Mobius Maxi Support Thread

I just order one of these. https://www.ebay.com/itm/333107016531 I can check my PowerADD to

I have one of those KEWEISI brand USB volt/current meters and I really like it. Aside from providing pretty accurate voltage and amperage readings, it has a really cool feature that I find very useful on occasion. It has a built-in timer as indicated by the letter "T" read-out pointed to by the red arrow and it also records accumulated current throughput just below that.

Let's say you want to run your dash cam off a power bank. The timer will keep a record of exactly how long your camera has been operating along with how much current (up to 99,999 mAh) your camera has consumed from the power bank over that period of time. The timer can operate for up to 99.99 hours. Of course, it will also be giving you a real-time voltage and current read-out as well.

Then, let's say you want to charge your power bank. If you connect the USB meter between your wall charger and the power bank's input port it will indicate how many mAh of current your power bank has absorbed during the time it takes to charge and it will keep a record of how many hours it is taking to charge the bank. Very handy! Of course, if you connect the meter in this manner you'll also be monitoring the voltage and amperage output from your wall charger; also pretty handy!

You just need to remember to hit the reset button before using the USB meter each time, assuming you want to time something and monitor the accumulated current consumption.

45412
 
Last edited:
I have one of those KEWEISI brand USB volt/current meters and I really like it. Aside from providing pretty accurate voltage and amperage readings, it has a really cool feature that I find very useful on occasion. It has a built-in timer as indicated by the letter "T" read-out pointed to by the red arrow and it also records accumulated current throughput just below that.
I have a similar USB meter which I too find very useful. As you say, you can see the real-time current draw of a connected device, and also see the cumulative mAh.

I tested the Maxi whilst recording & charging the battery. The current draw varies about 0.45A-0.55A, which explains why a standard 0.5A USB socket would be inadequate for this camera.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, a 500 mAh USB port in a car would provide just enough current to run the camera but with unexplained glitches and problems. Only supplying 500 mAh to a Maxi (or other similar draw camera) might even damage it or destroy it.

To quote from the Mobius Maxi User Guide:

"For optimum results, the charging voltage should be +5V under load. Only use quality chargers capable of supplying 1000mA (1A) and a stable voltage of at least 5V. Low quality chargers may not be able to supply enough current and can lead to premature battery failure or, in the worst case, even destroy the camera."
 
I used my USB meter to diagnose a suspect faulty Maxi battery last night. I recorded until the battery went flat, waited for the Maxi to cool down, then plugged it into a powerbank (Maxi charging with power off).

The initial charge rate was low at just 0.14A. After a few minutes that dropped to 0.12A then I left it charging. I tapped the power button on the powerbank to wake it up, which also turns on the USB meter. The meter remembers its readings from when it turned off, which means I don't have to keep watching it all the time. The total charge time was 1h27min, however the charge delivered was only 131mAh, which works out at an average charge rate of 0.90A. This is a 950mAh battery, so 131mAh is a huge loss of capacity.

This is a Maxi that I reserve for testing indoors, running on battery and/or external power. I have another in my car that has a capacitor fitted. Based on my experience and that of other testers, I would strongly advise against using a battery-powered Maxi for long-term use as a dashcam. Yes, I am aware that the capacitors are currently hard to find!

45426 45427
 
Since it is unsafe and also unwise for longevity reasons to actually run a lithium battery stone cold flat, all chargers, including I assume the charging circuitry in a Maxi camera, will cut off the power drain with a protection circuit before the battery reaches zero voltage I wonder if the delivered charge of 131mAh is indicative of that. Could the "missing" amperage have been a residual charge intentionally left in the battery by the camera's circuitry?

I've wondered the same for power banks which usually use a series of 18650 4.2 volt lithium-ion cells and have protection circuitry that cuts off at around 2.5 volts. I've noticed a similar thing as you are reporting here but with power banks which also tend to have some "missing" capacity upon charging when monitored with one of these USB meters. Indeed this effect does increase over time indicating a diminishing capacity due to use and aging but there does seem to be some sort of "floor" and some missing capacity even when new.
 
Since it is unsafe and also unwise for longevity reasons to actually run a lithium battery stone cold flat, all chargers, including I assume the charging circuitry in a Maxi camera, will cut off the power drain with a protection circuit before the battery reaches zero voltage I wonder if the delivered charge of 131mAh is indicative of that. Could the "missing" amperage have been a residual charge intentionally left in the battery by the camera's circuitry?
Are you suggesting that the Maxi only uses ~150mAh of its 950mAh capacity, and leaves 800mAh as a residual charge?
 
Many 12V USB car chargers you'll find on the market today are cheaply made crap. I suggest investing in a good name brand one that comes with a good warranty and a customer service number to call such as Anker, Aukey, RAVpower or similar. These will have good voltage regulation and current management/monitoring and will be built to a higher standard. The cheap ones, even if rated for enough current can cause more problems than they solve. They "might" be OK for occasionally charging a phone but could end up damaging your dash camera when they are in use for long periods of time.
Do you think BlitzWolf dual power charger would be good for powering Mobius1 and Maxi ? I've read a review on their Type-C + QC2 car charger which was very impressive
 
Are you suggesting that the Maxi only uses ~150mAh of its 950mAh capacity, and leaves 800mAh as a residual charge?

