Mobius support thread and Tech Guide (post all problems/help requests here) Read posts #1-8 first

[c4rc4m]

I don't know about exposure, but I certainly think you get a sharper image with a lesser angle lens as the focus doesn't tail off to the sides. Of course it shouldn't do that on any lens, but at the prices we're talking for car cam lenses, I doubt they are optically perfect.

 

[Yooshaw]

I don't know about exposure, but I certainly think you get a sharper image with a lesser angle lens as the focus doesn't tail off to the sides. Of course it shouldn't do that on any lens, but at the prices we're talking for car cam lenses, I doubt they are optically perfect.

Here's an example of what I mean.

SG9665GC

Mobius w/ 8mm lens

With this dual set-up I feel I have a better chance of capturing a license plate, both day and night.

 

[dirkzelf]

Has anyone tested the new A2 or D lens in night rides?

 

[civic]

My aunt's dash Mobius stopped recording for some reason. The yellow LED at the top and the red LED at the back flashes at 1 sec. intervals as usual, but there's no file in the SD card. I tried with my SD card, it's the same. I reset it using msetup.exe. Still same. Any recommendations?

 

[dirkzelf]

My aunt's dash Mobius stopped recording for some reason. The yellow LED at the top and the red LED at the back flashes at 1 sec. intervals as usual, but there's no file in the SD card. I tried with my SD card, it's the same. I reset it using msetup.exe. Still same. Any recommendations?

Have you tried the hard reset, in the back of the Mobius is a pinhole, use a thin paperclip or something of that sort.

Re-Formatting the SD card is sometimes a good starting point too.

Might help.

 

[SawMaster]

Test the card with the "h2testw" freeware, and if it's OK reformat the card to FAT32 in your PC and reset the cam. Also check the cam's settings; occasionallt those can change unexpectedly.

That should do the trick- let us know if it doesn't and we will dig deeper
Phil

 

[civic]

Thanks for the tips. I hard reset the camera and configured it again via msetup.exe. It seems like it's recording normally now. But I have a minor thing. There was already a sound like engine interference. regardless of engine running or not. Now an additional buzz is added to this. It has something like one second intervals. Tried it in two different cars with original USB cable, no GPS or additional gadget. I confirmed there's absolutely nothing wrong with the SD card (Genuine Kingston Class 4 32GB FAT32). Maybe a useful information: This problematic Mobius is the version that has a line-shaped LED on top. My older Mobius has a dot-shaped LED on top, which I never had to reset or upgrade. Both has wide lenses.

 

[SawMaster]

Glad to hear that you are back in action Someone else will have to help with the audio issues- I've never used that feature myself and I know nothing about it.

Safe and happy travels to you!
Phil

 

[Dashmellow]

Thanks for the tips. I hard reset the camera and configured it again via msetup.exe. It seems like it's recording normally now. But I have a minor thing. There was already a sound like engine interference. regardless of engine running or not. Now an additional buzz is added to this. It has something like one second intervals. Tried it in two different cars with original USB cable, no GPS or additional gadget. I confirmed there's absolutely nothing wrong with the SD card (Genuine Kingston Class 4 32GB FAT32). Maybe a useful information: This problematic Mobius is the version that has a line-shaped LED on top. My older Mobius has a dot-shaped LED on top, which I never had to reset or upgrade. Both has wide lenses.

I have experienced pulsating buzzing sounds from time to time with various cameras including the Mobius. In every instance the problem can be traced to a power supply issue. For example, one of the power banks I own that I regularly use to run my dash cams when I am parked and away from my vehicle will always cause this problem if I do not manually switch it on before plugging in my cameras. This power bank, like virtually all of them on the market will automatically supply power as soon as you plug in any device, however, if I don't first go to the trouble of pressing the power button "ON" before plugging in the cameras (with this particular power bank), the cams will start up and run just fine but there will be an unpleasant pulsating, buzzing sound at about one second intervals in the audio when I go to view the video files. I've noticed this especially with the Mobius but it can happen with virtually any dash camera. I've had the same thing happen with the SG9665GC, for instance. Apparently, switching the bank on manually engages a smoothing circuit that filters out the pulsating noises.

This pulsating buzz is caused by what is known as a "ripple frequency". A ripple is an undesired wave form that can manifest in a DC circuit. Wikipedia explains this effect as follows: "The ripple frequency and its harmonics are within the audio band and will therefore be audible on equipment such as radio receivers, equipment for playing recordings and professional studio equipment."

I would suggest trying a different (hopefully better) power supply and see if the problem noises go away. I believe they will. Good quality shielded USB cables are also an important factor in eliminating noise issues.

Also, over time, I have noticed that similar noises can manifest if the camera is receiving under-voltages and power drop-outs from a poorly designed or poorly manufactured power supply adapter. Additionally, microSD cards can manifest pulsating audio noises in video files when subjected to under voltage conditions.

 

[Harry Henderson]

Here's something I haven't experienced before. I checked my video's from the dashcam (Mobius C2) and noticed that they did not play back in order. It was as if they were on 'shuffle'. Did I push a wrong button? Has anyone else had this happen to them? What up??!!

