Not a Happy Camper with the A139

[sanhwy]

I have the same problem described on this topic

The Viofo a139 camera freezes and gets hot when it's sunny

The Viofo a139 camera is set to parking mode: Auto Event detection and uses the "Kingston Canvas Go Plus MicroSDXC 256 GB UHS-I CL10" memory card. When it is sunny outside, the Viofo a139 heats up very much inside the car and it restarts until it freezes. I contacted the people from viofo but I...

dashcamtalk.com

 

[kamkar]

My camera are not freezing it just seem to shut town.

The little red lightning are cooking right now, though it is not as warm as a Danish summer can be, and not even talking extremes here.




I am confident the SG9663DR will be recording, but i dont think it is in direct sunshine only its front camera, but the A139 are sitting there in the windscreen cooking ( i am using low bitrate for parking mode on both cameras )

 

[HonestReview]

I want to clarify 2 things.

1. I'm not being argumentative. I'm trying to create data points that can be replicated versus speculative data points.

2. We now Have TWO Hypothesis to test.

Scenario 1: Camera is placed in direct sunlight. Wait and See if your camera Shuts down and last files being written to are corrupted due to camera overheating (Front, Rear, and Interior - All 3 Files).

Scenario 2: I have made a Video of ejecting the Memory Card. While the Last Written files are indeed corrupt, ejecting the Memory Card Creates a Specific Pattern before the Camera Shuts Down. Here is a video of that pattern.

So I need to figure out how to catch the camera while powering down to see if the shutdown process REPLICATES Memory Card Removal (I.E. Memory Card Overheating) or if the Camera Shutdown is different to the ejecting a Memory Card (simulating Card Overheating).

Video of Ejecting Card.

 

[HonestReview]

I have the same problem described on this topic

The Viofo a139 camera freezes and gets hot when it's sunny

The Viofo a139 camera is set to parking mode: Auto Event detection and uses the "Kingston Canvas Go Plus MicroSDXC 256 GB UHS-I CL10" memory card. When it is sunny outside, the Viofo a139 heats up very much inside the car and it restarts until it freezes. I contacted the people from viofo but I...

dashcamtalk.com

So let me ask you, as I want to be 100% clear we are both on the same page.

1. On a hot day, your camera powers off completely.
2. You come out to your car and find the last written files for the front, rear, and interior are corrupt and the camera is powered down.

Do you experience both these issues?

 

[HonestReview]

Just out of curiosity: @HonestReview @kamkar I think both of you do have hardwire-kit, am I right? After A139 gets overheated does the signal from HWK to change a mode do anything about it or is the camera dead until human interaction?

Mine is dead, and remains dead, until I intervene by either turning camera back on manually or starting the car.

What do you think it happens when card is overheated? Do you think it's going to wait until the last file is done writing..? Since the camera doesn't like even a bare ejection, to assume it dies when a card connection issue due to being overheated occurs, is not that far from reality.

Which is why we now have 2 Hypothesis to test!

 

[kamkar]

Just been looking over the memory cards from the A139 and my SG9663DR

The A139 was pretty easy to deal with, it had generated 13 full 3 minute parking files, and a 14 one that was just a few seconds. ( so not even 1 hour recorded )
On the other hand the SG9663DR was still recording in parking mode when i got back to my car +4 hour later.

Difference aside for memory cards ( sandisk high endurance in SG camera ) is the mounting, the A139 it roasting on the windscreen, the SG9663DR is draped over my center console in front of the gear stick.
This was direct sunlight, for the A139, the SG9663DR i dont think got any direct light, and that i think is the deal breaker.
To verify it is not some bug, when it get dark and colder i will initiate another 6 hour parking cycle for the A139 and see how it like that for size.
I am turning off parking guard for my SG9663DR again, clearly it work as it should, the A139 probably do so too, just it can not cope with the heat and so it shut down.
I have mentioned remote systems for people in hot places looking for a camera to do parking guard, i really think it is the only solution for that problem i assume all conventional cameras suffer from.

 

[kamkar]

you have to turn off the camera before ejecting the memory card, or at the least stop recording, no wonder last files are corrupted if the card if yanked before the video can be written
Personally i turn off the A139, or if it have gone into parking where buttons do not work i pull the power plug to turn it off, then i eject memory card

 

[HonestReview]

you have to turn off the camera before ejecting the memory card, or at the least stop recording, no wonder last files are corrupted if the card if yanked before the video can be written
Personally i turn off the A139, or if it have gone into parking where buttons do not work i pull the power plug to turn it off, then i eject memory card

You misunderstand why I made the video. @Nath is suggesting that Ejecting the Video Card while Camera is recording simulates the SD card (not camera) overheating. As it results in the last files being written (Front, interior, rear) being corrupted.

