Issues upgrading from A129 Duo to A129 Plus Duo

[Prelude89]

Hi All,

I bought the A129 Plus Duo with 16gb eMMC built-in during Prime day. I already have the base model A129 Duo installed.

I also bought 2 new 256gb Samsung memory cards, so I hooked-up the camera inside to format the cards and setup the camera. The GPS module comes already attached, so I plugged power into it and set about working. The GPS works fine inside the house, as it set the date/time correctly.

I thought, perhaps foolishly, that I could just remove the main camera unit from the GPS module, and replace it with the new camera.

The new camera powers on and starts recording, but insists there's no GPS, and worse, insists there's no rear camera attached.

Swapping GPS modules, while a pain, can be done, but I am hoping they haven't changed the cable for the rear camera.

Do I have a dud here, or is there something else at play?

 

[CaptureYourAction]

The rear camera cable from the regular A129 DUO is not compatible with the A129 Plus DUO.

The GPS should work, unless your A129 DUO is a really old version (they changed the GPS chip at some point).

 

[Prelude89]

The rear camera cable from the regular A129 DUO is not compatible with the A129 Plus DUO.

Seriously? What idiot thought that was a good idea? One of the worst jobs about installing a dual camera system is running the cable from front to rear, and these clowns decide to make the job of upgrading your dashcam that much more annoying.

The GPS should work, unless your A129 DUO is a really old version (they changed the GPS chip at some point).

My unit is a couple of years old now. This might be the problem here, and while this is a bit of a pain, it's far easier to change this than changing the rear camera cable.

I just don't get why companies do this sort of thing.

Thanks for the info, though. It's not nice having to be the bearer of bad news ...

 

[CaptureYourAction]

The A129 Plus rear camera has its own processor, the rear camera for the regular A129 does not. This is why the cables are not compatible.

 

[Prelude89]

The A129 Plus rear camera has its own processor, the rear camera for the regular A129 does not. This is why the cables are not compatible.

Is it the cable, or the camera that's the issue? If both cables have all the pins connected, it shouldn't matter.

 

[Nigel]

Is it the cable, or the camera that's the issue? If both cables have all the pins connected, it shouldn't matter.

It is a video cable, they are different to USB cables, not just a matter of connecting all the pins, and between the A129 Duo and A129 Plus, there is a big change in the content of the transmitted data, the A129 Plus encodes the digital video in the rear camera, which, if the cables are capable of transmitting the same amount of data, should give a significant improvement in image quality, although I think it probably also allows cheaper and more reliable components and cable.

Seriously? What idiot thought that was a good idea?

Unfortunately these changes are part of evolution, eventually we get stability and great performance, but it may take a few generations to get there! Maybe USB has got there with USB-C, but digital video is still evolving.