Mini 0803 capacitor version

[Tobi@s]

Can you just change the default setting even if it doesn't actually appear in the menu thus allowing use of any firmware?

Not sure about this one. Never tried it tbh.

 

[Titolito]

If you mounted the supercaps on the outside of the case, one above and one below the lens, you could have bigger caps so only need two and wouldn't be restricted to those particularly thin ones, you would have no heating problems since they would be in cool outside air, the cameras internal cooling for the processor, lens etc would be better - reduced focus problems in hot conditions and the camera would have a rather interesting look to it once plasticoated or whatever - I think it would look quite good!

This. I would be fine with having something external to the main camera casing if it made modding and wiring easier and more reliable. I just don't know the electronic voodoo magic math that goes into this stuff. But I know my way around a soldering iron and am willing to follow a guide for a proven and reliable mod.

 

[mr_milo]

Two of the Eaton Bussmann (P/N: HV1325-2R7156-R.15F) 15F 2.7V Super Caps in series should do the trick. But I'd personally like to see the two 6F caps working with a firmware mod since that would be the simplest and cleanest way.

Also an update... I re-verified my setup on the bench and it does work as before. Therefore the issue I am seeing seems to be related to the extra current draw of the GPS.

 

[Tobi@s]

ok, try the procam 20140530 firmware, you can find it on my page.
It has a setting called "DELAY POWER OFF" with the following items to select:

ID: 0100  TXTOFFS: 036B    VAL: 0    TXT: OFF
ID: 0101  TXTOFFS: 044E    VAL: 1    TXT: 10 sec
ID: 0102  TXTOFFS: 0450    VAL: 2    TXT: 30 sec
ID: 0103  TXTOFFS: 0452    VAL: 3    TXT: 2 MIN
ID: 0104  TXTOFFS: 0455    VAL: 4    TXT: 10 MIN

Set it to 10 sec and hope that this is short enough.
And report back asap!

 

[mr_milo]

Ok I had to remember my Russian but I got it. Thanks.
The results are better but not quite enough for reliable shutdown. The first time it worked great. The second shutdown it lost power half way through the chime.
I plan to try the "off" setting on the way back to the office. Will keep you updated.
Thx

 

[Tobi@s]

Off means it will turn off on power loss

 

[mr_milo]

Yup! Just figured that out.
It seems from your post that you know the locations. How hard would it be to make a 5 sec setting?

 

[Nigel]

Yup! Just figured that out.
It seems from your post that you know the locations. How hard would it be to make a 5 sec setting?

I'd make it 1 second, you want to leave as much power in the cap as possible for the clock etc. in case you leave the car parked up for a few days.

I assume 1 second will be one second, and then chime and save the current file before powering off.

 

[mr_milo]

That's probably a better idea than 5 sec. That is if it can do it. If someone can mod it, I'll try it. I'll even mod it if I csn figure out how. I search and see later tonight.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[mr_milo]

Update: I drove around a bit this weekend and noticed that sometimes the camera would shutdown properly and other times it didn't. The difference seemed to be related to the length of the trip, the longer the trip the better of a chance it would work as expected and shut down, although the shorter the trip, less than 25 minutes, and the camera would crash while shutting down.

I really expected the capacitors to charge up faster than that so I'm not sure what to make of this. Anyone have any idea how to shorten the power off delay any further?

 

[Klippie]

Would a rechargeable coin cell battery work as they are 3.6v

 

[jokiin]

Would a rechargeable coin cell battery work as they are 3.6v

no

 

[mr_milo]

I'm seeing a max voltage of about 4.21v on the capacitors so I don't think so.

As an update, I have reverted to the itracker firmware as it works better for me and doesn't seem to take much longer (if any at all) to shutdown. To try and compensate I added another 3F capacitor pair to the outside for a total of 12Fs (<- Correction 7.5F not 12F). Honestly having that much energy on the dash is a little bothersome but I guess it's better than the lithium pack in the heat.

Although, I have a feeling that even with 12Fs (<- Correction 7.5F not 12F) I'm going to run into problems. The problem seems to be getting a full charge during my short (10-20 minute) drives which I can't quite understand.

 

[Nigel]

I'm seeing a max voltage of about 4.21v on the capacitors so I don't think so
....

The problem seems to be getting a full charge during my short (10-20 minute) drives which I can't quite understand.

4.2V is what a lithium battery reaches at full charge. The problem will be that the camera thinks it is charging a lithium battery and is limiting the charging current flowing into it to prevent it overheating and give it a long life, once full it limits the voltage since a lithium battery can't handle more than 4.2V.

I'd be tempted to put a high value resistor between your capacitor and the 5V supply so that it fills up to 5V in around 60 seconds, maybe longer for that many Fs - need to limit the current to not overload the supply. I don't know if that is safe though, it would probably need a diode to stop the power going back where it came from otherwise the camera wouldn't power down and possibly the charging electronics may not like the capacitor going above 4.2V, maybe the charger can be disconnected?

If you can take the voltage up to 5V then the camera should run a lot longer, assuming it doesn't blow up, at the moment you can't use most of the power stored as the camera probably can't run below about 3.5V.

 

[Nigel]

Anyone have any idea how to shorten the power off delay any further?

Since you want it less than the smallest available option in either the menu or hidden menu, it can presumably only be done by hacking the code. I think the A7 Tool will give you the address of the menu value, if you search for where that address is used then you have found the code that converts it into a time, may be quite easy to change, for someone who has the tools, quite likely to be a simple lookup table where you can change one value, then again it may take a lot of time and frustration...

 

[petepete]

just thinking out loud..

would it not be more practical hardwire and to add 2 wires to the 5 meter supply lead and join them to conectors near the camera that feed to the camera internal conections....

you can then fit as many capacitors as you like or need hidden under the dashboard at the other end ???

 

[Nigel]

just thinking out loud..

would it not be more practical hardwire and to add 2 wires to the 5 meter supply lead and join them to conectors near the camera that feed to the camera internal conections....

you can then fit as many capacitors as you like or need hidden under the dashboard at the other end ???

It appears that the problem at present may actually be too much capacitance, the more you have the longer it will take to charge it up if you have a limited charging current. We know it works when full, the problem at the moment is how long it takes to fill.

 

[petepete]

use a 5a or 10a supply ?

loads on ebay...

 

[jokiin]

there's two things you need for this to work, you need the camera to close the file and shutdown as soon as you power off, should happen in around 1 second, the other thing you need is a delayed startup, the caps should be charged before recording commences, with nothing else happening will take 10 seconds or so depending on how empty they are

 

[Nigel]

there's two things you need for this to work, you need the camera to close the file and shutdown as soon as you power off, should happen in around 1 second, the other thing you need is a delayed startup, the caps should be charged before recording commences, with nothing else happening will take 10 seconds or so depending on how empty they are

Ideally that is true and if super capacitors were officially supported by the camera then that is what you would expect.

However you can get away without delayed startup if you plug your camera into a supply which has a minimum on time sufficient to charge the capacitors. My 0803 is plugged into a circuit which the car ECU always ensures is on for a minimum of 4 minutes so as long as my supercap charges within 4 minutes it will always work. As for shutdown, you want it to shutdown as soon as possible to leave enough power in the capacitors to keep the clock running for a few weeks if the car is unused, but if it works with a 10 second shutdown delay as reported above and that is the fastest available then maybe making do with the odd file that has the wrong time and date is acceptable, just need to have a GPS unit so that the clock doesn't need to be manually set every time you come back from holiday!