Lukas 9750 issues

[Brohan]

Hi All, long time lurker, few time poster.
From reading through this forum, I decided to purchase this dash cam some years ago. It's been pretty solid for a long time, but I've had a few odd issues over the last year or two. It's just taken me a while to get over here and ask the questions.
Specifics:
Lukas 9750 Duo
32GB micro, 64GB SD {somehow lost the original 8GB micro between the truck and the house one day...}
The camera is wired to run full time, but I've had to start unplugging it due to battery drain. After COVID, I don't drive near as much, and the motion actuation draws more than the solar panel I have to tender the battery.

To be fair, I have not checked video playback in a while, but I've been fortunate that I have not needed to. But, my issues are on boot and during standard operation. The issues are:
When cold mostly, the cam will boot and operate normally {boot screen Lukas, black screen, 3/4 front cam, 1/4 rear cam, once moving speedometer}.
The first issue was all would boot normally, but every other or third time a red vertical stripe on the left 1/3 of the screen when displaying the cameras, and no shift to speedometer.
A year later, the same issue would occur, but with a blue stripe rather than a red one.
Over the last year {which is about two or three years from when the first issue or two started}, random issues happen:
The cam will boot and demand that the cards be formatted. Whether or not I had just formatted them on a PC, regardless of eFAT or standard FAT formatting.
The power LED that tends to flash red/blue on boot, does not flash. It will be blue. Or purple. Or barely lit.
The cam will act like it is booting normally, but end up at a black screen, with a dimly lit blue power LED.
And most frustrating: On one ignition cycle there may be one of these issues. Come back after {whatever the trip may be}, and the cam boots and operates like there has never been an issue.

I unplug all power from the cam when parked, so this should be a hard reset when I'm done driving. I've tried updating the firmware, but it doesn't seem like there is anything newer than what I found when I purchased the cam.
Are these know issues or has anyone else come across these issues? Or is this the sign of a cam that is on its way out?

TYIA for reading and any thoughts that you might have.

 

[Brohan]

Update {because I don't see and edit button}: The playback is there, at least as far as I can tell. I didn't make a note of when the unit was black screened, so I cannot confirm that the recording was there. There is plenty of video, so I know it is recording. Also, the full size SD card is a 32GB Lukas, not a 64GB.

 

[kamkar]

The memory card is the weakest link in any quality dashcam system, so when it start to ask for frequent formatting its probably a good idea to test it on the computer with various benchmarking softwares ( free )
32 GB is very small, today even for a single channel 1080p resolution camera i would not recommend less than 256 GB, and today most support that just fine.
Memory card life expectancy is rated in full read / write cycles, so a bigger card will take longer to burn thru those cycles.
I have had brand new cards from reputable brands( 64GB ) that died almost before i could fill them just 1 time, and i have had other brand new cards 128 and 256 GB have a write speed barely half of what it was listed to have, but a full format with Sdformatter 5.0 fixed that issue.

Have you tested it with another power source ( can not remember if these are 5 V USB plug or a 12 V barrel plug ) if it is a USB plug for power you can try and use any newer phone / whatever charger for the mains plug in the house.
If you have the tools / skills to it and its a 12 V system, you could measure on the plug to see if it get 12 V, but as there are no step down in systems like that your cars other stuff should also be starved for power.

If you are using a alternative method of power, like say a build in USB plug somewhere in the car, or maybe some multi port USB charger for the 12 V dash plug, well that might well be the problem. in that case you should try the provided power source.

One thing is for damn sure, if you put your Lukas in the middle of a average sized pond, and then drop a MOAB beside it, that will indicate how much out of the water a new dashcam would blow that old Lukas camera.
I think you will see that it is almost a night / day change, CUZ the industry / sensors have moved quite a bit since then, never any MEGA jumps but nice and easy progress year over year.

Dont get me wrong i applaud people that dont embrace too much the buy / throw away culture.

Today the 1440p resolution is the norm, and you can get sweet 4K systems too, the latest sensors that kick the most ass are the Sony starvis 2 sensors


O BTW if the system have a rear camera, try to unplug that at the main front unit, and see how it like that for a couple of drives, irregular connection to rear dashcams are known to make systems a bit wonky.

 

[Brohan]

Thank you for the detailed response! And apologies for not getting back to this thread sooner. Like any issue, as soon as I start asking about problems, the silly thing starts working "normally".

The reason for the small cards is because I thought there was a memory barrier with this unit. I didn't want to try too large of a card and have the unit crash in a new and different way. I will try different cards as well as use the software tests as you suggest.

Currently, the dash cam is hardwired into the vehicle. There are no USB or any other adapters or converters inline. I rewire old cars for a living, so I know my way around 12 volt systems.

LOL very descriptive. I'm not about to do that. It would kill so many fish and really annoy the neighbors. And yes, I do use antique things. I have a table saw that is older than me, and my main computer is running off of an old i7-4790K processer. I use tools until they fail or outmoded to the point where they no longer function properly with current applications.

I'll try unhooking the rear camera and see what happens. I'll also see about cleaning all of the plugs to see if that is part of the problem.