New dashcam - sorry, wrong thread

Kristen

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EDIT:
See, not tech savvy, I’ve put in wrong thread - I have a Street Guardian SG9663DCPRO+

Have just had my dash cam installed hardwired.
I can see driving footage and the 5 mins parking until shut down. But how do I know it will work in parking mode after 5 minutes. Like if someone hits my car. Or runs a shopping trolley into it. I thought movement tripped the sensor. I’ve gone out to garage and pushed car to see if something happens but I can’t see any footage. Is it saved somewhere else (I’m viewing footage on my phone through Street Guardian viewer)
Now please explain it to me like I’m a 5 year old - cheers

Ps I’ve searched the site and can see people talk about RO files - where are these and what are they ‍♀️

Pps is there an actual detailed manual online somewhere - I’ve watched videos but I thought this was supposed to be a “set and forget” - I want to make sure I will capture someone damaging my car when it’s parked
 
Last edited:
Gday Kristen, welcome to the forum.

RO is the Read Only folder on the memory card, where event files will go if created. ( the folder get created automatic when the first event need to be stored, if it is not on the memory card the camera have not detected any events )

SG dashcam manuals here. https://support.streetguardian.info/downloads

In this model as i recall you have the option to do time lapse parking mode with a range of FPS ( Frames Per Second ) as i recall from 1 second to 15 frames every second ( regular video is 30 frames / second )
If you keep scrolling down in the FPS options you get 30 seconds too, but then the cameras record in low bitrate to conserve memory space and lower internal heat generation which is important doing parking guard on hot days as things can after all only run so hot before they have to shut down.
Low bitrate files are stored in among the regular files, but are easy to spot as they are much smaller than regular recording files, i use 3 min file segments so a regular of those is about 350 MB in size, where as 3 minute of low bitrate parking file is just 128 MB in size.

Personally i use low bitrate for parking guard, but i also have the parking guard G- sensor on and on high sensitivity,,,,,,, there is also a G - sensor for when driving but that one i have set to off so potholes and what not dont generate false events.

In general i run with default values aside for:

Bitrate / image quality this i always set to maximum
Time zone i always set to Denmark so +1 in winter + 2 hours in summer to account for DST
If possible i turn off G- sensor ( when driving ) or at least change it to low, some cameras only have one G sensor option acting on both driving and parking mode footage. If possible like on SG cameras i set the parking mode G sensor to high.
Then i turn on parking guard, but i only use that for one hour on the timer as that cover all my shopping and at home i have CCTV so with just 1 hour on the timer i dont have to worry about load on my car battery.
My preferred parking mode is low bitrate / 30 FPS recording
As i recall the SG cameras default to 3 minute segment size, on other cameras i have to change to get that.

If you use G sensor,,,, i do use the parking guard G sensor, to test if it work, you can slap the windscreen or just flick the camera, when in regular driving mode. or when in parking mode.
I can not recall if the camera beep detecting a event, but if it work they will end up in the RO folder.

It is possible for someone to key the whole side of your car and the G- sensor not detecting that as doing that are not really a jolt to the car, this is one reason i use low bitrate for parking guard as it record all the time.
The problem then is as it is not event footage, you will have to browse thru your low bitrate parking footage to find the moment it happen, but for the price of having half your car painted i gladly sit and watch video for 6 hours to find the swine who did this to my car.
Having the parking guard G - sensor on while parked will lock events, but that only detect larger events that make dents in your car,,,,,,, i have requested even higher sensitivity for the parking guard G - sensor.
you should have a reasonable big memory card if you plan on using parking guard a lot, 128 GB is the bare minimum for a 2 channel system, 256 GB will be much better, then you should at least have a few days of buffer before old things start to get deleted to make room for new stuff.
Remember you can not use parking guard for 23 hours a day, and then only drive 1 hour, your discharge level ( using parking guard ) have to match your driving level where the car battery get charged.
Also you should not set the low voltage protection on the hard wire kit to less than 12.2 volts, that voltage are in general seen as a 50% depleted car battery.

PS: you should not treat any camera as set and forget, sure you can do that with the settings, aside for DST you have to adjust your time zone to account for Daylight savings as dashcams unlike phones and computers can not yet handle this automatic, normally / geographically Denmark is +1 hour, but in the summer time i have to set it to +2 hours to account for DST.
But all other settings you can leave once set.

But the footage, that you should inspect now and then, i do and it take me about 15 minutes to look over a 256GB memory card.
What i do is focus on the first and last files in drive sessions, these i click to play and watch just enough of them to see where it have been filmed, so that will be where you live - where you go shopping - where you get gasoline - the friends and family you visit - and finally random places you visit.
Granted this can be hard to remember not least when you like me dont drive much and have weeks worth of footage on your memory card, but this also dont matter, what do matter is drive sessions dont start or stop on some random street.
If you are anything like me you will soon find you are a creature of habit, and drive the same roads and visit the same places again and again, and you dont really start or stop drives in any exotic places.

After i have done that i then sample some random files just playing a few seconds of each, this is mainly to make sure that the files can play and are not corrupted.
Thankfully a new system like these SG cameras should give a warning if the memory card is bad, or you forgot to put it back in the camera after inspecting it / copying some footage off the card at home.
It is also recommended to have a spare memory card in the car, that way if something major happen, but you are still driving, you can just take out the memory card, and put in another one, that way you are 100 % sure nothing will get deleted, which it could be at least if you are on a longer drive,,,,,, or like me forgetful.

