lost footage with 3 weeks old mobius v3

[Harry Henderson]

I've swapped my Mobius to a new vehicle and now have this happening. In my case it's due to the power source being cut during cranking and then reapplied too quickly for the Mobius to shut-down and be ready to pick up the restart. I could choose another power source, but this source is activated as soon as the car is unlock and continues recording for around 15 minutes after stopping the car.

My solution (when it arrives) is to wire in a time delay circuit- so the Mobius has time to shutdown completely before getting the restart voltage. It should hopefully work.

It seems that every advancement in vehicle technology brings another 'glitch' with it. Power this, power that. I think that the most basic (and easiest) method of recording is to have the camera within arm's reach, have the proper GUI setup, and just hit the "GO" button once you are ready to record... Too old school??

 

[Bungus]

Wonder if setting "power-Off Standby" with delay will help with "engine start current draw" problem. I take this to mean I have '30 seconds to switch modes when I use it as a action cam.
Just installed it in my new RAV4 Hybrid with engine start-stop constantly. Checked my recordings and so far no problem. Work as always.

This is a old picture, I'm on latest FW

 

[Dashmellow]

It seems that every advancement in vehicle technology brings another 'glitch' with it. Power this, power that. I think that the most basic (and easiest) method of recording is to have the camera within arm's reach, have the proper GUI setup, and just hit the "GO" button once you are ready to record... Too old school??

The problem with manually turning on the camera each and every time is that it can be far easier to forget than you may realize. Sooner or later, your mind will be on something else or you'll be in a hurry when you get in your vehicle and drive off and you'll only realize much later that the camera wasn't turned on or plugged in. I speak from experience. Much of the purpose of a dash cam is that is serves as an automated black box.

 

[murcod]

did you order this already?

Yes, why?

View attachment 23892

Wonder if setting "power-Off Standby" with delay will help with "engine start current draw" problem. I take this to mean I have '30 seconds to switch modes when I use it as a action cam.
Just installed it in my new RAV4 Hybrid with engine start-stop constantly. Checked my recordings and so far no problem. Work as always.

This is a old picture, I'm on latest FW

If you're running the capacitor you need to have the Mobius "Power Off Disconnect" set to "Immediate" when it loses USB power. That would over ride the "Power Off Standby" setting. Even with the battery and "Power Off Disconnect" set to something like 10 seconds, you could be unlucky enough to jag the time frame when the Mobius won't respond to the power being reapplied when starting your engine. Each time my other car has been in getting serviced they've somehow managed to do that. The delay timer should hopefully be a fool proof way to avoid this situation as it will always give a set delay to allow the Mobius to "sort itself out" between power applications.

PS: Reading the settings info (that pops up when hovering over the buttons) I get the impression that if you've enabled "Power On Auto Record" then the "Power Off Standby" condition would never be met as the Mobius will be recording whenever USB power is applied. ie. it will never be in Standby mode. (Or have I misinterpreted the info?)

 

[murcod]

Yeah, this timer has been discussed before here but I'm not aware of anyone trying it yet. Hope you'll report your experience. There's even a newer version with an LED display that might make it much easier to set it.

You can find them on eBay.au

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_...timer.TRS0&_nkw=12v+-+5v+delay+timer&_sacat=0

View attachment 23883

I saw them on Banggood as well. I just went for the cheapest/ simplest solution that would have the least current drain. Ten seconds should give plenty of time.

 

[jokiin]

Yes, why?

No problem, I had a couple of those spare that's all, you have one coming so all good

 

[murcod]

No problem, I had a couple of those spare that's all, you have one coming so all good

Phew. I thought you were about to say they weren't any good.

 

[Harry Henderson]

The problem with manually turning on the camera each and every time is that it can be far easier to forget than you may realize. Sooner or later, your mind will be on something else or you'll be in a hurry when you get in your vehicle and drive off and you'll only realize much later that the camera wasn't turned on or plugged in. I speak from experience. Much of the purpose of a dash cam is that is serves as an automated black box.

I like the 'automated black box' theory. I have a second vehicle, which I use rarely, and I have a suction cup mount on the windscreen for my second Mobius C2. This camera is battery powered because I also use it for cycling, quadcopters, etc. Therefore, I cannot run a supercapacitor in it. The other day I went to the local grocery store. Attached the camera, turned it on before leaving the house, but forgot to turn off the camera once I got there. Now I have 40 minutes of video of Safeway's brick wall. Now, in this case, one could argue that the only drawback would be the drain on the camera battery. Also, since the GUI is set to loop recording, I truly didn't miss anything. However, I can truly understand how relying on memory may not be the best thing when trying to run a dashcam properly. Especially, if you have one that is set up to turn on with the vehicle, and the other is not.

 

[Dashmellow]

I like the 'automated black box' theory. I have a second vehicle, which I use rarely, and I have a suction cup mount on the windscreen for my second Mobius C2. This camera is battery powered because I also use it for cycling, quadcopters, etc. Therefore, I cannot run a supercapacitor in it. The other day I went to the local grocery store. Attached the camera, turned it on before leaving the house, but forgot to turn off the camera once I got there. Now I have 40 minutes of video of Safeway's brick wall. Now, in this case, one could argue that the only drawback would be the drain on the camera battery. Also, since the GUI is set to loop recording, I truly didn't miss anything. However, I can truly understand how relying on memory may not be the best thing when trying to run a dashcam properly. Especially, if you have one that is set up to turn on with the vehicle, and the other is not.

I know the feeling!



