new to A139 3ch

somacast

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hello,

I just purchased mine from Amazon, I own 2 cars and I drive them alternatively every few days sometimes 2-4 days even, i need this mainly for parking mode, however I am too disappointed that I feel like returning it !!

please explain to me , I am trying it at home with usb charger first,

1- how does it detect and enter parking mode? is it only via change in car voltage via the odb or hard wires?

2- isn't it supposed to do like other dash cams which detects this by its g-sensor ?! if the car stops then its parking mode ?!

3-why does it show always a cross on the motion sensing when I log in ? no motion sensing is working, i tried waving my hand nothing happens, only hitting it activates a protected file , which records for ever too not just seconds before and after !!!

4- what is parking geofencing ? and why it gives me error when i activate it?

kindly help me as I need a cam quickly , I plan on buying and powering it from a rechargeable battery or power bank in the car because as i said i want it to work for longer days..

thank you very much
 
hello,

I just purchased mine from Amazon, I own 2 cars and I drive them alternatively every few days sometimes 2-4 days even, i need this mainly for parking mode, however I am too disappointed that I feel like returning it !!

please explain to me , I am trying it at home with usb charger first,

1- how does it detect and enter parking mode? is it only via change in car voltage via the odb or hard wires?
If only power is provided without ACC, it should enter into parking mode after about 5 minutes. USB charger is not the best option how to test things out because it can sometimes "emulate" ACC signal and dashcam never will enter the parking mode.

2- isn't it supposed to do like other dash cams which detects this by its g-sensor ?! if the car stops then its parking mode ?!
Yes, it can work like that as well.

4- what is parking geofencing ? and why it gives me error when i activate it?
It's kinda new feature released recently and I'm not sure whether it should even work right now with current official firmware. Probably beta firmware v1.6_0708 could do the trick but haven't tried it myself.
 
If only power is provided without ACC, it should enter into parking mode after about 5 minutes. USB charger is not the best option how to test things out because it can sometimes "emulate" ACC signal and dashcam never will enter the parking mode.
can you please explain more? how does the camera sense ACC ? you mean car engine is running and that vibration is sensed ?

I left it for 10 minutes and it wasn't in parking mode !! but using usb charger, i don't want to wire it fully if I am going to refund it.

also, it gets really HOT after 5 minutes of working !!
Yes, it can work like that as well.
how to do that? how to let park mode work by g- sensor.

returning it to Amazon will cost me shipping money as it went outside to Bahrain..
 
Welcome to DCT @somacast :)

1 & 2- Parking mode can be activated through the use of the hardwire kit. If done this way, you can set the time between ignition off and parking mode starting to allow you to leave the car without recording a locked file of the event. Alternately when powering otherwise, it will enter parking mode after a short period of the GPS detecting no movement.

3- Check in the menu that "Auto Event Detection" is turned on. Then adjust "Motion Detect" to the level you prefer. There seems to be variation between cams in how well motion detect functions; in mine it is the first cam of many I've tried which does the job perfectly; your experiences may vary! It is the same for g-sensor; some work well and others not so well. Do note that there are 2 settings for g-sensor; one is for driving and the other is for parking.

4- Haven't used that feature but I think it relates to "station mode" where the cam can be configured to copy the files over to your computer when you park at home automatically. Very new feature, may not be bug-free yet but it is in active development.

You might want to consider using "low bitrate" for parking mode, as this is constant recording and does not require seen motion or an impact to activate. Many here prefer it for it's certainty of getting the event, which might be missed if the motion detect and/or g-sensor do not detect a problem when they should. And yes, this cam runs hot compared to many because it is doing a lot of work recording 3 channels. There had been much discussion regards thermal shutdown, which happens at 65C, and possible overheating issues in saving the last file to the card. In Bahrain you can easily see those temps in a closed car so with parking protection being your main concern, that might be a problem for you. Most dashcams do have a limit at about 65C to 70C with some automatically shutting down and some attempting to continue. Very few cams handle high heat well.

