MicroSD card unable to stay

[Gibson99]

the black fabric-covered flex cable going to the sensor (or lens assembly/housing if you prefer) actually looks normal to me. very similar to the flex cables for laptop screens where they go thru the hinge. it has to bunch up to allow the lens assy to rotate. at no point should it kink or pull tight while rotating the knob on the side.

is the mic actually attached to a wire or is it floating around free in the case and just happened to be sitting on the caps when you opened it?

 

[Jrlivin2]

I'm going to second what Gibson99 suggested. Take a close look at the tape on the SD card reader to see if it is interfering with the card when inserted. I can't see most of the reader in your pic but if there is anything else like the tape that's in the way see if that's the problem.

 

[kuoh]

Does the rubber grommet fit around the mic? If so, check for a matching hole on the other half of the case where it might fit. That is often how mics are mounted to prevent vibration induced noise.

KuoH

It looks to me like the microphone is sitting on top of the capacitors, I don't think it's supposed to be there. In addition, when I opened the case a small, black rubber grommet fell out - don't know where it came from.

 

[parklawn]

is the mic actually attached to a wire or is it floating around free in the case and just happened to be sitting on the caps when you opened it?

Yes, the mic is attached to a wire, and quite tightly. Doesn't move much.

@ KuoH - the grommet probably would fit around the mic but I haven't tried it, I was afraid to lift it up in case I broke the wire.

 

[Jrlivin2]

Can you get a better pic of the reader?

 

[Gibson99]

side note: it's not very reassuring that the brand name of the caps appears to be DOA... that's like naming a company GPF Software or something

 

[Gibson99]

i think we just cracked the problem with the sd cards in the a118c. the speaker is attached to the sd card slot. not with tape, but with liquid glue. in parklawn's photo, the catch for the latching system has a blob of glue on it, preventing it from latching. mine was close, but wasn't causing an issue.

this explains why the sound is quieter in the C compared to the original - in the original, the speaker is attached to the back plate, and the membrane of the speaker faces out thru some vent holes - like a speaker SHOULD. there's even a nice cutout and support structure for the oval shaped speaker molded into the plastic, right next to the metal spring that provides the clicks for the lens adjuster.

my mic is also held up between the caps, and that is indeed where the rubber gromet came from when you opened yours. given its mounting position and the aded side vents (and the fact that audio was great in my test videos) i see no reason to move the mic. however, the speaker definitely needs to be moved back to the back plate where it belongs, and any remaining glue needs to be cleaned off the sd card slot. i bet this will cure all these cameras with sd card holding issues.

just be gentle when removing the speaker or putting it into the slot on the back. the wires are just barely long enough. also, the wires must be next to the metal spring for the lens clicker. to protect the wires from the spring, i peeled off a piece of the adhesive fabric that was covering one of the vents on the back (wtf?) and stuck it to the spring. then i reused the fabric that was previously attached to the back of the speaker to further anchor it to the back cover. the reason i say to be careful is that i accidentally peeled the negative pickup off the speaker, so now i have NO sound. that may not be an issue for some, but i kinda like the startup sound as it helps me know it did in fact start up.

anyway, here's some pictures.

freshly opened, not modified:


speaker removed. the latch of the sd card slot is the sort of L shaped cutout on the leftmost edge of the sd slot. you can sort of see the red and gray sandisk card in the slot thru the other openings.


now the speaker is back where it belongs. you can see how i used the fabric tape to cover the spring so it won't rub thru the speaker wires. you can also see how my clumsy fingers peeled away the contact for the black wire. i can probably solder it back but it's late... i'll deal with it later. it works fine without a speaker. and if you don't care about sound from the camera, you could simply cut off the speaker entirely. just don't leave wires dangling inside where they can short out. tape em down.

 

[Jrlivin2]

Great write-up!

 

[ShoelaceExpress]

amazing, thank you for this. I too also had a little rubber grommet that was in the bag the dash cam was wrapped up in when shipped. I figured whatever it was must have fallen through the vent holes during shipping. I'm now looking forward to taking mine apart this weekend!

 

[Jrlivin2]

Thanks again for the write-up. I have never worked in the manufacturing industry so I could be off base here but this seems like an elementary mistake. I've read from some others that QC on these products can be very hit or miss but, seriously, glue on the card reader?

