Memory Cards Confirmed Working/Not Working?

[Kenza750]

Hello Kenza,
I would like to offer my worthless opinion before you throw your A229 down a flight of stairs in a fit of frustration. I’ve been testing / using an A229 Duo since July 23, 2022. I do not believe your issue is caused by the SD Card, Bitrate Setting, or the A229 Dash Cam itself.

Based on my power consumption testing the A229 is “power hungry” compared to other dash cams I’ve tested. During testing I discovered two “power starvation” malfunctions by accident. When I first receive a dash cam I run it off a power bank on my work bench to verify everything works before I install it in my car. I have two different power banks. One has a rated output of 5 Volts 1 Amp, and the other has a rated output of 5 Volts 2.4 Amps. By luck the 1 Amp power bank was on my work bench, and I discovered half the time the A229 would boot up, and start recording as normal, other times the red power LED would illuminate, and the camera would shut off, and begin an endless start up / shut off loop. I tried using the A229 with my 2.4A power bank and start up & operation was 100% reliable. This must be why the supplied Viofo cigarette power adapter also has an output rating of 5 Volts 2.4 Amps.

After I got that sorted, I installed the A229 in my car. Since I just completed testing the A119 Mini, I decided to remove the A119 Mini, and install the A229 at the same location on the windshield. Since I already had the USB Type-C cable from the A119 Mini installed, and routed behind my headliner, and panel trim I decided to use the same cable. Guess what? When I connected the A229 to power using the USB Type-C from the A119 Mini it started the same endless power up / power down loop. After closer inspection the USB Type-C cable included with the A229 is 20AWG. The A119 is only 22AWG. The thinner gauge wire used by the A119 Mini was causing power starvation endless loop.

So why am I telling you this?
I’m assuming you are using the Viofo HK4 Hardwire Kit to power your A229.
Here’s the part where I start jumping to conclusions. I willing to bet dollars to donuts your car is newer than 2005, and you have the Battey + (constant hot red wire) of the hardwire kit connected to a fuse that is on a circuit that has a power fluctuation while the car parked, and the A229 is operating in parking mode. Usually cars made after 2005 have a more sophisticated OBD2 system with up to 200 different modules that take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour to “fall asleep”. And some modules stay permanently active. OBD2 systems in cars from 1996 - 2005 were much simpler, and only had one or two modules.

So how can we diagnose if this “module power fluctuation” is the cause of your A229 recording malfunction?
Well, if it were my car I would connect my multimeter (Amps) in the circuit that is powering the hardwire kit, (red wire) and shut the car off to enable A229 parking mode, and then monitor my multimeter for one hour looking for power fluctuations that correlate to a recording malfunction of the A229. But I doubt you have an hour to waste like that. So it might be a good idea to remove the red wire from the fuse box, and temporarily connect it directly to the positive terminal of the battery, (with an inline 5 Amp fuse of course) and monitor for malfunctions just as you have been. If there are no more malfunctions, that was the cause, and you need to re-connect the red wire to a “constant hot” fuse that does not have power fluctuations. If the malfunctions continue everything I just wrote was a waste of time. Lol
-Chuck

Thank you for your very worthful reply. Actually, my problem of recordings which stops is during normal recording, NOT during parking recording. Even overnight (>8hrs of parking mode) is no problem.

My car is from 2007 and I am aware of the power management of the car. Let me explain how I've connected the A229:
- I have a separate circuit with a separate AGM 48Ah car battery. This additional battery is being charged while driving, but is isolated from the car electronics/power management when the engine is off. Therefor, the A229 always has a stable power supply which is not affected by the cars power management.
- A229 is connected with the Viofo HK3-kit (!!) directly on the 48Ah battery. --> why HK3?: because I had it already installed for my previous A139. HK3 should be the same as HK4 only HK3 has a straight USB-C connector and HK4 has a 90deg angled connector. I will try to use the HK4 just to exclude causes but I don't think power is an issue here.
- A229@max bitrate or A229@high bitrate stops recording regulary. A229@normal bitrate seems to work stable until now (2days). This makes me think the issue should be found in the amount of data which is written to the card. Seems the A229 can not handle the max bitrates.
- When I disconnect the rear cam, A229@max bit rate seems to work fine. --> again this makes me think the issue is in the amount of data which can not be handled by the A229.