Phil
 
Welcome to DCT @somacast :)

1 & 2- Parking mode can be activated through the use of the hardwire kit. If done this way, you can set the time between ignition off and parking mode starting to allow you to leave the car without recording a locked file of the event. Alternately when powering otherwise, it will enter parking mode after a short period of the GPS detecting no movement.

3- Check in the menu that "Auto Event Detection" is turned on. Then adjust "Motion Detect" to the level you prefer. There seems to be variation between cams in how well motion detect functions; in mine it is the first cam of many I've tried which does the job perfectly; your experiences may vary! It is the same for g-sensor; some work well and others not so well. Do note that there are 2 settings for g-sensor; one is for driving and the other is for parking.

4- Haven't used that feature but I think it relates to "station mode" where the cam can be configured to copy the files over to your computer when you park at home automatically. Very new feature, may not be bug-free yet but it is in active development.

You might want to consider using "low bitrate" for parking mode, as this is constant recording and does not require seen motion or an impact to activate. Many here prefer it for it's certainty of getting the event, which might be missed if the motion detect and/or g-sensor do not detect a problem when they should. And yes, this cam runs hot compared to many because it is doing a lot of work recording 3 channels. There had been much discussion regards thermal shutdown, which happens at 65C, and possible overheating issues in saving the last file to the card. In Bahrain you can easily see those temps in a closed car so with parking protection being your main concern, that might be a problem for you. Most dashcams do have a limit at about 65C to 70C with some automatically shutting down and some attempting to continue. Very few cams handle high heat well.

Phil
thank you very much for the informative reply.

if you allow me to ask further regarding answr#3 , i saw only 1 setting for g sensor , which is the second ?

thnx again
 
If you live in Bahrain, i think using parking guard with just about any dashcam will be hard, isent your country very hot for most of the year. ?
 
IIRC the setting for parking g-sensor is listed in the app menu under "parking mode". The setting for driving is on the main app page.

I have to concur with Kamkar on dashcams in the heat- none are really good with that and certainly not this one (or any other multi-channel or high-resolution cam) :(
Some of Street Guardian's cams support parking mode and he designs them for Australian weather so they are as good as you'll get for high heat. Best in high heat is the old original single-channel Mobius when equipped with supercaps, not the battery version. Yet even those are not a sure bet when air temps hit 45C even if you park in the shade. Parked in the sun and air temps of 40C or less will probably cause the recording to stop.

Phil
 
If you live in Bahrain, i think using parking guard with just about any dashcam will be hard, isent your country very hot for most of the year. ?
thanks, yes , just hoping for a shade , my main concern is night time though ..
IIRC the setting for parking g-sensor is listed in the app menu under "parking mode". The setting for driving is on the main app page.

I have to concur with Kamkar on dashcams in the heat- none are really good with that and certainly not this one (or any other multi-channel or high-resolution cam) :(
Some of Street Guardian's cams support parking mode and he designs them for Australian weather so they are as good as you'll get for high heat. Best in high heat is the old original single-channel Mobius when equipped with supercaps, not the battery version. Yet even those are not a sure bet when air temps hit 45C even if you park in the shade. Parked in the sun and air temps of 40C or less will probably cause the recording to stop.

Phil
thanks again, so this one has a battery inside ?! but it just goes off when power cuts immediately, does it really have a battery inside ?!
 
The A139 has supercaps- no LiPo battery. The Mobius comes standard with a LiPo battery, but some sellers offer a supercap version, and the supercaps can be fitted to the battery version.

Phil
 
another newbie question please..

finally after a delay viofo customer service replied to me on my question of wanting to use power bank for instance to prolong the recording while the car is parked, they replied as :

the camera will only go to parking mode if hard wired !! while some kind replies above stated that it will detect via its gyro sensor or gps that the vehicle stopped then it enters the parking mode (which never happened at home, it never entered parking mode on a usb charger)

can you please reconfirm ?

thanks again for your help
 

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Some cameras have the old option to enter parking mode after not moving for a while, but i dont think the viofo have this, so if you connect a power bank the camera will just record in the more heat generating regular recording mode.
The reason to have other parking modes like time lapse and low bitrate is aside for conserving memory card space to not generate as much heat when in power mode.

