This post might be a bit long but I just want to be clear about everything as this might be helpful for others.
Preface: I bought an A129 Duo, HK3 hardwire kit (installed myself) and 256GB Sandisk Ultra in June 2019. It came with firmware v1.6 and worked perfectly until March 2020 using the settings below.
My preferred settings:
WDR - ON
Loop recording - 10mins
Parking mode - 3fps timelapse (This gives me enough quality, constant recording but low enough power consumption that it will record for days)
GPS display - All Info
Units - MPH
Correct time & date
Wifi - OFF (whenever I want to view footage or analyse card contents I remove it from the dashcam and put it in a USB card-reader on a windows PC)
All other settings at their default
The Issue: In march 2020 I started hearing random beeps from the cam while I was driving. I checked the SD card on my PC and found the driving files were not all 10min long like they should be, they were random lengths but usually 3 or 4 minutes. Parking mode files were still as normal (a 2min video containing 20mins worth of footage). I turned the screensaver setting up to the max (3min) to see what was happening. I turned the ignition on to put the cam in normal recording mode but left the car parked and watched the screen. A few minutes into recording, the image on the screen (front with rear overlaid) would freeze and the recording timer in the top right would also freeze. However the clock time display at the bottom did not freeze, that kept ticking along. After 20-30 second of being frozen the recording timer would reset to zero, the camera gave a single beep and recording would start again. This would repeat every few minutes. I could live with the beeping but if the dashcam is only recording 80% of the time what's the point? Sod's law dictates any incident when the footage would be useful would occur whilst the cam was frozen and not recording.
Solution 1: Obviously I tried the basics first, factory reset camera to default settings, full format of SD card using SDformatter on my PC, hard reset using the side button. Did not work.
Solution 2: Since the recording usually got to the 2minute mark before freezing I thought reducing the 'loop recording' setting to 2min might fix it. No joy, when set to 2min the recording would usually freeze around 1min40s in. When loop recording was set to 1min it would usually freeze around 55-57s although it would complete the minute normally and start a new recording without freezing 10-20% of the time. Not good enough though.
Solution 3: Tried a spare SD card, a 64GB samsung EVO I use for a different device. Did not work. I used this card to test throughout the troubleshooting process (full format at every step) and not once did it ever produce a different result to my Sandisk Ultra. (EDIT: I have since realised the SD card was the issue, the samsung evo I tried must have had the same issue).
Solution 4: I started searching on the internet, I found the viofo forums and realised my firmware was out of date. I updated to firmware v1.9, repeated the steps in solution 1 and the dashcam seemed to work perfectly again. Coincidentally I did a 6 hour journey the next day and the dashcam functioned perfectly until about 30 min before the end of the journey when it started showing the same symptoms as before. Damn.
Solution 5: I started trying random things, random settings, whatever I could think of. I unplugged the rear camera and that fixed the issue. So straight away I'm assuming there's a loose connection. With the rear camera connected I turned on the ignition so the camera was in normal recording mode and watched the recording timer carefully to see exactly when it froze. At the same time, I tapped the rear camera cable connections at both ends, manipulated the cable at various locations, none of these induced the issue immediately. Might not be the rear camera. Further random testing required.
Solution 6: I checked and double checked all connections to the HK3 kit. I removed the HK3 kit and tested the voltage cut-off function and output voltage, everything as expected. No luck.
Solution 7: On a hunch I changed the 'bitrate' setting to LOW. This fixed the issue, having exactly the same effect as disconnected the rear camera. This clue, together with the fact that the clock time doesn't ever freeze localises the issue to the recording and encoding hardware or firmware. (EDIT: yes it was the recording hardware, the SD card itself)
I continued trying other things for a while but got nothing. So that is my partial solution for now, I just set the bitrate setting to LOW and it works perfectly again. The bitrate (as reported by MPC-HC on windows) has decreased from 16387kb/s to 10240kb/s (for normal files and parking mode files), visually the difference in quality is noticeable but small. It's better than 30 seconds of completely unrecorded driving every 3 minutes.
