Mobius maxi not working

[dashcambro]

So I had it set up out of the box worked great. I had a supercap in from the start. Yesterday sibling wanted to use it on his bike so did a quick switch to the normal battery.

Now upon putting the supercap in it is acting weird. I plug it into my car or laptop and i get a solid green lighting. I've tried resetting with a pin to no avail.

thanks

 

[TonyM]

So I had it set up out of the box worked great. I had a supercap in from the start. Yesterday sibling wanted to use it on his bike so did a quick switch to the normal battery.

Now upon putting the supercap in it is acting weird. I plug it into my car or laptop and i get a solid green lighting. I've tried resetting with a pin to no avail.

thanks

Solid green light is charging. For the capacitor that should only last a short duration.

I'm surprised that the reset did nothing. The camera needs to have power when you do the reset - was yours plugged in at the time?

Perhaps try putting the battery back in again? Or just unplugging and replugging the capacitor.

 

[dashcambro]

Solid green light is charging. For the capacitor that should only last a short duration.

I'm surprised that the reset did nothing. The camera needs to have power when you do the reset - was yours plugged in at the time?

Perhaps try putting the battery back in again? Or just unplugging and replugging the capacitor.

Yep, whenever i plug it into any source I get a solid green. Even though it is a supercap that is being used. Opened it and replugged.

When I press reset, it goes to the pink circle then back to green.

Connecting it to my laptop usb port gives a green circle then pink and then green. And on a wall charger it gives a solid pink and also in my car hardwire? Not sure whats going on with it. On regular battery that came with it, it just stalls on pink light.

 

[TonyM]

If reset is not working, perhaps try reinstalling the FW. It may have become corrupt somehow, though I've not seen that happen before.

 

[dashcambro]

If reset is not working, perhaps try reinstalling the FW. It may have become corrupt somehow, though I've not seen that happen before.

i cant seem to get it to connect to msetup at all. Does it seem to be a gonner then?

with the normal battery, exact same behaviour. Green light when plugged in. Pressing the Mode or shutter doesnt bring it on msetup

 

[TonyM]

You can reinstall the FW without mSetup. Copy the FW file (. Brn?) to the microSD card with a card reader, put it back into the camera then plug it into a power source. It should reload the FW as it boots up.

Did your sibling report any problems with the camera when it was on the bike? Did it get wet? Did it record properly?

 

[dashcambro]

You can reinstall the FW without mSetup. Copy the FW file (. Brn?) to the microSD card with a card reader, put it back into the camera then plug it into a power source. It should reload the FW as it boots up.

Did your sibling report any problems with the camera when it was on the bike? Did it get wet? Did it record properly?

on normal battery, Pressing on button makes the solid pink circle + solid red indicator light. Cant do anything else.

I'll give that a try. I actually just took it out of my car ( where it was wokring flawlessly for the past 2 weeks), put the normal battery in and noted it didn't work so changed back to supercap and found it stopped working. So something happened during the battery swtch.

 

[dashcamdan]

I had a problem very much like that with my Maxi right out of the box. Mobius Support had me reseat the ribbon cable from the pcb to the sensor and that fixed it. The problem returned a few weeks later while I was using the Maxi as an action cam on a rigorous hike/rock climb and I had to reseat the cable again. The camera has worked fine since.

 

[Napo]

I had the same problem:

Mobius Maxi Support Thread

Very noisy (day or night), even more apparent in webcam mode. Still darkens a bit with CW metering. If it's going to replace one of your cameras, I'd wait. Thanks, no I'm just curious, but 75 bucs for a noisy camera is a big nono of course...

dashcamtalk.com

 

[dashcambro]

I had a problem very much like that with my Maxi right out of the box. Mobius Support had me reseat the ribbon cable from the pcb to the sensor and that fixed it. The problem returned a few weeks later while I was using the Maxi as an action cam on a rigorous hike/rock climb and I had to reseat the cable again. The camera has worked fine since.

So i've just had this now. It's turning into a nuisance, I don't know what the PCB sensor is (assuming its the small black white against the wall of the maxi?). But some mucking about has made it work once again. Is this a fault with my particular maxi? Anyone know what is causing this?

Getting awfully unreliable now, whereas my Mobius 1 running like a tank.

 

[dashcamdan]

My theory is that if the camera gets knocked around hard enough the battery can move forward enough to dislodge the ribbon cable a bit. I took a small piece of soft rubber and wedged it between the fold in the ribbon cable so that the battery cannot move around. I haven't had any more problems with it.

