N2 Pro Issues

bdk437

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Figured out my N2 was not recording for 6 months. Brought inside and hooked up to USB on computer to power. Powered up and got 2 choices, Power on and Mass Storage. Then when I was trying to get into menu it powered down and now will not turn back on. I tried the reset but nothing. Is the USB port provide enough power? I plugged into wall with a USB adapter but still nothing.

Anybody help me out?
 
Your card could be faulty, try a different card.
 
Thanks for your response. I have tried about everything. 3 cards, USB in the wall and car. The light turns red over the card too... Neither card is formatted from the camera.
 
Is there a code of buttons on this to get it to power up?
 
My guess is that the battery is dead, the most common problem for Vantrue cameras, have you tested it?
 
No sir! Where is it located? Mine is 5 or 6 years old so that could be it!
 
Are you certain the cards are OK, and capable of what the cam needs? I would first take the card which had been working and check it using your PC.

First do a full format with the "SDformatter" freeware, then test doing a full overwrite with the "h2testw" freeware. If those show OK, then the card should work in the cam. Do be aware that most PC's and in-car USB ports do not provide adequate power for dashcams- you can use an at-home phone charger or the cam's supplied PS for power. For testing best to use the phone charger; if it works there but not in the car, then the car PS is faulty.

My N2Pro did require a decent PS to work in the car. It did not like the cheapest ones I tried it with, but neither did it absolutely need the most robust one I have. If the above doesn't get you going, then try powering up the cam without a card and leave it plugged in a few minutes. You should see a boot screen and SD card message. When you unplug it, it should appear to shut down correctly; if it just 'dies' instantly then the battery is bad. That can be fixed, but it means opening the cam and usually soldering so it's not for everyone to do.

Phil

(Thanks @Nigel for the vid- you caught me in mid-post!)
 
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Thanks everyone. Very helpful but Im going to see if Vantrue will replace the battery. This is many year old so it must be it. I may just buy a new unit.
 
Not sure about Vantrue, but most HWK's function similarly and cam be used with other cams. The main difference is in how cams switch from driving to parking modes, and there are different HWK approaches to that. But the basic 2-wire HWK's with USB plugs are all the same in operation, with only the available amperage varying.

I can say with some certainty that Vantrue isn't going to replace the battery for free; customer support is not noted as being good with this company and you're well past warranty anyway :( And it's likely that they have no repair service- few dashcam companies do. But any good phone or computer repair shop should be able to replace the battery for you, especially with that the YT vid to help guide them if they haven't done it before. It's worth asking VanTrue I guess; the worst they can say is "No".

Whether you ought to go for a new cam instead is up to you. A replaced battery will also die eventually, maybe even sooner this time if a lesser-quality one is used. And even though the vids from the N2 are pretty good, there is now better hardware in use which gives better vids, so you might just want to use this as an opportunity to upgrade ;) Personally I like what the Sony IMX291 sensor does- great in daytime and very good at night too, which is a combination not often seen with other sensors. If you drive only daytime, there are much better sensors and cams now. The OV4689 sensor in the N2 actually does the best at night of any cam I've owned but only because my 'antique' van uses the old halogen sealed-beam headlights; the newer vehicles more intense headlights cause the N2 to overcompensate and darken the images considerably. I have cams which do much better daytime, and my N2Pro is semi-retired now for several reasons- a weakening battery being one reason. I keep it as a spare or to use if I borrow or rent a vehicle :) Quite good enough for doing that.

Phil
 
Thank you Phil. I beleive I will check out the Sony. Wish you gave the model number instead of a sensor number. I will look.
 
The Viofo A119v3 uses the IMX335 sensor which also does well at night, and offers very good daytime vids too. It's well-developed so no major issues with it. Overall my favorite dashcam as far as value and reasonable cost (y) Street Guardian makes very good products too but the cost may be a factor. Bluskysea make some good cams for lower prices.