Sorry, not quite. I probably could have stated that better. I'm just wondering how much capacity is generally left in the Maxi battery after "the battery went flat". Is that the 0.14A you refer to?
 
Are you suggesting that the Maxi only uses ~150mAh of its 950mAh capacity, and leaves 800mAh as a residual charge?

Something like this occurs with Li batteries/cells when they're worn out but the total overall capacity is reduced, thus the charging/available capacity follows. So you might no longer have 950mA total available in which case 150mA may be all it can give you before reaching it's cut-off voltage.

With individual cells you can get an 'analyzing charger' which lets you determine the state of wear but simpler chargers and current measuring devices alone won't give you the whole story. Lacking the needed data, you can roughly determine the state of wear by comparing run-time in a device when new versus now. When you reach 25% of the original run-time the battery/cell is pretty much shot and should be replaced. Please remember to dispose of properly via recycling as Li in landfills poisons our Earth ;)

Phil
 
Sorry, not quite. I probably could have stated that better. I'm just wondering how much capacity is generally left in the Maxi battery after "the battery went flat". Is that the 0.14A you refer to?
No. 0.14A was the current drawn by the Maxi when it was charging from 'flat', which I thought was rather low.

I would expect the camera to leave some residual charge in the battery, but I think it should accept more than 131mAh when being charged from 'flat' to 'full'.

I also have a battery tester with a micro JST socket suitable for the Maxi battery, so I can check the cell voltage when 'full' and 'empty'.
 
you can roughly determine the state of wear by comparing run-time in a device when new versus now. When you reach 25% of the original run-time the battery/cell is pretty much shot and should be replaced.
I re-charged the Maxi from empty to full. This time it absorbed 164mAh, slightly more than before, but a long way short of 950mAh.
45428

I then turned on the Maxi and the red LED started flashing immediately, whilst the camera was in standby.

Finally, I set the camera to record 2.7k 30fps to evaluate the run-time. It ran for all of 1 minute and 35 seconds!

I'm going to buy a capacitor to replace the worn-out battery.
 
I'm going to buy a capacitor to replace the worn-out battery.

I'm still not clear, is Mobius currently selling and shipping individual super-capacitor modules for the Maxi? Last I heard they were declining to ship individual Mobius super-caps not already installed in cameras due to some issue with "regulations".
 
I'm still not clear, is Mobius currently selling and shipping individual super-capacitor modules for the Maxi? Last I heard they were declining to ship individual Mobius super-caps not already installed in cameras due to some issue with "regulations".
I'm not sure either. My local reseller has a lot of them in stock so I know I can buy just one. The last I heard direct from Mobius was to contact them via eletoponline365 to place a capacitor order.
 
I'm not sure either. My local reseller has a lot of them in stock so I know I can buy just one. The last I heard direct from Mobius was to contact them via eletoponline365 to place a capacitor order.

Thanks. I seem to recall a discussion about eletoponline365 refusing to send an individual Maxi super-cap module to someone who requested one for an alleged shipping regulation problem. I remember responding to that discussion by pointing out that you can buy super-caps from China all over eBay and that there are no specific USA regulations against it except for larger caps that must ship in a fully discharged state. I can't seem to find that discussion at the moment but this was the reason I brought up the question.
 
I tried a USB voltage meter and ironically the 12v USB adapter that can't properly run the Maxi puts out slightly more juice than the standard USB port I'm currently using. I haven't plugged the Maxi into the USB meter to measure how much juice it's pulling since USB mini is the one port my device is lacking. I'll have to look for a mini to micro adapter.

At some point I should just hard wire power to the dash cam.
 
so just when I thought the Maxi was getting reliable (kind of), it froze on me again today. it wasn't even hot so that can't be the issue (touched it and it was okay) . it just stopped recording. couldn't turn it off , or on.
managed it get it back recording after a reset, and then again it stopped recording. turned it off and it was working again. couldn't get it to wifi mode after that, no matter what i tried, so no idea about it's current settings after the reset.
i'm really annoyed by this. hope they will release that fw real soon, might be switching back to Mobius1 if the situation doesn't improve :-/
and this is with a new 128 Transcend card
 
so just when I thought the Maxi was getting reliable (kind of), it froze on me again today. it wasn't even hot so that can't be the issue (touched it and it was okay) . it just stopped recording. couldn't turn it off , or on.
managed it get it back recording after a reset, and then again it stopped recording. turned it off and it was working again. couldn't get it to wifi mode after that, no matter what i tried, so no idea about it's current settings after the reset.
i'm really annoyed by this. hope they will release that fw real soon, might be switching back to Mobius1 if the situation doesn't improve :-/
and this is with a new 128 Transcend card

I forget if this was mentioned earlier but have you tried re-flashing the firmware with a freshly downloaded copy? Often re-installing the firmware can fix an issue like this.
 
I forget if this was mentioned earlier but have you tried re-flashing the firmware with a freshly downloaded copy? Often re-installing the firmware can fix an issue like this.
haven't tried that. only flashed its firmware once, when i got it. i'll try
 
Back
Top