Maybe I was a little bit too p#ssed off on Viofo in my previous posts, but first I've had a A139 which overheated. Then it was replace by a new one which definitely operated a lot cooler. After 2 months, the super capacitor died. So my supplier suggested to change the A139 with the newer A229 and now I've invested an extra of EUR100 on memory cards and still facing issues. I've bought the Samsung cards from an authorized dealer (100% genuine), and even with the Pro Endurance the product does not deliver what is expected to do.

What I'm going to check tomorrow:
1. I'll connect the hardwire kit usb-c directly to the cam. now it is connected to the GPS module and record 2CH@max bitrate
2. I'll try to record 2CH@max bitrate with the original Viofo cigaret lighter supply.
3. I'll change the HK3 to HK4 when results of step1/step2 is giving stable recordings

Still I'm not convinced my issue has a relation with the power supply but I want to exclude things.

 

[Kenza750]

Someone here mentioned that Ferraris are not bought to drive 50km/h. But in order for a Ferrari to drive properly, it needs to be fueled with quality fuel prescribed by the manufacturer. If you fill a Ferrari with "donkey urine", then it will not go faster than 50km/h or not go at all.
Since there were no complaints about Viofo memory cards on the forum, the manufacturer can write that it guarantees uninterrupted operation of the DVR with the maximum bitrate when using Viofo memory cards.
Who does not want to spend money on a quality memory card, can reduce the bitrate of the DVR so that it works smoothly with other memory cards.
At the moment, Viofo in the new T130 firmware has reduced the bitrate of the main camera, but many people are not satisfied with this and they do not install a new firmware.

The Ferrari-thing was me. But let's be honest. The Samsung Pro Endurance is a recommended highly rated card. So talking in terms of Ferraris and fuels: I filled my Ferrari with the best premium quality fuel.

 

[Karagandinez]

The Ferrari-thing was me. But let's be honest. The Samsung Pro Endurance is a recommended highly rated card. So talking in terms of Ferraris and fuels: I filled my Ferrari with the best premium quality fuel.

I will repeat again:
The DVR manufacturer cannot be responsible for memory cards produced by another manufacturer, it is only responsible for its own memory cards.
You can buy a memory card from Viofo and if it does not work with A229 DUO, then you can file a claim with the manufacturer.
I wrote above that my video recorders from Viofo work without problems with the maximum bitrate.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Thank you for your very worthful reply. Actually, my problem of recordings which stops is during normal recording, NOT during parking recording. Even overnight (>8hrs of parking mode) is no problem.

My car is from 2007 and I am aware of the power management of the car. Let me explain how I've connected the A229:
- I have a separate circuit with a separate AGM 48Ah car battery. This additional battery is being charged while driving, but is isolated from the car electronics/power management when the engine is off. Therefor, the A229 always has a stable power supply which is not affected by the cars power management.
- A229 is connected with the Viofo HK3-kit (!!) directly on the 48Ah battery. --> why HK3?: because I had it already installed for my previous A139. HK3 should be the same as HK4 only HK3 has a straight USB-C connector and HK4 has a 90deg angled connector. I will try to use the HK4 just to exclude causes but I don't think power is an issue here.
- A229@max bitrate or A229@high bitrate stops recording regulary. A229@normal bitrate seems to work stable until now (2days). This makes me think the issue should be found in the amount of data which is written to the card. Seems the A229 can not handle the max bitrates.
- When I disconnect the rear cam, A229@max bit rate seems to work fine. --> again this makes me think the issue is in the amount of data which can not be handled by the A229.

Maybe I was a little bit too p#ssed off on Viofo in my previous posts, but first I've had a A139 which overheated. Then it was replace by a new one which definitely operated a lot cooler. After 2 months, the super capacitor died. So my supplier suggested to change the A139 with the newer A229 and now I've invested an extra of EUR100 on memory cards and still facing issues. I've bought the Samsung cards from an authorized dealer (100% genuine), and even with the Pro Endurance the product does not deliver what is expected to do.

What I'm going to check tomorrow:
1. I'll connect the hardwire kit usb-c directly to the cam. now it is connected to the GPS module and record 2CH@max bitrate
2. I'll try to record 2CH@max bitrate with the original Viofo cigaret lighter supply.
3. I'll change the HK3 to HK4 when results of step1/step2 is giving stable recordings

Still I'm not convinced my issue has a relation with the power supply but I want to exclude things.