Many other good choices out there, but noting your location I would advise you to be aware of functionality in high heats if you choose a cam with better video. Many high-resolution cams tout having "overheat protection' which shuts the cam down at a preset temp, and I see that as being equal to unreliability, not as a desirable feature :cautious: Not much point in having a cam that doesn't always record when you need it to. But a few of those cams do OK in higher heats without shutting down; you just have to research each one on that. If you can narrow down what you want in a cam we might be able to help more from there ;)

Phil
 
Figured out my N2 was not recording for 6 months. Brought inside and hooked up to USB on computer to power. Powered up and got 2 choices, Power on and Mass Storage. Then when I was trying to get into menu it powered down and now will not turn back on. I tried the reset but nothing. Is the USB port provide enough power? I plugged into wall with a USB adapter but still nothing.

Anybody help me out?
Your cards will also last longer if you reformat them from time to time.
 
Your cards will also last longer if you reformat them from time to time.
What is the explanation for why they last longer if you reformat them? Do you have data showing that they do?
 
What is the explanation for why they last longer if you reformat them? Do you have data showing that they do?
The idea is that wiping a card with a format gives you a clean slate. Deleting files or overwriting files will lead to card errors sooner or later. I have used this process for many years. I have about 25 cards I use between drones which I fly professionally and in my camera and about 10 different dashcams. I have some older cards that have slow write speeds I have a higher number of cards that shoot 4K videos (faster write speed). Which iI use to shoot YouTube Videos, and take photographs. I have yet to have a card fail. Mind you I am not buying cheap cards either. My Card I purchase ar SanDisk. Feel free to take It with a grain of salt. It works for me. I'm not the only one that follows this advice. Nothing worse than investing a bunch of time to find out your files (video, photos) are corrupt. Then you have to either format the card and try again or try another card and hope that one works for you as well. I will say this. When I set up my camera or my drone for a project I will be filming with a freshly formatted card.
 
Figured out my N2 was not recording for 6 months. Brought inside and hooked up to USB on computer to power. Powered up and got 2 choices, Power on and Mass Storage. Then when I was trying to get into menu it powered down and now will not turn back on. I tried the reset but nothing. Is the USB port provide enough power? I plugged into wall with a USB adapter but still nothing.

Anybody help me out?
I forgot to ask earlier, do you have a card reader for your computer? Pop that card out and see what its contents look like.
 
Nothing worse than investing a bunch of time to find out your files (video, photos) are corrupt.
Well that is certainly true, and in your profession it does seem sensible to clean the cards regularly, maybe even after every use. But cleaning the cards, and thus achieving improved reliability, does not mean that they will last longer, it actually causes extra writing to the card, and since card life is normally limited by number of writes, regular formatting seems likely to reduce card life. If a card was to get fragmented by the dashcam then I can see that regular formatting could significantly increase card life, but as far as I know, dashcams do not fragment memory cards.

Without any proof either way, I don't like to believe any theories! Memory cards are somewhat mysterious, I've yet to see an explanation for how the SD Association, SD card formatter can manage to significantly improve the performance of some memory cards by performing a full format, both when they are new and after some use.
 
Well that is certainly true, and in your profession it does seem sensible to clean the cards regularly, maybe even after every use. But cleaning the cards, and thus achieving improved reliability, does not mean that they will last longer, it actually causes extra writing to the card, and since card life is normally limited by number of writes, regular formatting seems likely to reduce card life. If a card was to get fragmented by the dashcam then I can see that regular formatting could significantly increase card life, but as far as I know, dashcams do not fragment memory cards.

Without any proof either way, I don't like to believe any theories! Memory cards are somewhat mysterious, I've yet to see an explanation for how the SD Association, SD card formatter can manage to significantly improve the performance of some memory cards by performing a full format, both when they are new and after some use.
To each his/her own.
As for another point you bring up... Cleaning.
The best thing to clean the contacts on your card is a pencil eraser. Just the right amount of abrasion. My cards aren't stored out in the open, I use a sealed case for mine.
Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pelican+...b_sb_ss_pltr-ranker-engagementacceptance_2_15
 
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