Luckily for me it was intentional as I run my dash cams with battery banks when away from my vehicle. Then again, since I often plug and unplug the cameras between the power banks and the 12V ports in my vehicle I always have to remember to plug them back in to the appropriate power source each time, especially when I leave my house if I've unplugged when I got home the previous evening. Every once in awhile, I'll be driving along and look down only to notice that I haven't re-plugged one or more of my four cameras after using the power banks. Usually it's the side facing cams which are not immediately visible to me as being switched on like the front and rear ones. With the side cams it not too big a deal but it requires discipline and vigilance until the practice becomes a regular habit. Even then it still happens to me now and again. One of these days I will come up with a viable 4 cam hard wiring scheme.

 

[2000rpm]

it's a Mobius thing, they say it's a hardware limitation, others with this hardware don't have this issue, they seem reluctant to do anything about it though

you can lead a horse to water .........

Since your comment, I tried a Mobius C (with capacitor) in my car (diesel) and the cam fails to record my journey every time. It powers up, records a bit (one or two short clips in the first moments of my journey), then powers down.
The cam works perfectly in our family car (petrol with always-live 12v socket).

 

[Dashmellow]

Since your comment, I tried a Mobius C (with capacitor) in my car (diesel) and the cam fails to record my journey every time. It powers up, records a bit (one or two short clips in the first moments of my journey), then powers down.
The cam works perfectly in our family car (petrol with always-live 12v socket).

Apparently, the power is cutting out briefly. I sometimes wonder if it might not be possible to come up with a simple super-capacitor pre-circuit that would hold enough power for ten seconds or so to keep the camera running until the accessory circuit provides steady power for the rest of the journey, thus avoiding the need for a delay timer.

 

[murcod]

I sometimes wonder if it might not be possible to come up with a simple super-capacitor pre-circuit that would hold enough power for ten seconds or so to keep the camera running until the accessory circuit provides steady power for the rest of the journey, thus avoiding the need for a delay timer.

I investigated the capacitor path (combined with a diode to hold a power control relay closed during short power interruptions.) I quickly decided without some active components the capacitor required would be very substantial in size. I believe that type of circuit could still fail to record if the power off/ on delay is timed right.

The ready built delay on timer should be fool proof and was under AUS$3 delivered (and I'm still waiting for them to arrive.... I have also been forgetting to manually start the Mobius on the odd occasion.)

 

[2000rpm]

Apparently, the power is cutting out briefly. I sometimes wonder if it might not be possible to come up with a simple super-capacitor pre-circuit that would hold enough power for ten seconds or so to keep the camera running until the accessory circuit provides steady power for the rest of the journey, thus avoiding the need for a delay timer.

Is unwanted power-off a direct result of the capacitor or is it also a problem with the battery? I haven't tried it with the battery and where possible I don't really want battery cams after past bad experiences.

 

[Dashmellow]

Is unwanted power-off a direct result of the capacitor or is it also a problem with the battery? I haven't tried it with the battery and where possible I don't really want battery cams after past bad experiences.

No, it's not the capacitor, it's just the Mobius camera like many others doesn't like suddenly losing power, however briefly, halfway through booting up. No doubt your home computer is very much the same. I guess the capacitor can make the problem worse but I seem to recall someone else reporting the same problem with a battery powered Mobius in a specific car.

 

[Dashmellow]

I investigated the capacitor path (combined with a diode to hold a power control relay closed during short power interruptions.) I quickly decided without some active components the capacitor required would be very substantial in size. I believe that type of circuit could still fail to record if the power off/ on delay is timed right.

The ready built delay on timer should be fool proof and was under AUS$3 delivered (and I'm still waiting for them to arrive.... I have also been forgetting to manually start the Mobius on the odd occasion.)

Glad to hear that someone at least tried this. Yeah, I've assumed it would need a pretty good sized super-cap but I don't necessarily see that as a huge deal breaker if one could get this to work and you could hide the thing somewhere behind or under the dash. I agree though that these cheap and readily available delay timers are probably the way to go.

 

[2000rpm]

No, it's not the capacitor, it's just the Mobius camera like many others doesn't like suddenly losing power, however briefly, halfway through booting up. No doubt your home computer is very much the same. I guess the capacitor can make the problem worse but I seem to recall someone else reporting the same problem with a battery powered Mobius in a specific car.

Dedicated dashcams generally don't seem to mind being in my car.
In the last couple of years in my (diesel) car, Transcend DP100 has had 0% failure to start; Mio Mivue 528 or 538 have around 1% failure to start; Cobra 840 probably 2-3% failure to start. Mobius (capacitor) has been 100% failure to start but that's over a period of a couple of weeks rather than years.

 

[jokiin]

Dedicated dashcams generally don't seem to mind being in my car.
In the last couple of years in my (diesel) car, Transcend DP100 has had 0% failure to start; Mio Mivue 528 or 538 have around 1% failure to start; Cobra 840 probably 2-3% failure to start. Mobius (capacitor) has been 100% failure to start but that's over a period of a couple of weeks rather than years.

they added capacitors as an option to make it more suitable for car use but they never did the correct changes to firmware to have it function correctly in all cases, there are some vehicles where it will just be unreliable the way they have it setup right now

 

[murcod]

No, it's not the capacitor, it's just the Mobius camera like many others doesn't like suddenly losing power, however briefly, halfway through booting up. No doubt your home computer is very much the same. I guess the capacitor can make the problem worse but I seem to recall someone else reporting the same problem with a battery powered Mobius in a specific car.

In this case it will be the camera not recognising the reapplication of power during the shut-down process.

 

[Dashmellow]

they added capacitors as an option to make it more suitable for car use but they never did the correct changes to firmware to have it function correctly in all cases, there are some vehicles where it will just be unreliable the way they have it setup right now

Come to think of it, you are quite right about that. It is the capacitor then, to answer @2000rpm's question. My answer was incorrect.