What settings have you changed from default? Maybe you can run the same firmware and settings as @Karagandinez and test. Perhaps your using a feature most do not and this is triggering your issue.

 

[Karagandinez]

- A229@max bitrate or A229@high bitrate stops recording regulary. A229@normal bitrate seems to work stable until now (2days). This makes me think the issue should be found in the amount of data which is written to the card. Seems the A229 can not handle the max bitrates.
- When I disconnect the rear cam, A229@max bit rate seems to work fine. --> again this makes me think the issue is in the amount of data which can not be handled by the A229.

It is your memory cards that cannot work with the A229 DUO. They cannot cope with the data stream transmitted from two cameras with a maximum bit rate.

 

[Panzer Platform]

Just for clarification I've been running my A229 Duo since July in Max Bitrate, normal recording mode.
The first month I ran it for 12-16 hours per day.
I'm using the Samsung Pro Endurance 64GB.
I will attached a photo.
No malfunctions of any kind.
But I still think @Kenza750 should try an official Viofo SD Card to eliminate all possibility of SD Card being the cause of his issues.
-Chuck

 

[Deleted member 64174]

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[Karagandinez]

Not defending the one side or the other but I see where the A229 could be at issue here.

If the A229 DUO did not work with all memory cards, then the problem would be in it. But it does not work only with some memory cards.

 

[Lothar]

The DVR manufacturer is not responsible for memory card manufacturers. Of all the recommended memory cards, Viofo can only be responsible for his own card from Viofo. If A229 does not work with a card from Viofo, then all claims are against Viofo. Otherwise, you need to look for a problem in the memory card used.
I have a memory card from non-recommended Samsung Evo Plus 128GB that has been working in A119v3 for three years already and there has not been a single freeze during this time even on MOD firmware from "vvs49" with an increased bitrate.

In that case then maybe they should update their "recommended" card picture and website to only recommend their own brand of memory card and not cards from other manufacturers.

If he runs tests on his memory card (to make sure it does not have any bad sectors, the allocation tables are correct, it reaches or exceeds advertised read/write speeds) and the memory is not an issue, then the DVR (or it's firmware, power source, or Novatek SoC) could also be the issue and not necessarily the memory card.

So far 2 things have happened to this particular user that has caused his frustration:
1.) The authorized Viofo distributor in his country ("Viofo Benelux"...which is not related to Viofo China despite sharing the same "Viofo" name) bundled a card that is on the "Not recommended" list from Viofo China and sold it to the customer as a bundle with the dashcam. The memory did not work. The distributor in this case should have been fully responsible for bundling an incompatible card known to Viofo to be incompatible with the A229, and not the user nor the memory card that he purchased. We can see how badly this reflects on Viofo despite them not being ultimately responsible for what their distributor did or having any relationship to the distributor.
I cannot start my own "Apple UK" or "Apple Benelux" and start selling iPhones using the same Apple logo, font, color as the same original Apple company/store. I would be sued to death by Apple to protect their brand image.
Viofo needs to be more protective of their own brand image and stop other distributors from using their own brand name, marketing image, and likeness since they don't bear any relation to Viofo China.

Viofo Benelux is still today bundling this known incompatible card with the A229 for purchase on their website today.



2.) An image created by Viofo of "recommended" cards that is still on their own website till this day was posted in earlier this thread. The poster went out of his way and purchased another memory card, this time from the "recommended" Viofo list at his own expense. His original issue (a Viofo distributor in his country bundling a Samsung High Endurance memory card that is known by Viofo to be incompatible with the A229) was never resolved.

What memory card is recommended for a VIOFO dashcam?

Micro SD Cards play an important role in dashcams, but not all cards are suitable to be used in dashcams. The footage recorded by dash cams is saved on a micro SD card, which is an essential component of the dash cam setup. Here are some parame...

support.viofo.com

Look, I've defended Viofo plenty of times in the past against people like Honest Review, StrayCam, and Faroutxxx...Many of you know that.
But I simply do not agree here.
This could have be handled better by both Viofo China and Viofo Benelux. This is not the fault of the user, or his memory card.

