LB100 not working?

[nalc]

I've had my LB100 for about 5 months and it seems to have stopped working. It used to have a female vo ice that said something every time I turned the car off but the voice has gone away. There's no lights on the unit and I've checked the memory card and no recent drives have recorded. I used my multimeter to check the power adapter and it is still working. Any suggestions on troubleshooting?

 

[jokiin]

sorry to hear you two aren't on speaking terms anymore

seriously though you could try a reset, if that doesn't help maybe see if there's a firmware update available (assuming it has a firmware that can be loaded from PC), otherwise you might need to talk to your reseller about repair or replacement

 

[didierm]

I've had my LB100 for about 5 months and it seems to have stopped working. It used to have a female vo ice that said something every time I turned the car off but the voice has gone away. There's no lights on the unit and I've checked the memory card and no recent drives have recorded. I used my multimeter to check the power adapter and it is still working. Any suggestions on troubleshooting?

I experienced the same issue with one of my LB-100's.
At this price, the reliability of Winy/Livue leaves a lot to be desired.

Opening the dashcam and touching the (hot) heatsink revealed the internal circuit was actually live.

Not much else to do (it's all SMD), except sending it back for replacement.

 

[algeeba]

Same here. Mine lasted 4 months and contemplated sending it back for warranty repair due to shipping to and from. Still have not done it and probably won't. Got myself a G1W for $52 and hopefully that one will last a lot longer. My other two LB100s are still working correctly though.

 

[nalc]

I took it out of the car and started playing with it and a 12v wall wart, and was able to get it going again. Windows said that the SD card was all jacked up so I reformatted it and copied over the contents from the zip file posted here, and it seems to be working now. Woohoo!

Although I already ordered a G1W and a 32GB SD card, and it's already in the mail. Oh well, maybe I'll hold onto it as a spare, or hook both up, or do one forwards and one rearwards.

I also figured out from the manual that she is saying "Parking recording will start". I always had thought it was a reassuring "I'm not going anywhere" to remind me that she'd stay in my car, protecting it.

 

[algeeba]

Nalc, what did you do to get it working again?

 

[nalc]

I repaired and reformatted the SD card. Not sure if that's what did it, but it's working now.

 

[didierm]

Nalc, what did you do to get it working again?

Reading nalc's actions, I'm quite confident reviving the LB100 hasn't so much to do with reformatting the SD card (with or without a card, the LB100 should at least start up), but rather physically disconnecting the cam device its power source (in this case : car battery) and attaching it to another source (12V wall charger).


Currently, I am on my 4th (!) consecutive LB100 (of which only 1 is working reliably).

What I am observing (again) with the latest replacement :
- reboots during operation ;
- powering off, and failing to power on again : I guess this is what you guys are experiencing too.

The power-off sometimes happens mid-operation, but usually when starting the car.

My educated guess is that sometimes, when starting the car, the supplied voltage drops below the LB100 threshold.
Due to hardware/firmware bugs (I am inclined to suspect hardware manufacturing issues, see below), after the voltage dip, the LB100 fails to power essential internal circuits (others are powered, as the cam feels lukewarm to the touch).

I revive the LB100 by decoupling it from its power source for an extended amount of time (couple of hours, but minimum time has yet to be determined) and reconnecting again. This suggest the battery is involved.

I can emulate the failures with a variable voltage wall charger, so the (brand new) car's battery is not involved.


The fact that my other LB100 (I have a frontcam/backcam setup), which is connected to EXACTLY the same voltage distribution point in the car and carries the same firmware version, works more or less perfectly, leads me to believe this is a manufacturing issue.


I love the LB100's auto-parking mode and its motion detection (with 30 second buffer), but their unreliability and the need for disconnection in order to be reanimated, does render it quite useless as a car cam.


I will contact the vendor again for an inquiry about their point of view.
(sending back and forth these devices is getting expensive)

 

[algeeba]

Ah, I just saw your (didierm) other post in the G1W forum. So, let's say the batteries are bad/dead, will that prevent the dash-cam from even turning on even if connected/hardwired to a vehicle's 12 power source? I thought the battery is basically just used for saving a file when disconnecting power from it.

Wrote the below "story" before reading your other post.

I haven't tried to "revive" my bad Livue using a wall charger yet but I am also wondering if vehicle's electronics demand have anything to do with the problem. What I mean is that I initially installed 3 Livues in my 3 vehicles May 2013. The Livue that died lasted 4 months and was in a 2006 Hyunday Elantra. I installed a G1W in that same vehicle and it only lasted 2 weeks. Just received a replacement and hopefully that one last's much longer. The Livue was using the charger connected to the cigarette lighter, not hardwired.

My other two Livues are still working and are installed in a 1964 Toyota Land Cruiser and a 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser. Both Livues are hardwired.

The Hyundai obviously puts way more demand on the car battery/alternator with its A/C, power windows, etc. As an accessory, my Land Cruiser's only have a heater that needs extra juice from the alternator.

 

[nalc]

Reading nalc's actions, I'm quite confident reviving the LB100 hasn't so much to do with reformatting the SD card (with or without a card, the LB100 should at least start up), but rather physically disconnecting the cam device its power source (in this case : car battery) and attaching it to another source (12V wall charger).


Currently, I am on my 4th (!) consecutive LB100 (of which only 1 is working reliably).

What I am observing (again) with the latest replacement :
- reboots during operation ;
- powering off, and failing to power on again : I guess this is what you guys are experiencing too.

The power-off sometimes happens mid-operation, but usually when starting the car.

My educated guess is that sometimes, when starting the car, the supplied voltage drops below the LB100 threshold.
Due to hardware/firmware bugs (I am inclined to suspect hardware manufacturing issues, see below), after the voltage dip, the LB100 fails to power essential internal circuits (others are powered, as the cam feels lukewarm to the touch).

I revive the LB100 by decoupling it from its power source for an extended amount of time (couple of hours, but minimum time has yet to be determined) and reconnecting again. This suggest the battery is involved.

I can emulate the failures with a variable voltage wall charger, so the (brand new) car's battery is not involved.


The fact that my other LB100 (I have a frontcam/backcam setup), which is connected to EXACTLY the same voltage distribution point in the car and carries the same firmware version, works more or less perfectly, leads me to believe this is a manufacturing issue.


I love the LB100's auto-parking mode and its motion detection (with 30 second buffer), but their unreliability and the need for disconnection in order to be reanimated, does render it quite useless as a car cam.


I will contact the vendor again for an inquiry about their point of view.
(sending back and forth these devices is getting expensive)

I'm not so sure that what you've said was the case, at least for me. I have mine in a switched 12v circuit (so it only had power when the car was running). So during normal use, I'll have it completely disconnected from a power source for hours or even days.

 

[didierm]

My other two Livues are still working and are installed in a 1964 Toyota Land Cruiser and a 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser. Both Livues are hardwired.

The Hyundai obviously puts way more demand on the car battery/alternator with its A/C, power windows, etc. As an accessory, my Land Cruiser's only have a heater that needs extra juice from the alternator.

My current 2 Livues (front + back cam) are - together with a GPS tracker - both wired to the same power distribution point in the vehicle ; the tracker and one Livue work quite stable, one Livue does not (the third exchange in a row, actually).

Hence my suspicion that the Winy/Livue issues are not related to the car or its battery (brand new, exceeding manufacturer's specs) ...

 

[didierm]

I'm not so sure that what you've said was the case, at least for me. I have mine in a switched 12v circuit (so it only had power when the car was running). So during normal use, I'll have it completely disconnected from a power source for hours or even days.

Bummer, there goes my theory ...
It appears lots of Livues have lots of different issues ...