Of my nine 0806's, I finally found one with a problem...

[erkme73]

Turns out it's not the camera, but the GPS mount. There are four spring-loaded pins on the base. They're tiny, needle like protrusions that compress inward when the camera is slid onto the mount. When removed, the pins pop back up again.

Well, on the 9th unit (forward-facing camera for my RV) I was having real issues. Not only was the green GPS light not even blinking (stayed dark entirely), but when powering the camera through either of the two µUSB ports on the mount, the camera would power up just long enough to get to the live view, and the promptly shut down. The camera would stay powered and record just fine if the USB cable was plugged directly into the camera.

Upon closer inspection, with either young eyes, or a magnifying glass, you can see that one of the pins is staying in the retracted position. I tried to get it to pop back out (and buggered up the mount in the process), but no go. Gonna send an email to the seller to see what they recommend.

FWIW, when I put this camera in any of the other mounts, it worked 100% - so it's clearly the mount pins.

Just a heads up if your camera starts to get gremlins. We already know to suspect the battery and possibly faulty µSD card - but put this in your differential as well - defective pins...

 

[RavenManiac]

Good tip. Thanks for sharing.

Sorry about your mount though. I would think the reseller would be more than happy to replace the mount since you're likely his best customer.

 

[kilgetty]

Not only was the green GPS light not even blinking (stayed dark entirely),

My Green light does not appear to come on at all, although GPS works OK. Could you tell me :-
1/. When the Green light should be OFF
2/. When the Green light should BLINK
3/. When the Green light should be ON

 

[Deleted member 46308]

since you're likely his best customer.

With 9 cameras, I would think so for sure

 

[Sunny]

Try spraying some wd40 or deoxit.

 

[erkme73]

My Green light does not appear to come on at all, although GPS works OK. Could you tell me :-
1/. When the Green light should be OFF
2/. When the Green light should BLINK
3/. When the Green light should be ON

One mine the green light is out unless I'm recording. Then it starts blinking to indicate the GPS mount is attached and it's actively trying to acquire satellite lock (you should also see a small satellite symbol with a red line through it on the screen). Once it acquires lock, the flashing green goes solid (ON) and the satellite symbol loses the red line.

 

[HEZEUS]

Turns out it's not the camera, but the GPS mount. There are four spring-loaded pins on the base. They're tiny, needle like protrusions that compress inward when the camera is slid onto the mount. When removed, the pins pop back up again.

Well, on the 9th unit (forward-facing camera for my RV) I was having real issues. Not only was the green GPS light not even blinking (stayed dark entirely), but when powering the camera through either of the two µUSB ports on the mount, the camera would power up just long enough to get to the live view, and the promptly shut down. The camera would stay powered and record just fine if the USB cable was plugged directly into the camera.

Upon closer inspection, with either young eyes, or a magnifying glass, you can see that one of the pins is staying in the retracted position. I tried to get it to pop back out (and buggered up the mount in the process), but no go. Gonna send an email to the seller to see what they recommend.

FWIW, when I put this camera in any of the other mounts, it worked 100% - so it's clearly the mount pins.

Just a heads up if your camera starts to get gremlins. We already know to suspect the battery and possibly faulty µSD card - but put this in your differential as well - defective pins...

View attachment 15808

You have 9 Mini 0806?
Are you Rayman Chang's brother in law?

 

[Deleted member 46308]

You have 9 Mini 0806?
Are you Rayman Chang's brother in law?

 

[erkme73]

Thought I would keep my experiences with my my 0806 together in this thread. Last week I started getting some peculiar shut downs of the four cameras in my truck. Initially it was just one or two, but quickly it escalated to all four shutting down at the same time.

Unlike my other vehicle, where I ran 12V to each camera, and installed a 12V to 5V regulator at each location, in my truck, I had just one voltage regulator (mounted above the roof console behind the headliner) - with dedicated 5V USB cables heading to each camera location. That voltage regulator is rated at 2A w/o heat sink, and 3A max with a heat sink. I did not install a heat sink, but assumed (based on each camera pulling right around 500ma) the combined load of all four would be very near the 2A max. ASSume, I did.