The memory card, no matter the brand and model will always be the weak link in a dashcam system, so it is a good idea to have a look every few months to make sure things are good, it is 15 minutes well spent so you dont end up as one of the many " i put a dashcam in my car 3 years ago, and now i had a accident and find out my camera have not recorded since last year" people that some times visit this forum.

Regards: Street guardian affiliate Brian.
 
Last edited:
Gday Kristen, welcome to the forum.

RO is the Read Only folder on the memory card, where event files will go if created. ( the folder get created automatic when the first event need to be stored, if it is not on the memory card the camera have not detected any events )

SG dashcam manuals here. https://support.streetguardian.info/downloads

In this model as i recall you have the option to do time lapse parking mode with a range of FPS ( Frames Per Second ) as i recall from 1 second to 15 frames every second ( regular video is 30 frames / second )
If you keep scrolling down in the FPS options you get 30 seconds too, but then the cameras record in low bitrate to conserve memory space and lower internal heat generation which is important doing parking guard on hot days as things can after all only run so hot before they have to shut down.
Low bitrate files are stored in among the regular files, but are easy to spot as they are much smaller than regular recording files, i use 3 min file segments so a regular of those is about 350 MB in size, where as 3 minute of low bitrate parking file is just 128 MB in size.

Personally i use low bitrate for parking guard, but i also have the parking guard G- sensor on and on high sensitivity,,,,,,, there is also a G - sensor for when driving but that one i have set to off so potholes and what not dont generate false events.

In general i run with default values aside for:

Bitrate / image quality this i always set to maximum
Time zone i always set to Denmark so +1 in winter + 2 hours in summer to account for DST
If possible i turn off G- sensor ( when driving ) or at least change it to low, some cameras only have one G sensor option acting on both driving and parking mode footage. If possible like on SG cameras i set the parking mode G sensor to high.
Then i turn on parking guard, but i only use that for one hour on the timer as that cover all my shopping and at home i have CCTV so with just 1 hour on the timer i dont have to worry about load on my car battery.
My preferred parking mode is low bitrate / 30 FPS recording
As i recall the SG cameras default to 3 minute segment size, on other cameras i have to change to get that.

If you use G sensor,,,, i do use the parking guard G sensor, to test if it work, you can slap the windscreen or just flick the camera, when in regular driving mode. or when in parking mode.
I can not recall if the camera beep detecting a event, but if it work they will end up in the RO folder.

It is possible for someone to key the whole side of your car and the G- sensor not detecting that as doing that are not really a jolt to the car, this is one reason i use low bitrate for parking guard as it record all the time.
The problem then is as it is not event footage, you will have to browse thru your low bitrate parking footage to find the moment it happen, but for the price of having half your car painted i gladly sit and watch video for 6 hours to find the swine who did this to my car.
Having the parking guard G - sensor on while parked will lock events, but that only detect larger events that make dents in your car,,,,,,, i have requested even higher sensitivity for the parking guard G - sensor.
you should have a reasonable big memory card if you plan on using parking guard a lot, 128 GB is the bare minimum for a 2 channel system, 256 GB will be much better, then you should at least have a few days of buffer before old things start to get deleted to make room for new stuff.
Remember you can not use parking guard for 23 hours a day, and then only drive 1 hour, your discharge level ( using parking guard ) have to match your driving level where the car battery get charged.
Also you should not set the low voltage protection on the hard wire kit to less than 12.2 volts, that voltage are in general seen as a 50% depleted car battery.

PS: you should not treat any camera as set and forget, sure you can do that with the settings, aside for DST you have to adjust your time zone to account for Daylight savings as dashcams unlike phones and computers can not yet handle this automatic, normally / geographically Denmark is +1 hour, but in the summer time i have to set it to +2 hours to account for DST.
But all other settings you can leave once set.

But the footage, that you should inspect now and then, i do and it take me about 15 minutes to look over a 256GB memory card.
What i do is focus on the first and last files in drive sessions, these i click to play and watch just enough of them to see where it have been filmed, so that will be where you live - where you go shopping - where you get gasoline - the friends and family you visit - and finally random places you visit.
Granted this can be hard to remember not least when you like me dont drive much and have weeks worth of footage on your memory card, but this also dont matter, what do matter is drive sessions dont start or stop on some random street.
If you are anything like me you will soon find you are a creature of habit, and drive the same roads and visit the same places again and again, and you dont really start or stop drives in any exotic places.

After i have done that i then sample some random files just playing a few seconds of each, this is mainly to make sure that the files can play and are not corrupted.
Thankfully a new system like these SG cameras should give a warning if the memory card is bad, or you forgot to put it back in the camera after inspecting it / copying some footage off the card at home.
It is also recommended to have a spare memory card in the car, that way if something major happen, but you are still driving, you can just take out the memory card, and put in another one, that way you are 100 % sure nothing will get deleted, which it could be at least if you are on a longer drive,,,,,, or like me forgetful.

The memory card, no matter the brand and model will always be the weak link in a dashcam system, so it is a good idea to have a look every few months to make sure things are good, it is 15 minutes well spent so you dont end up as one of the many " i put a dashcam in my car 3 years ago, and now i had a accident and find out my camera have not recorded since last year" people that some times visit this forum.

Regards: Street guardian affiliate Brian.
This is fabulous - thanks Brian. Exactly the info I was after
Kind regards
Kristen
 
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