I do not have a power bank so no chance of testing this.

Testing the A139 have had problems with parking guard, at least if i want to use it longer periods, and i dont think it have been high heat that shut it down even if tests was done during the Danish summer, cuz some of the tests i ran in the evening where sun hitting the car was very little or no at all.

If you had asked me i would have advised against getting the A139 when parking guard is a must, and with your adress / location then there would only be 1 camera i could advise to consider and that would be the more expensive street guardian SG9663DR as with that model you can install the main unit somewhere in the car where it dont get direct sunlight ( it is a remote camera meaning it have its 2 cameras on wires )
 
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Some cameras have the old option to enter parking mode after not moving for a while, but i dont think the viofo have this, so if you connect a power bank the camera will just record in the more heat generating regular recording mode.
The reason to have other parking modes like time lapse and low bitrate is aside for conserving memory card space to not generate as much heat when in power mode.

I do not have a power bank so no chance of testing this.

Testing the A139 have had problems with parking guard, at least if i want to use it longer periods, and i dont think it have been high heat that shut it down even if tests was done during the Danish summer, cuz some of the tests i ran in the evening where sun hitting the car was very little or no at all.

If you had asked me i would have advised getting the A139 when parking guard is a must, and with your adress / location then there would only be 1 camera i could advise to consider and that would be the more expensive street guardian SG9663DR as with that model you can install the main unit somewhere in the car where it dont get direct sunlight ( it is a remote camera meaning it have its 2 cameras on wires )
Thank you very much indeed for the informative reply

also would love to hear more experiences if any had a different one to share
 
@somacast

Can I ask a favor please? You plan to hardwire your Viofo A139 3 channel, correct?

Once you get everything setup and confirm the hardwire is working, would you mind running a test? Parking Vehicle with Low Bitrate Parking Mode in direct sunlight. Seeing if camera shuts off. Then checking to see if files being written during shutoff corrupt.

You're in Bahrain and the temps there are 40C. So this test shouldn't be too hard to run. I would really appreciate your help and would be happy to walk you through the experiment.

This test is important for Viofo, too.
 
Thank you very much indeed for the informative reply

also would love to hear more experiences if any had a different one to share
Yes parking mode is not an option with Powerbank, i had talked to 1 user on viofo site they got a new cable or different cable by support and were able to use powerbank to power camera and it would go in parking mode in 5 minutes. My first unit wont even go in parking mode with car 12v adapter. I did order the kit it was $17 CND to put it in parking mode. Actually i am modding a switch system and will be driving with Parking mode always, so it will be independent from ignition switch etc. I just need to order some push button power switches and solder something up :). I do plan to also have automatic toggle button which would switch everything over to ignition switch dependence :). Technically 12 Volt battery line is the same you just toggle the VCC voltage.

I have not had a chance to test my new 3ch unit with the car adapter and parking mode yet. Plan to do it tomorrow possibly. But it is suppose to as others mentioned switch to parking mode in 5 mins. Save yourself the headache get the hardware kit, and setup manual toggle like i plan to do, as i do not know how reliable the auto cutoff is, and hate to be stuck at work in the parking lot one day cause of the camera draining everything...

Note: when in parking mode and driving as i tested today and more test tomorrow, it is quite good but file size will be large it wont split them into smaller sizes as regular recording. Switching from parking mode to normal recording there is almost 2 mins of video recording gap so heads up on that as well.
 