 

[SawMaster]

Some vid players have a 'shuffle play' button next to the "play" button making a mistake too easy. That can be hidden in a player's 'settings' as well In windows, check how the files themselves are by going to the SD drive letter, right-clicking "open", and continuing that until you see the file listing. Now right-click and view each file in sequence- they should be in chronological order from top to bottom. If they are it's a problem in your vid player. (There may be an easier way do do this, but that's my non-PC-geek approach and it works well enough for me)

Phil

 

[VanZan]

Hi all noob to the forum here! Found a link to this site elsewhere. Anyway I've had a Mobius for a long time (previously had its ancestors the 808 cameras too) but mostly for messing about and as a toy. Last year by brother was in a car accident and nearly killed by a drunk driver. To get to the point he wants a dash cam and I remembered a lot of people recommending the Mobius.

The thing is I know nothing about cars but like tech whereas he's knowledgeable cars and not tech stuff. Would there be some sort of step by step guide to setting it all up please? I know I'll need a mount and a super capacitor. I think I'd then need to hard wire it but it's at this point where I'm lost.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any advice or help!

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Hi all noob to the forum here! Found a link to this site elsewhere. Anyway I've had a Mobius for a long time (previously had its ancestors the 808 cameras too) but mostly for messing about and as a toy. Last year by brother was in a car accident and nearly killed by a drunk driver. To get to the point he wants a dash cam and I remembered a lot of people recommending the Mobius.

The thing is I know nothing about cars but like tech whereas he's knowledgeable cars and not tech stuff. Would there be some sort of step by step guide to setting it all up please? I know I'll need a mount and a super capacitor. I think I'd then need to hard wire it but it's at this point where I'm lost.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any advice or help!

Welcome to DCT @VanZan

 

[Bungus]

Hi all noob to the forum here! Found a link to this site elsewhere. Anyway I've had a Mobius for a long time (previously had its ancestors the 808 cameras too) but mostly for messing about and as a toy. Last year by brother was in a car accident and nearly killed by a drunk driver. To get to the point he wants a dash cam and I remembered a lot of people recommending the Mobius.

The thing is I know nothing about cars but like tech whereas he's knowledgeable cars and not tech stuff. Would there be some sort of step by step guide to setting it all up please? I know I'll need a mount and a super capacitor. I think I'd then need to hard wire it but it's at this point where I'm lost.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any advice or help!

Welcome @VanZan.
While hard wire is more desirable, you can just use lighter outlet to power the dashcam if it's "switch on" with car ignition. There's a lot of articles here on hard wiring and connection points you can follow. My first installation was to tap into the lighter supply line behind dash using a step down (12 vdc to 5 vdc) supply I bought from ebay. Good luck.

 

[SawMaster]

Welcome VanZan Anker makes good ciggie-to-USB adapters- I use one myself. You also want a good USB cable such as one from Monoprice. I do my hardwires with a ciggie-socket extension cable with the plug cut off but hardwire PS's are available; the one Street Guardian/OCDTronics sells is as good as those get Use a new Transcend, PNY, Lexar, or Kingston SD card, preferably one of their 'premium' types. Cards do wear out based on write cycles mostly so plan to replace as needed. 32GB gets ~4 hours+ and 64GB ~9 hours. Above 32GB needs to be reformatted to FAT32 for best reliability and any needs an in-cam formatting. In the settings, go for "loop" recording (most use 5 minutes), "power on start-up", and "immediate shutdown" as the caps don't have the energy to run past power-off and you'll lose the last file without setting immediate. Default video settings generally work OK, WDR on is usually good too. You might want to tweak the sharpness/brightness/contrast some based on what the vids look like. Check your 'final' settings after some night driving; low-light video is not the Mobius forte'. While you can use Video1 and 2 with different settings for day/night that tends to get forgotten so better to use only Video1 only and compromise settings that work OK with both. Mount the cam where it will 'see' through an area cleared by the windshield wipers and aim for about 1/3 sky with 2/3 road and hood which will help the WDR work to keep brightness equal.

I think that covers the relevant stuff. If I've forgotten something somebody here will fill that in shortly If you do all the preceding you'll have possibly the most reliable dashcam there is. Mine has been running 24/7 in upstate SC summer heat for about 1-1/2 years now without a glitch and was in normal use for about a year before that. I use Transcend Premium 300X or 400X 64GB cards which have lasted long past what I expected. Can't say enough good about Mobius even if newer technology has it surpassed in some areas- it won't let you down as long as you check the card every 2-4 weeks.

Phil

 

[Matt_V939]

Hi all noob to the forum here! Found a link to this site elsewhere. Anyway I've had a Mobius for a long time (previously had its ancestors the 808 cameras too) but mostly for messing about and as a toy. Last year by brother was in a car accident and nearly killed by a drunk driver. To get to the point he wants a dash cam and I remembered a lot of people recommending the Mobius.

The thing is I know nothing about cars but like tech whereas he's knowledgeable cars and not tech stuff. Would there be some sort of step by step guide to setting it all up please? I know I'll need a mount and a super capacitor. I think I'd then need to hard wire it but it's at this point where I'm lost.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any advice or help!