 

[Lothar]

Hey guys, I have another useless marketing idea.
Viofo offers a 1 year warranty, and a 6 month warranty extention if you register your dash cam by providing the serial number, and your email address.
What if in addition to including a 32GB SD Card with every dash cam, they offered a discount toward a Viofo 256GB SD Card when you register to obtain the additional 6 month warranty.

On the little red card that is the first thing you see when unpacking the camera could be a statement;
"This included 32GB SD Card will only provide a limited amount of recording time, and is intended for set up, diagnosis, and to perform future firmware updates. If you prefer longer recording times you may wish to purchace a larger capacity SD Card. By registering your camera to receive an additional 6 month warranty extention you will also receive a 10% off discount code torward a Viofo 256GB SD Card".

Who am I kidding?
This would never work. lol
-Chuck

Not sure that I agree.
If they implement that, there will be a price increase in the base dashcam to account for this discounted memory offer.
The money has to come from somewhere...This is like taking money from your left pocket to put it in your right pocket.

Viofo already sells dashcams that are very competitive in pricing at near cost, and it is possible that their branded memory cards are what pad their profit or deliver a higher profit margin on a percentage basis than the dashcam unit itself.
Compare an equivalent camera from BlackVue, Thinkware, Street Guardian, or Garmin to that of a Viofo camera with the same specs and you will see how much of a price difference there is.

Lol...
The Viofo 256GB SD card is $69.99...10% of that will only take $6-7 off maximum. The 256GB Sandisk MAX Endurance and 256GB Samsung PRO Endurance (both recommended by Viofo to work in the A229) will still be cheaper than the discounted price.
I would extend my warranty with them but will politely not take them on that discounted memory offer.

 

[Lothar]

Someone here mentioned that Ferraris are not bought to drive 50km/h. But in order for a Ferrari to drive properly, it needs to be fueled with quality fuel prescribed by the manufacturer. If you fill a Ferrari with "donkey urine", then it will not go faster than 50km/h or not go at all.
Since there were no complaints about Viofo memory cards on the forum, the manufacturer can write that it guarantees uninterrupted operation of the DVR with the maximum bitrate when using Viofo memory cards.
Who does not want to spend money on a quality memory card, can reduce the bitrate of the DVR so that it works smoothly with other memory cards.
At the moment, Viofo in the new T130 firmware has reduced the bitrate of the main camera, but many people are not satisfied with this and they do not install a new firmware.

Yes, but if Ferrari says Shell, BP, Total, or "elephant urine" are recommended fuel in an info graphic on their website for the car, then it better go faster than 50km/h with Shell, BP, Total, or "elephant urine".

Samsung Pro Endurance is a quality memory card and is on the "recommended" list by them.

 

[Karagandinez]

In that case then maybe they should update their "recommended" card picture and website to only recommend their own brand of memory card and not cards from other manufacturers.

Totally agree with you.

Yes, but if Ferrari says Shell, BP, Total, or "elephant urine" are recommended fuel in an info graphic on their website for the car, then it better go faster than 50km/h with Shell, BP, Total, or "elephant urine".

Samsung Pro Endurance is a quality memory card and is on the "recommended" list by them.

Even at the recommended gas station, gasoline may not be of high quality. As well as the recommended memory card may be defective.
The car manufacturer, as well as the manufacturer of the DVR, cannot be held responsible for this.

A229 with a normal bitrate works fine for a person, so this is not a problem with A229.
Or am I wrong?

 

[fooz10]

I'm with kenza on this one guys. I've been experiencing the exact same issue as him.
I posted about it in another thread a few days ago here https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...rding-in-high-bitrate-mode.47785/#post-581962

Thinking it was the sdcard as well, I purchased the Samsung endurance sdcard 256 gig to correct the issue. First 3 days or so was fine but now everytime after it's been in parking mode for about 8 or more plus hours and I get in and start it. Once started you'll get the usually voice notifications that it's switching to normal recording mode and it does and it starts to record fine. Then after 30 second usually the beeping noise starts which indicates that it's no longer recording. I hit the record button again and its fine and doesn't give me any more issues. But even with the last sdcard it got worst and I suspect it will with the endurance one which was built for dashcam. I'm just waiting for it to get to the point where it stops recording at 30 seconds like it did last time. I did not have this issue with the A129 duo and keep in mind I was using a sdcard that viofo didn't not recommend for the A129 duo. I'll keep you all posted.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Deleted member 64174]

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[fooz10]

Update: so today it won't go any longer than 30 seconds before it stops recording and beeps at me annoyingly. I have a bootable USB stick with Linux mint installed and I'm gonna format it using the Linux system and use the slow option instead of a quick formatting. I stupidly formatted the sdcard via the dashcam this morning before checking how many gigs were used before it started acting up but I can assure you it had not gotten anywhere close to filling up the 256gig card.

