Mobius Super Capacitor.

[Padwanjoe]

Hi just a quick update: today are 18 months and 8 days since I put the supercapacitor and my rear mounted Mobius B Lens works just fine. I check the files recorded on a weekly basis and I can tell that the time & date are correctly kept and the last saved file (when turning off the car engine) is playable on PC.
Off-topic: what I wrote above also applies to my JooVuu X and A119.
Drive safe!

 

[russ331]

Update. I installed capacitors in my two Mobius cams 2 years 9 months & 2 years 6 months ago, respectively. Both cams start recording when the engine is started. Both hold date & time correctly, & save the last file after the engine is switched off.

 

[Bungus]

Installed a new Mobius C2 with Super Capacitors as rear cam today. Totally convinced by @russ331 extensive testing. Front cam Mobius A will still be using battery as I occasionally use it as action cam.

 

[fatpanda]

After starting this thread 3 years ago and installing a super capacitor in my original Mobius it has not missed a beat in that time.

 

[ajw1100]

I installed my camera with super capacitor around 6 months ago and had no problems until last week when I noticed the Mobius was not running. I have it set to start on ignition and stop when key removed. I have sort of lost the plot in trying to find what is wrong. Reformatted the sd card reinstalled mSetup, new profiles, the cam seemed stuck in its 'ready state' I am using the PC not the car for the sort out.
In the end I dug out the original 820mAh battery and have just plugged it into a 5v - 2.amp usb charger. Both red and yellow LED's started flashing straight off!
Would this indicate the Super capacitor has failed? I must say it is sometimes about 5 days between journeys but as the Instruction Manual for Mobius ActionCam states,' it only takes a few minutes to fully charge the supercap' so that should not be a problem.
Also noted that the PC gave lots of bongs and mSetup was flashing a bit as if there was a bad connection but I could not identify the fault, if there even was one.

Nearly forgot, is there an easy way to test the Supercap to see if it has failed or not?

Okay, I put the camera with a charged battery in the car, connected up and switched on the ignition, the yellow and red LED's flashed away quite happily. Turned off and left it for about 2 hours. Came to drive off after the 2 hours and only the green LED was showing :-(
Disconnected and tried again, only the green LED showed. Gave up and went on my way. At various points and when stationary I was able to try the on/off button but that did not make any difference to the green LED so I guess it was charging fine!

Tried the M button and got a blue LED for a few seconds. At a set of lights I tried the shutter button and it worked, both yellow and red lights were happy flashing again. Got to my destination, turned off then turned on again and still seemed fine. Went away for about 2.5 hours and started the car on my return, no yellow or red LED's.

I am at a bit of a loss now as to what may be the problem which is hopefully not me!

Any ideas or suggestions?

1 Dec 16
Tried again this morning, no joy so removed from car and attached to PC. Plugged in, red led flashed 3 times and green light came on. Tapped the on button, quick blue led then the yellow led lit but seemed to be flashing Morse Code, very erratic and certainly not regular and the red led was constantly on.
At some point I got mSetup connected and all settings seemed fine, so I changed one saved it, then changed it back and saved again to see if this made any difference, it didn't.

Also tried the reset button to see if this made any difference, it didn't either.

Disconnected from PC, tapped the on button, both the red led and yellow led's came on flashing in unison, no problems at all. so that leaves the leads and the connections that could be the problem. have to play a bit more.......

Thought I'd start again so reformatted the card (genuine Kingston 32gb) again, though this time I did not want to do a Quick Format so unticked that box. Format completed in about an hour. installed mSetup and saved the profile. Back in the car I plugged in a USB adaptor into the 12v power socket and connected the Mobious, worked fine! I then installed the Mobius and re-connected the power, 12v ~ 5v, converter lead. Worked fine led's flashing in unison. Brilliant!! Will it last I wonder? I'll find out tomorrow........

2 Dec 16.
Well, started the car, the green charging light came on, nothing else. Drove off for a short journey, stopped and pulled out the power supply lead then plugged it back in, flash of blue/green then yellow and red led's flashing in unison. I have the setting to start on power up.

Any suggestions? Is anyone out there?

 

[russ331]

Update. I installed capacitors in my two Mobius cams 2 years 10 months & 2 years 7 months ago, respectively. Both cams start recording when the engine is started. Both hold date & time correctly, & save the last file after the engine is switched off.

 

[Necromancer]

Well, installed the super capacitor, but it shuts off during ignition.
Apparently the power spike causes the camera to shut down, and since the power is back during shutdown, it doesn't power back up.
Any fix for this problem?

 

[jokiin]

add a timer to hold power and it will be ok during the startup process

 

[Necromancer]

you mean add a delay to startup? so it doesn't start immediately as power applied?
hmm... ill try.

 

[Dashmellow]

you mean add a delay to startup? so it doesn't start immediately as power applied?
hmm... ill try.

Like this:

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...-off-during-ignition.17067/page-2#post-253967

 

[Necromancer]

This requires an external mechanism.
Turns out the mSetup only has power off delay... no power on delay :/

 

[Dashmellow]

Yes, that is what @jokiin meant when he said, "add a timer to hold power". The delay timers mentioned in my link above are small, very inexpensive and will resolve your problem.

 

[nir]

This requires an external mechanism.
Turns out the mSetup only has power off delay... no power on delay :/

פשוט תתקין מערכת מצת חליפית על איזשהו פיוז שתמיד פועל.
ועם מתג של הפעלה והדלקה. כשאתה נכנס לרכב תניע ורק אז תעביר למצב פתוח את המתג, כשאתה יוצא מהרכב תכבה.

 

[Isoprop]

This requires an external mechanism.
Turns out the mSetup only has power off delay... no power on delay :/

How would you expect a power-on delay to work when there is no voltage available? It's just not possible because the firmware needs voltage to run.

 

[jokiin]

How would you expect a power-on delay to work when there is no voltage available? It's just not possible because the firmware needs voltage to run.

you're not thinking outside the box

 

[Sutton]

פשוט תתקין מערכת מצת חליפית על איזשהו פיוז שתמיד פועל.
ועם מתג של הפעלה והדלקה. כשאתה נכנס לרכב תניע ורק אז תעביר למצב פתוח את המתג, כשאתה יוצא מהרכב תכבה.

this is the translation to above thanks to Babel Fish

Just install a lighter alternative to some fuse always running.
And the activation switch on and off. When you enter the automobile and only then will the switch to the open position, when you leave the car turns off

 

[nir]

this translation is not so good.
i just wrote him in hebrew because he is from israel (like me).
i meant that you should install an on-off switch on a "permanent on" wire from the fuse box.

 

[Sutton]

this translation is not so good.
i just wrote him in hebrew because he is from israel (like me).
i meant that you should install an on-off switch on a "permanent on" wire from the fuse box.

Oey Vey I'm going to complain to babel translation that its not so good

 

[Necromancer]

How would you expect a power-on delay to work when there is no voltage available? It's just not possible because the firmware needs voltage to run.

Well, the camera does have power supplied to it when it starts.
Can't it wait a bit before it fully turns on?

I was thinking along the lines of
if power then wait 60 seconds
start camera

kind of like the time lapse works. correct me if i'm wrong, the camera is not on between captures.

Some part is running since the date is saved, maybe that timer can be used to delay the startup of the camera upon receiving power.

 

[russ331]

Update. I installed capacitors in my two Mobius cams 2 years 11 months & 2 years 8 months ago, respectively. Both cams start recording when the engine is started. Both hold date & time correctly, & save the last file after the engine is switched off.