I have 3 Mobiuses + 1 mini, I use the Mobius as a dashcam but I just bought a Viofo A118C (About 40$ shipped by gearbest.com) which is more "stealth" as a dashcam and quite cheaper for a fixed installation (there is also the A119 but more expensive, A118C quality is enough for me).
I preferred the MObius while travelling (e.g. rental car) because it doubles it as a temporary action cam.
I think now you can get pretty nice dedicated tiny dashcam cheaply (like Mini 080x series)

 

[germany]

One question guys, do you know if can I use the Mobius USB cable (micro USB plug to mini USB plug) to connect my Mobius Version 1 with the my Smartphone to get a live view image with the Mobius App?

I mean this cable:

 

[murcod]

Hi all noob to the forum here! Found a link to this site elsewhere. Anyway I've had a Mobius for a long time (previously had its ancestors the 808 cameras too) but mostly for messing about and as a toy. Last year by brother was in a car accident and nearly killed by a drunk driver. To get to the point he wants a dash cam and I remembered a lot of people recommending the Mobius.

The thing is I know nothing about cars but like tech whereas he's knowledgeable cars and not tech stuff. Would there be some sort of step by step guide to setting it all up please? I know I'll need a mount and a super capacitor. I think I'd then need to hard wire it but it's at this point where I'm lost.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any advice or help!

I'd suggest getting a dedicated dash cam - not a Mobius. I've just bought a Viofo A119 and am already liking some of the simpler features it offers - like an audible alarm if power is applied and it's not recording. If your Mobius for some reason doesn't start recording it won't give any audible warning. It also offers a higher resolution 2560x1440 @30FPS and 1080p @ 60FPS. There's an optional GPS base and an off the shelf polarising lens is available too. I haven't compared the footage yet, but from what other people have posted it should be better than a Mobius.

 

[Bungus]

I've been using the Mobius as dashcam for some years now. Also use it as action cam when I need to and on travels. It's small, discrete, pocketable and totally reliable. Mine's mounted where I can see the rear red led blinks every second indicating it's recording. No annoying beeps. Like it so much I got a second one with super capacitor for rear.
Initially without screen I thought would be a drawback, for aiming and view recordings, but a OTG connection to my "smart phone" solved that.
Every part is available and easily accessible to replace. Even focusing the lens and be done in minutes.
Also Isoprop's Msetup is super easy to use on a PC and have settings you can change to your fancy.
Not great for low light but still acceptable. Daytime is great.

 

[murcod]

I've been using the Mobius as dashcam for some years now. Also use it as action cam when I need to and on travels. It's small, discrete, pocketable and totally reliable. Mine's mounted where I can see the rear red led blinks every second indicating it's recording. No annoying beeps. Like it so much I got a second one with super capacitor for rear.
Initially without screen I thought would be a drawback, for aiming and view recordings, but a OTG connection to my "smart phone" solved that.
Every part is available and easily accessible to replace. Even focusing the lens and be done in minutes.
Also Isoprop's Msetup is super easy to use on a PC and have settings you can change to your fancy.
Not great for low light but still acceptable. Daytime is great.

Hi Bungus, I assume you're responding in regards to my recommendation? I've got three Mobius and have used them for 3+ years. I've been through dead batteries, bloated batteries, converting them all to super caps, a melted case, refocussing, a dead SD card and the problems that can arise with getting a Mobius to auto record in different vehicles due to electrical configs and voltage fluctuations. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with them for a dash cam- keeping in mind they were designed as an action cam- they're just not as "user friendly" as a dedicated dash cam. I've recommended a dedicated dash cam - noting the bits below I've highlighted from the OP.

Hi all noob to the forum here! Found a link to this site elsewhere. Anyway I've had a Mobius for a long time (previously had its ancestors the 808 cameras too) but mostly for messing about and as a toy. Last year by brother was in a car accident and nearly killed by a drunk driver. To get to the point he wants a dash cam and I remembered a lot of people recommending the Mobius.

The thing is I know nothing about cars but like tech whereas he's knowledgeable cars and not tech stuff. Would there be some sort of step by step guide to setting it all up please? I know I'll need a mount and a super capacitor. I think I'd then need to hard wire it but it's at this point where I'm lost.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any advice or help!

I don't think a Mobius would be the best option for the above situation.

I like tinkering with electronics and still use my three Mobius. All three have survived all of the previous mentioned "running repairs". But not all people have the knowledge/ skills/ time to pull a Mobius apart, fit a super cap, hard wire it to a vehicle and then work out why it may not be recording automatically due to that specific vehicle's electrical system.

I also like the beeping aspect of a dash cam as an audible confirmation it is functioning correctly. It beats having to remember to check the not-so-obvious red LED is flashing on rear of my Mobius- especially when one is mounted behind the rear view mirror and the other above the rear window (ie. impossible to see the LED from the driver's seat.)

PS: I'll have to check my dead SD card in the A119 and see if it gives any kind of notification the card is dead- the Mobius had the red LED merrily flashing as though nothing was wrong.