 

[dashcambro]

My theory is that if the camera gets knocked around hard enough the battery can move forward enough to dislodge the ribbon cable a bit. I took a small piece of soft rubber and wedged it between the fold in the ribbon cable so that the battery cannot move around. I haven't had any more problems with it.

right i see. And is this the black cable with the 3M padding on the side we are talking about?

 

[dashcamdan]

It is the flat gold colored ribbon cable that goes from the sensor to the PCB. There are some YouTube videos that show how to disconnect and connect this cable if you need to. I have attached 2 photos that show my solution.

 

[dashcambro]

It is the flat gold colored ribbon cable that goes from the sensor to the PCB. There are some YouTube videos that show how to disconnect and connect this cable if you need to. I have attached 2 photos that show my solution.

View attachment 46228View attachment 46229

oh right yes, that ribbon that connects to the lens. I have opened it and seen it loose. Great well I guess i'll do some kind of mod like that next time it occurs.

 

[dashcamdan]

I purchased the camera in the pictures late last year. I recently put a 6mm lens on it and use it only as a dash cam now. I purchased a second Maxie about 3 months ago and have been using it as an action cam, mounted on top of my hiking pole. The problem has not appeared in this camera so maybe Mobius as fixed it.

 

[Dashmellow]

My theory is that if the camera gets knocked around hard enough the battery can move forward enough to dislodge the ribbon cable a bit. I took a small piece of soft rubber and wedged it between the fold in the ribbon cable so that the battery cannot move around. I haven't had any more problems with it.

I agree that the battery should be secured in place in any Mobius camera. The best methods I've found are to use a small piece of 3M VHB tape either between the battery and the back of the USB-A socket on the PCB or the case itself or a small wad of Fun-tak putty between the battery and the upper half of the housing. These methods are easily removed but do an excellent job of keeping the battery from moving even if subjected to an impact.

Your method apparently works but I think it is problematic.

You've used a piece of foam rubber directly up against the back of the sensor plate at the back of the lens module. The sensor in the Mobius gets quite hot (as in any digital camera). The Mobius lens modules have a thick plate in the back that supports the sensor and keeps it from warping and it also acts as a thermal heat sink to draw heat away from the sensor. This plate needs some air to circulate around it to achieve that. By placing foam rubber along the back of the sensor plate you are insulating it and preventing the dissipation of heat. This will cause unnecessary heat stress for the sensor and may eventually damage it. It could also cause odd results on your videos even before any damage becomes apparent or permanent. Also, with the battery pressing hard against the ribbon cable you are stressing that too and there is the possibility of kinking it or otherwise damaging it or the connector.

 

[dashcamdan]

Yes, that could definitely be a problem. When I was using it as an action cam, I seldom had it turned on for more than a minute or two at a time. I am going to remove the foam now that I'm using it as a dash cam full time. I have not had to do anything to my second Maxie. It has worked perfectly despite taking a 4 to 5 hour beating every week mounted on top of my wooden hiking pole.

 

[Dashmellow]

Yes, that could definitely be a problem. When I was using it as an action cam, I seldom had it turned on for more than a minute or two at a time. I am going to remove the foam now that I'm using it as a dash cam full time. I have not had to do anything to my second Maxie. It has worked perfectly despite taking a 4 to 5 hour beating every week mounted on top of my wooden hiking pole.

Try a little piece of Fun-Tak. It's great stuff and I've found it to be excellent for many dash cam needs. They have it at a local dollar store here. It's what I mostly use these days to secure Mobius batteries.

I'm an avid hiker too and occasionally I also like to mount a Mobius on one of my hiking poles. They came with integrated 1/4-20 threaded holes on top!

Lately, for hiking purposes I've been using a DIY baseball hat mount for a Mobius using 3M Dual-Lock tape both above and below the brim.

 

[dashcamdan]

Thanks for the info. I have just finished ordering some Fun-Tak from Amazon.

I also made a hat-cam from a baseball cap. I mount the Mobius under the brim with a wedge shaped piece of wood between the camera and the brim. This keeps the camera at the proper shooting angle without me having to tilt my head back or wear the cap at an unnatural angle.

 

[Dashmellow]

My baseball hat mount seems to work pretty well without too much adjusting. It seems every baseball hat has a slightly different angle to the brim and the one I'm using seems to place the cam just about eye level so that it basically points to whatever I'm looking at without too much fussing. I find the original Mobius "A" lens offers me the best field of vision for a hat cam. Since I use Dual-Lock tape for mounting and positioning the camera I use a short piece of Dual-Lock tape along the back as an extra layer to tilt the cam up or down a few degrees depending on whether I mount the camera on top of the brim or below. The "fingers" of the tape still lock securely even on an angle so the camera stays put.