disconnect the power wait say a day and then power it up and check if it has held its date.

If it holds the date then the battery is still ok (generally they have a shelf life of approx 5 - 10 years before it needs replacing)

If it doesn't hold the date then it will be reassuring to know why and what action you decide to take has a solid reason.

I prefer to fix things rather than throw it out but there are newer Dashcam out there with better image quality some mentioned above which may help in some circumstances.

The reason for the week long process of charging is because the RTC battery charges slowly. It is a rechargeable battery.

The capacitors are not directly related to the RTC. The capacitors purpose is to allow the dashcam to shut down when the power is removed which prevents file
corruption.

If you use .TS file format then it won't have corrupt files when power is removed abruptly.

Cheers