Need help with time-lapse and external power

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glasseye

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The setup:

USB power from wall wart (117 VAC)
time-lapse interval: 1 second
frame size: 1080 x 1920
expected recording duration: days
Host computer: Windows 7 / 64 bit

I set up a test shot and left the camera apparently recording normally at 1 fps.

Camera was unresponsive when I returned several hours later. No buttons worked, no LEDs on.

Camera not recognized by Windows 7/64

Put card in card reader and found that the camera ran for about half an hour according to the JPG time stamps, recording about 1K frames before quitting. About half as many frames as expected.

Charged battery for several hours, green charge LED functional, still no buttons worked. Camera not recognized by Mobius Setup or W7

Removed battery, found 4.2 V, battery OK, reinstalled it.

Updated Mobius Setup software to latest version, Camera now recognized.

On power up, got amber LED flashing at 2Hz, no buttons responsive. USB device not recognized by W7

Set parameters again with Mobius Setup, camera now fully functional and recognized by W7. WTF



What happened? What did I do wrong? How can I avoid this?

How should I record long-duration time-lapse with outboard USB power?

Is it possible that a 1 second frame interval is too much power demand and camera overheated?

Superb little camera. Thanks for any assistance.
 
In your first scenario, where you on battery power? If not, it could be you are using a data cable rather than a power only cable. The camera will maybe record a little while then think it's connected to a computer and go into standby mode.

Is the USB power providing at least 1 amp output?
 
GJHS said:
In your first scenario, where you on battery power? If not, it could be you are using a data cable rather than a power only cable. The camera will maybe record a little while then think it's connected to a computer and go into standby mode.

Is the USB power providing at least 1 amp output?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply GJHS. This was the first time I've attempted time-lapse with USB power. The USB cable I used is most certainly a data cable. I use it to transfer media from the Mobius to the computer. I didn't know that the cable should be a "power only" cable.
Any idea why this would cause the camera to lock up the way it did? I was pretty sure I'd bricked it.

The power supply will certainly provide 1A.

Thanks again.
 
Here is a snippet from the Mobius support thread (http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/thread...help-requests-here-read-posts-1-8-first.4232/)

The USB cable
A standard mini USB cable has +5V connected to pin #1 of the camera's USB socket and -V (ground / earth) connected to pin #5 of the camera's mini USB socket.
On a standard mini USB plug the two center wires (Pin #2 and Pin #3) are the data lines and are only used when the camera is connected to a computer. They are not used when the camera is connected to an external power source such as car battery charger, external wall charger (mains charger), external USB power pack etc.
The camera "tests" the data lines as well as pin #4 to determine the connection type.
The camera can be operated normally using external USB power with the internal battery disconnected.
Pin #4, which is sometimes called Pin x, will switch the camera into AV-out mode (TV-Out) when connected to ground. When in AV-out mode, pin #2 carries the composite video-out signal. In addition, pin #3 carries the audio-out signal when the camera is in playback mode. When switched into AV-out mode by connecting pin #4 to ground (see above), there will be a composite video signal present on pin #2 as soon as the camera is turned on. Auto-power-off will automatically be disabled.

The table below shows all the possible cable connections. In practice you will only need max. 2 different cables. The Mobius is normally sold with a universal cable harness.

MobiusUSBPins.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What firmware are you using? In v2.10 the time lapse is a video, rather than just frames, it's really nice.

I have found in earlier versions, that having just frames and video mixed would stop the loop recording and freeze my camera when my card was full. I think your situation is related to one or more of these two scenarios.
 
Thanks again, GJHS. I have the latest firmware - I reinstalled it as part of my camera recovery yesterday.

I saw "video time-lapse" in the Mobius Setup program, but was too focused on recovering the camera from its inoperative state to investigate it. What does it do? Auto-assemble the frames in to video? That would be great.

Still unsure of my cable issues. If I connect the camera with a data cable to a standard wall wart charger, do they by default short the two data pins so the camera knows that it's in "charge mode" ?
 
Time lapse just creates a video file you can play straight away without needing to do a thing - I love it and you can get some real random output!
 
glasseye said:
Still unsure of my cable issues. If I connect the camera with a data cable to a standard wall wart charger, do they by default short the two data pins so the camera knows that it's in "charge mode" ?
Click to expand...
No there's a setting that says charge while connected to usb. So the camera will charge while in data mode.

What you need is a proper charge only cable with the correct pins.

Oh and definitely play with that time lapse video, it's really cool
 
OK, all good now. I just recorded nearly 4 hrs of video mode timelapse from a different USB charger and a different cable. Whatever the problem was, it's gone. :)

The new video timelapse mode is great! Lots less work than assembling later and far less data storage per hour. Great quality. Zero flicker. What an amazing little system this is.

Thanks for your help, GJHS and reverend.
 
Do you guys use Auto white balance? Or manually set it for each sequence?
 
I have mine set to auto - but if you watch the first clip I did you can see the camera switching between two modes half way through:


Seeing that I'd say ideally you'd want to keep it manually set if you don't want the look to change half way through the sequence.
 
Yes, reverend. Thanks. That's exactly what I saw with my test: sudden changes in colour temperature.
I think even if you get it slightly wrong, it's easier to adjust the entire clip than just part of it.
 
glasseye said:
Do you guys use Auto white balance? Or manually set it for each sequence?
Click to expand...
I find Auto annoying - generally (because here it is) I set to BRIGHT SUN - even at night.
 
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