Preface: I bought an A129 Duo, HK3 hardwire kit (installed myself) and 256GB Sandisk Ultra in June 2019. It came with firmware v1.6 and worked perfectly until March 2020 using the settings below.
My preferred settings:
WDR - ON
Loop recording - 10mins
Parking mode - 3fps timelapse (This gives me enough quality, constant recording but low enough power consumption that it will record for days)
GPS display - All Info
Units - MPH
Correct time & date
Wifi - OFF (whenever I want to view footage or analyse card contents I remove it from the dashcam and put it in a USB card-reader on a windows PC)
All other settings at their default
The Issue: In march 2020 I started hearing random beeps from the cam while I was driving. I checked the SD card on my PC and found the driving files were not all 10min long like they should be, they were random lengths but usually 3 or 4 minutes. Parking mode files were still as normal (a 2min video containing 20mins worth of footage). I turned the screensaver setting up to the max (3min) to see what was happening. I turned the ignition on to put the cam in normal recording mode but left the car parked and watched the screen. A few minutes into recording, the image on the screen (front with rear overlaid) would freeze and the recording timer in the top right would also freeze. However the clock time display at the bottom did not freeze, that kept ticking along. After 20-30 second of being frozen the recording timer would reset to zero, the camera gave a single beep and recording would start again. This would repeat every few minutes. I could live with the beeping but if the dashcam is only recording 80% of the time what's the point? Sod's law dictates any incident when the footage would be useful would occur whilst the cam was frozen and not recording.
Solution 1: Obviously I tried the basics first, factory reset camera to default settings, full format of SD card using SDformatter on my PC, hard reset using the side button. Did not work.
Solution 2: Since the recording usually got to the 2minute mark before freezing I thought reducing the 'loop recording' setting to 2min might fix it. No joy, when set to 2min the recording would usually freeze around 1min40s in. When loop recording was set to 1min it would usually freeze around 55-57s although it would complete the minute normally and start a new recording without freezing 10-20% of the time. Not good enough though.
Solution 3: Tried a spare SD card, a 64GB samsung EVO I use for a different device. Did not work. I used this card to test throughout the troubleshooting process (full format at every step) and not once did it ever produce a different result to my Sandisk Ultra. (EDIT: I have since realised the SD card was the issue, the samsung evo I tried must have had the same issue).
Solution 4: I started searching on the internet, I found the viofo forums and realised my firmware was out of date. I updated to firmware v1.9, repeated the steps in solution 1 and the dashcam seemed to work perfectly again. Coincidentally I did a 6 hour journey the next day and the dashcam functioned perfectly until about 30 min before the end of the journey when it started showing the same symptoms as before. Damn.
Solution 5: I started trying random things, random settings, whatever I could think of. I unplugged the rear camera and that fixed the issue. So straight away I'm assuming there's a loose connection. With the rear camera connected I turned on the ignition so the camera was in normal recording mode and watched the recording timer carefully to see exactly when it froze. At the same time, I tapped the rear camera cable connections at both ends, manipulated the cable at various locations, none of these induced the issue immediately. Might not be the rear camera. Further random testing required.
Solution 6: I checked and double checked all connections to the HK3 kit. I removed the HK3 kit and tested the voltage cut-off function and output voltage, everything as expected. No luck.
Solution 7: On a hunch I changed the 'bitrate' setting to LOW. This fixed the issue, having exactly the same effect as disconnected the rear camera. This clue, together with the fact that the clock time doesn't ever freeze localises the issue to the recording and encoding hardware or firmware. (EDIT: yes it was the recording hardware, the SD card itself)
I continued trying other things for a while but got nothing. So that is my partial solution for now, I just set the bitrate setting to LOW and it works perfectly again. The bitrate (as reported by MPC-HC on windows) has decreased from 16387kb/s to 10240kb/s (for normal files and parking mode files), visually the difference in quality is noticeable but small. It's better than 30 seconds of completely unrecorded driving every 3 minutes.
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