It might truly be an issue of how the card is formatted but only time will tell. I should know probably by the end of the week if how it's being formatted is the issue, Even if it's clean from factory.

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[Deleted member 64174]

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[Kenza750]

I've tested my setup according to my last post in this thread. The results:
1. tried different power supplies (HK3/HK4/original Viofo 12V cigaret lighter): no difference.
2. power connector on GPS vs Camera: no difference
Conclusion: power is not the the issue.

I took the sd card out of the cam and put it in my PC. Using CrystalDiskMark to check the read/write speeds. Read: 90MB/s+ / Write: 1.09MB/s !!!
this explains why the data can not be written on the SD card. I've fully formatted the card (Samsung Endurance Pro 256Gb) with GUIFormat in FAT32/655xx cluster size. After formatting the read/write speeds were as follows:
Read: 90MB/s+
Write: 85MB/s+
To check the card on errors, I've used HWTest to test the whole card. results: no errors and 85MB/s+ read/write speeds.

Putting the card back in the A229 resulted in normal operating. No stopping of recording on max bitrate (2CH).
BUT....again, like I've seen with my previous Samsung Evo Plus 256GB, after 1 day, the camera stopped recording again after 30sec. When hitting the REC button, the camera continuous to record normally without stopping. Very strange. Like the EVO Plus, I expect the card to fail again after a couple of days. It seems the camera corrupts the filesystem again and again. It can not be an issue with the card itself. Why? Because the EVO Plus card performed exactly the same. Also extreme low writing speeds, but after formatting with GUIFormat, the card performs as new again. Also 0 errors according to HWTest. So both Samsung cards (100% genuine) are not malfunctioning.

I'm lost now. Why does the cam corrupt the filesystem slowly? Do I have a faulty device again (3rd one)? I'm really getting frustrated now.....

@fooz10 : please share your results also after formatting. Are you using parking mode?
What I've seen so far, when switching from parking mode to normal recording the camera stops recording after 30sec and starts to beep. when hitting REC, it continues to record normally (for the time being, because I expect it will fail again after a while).

 

[fooz10]

So update: for some reason my live USB with Linux mint wouldn't open up terminal so I couldnt download the formating tool that I wanted to use. I didn't have enough time to do a complete install of Linux so I decided to load up my bootable GParted USB stick and mounted the sdcard to the computer. I completely cleared the partition and allocation of the sdcard and formatted it. Gparted did it within 1 minute which I didn't like because that means it probably didn't do a complete full wipe of the card itself. After seeing that I decided to just do the rest of the formating in windows with GUIFormat. It took almost 7 hours to do a full wipe of the Samsung endurance 256gigs. When I popped it into the dashcam it didn't ask to be formatted before being used, it just started recording with no issues. Now time will tell how it performs. Here are all my settings and how the format results went.




@Kenza750 Are you doing a quick format with GUIFormat or a long one? And yes I have parking mode enabled, here are all my settings.

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[Kenza750]

looks like the same settings and procedure I followed besides I have set the bitrate to MAX instead of HIGH. Also with me the cam started recording immediately when I put the card in. The next day, after overnight parking mode, it started beeping again after 30secs. But recorded normally after pushing REC for the rest of the day.
Let's see how long it stays like this....

 

[fooz10]

looks like the same settings and procedure I followed besides I have set the bitrate to MAX instead of HIGH. Also with me the cam started recording immediately when I put the card in. The next day, after overnight parking mode, it started beeping again after 30secs. But recorded normally after pushing REC for the rest of the day.
Let's see how long it stays like this....

Did you do a quick format or no? If it starts acting up to the point where it can't record past 30 seconds no matter how many times you hit the record button. See how many gigs are available on the sdcard. I forgot to do that last time. I wanna see if it starts acting up around the same point of available gigs each time.

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