 

[Gibson99]

i've not been in manufacturing either, but have worked as a pc/laptop repair person a while back, and was an auto mechanic for several years too, so i'm not afraid of taking much anything apart. i realized it might be possible to stick the speaker to the side vent above the SD slot so you don't have as much tension on the speaker wires while working with the back cover. probably simpler that way too.

the fact that our cameras were assembled the same way says this was probably a decision a little higher up the food chain - "it saves 5 seconds per unit, times 1000 units, that's 5000 seconds!" i expect that the speaker install is probably done by hand rather than by a machine, thus the inconsistent placement. at least it now looks like we have a fix for management's stupid decision. and also a bit more insight into just how much QC actually happens (not much, since they would have quickly noticed if an SD card wouldn't go/stay into the slot).

 

[parklawn]

@Gibson99 thanks for the splendid pictures and write-up. I have tried - and failed. I removed the speaker and all the glue that I could see but I guess that there is still something preventing the card mechanism from functioning properly, it still won't click in. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[Gibson99]

when you move the card in and out of the slot, do you see that tab i indicated moving up or down at all? it's a very small movement - barely more than the thickness of that metal.

you can gently bend the capacitors up a little to take a peek at the back end of the card slot. make sure its spring is there (it must be since your card keeps coming back out) and that there isn't anything else there binding it up. there is some foam tape holding down the caps - maybe that's interfering too. you can't remove the foam tape, but you can probably use some tweezers to rip some of it off where it may be interfering with the card slot mechanism. just be careful around the microphone wires - they're teeny tiny!

 

[parklawn]

Partial success. The card stays in about 1 in 30 pushes so I have left it in for now, taped over it so that it doesn't fly out, and will leave it in the car for a couple of days. I'm interested to see how it likes the cold. This is certainly no way to attract customers though.

 

[scrappy]

Mine arrived today, SN0922, and I am happy to report that the SD card slot works as it should.

Gibson99, that is a helluva nice post with photos of the guts and possible fix for those who have a cam with this problem.

 

[soseono]

Mine came a week ago from GearBest but I was too busy to tinker with it until today. I'm glad Gibson99's writeup was posted earlier today because otherwise I would have been very much lost about the card insertion issue in mine (SN0979).

So far I've figured out that if the card is not centered in the slot but is as close to the mic hole (i.e. the metal latch inside) as possible, it's mostly okay. Still I'm taking mine apart to fix the issue once and for all. Thank you so much again, @Gibson99!

ps. Have been lurking for a while, but signed up today to complain about this issue and say thanks.

ps2. Here are what mine looks like. Pic1 Pic2

 

[soseono]

A quick question about the glue removal (to @Gibson99 and others who have removed the glue in this device): What did you use to remove the glue? Rubbing alcohol? I thought maybe I could remove the glue that's covering the card reader latch and leave the rest as-is. Would this work?

 

[Jrlivin2]

I don't know what type of adhesive is most commonly used in this type of application. If it's hot melt glue a small amount of isopropyl alcohol around the edge may help loosen it. If it's an epoxy it's going to be more difficult. I haven't taken mine apart yet but, if I do, I will probably start with a gentle nudge, followed up with delicate scraping at the edge with a razor blade.

 

[Jrlivin2]

P.S.

@GearBest

Thankfully, I am one of the people who, so far, have not experienced this issue. It does appear though that there was a mistake made at the time of manufacture.

Customer loyalty is earned, at least in part, by businesses who handle these types of situations well. You're being given an opportunity to shine.

 

[soseono]

Good news and bad news.

Good news is that I was able to get the speaker off and move it to the back plate after a few hours of elbow grease. Used pure acetone, orange wood stick, and a sharp craft knife to scrape off the glue, and then used alcohol to clean off the sticker residue. Progress pics here.

Bad news is that this didn't solve my card insertion/ejection problem. (LOL) I still have to insert the card as close to the mic port as possible; otherwise it wouldn't get inserted properly. The card is a new Samsung Plus 32GB Class 10 (Model# MB-MPBGC).

I suspect that my problem has to do with how the device was assembled, given that the memory card slot and the opening on the case aren't lining up correctly. This is a clear manufacturer defect.

Anyway, just wanted to give a heads up that this was a nice try but didn't entirely cure the problem.