Nextbase 402g battery replacement/ ls430

mark001

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Does anyone know how to replace the battery in this unit / dismantle. And what is the battery spec to source for a replacement ?

Thanks in advance

Mark
 
I'm guessing you bought this from Halfords over a year ago, so the Warranty has expired?

It's tolerable if the battery of a £30 G1W fails after a year or so. It's not acceptable when the battery fails in a £130 Nextbase 402, & the critical final clip being recorded when external power is cut isn't saved.

Under UK Law, your rights don't end when the 1 Year Warranty expires...

http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2013/10/22/how-long-do-you-have-to-take-faulty-goods-back/

I think you're entitled to expect your DashCam to function for at least a couple of years. Exercise your rights.

Also, make a mental note to buy a capacitor-based dashcam next time...
 
The unit I have was a gift, and the person who bought it thinks it was well over 12 months ago. The battery has now gone faulty and I assume these must be available somewhere to buy as long as I can get inside it
 
Thats what I am trying to do. just got to work out how it opens up
 
I don't have one to look at but there is likely some screws in the top mount section, other than that the two halves of the shell just clip together, bit of pressure and your fingernails around the seam would normally get things apart
 
Ok, same problem with me. The lithium polymer battery seems to have failed after nearly a year and because of that the GPS loses its 'last location' data and takes ages to lock as it does not know, on Earth, where you are and, in fact, will not lock when moving so unless you are prepared to start the car and sit for ages until GPS lock happens you will not get speed or location data.

So I have opened up the unit, that was fun, and found the battery, identified one on ebay and will let you know how I get on.


Z.
 
64FC8T.jpg
 
Claim under Guarantee?
1 month to go and bought through Amazon so the 'too hard' light came on and as I am an Electronics Engineer I thought I would sort this out myself - hopefully :D


Z.
 
How do you go about opening it up. I have ordered a replacement battery to replace it with so just got to work out dismantlin now.
Had to put my marcus 5 in until I repair it. Good unit just a ball ache with all the cables to remove the unit when it's parked up
 
1 month to go and bought through Amazon so the 'too hard' light came on...

My personal experience of claims through Amazon has been hassle-free, which is partly why I continue to do business with the tax-dodging effers.

You're their ideal customer ... the product develops a fault within the guarantee period yet you try to fix it yourself ... if your efforts fail you cannot then claim under Guarantee as you're in breach of it's terms, conditions & limitations. Win-win for Amazon.
 
How do you go about opening it up. I have ordered a replacement battery to replace it with so just got to work out dismantlin now.
Had to put my marcus 5 in until I repair it. Good unit just a ball ache with all the cables to remove the unit when it's parked up

Remove the four small screws that hold the top half of the the top support on and remove top piece, gently ease out the gps module and remove the four screws that hold the base part to the main unit. This does not hold the two halves of the case together but it makes prizing it apart easier. Oh watch the black screws you remove the ones that hold the base to the main unit are slightly longer than those that hold the top part on.

Turn the unit over and with a blunt knife or strong fingernail etc prize the bottom apart and try and put matchstick ends or similar to keep the case open as you work around to the sides and the top. It came apart pretty easily and my photo above shows the opened case.

The Lithium polymer battery is stuck to the main board by a double sided sticky pad.

I measured the charging volts on the battery, over 4 volts, and the battery did retain volts with the unit switched off but as soon as I tried to power the unit on battery alone the volts would dip and the unit would go into a mad cycle on turning on… screen on… power consumption rises… battery volts fall… unit turns off… battery volts recover…unit back on…. and repeat.

Looked on ebay for a suitable battery but won't know if I have sorted it until I replace it


Z.
 
My personal experience of claims through Amazon has been hassle-free, which is partly why I continue to do business with the tax-dodging effers.

You're their ideal customer ... the product develops a fault within the guarantee period yet you try to fix it yourself ... if your efforts fail you cannot then claim under Guarantee as you're in breach of it's terms, conditions & limitations. Win-win for Amazon.

Yes , I know I have/had consumer rights etc and if it had been in the first few months I would have made more of an effort but I am quite happy to sort it myself especially as the odds are it will happen again with the next battery. I am a bit suspicious of their charging circuitry. You have to treat Lithium Polymer batteries a lot kinder than the old NiCads or even NiMH and if you just crudely apply a current limited charging voltage they will not last as long as they should.

Z.
 
Incidentally the part number on the battery "402035P" seems to mean 4mm thick by 20mm wide by 35mm long although mine measures around 30mm.


Z.
 
Right… sorted :D … I have a few 4mm x 20mm x 35mm batteries on order but I realised last night that I had a couple of spare 6mm thick batteries that came with my little quad-copter from Maplin's. The original battery has a small rubber space piece stuck to the 'top' which easily makes up the total thickness to 6mm so I de-soldered the old battery, taped up the flying leads to stop them shorting… cut the little connector off the the new battery, one wire at a time! … soldered in the new one and it works.

I did noticed that the old battery would allow a the charging volts to go above 4.1volts. This new battery holds to around 3.8volts which is more like it for a 3.7v lithium polymer.

Anyway after a quick charge the 402G runs on battery for the max timeout period I can set.

I will probably have some spare 4mm batteries some time in August :D


Z.
 
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Zaphod, I've searched in vain for these batteries. Can you tell us where you bought them from? Thanks.
 
Zaphod, I've searched in vain for these batteries. Can you tell us where you bought them from? Thanks.

How long did yours last?

I had a bad feeling about the 402G when mine suffered from battery failure after just a few months, during a hot spell in summer.
It does seem as if Nextbase/DOD have taken a 'just enough and no more than that' approach to the battery, which is small by many dashcam standards, so probably has very little spare capacity to cope with degradation caused by baking in a hot car.

So when I returned mine I asked for refund rather than repair or replace. A pity because the video quality was very good.
 
Hmmmm. About 10 months. However it's now 14 months old so ineligible for a refund. I don't really mind the fact that the battery has gone AWOL if it just didn't go through the hideous routine of powering off/on/off/on/off/on/off every time I switch the car ignition off.
 
Hmmmm. About 10 months. However it's now 14 months old so ineligible for a refund. I don't really mind the fact that the battery has gone AWOL if it just didn't go through the hideous routine of powering off/on/off/on/off/on/off every time I switch the car ignition off.

If the battery is failing it won't save the last file properly. Take a look at the last file for each journey you've made with the cam and you'll see it's either not there or there's a damaged/unreadable file.

Not saving the last file properly is significant because the last file will be the one in progress when you're in an accident (a major reason for having a dashcam) - and many modern cars cut power if they detect an accident, while the shock of the impact, or an airbag inflating can dislodge the power cable from the cam, or the car battery/electrics could be damaged in an accident which then cuts the power etc.
 
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