Figuring the current was likely too much for the regulator, I ordered this one from Amazon.




Rated at 10A, I should have no issues driving 4 cameras, and then some. After installing the new regulator, I still had some shutdowns. Since I'd only installed the regulator with crimp connectors (the wrong size, no less), I took the time to solder/heat-shrink the cables. All problems resolved.

Today I installed (temporarily) this cheap panel-mount volt/ammeter from my project box - just to verify that the regulator output was consistent, and of course, to see how far off my current estimate was.



The output of the regulator is rock solid (deviating by no more than 2 100th's of a volt). The current, depending on what the cameras are doing and how long they've been on, will run anywhere from 2.10 to 2.55A. Clearly that was too much for the 2A regulator w/o the heat sink. It also didn't help that it was installed in what is probably the hottest part of the truck (directly under the roof).

Anyway, this photo of the installed meter is just something to get RavenManiac excited. And, of course, to confirm that all 9 of my cameras are still working 100%.

 

[RavenManiac]

Very cool. So how long were the four Mini 0806's in your truck before you began to experience these weird shutdown problems?

So, if I understand this, you've used the 5V output terminals of the voltage converter/regulator to wire all four dash cams in parallel. And since you're using USB cables to transfer the power you had to cutoff part of each USB cable to expose the wires and attach it to the regulator, correct?

 

[erkme73]

They've been in the truck since I bought them. My guess is the regulator just finally started to burn out. I had no issues until last week.

Yes, I used a microUSB cable, cut the end off, and tied all the reds together, all the whites together, and then that into the output of the regulator.

My initial concern with 5v is that if you go too far, the voltage drop will below whatever the 0806 needs. That's why I ran separate regulators at the cameras in the Highlander. By the time I did my truck, I got lazy (and had run out of regulators) so I tried it with one. It worked, just not long term. Now with a full 10A overhead on the new regulator, I'm confident my power issues are behind me.

 

[RavenManiac]

This is good information. As you know, some owners have complained about their mini's shutting down or restarting unexpectedly, so, based on your findings, that could indicate that they're having some type of a power issue as well.

I take it that even though the voltmeter/amp meter is wired before the load (i.e. dash cams) it will still indicate a drop in either measurement if there's a problem, correct?

 

[erkme73]

You could wire it either before or after the regulator. I wanted to be certain the camera was receiving consistent and stable 5V. Current tells me whether any of the cameras are pulling more than they should.

 

[HEZEUS]

Thought I would keep my experiences with my my 0806 together in this thread. Last week I started getting some peculiar shut downs of the four cameras in my truck. Initially it was just one or two, but quickly it escalated to all four shutting down at the same time.

Unlike my other vehicle, where I ran 12V to each camera, and installed a 12V to 5V regulator at each location, in my truck, I had just one voltage regulator (mounted above the roof console behind the headliner) - with dedicated 5V USB cables heading to each camera location. That voltage regulator is rated at 2A w/o heat sink, and 3A max with a heat sink. I did not install a heat sink, but assumed (based on each camera pulling right around 500ma) the combined load of all four would be very near the 2A max. ASSume, I did.

Figuring the current was likely too much for the regulator, I ordered this one from Amazon.

View attachment 17047


Rated at 10A, I should have no issues driving 4 cameras, and then some. After installing the new regulator, I still had some shutdowns. Since I'd only installed the regulator with crimp connectors (the wrong size, no less), I took the time to solder/heat-shrink the cables. All problems resolved.

Today I installed (temporarily) this cheap panel-mount volt/ammeter from my project box - just to verify that the regulator output was consistent, and of course, to see how far off my current estimate was.

View attachment 17049

The output of the regulator is rock solid (deviating by no more than 2 100th's of a volt). The current, depending on what the cameras are doing and how long they've been on, will run anywhere from 2.10 to 2.55A. Clearly that was too much for the 2A regulator w/o the heat sink. It also didn't help that it was installed in what is probably the hottest part of the truck (directly under the roof).

Anyway, this photo of the installed meter is just something to get RavenManiac excited. And, of course, to confirm that all 9 of my cameras are still working 100%.

View attachment 17048

Excellent info
Thank you