So the Hypothesis Nath has proposed is that the Memory Card (SD Card) is at fault for the shutting down of the camera per the video, not the camera itself overheating.

 

[Nath]

Which is why we now have 2 Hypothesis to test!

Yeah, I've noticed that.

you have to turn off the camera before ejecting the memory card, or at the least stop recording, no wonder last files are corrupted if the card if yanked before the video can be written
Personally i turn off the A139, or if it have gone into parking where buttons do not work i pull the power plug to turn it off, then i eject memory card

Blame on me! Sure it's not scientific but it was an alternative way to find out how the camera acts when SDcard "fails". But this idea is a bit off when it is taken into account that your isn't corrupting files, which means it probably shuts down properly.

 

[kamkar]

Aaaa okay.
I would not do that, yanking a card like that from a camera or a card reader on a PC can kill it

 

[kamkar]

Indeed no corupted files here, unless they are hiding very well, but last files in recording sessions are in order here, driving or parking.

 

[Nath]

Aaaa okay.
I would not do that, yanking a card like that from a camera or a card reader on a PC can kill it

Nah, it can only corrupt the file system on the card, nothing serious.

 

[kamkar]

If people are only getting corrupt files in parking mode, that is confusing me, if they was there in regular recording i am inclined to guess it would be a capacitor issue then.
But if it is only during parking it must be something else.

 

[Nath]

Well the problem is that the heat protection could be set fairly high and on a low level, which means it just interrupts/stops everything in an instant to protect the HW from damage (capacitor can't do anything about it, nor safe it). Something similar to a normal PC (don't mind throttling now) where when you hit a critical temperature your PC just shuts down without notice or giving you an option to save your unfinished work.

 

[Nigel]

Mine is dead, and remains dead, until I intervene by either turning camera back on manually or starting the car.

How do you turn the camera on manually?
If you do it using the power button then it is not dead, just waiting for someone to press the button.

 

[HonestReview]

How do you turn the camera on manually?
If you do it using the power button then it is not dead, just waiting for someone to press the button.

Dear lord @Nigel, stop being so literal! The camera itself has TURNED OFF and REMAINS OFF until I either:

1. Hold the Power Button Down on Camera to turn on the Camera
2. Start my car

Without human intervention the camera does not restart or power back up on its own!

 

[Nigel]

Dear lord @Nigel, stop being so literal! The camera itself has TURNED OFF and REMAINS OFF until I either:

1. Hold the Power Button Down on Camera to turn on the Camera
2. Start my car

Without human intervention the camera does not restart or power back up on its own!

In that case, it seems like it has intentionally shut down and is waiting.

If it had crashed, or died then it wouldn't wake up again for your 1. or 2.

Just need to work out why it decided to shut down...

If it was a temperature triggered shut down then I would expect it to wake up again when the temperature cooled, but I don't know that it does...

 

[HonestReview]

In that case, it seems like it has intentionally shut down and is waiting.

If it had crashed, or died then it wouldn't wake up again for your 1. or 2.

Just need to work out why it decided to shut down...

If it was a temperature triggered shut down then I would expect it to wake up again when the temperature cooled, but I don't know that it does...

See above for Hypothesis #1 and #2 on why the camera may be shutting down.

Hypothesis #1 - Heat Triggered and isn't programmed to restart upon cool down. The Zenfox T3 didn't restart either after overheating. It remained off.

Hypothesis #2 - MicroSD card is overheating, and that causes camera to power down without restarting.

 

[HonestReview]

When I get a day the weather should be "OK" to bring about overheating, and I have time, here's exactly my plan.

I have an old 480P camcorder that writes to DVD. Nothing high tech but should be sufficient. I'm going to set it up to record while my car is in direct sunlight. Hopefully this will continue working, as cell phones have a tendency to overheat, too.

Goal will be to try and capture the moment the camera turns off and the cycle it takes when turning off.

 

[kamkar]

I can offer the chime when it shut down, push come to shove i can probably also relocate the front DR camera so it film the A139, but it will be close and i fear out of focus.