New Nextbase 412GW powers itself off part way through a recording

townfan63

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On Sunday 14th January I had my new Nextbase 412GW Dashcam installed at Halfords.

I have since had several issues.

Firstly, my wife noticed that it was only recording for about 25-30 seconds, freezing for a while, then starting a new recording which again lasted only for 25-30 seconds.
I reformatted the card (Sandisk Ultra 32GB Class 10) in the device and tried it again. It seemed to work abolsutely fine on the (short) journey back home and was recording 3 minute segements as per the settings.

Next day I went out in the car again and, once again, it started recording only 25-30 seconds before freezing on record and then starting again with another recording.
Once again a reformat seemed to cure this.

During the week i again ventured out in my car and once again it recorded for 20-30 seconds at a time. I left it running this time and when I returned home I removed it from the car.
I used the app on my phone this morning to view the footage (expecting that maybe for some reason there were a lot of protected files thus reducing the available space) but there were NO videos on the card at all.

I removed the card and inserted it into my laptop and confirmed that the DCIM folder was indeed empty......not what i expected at all.

Having read various posts about SD Card problems I located another card, albeit only 2GB, and fully formatted it on my laptop then inserted it into the Dash Cam and proceeded to test that (with the Dash Cam sitting on my desk and connected to the mains via my iphone usb plug which i can switch on and off to simulate the car's 12v supply).

I turned it on at 09:21 and it recorded for 3 minutes then started the next file, lasted about 2 minutes then suddenly just shut down.

I formatted it again whilst in the device and tested again:
I turned it on at 09:30am
Started recording and did so for 3 minutes
Started recording the next file at 09:33 and again did so for 3 minutes.
Started recording the next file at 09:36 but switched itself off shortly after.

I removed this card and looked at it on the laptop:
It showed there was 642MB of free space left of 1.87GB.
There was 1.24GB in a folder called VIDEOS and 3.16MB in a folder called PROTECTED.
When I looked at the files in the VIDEO folder I could see 6 files - 2 date/time stamped at 09:30, 2 date/time stamped at 09:33 and 2 date/time stamped at 09:36 (these 2 were smaller than the other ones).
Viewing the files I believe that there are 2 files for each segment recorded (one high resolution and one low resolution).
The size of the high resolution files for the 3 minute files was 573MB, the lower res files were 73MB.

As you can see there was still space on the device for another set of files to complete and even if there wasn't I would expect the device to over-write the first recorded pair (not just switch off).

I then carried out a FULL Format on my 32GB card and tested using that:
I turned it on at 11:40
It recorded for 3 minutes
It started to record another file at 11:43 but powered itself off again.
I turned it on again at 11:52
It recorded for 3 minutes
It started recording the next file at 11:55 but powered itself off again after 2 minutes 10 seconds.

I reformatted the card again whilst in the device.
Turned it on at 12:16
It recorded for 3 minutes
It started the next file at 12:19, recorded for 2 minutes 10 seconds and powered itself off again.

To me, this looks like a problem with the device do you think?
 
Hello @townfan63

What version of firmware is on the Dash Cam?

In order to check what version of firmware you're using;
please stop the camera recording then press menu twice,
scroll down to "system info" or "version" then press OK,
a black screen should pop up with a long text with R.. at the end.
Please tell me what numbers are after the R.

Are you using parking mode?

Don't use a 2Gb card - the minimum size is 8Gb.

How often were you formatting the SanDisk card previously?

Where was it purchased from?
 
Hi @NextBase Tiffany,

I'm on the latest verison of Firmware R12.4.

I do have 'Parking Mode' set.

I was only trying it with the 2GB as it was the only other card I have at the moment.

I was having to format the San Disk card every time I used the car and i dont use it that often as i work from home.
It was purchased from eBay (supposedly Genuine but who knows hey?).
I'm getting a San Disk High Endurance 64GB tonight from Currys (as per my other post today) and will retest it using that and see what happens.

I'll let you know.
 
A card purchased from eBay is unlikely going to be real - does it have a CE mark on the back? (See image below)

That SanDisk High Endurance will work fine - the problems you were experiencing indicate its the SD card at fault.
1516726741131.png
 
If your memory card is indeed a fake from ebay, 32gb is most likely to be 8gb true capacity but as they're made to convince whatever device they're in that they're 32gb, the device continues to try to write to the card, and it corrupts

like continuing to pour more milk into your already full coffee cup, even if you like milk, and coffee, after emptying a full 6 pints into a small cup of coffee, it won't taste like nice milk or nice coffee anymore
 
Hi @NextBase Tiffany,
Having spent £40 on a new Sandisk High Endurance 64GB card from Currys last night I've just tested again this morning and the unit still turned itself off during the second segment.
It recorded the first 3 minutes okay, started the next 3 minute segment but after around 2 minutes just powered down.
 
That is because you have parking mode on, if there is no movement detected it'll power off.

Were you driving when this happened or trying it out inside your house?
 
Hi @NextBase Tiffany,

I am testing in my house.

I have now turned off Parking mode and that seems to be working correctly now with the new card installed.

I thought Parking Mode, when turned on, meant that while the car is parked up (and the unit is off) if something bumps the car then it powers the unit up to record some footage.
Are you saying that with Parking Mode on, if there is no movement of the unit for a period of time then it also powers the unit down? For example, if I am sat in a traffic jam and the vehicle is stationary for a while then the unit will power itself down? I will then need to manually set it recording again when movement recommences?

UPDATE (may help others understand how it works):
Carried out further testing with Parking Mode on.
When there is no movement for 5m 10s the device powered itself off.
Movement after that kicked the unit into life where it then recorded a 2 minute PROTECTED segment.
It then carried on normal recording (3 minute unprotected segments so long as you are moving).
 
Last edited:
Hello,

Yes that is correct - parking mode will power the camera off if no movement is detected. Even when parked in traffic however 5 minutes is quite a while - usually even if you're stuck in a long line of traffic you'll be moving for brief periods.
 
I seem to be sorted now with the addition of the new SD card and an improvement in my understanding too (the old card was definitely a fake and nothing was actually saving to it!).

@NextBase Tiffany and @DashcamDPR - thank you both for all your help.
 
Great news - PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU GET A REFUND from the seller on eBay.
We've all got to try working together to get rid of fake cards.
 
A refund request has already been submitted and the seller has promised to refund it tomorrow once he gets my Paypal email address (eBay prevents you from sending email addresses via their system so have contacted him using his Paypal email address).
 
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