Yes parking mode is not an option with Powerbank, i had talked to 1 user on viofo site they got a new cable or different cable by support and were able to use powerbank to power camera and it would go in parking mode in 5 minutes. My first unit wont even go in parking mode with car 12v adapter. I did order the kit it was $17 CND to put it in parking mode. Actually i am modding a switch system and will be driving with Parking mode always, so it will be independent from ignition switch etc. I just need to order some push button power switches and solder something up :). I do plan to also have automatic toggle button which would switch everything over to ignition switch dependence :). Technically 12 Volt battery line is the same you just toggle the VCC voltage.

I have not had a chance to test my new 3ch unit with the car adapter and parking mode yet. Plan to do it tomorrow possibly. But it is suppose to as others mentioned switch to parking mode in 5 mins. Save yourself the headache get the hardware kit, and setup manual toggle like i plan to do, as i do not know how reliable the auto cutoff is, and hate to be stuck at work in the parking lot one day cause of the camera draining everything...

Note: when in parking mode and driving as i tested today and more test tomorrow, it is quite good but file size will be large it wont split them into smaller sizes as regular recording. Switching from parking mode to normal recording there is almost 2 mins of video recording gap so heads up on that as well.
thnx alot really for all the info, I refunded my a139 as it doesn't trigger parking mode in the way I want, bough 900x 2ch, fact is that each of them has pros & cons and some has really extremely stupid functionality in certain aspects .. so we just need to live with them I guess
 
thnx alot really for all the info, I refunded my a139 as it doesn't trigger parking mode in the way I want, bough 900x 2ch, fact is that each of them has pros & cons and some has really extremely stupid functionality in certain aspects .. so we just need to live with them I guess
I agree. I had bought like 2 cameras before but later found out one of them did not even turn on wifi so returned, other did not do motion detect so returned, though they advertised having those features lol. I gotta be honest, those cameras were 4k and had better video quality vs the 139. I am not really liking the video quality, but again i am sure reading license will be a challenge for most as it depends on suns angle as well etc. so i guess i will have to live with the video quality. These do run super hot, and i am not sure if it's shutting down for me cause of heat or cause of voltage drop while in parking mode with hardwire kit. Anyways got another 25 days to test before return window at amazon closes.

But i cannot afford a 600 dollar cam, but i guess its worth the investment if you drive a newer model of vehicle, i drive a 2007 old beater :) but insurance is high here and i was hit as someone reversed into me while parked.. luckily he admitted to his fault else i be paying premiums increases on my insurance. so the only reason is for the parking mode. Now i find out it does not have buffered parking mode, but they got new firmware which does enable it so gotta see what they can do with firmware's. Alteast they are doing that, these other camera makers probably don't do much development on firmware.
 
I agree. I had bought like 2 cameras before but later found out one of them did not even turn on wifi so returned, other did not do motion detect so returned, though they advertised having those features lol. I gotta be honest, those cameras were 4k and had better video quality vs the 139. I am not really liking the video quality, but again i am sure reading license will be a challenge for most as it depends on suns angle as well etc. so i guess i will have to live with the video quality. These do run super hot, and i am not sure if it's shutting down for me cause of heat or cause of voltage drop while in parking mode with hardwire kit. Anyways got another 25 days to test before return window at amazon closes.

But i cannot afford a 600 dollar cam, but i guess its worth the investment if you drive a newer model of vehicle, i drive a 2007 old beater :) but insurance is high here and i was hit as someone reversed into me while parked.. luckily he admitted to his fault else i be paying premiums increases on my insurance. so the only reason is for the parking mode. Now i find out it does not have buffered parking mode, but they got new firmware which does enable it so gotta see what they can do with firmware's. Alteast they are doing that, these other camera makers probably don't do much development on firmware.
interesting :)

I hope it remains within your expectations and not to have to return it this time too .. good luck
 
interesting :)

I hope it remains within your expectations and not to have to return it this time too .. good luck
Thanks do provide feedback on your video and cam experience, who knows in 2 years time i might need to upgrade the cam myself and can afford an expensive one then :).
 
Thanks do provide feedback on your video and cam experience, who knows in 2 years time i might need to upgrade the cam myself and can afford an expensive one then :).
lol , yes I will :)
 
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