Parking Mode - Auto Event Detection Issue, Happens when its too hot, Stuck in Black Screen and red recording light is Blinking.

[bwings]

Just bought Viofo A129 Plus Duo, Installed with HK3 Kit, 256GB Original Samsung Evo+ SDCard, everything works as it should be, except for the auto event detection in parking mode. No issue when parked at garage overnight with auto event detection, it turned on normally when I start my car in the morning, but when I park my car at open area, even in 8:30am when its relatively cold, its stuck at black screen, red recording led blinking, I cant turn it on/off, button still beeps when pressed, but screen remain off and non-responsive. I have to unplug the cable to turn off the blinking led, and after I plug the cable back in everything is working again. I checked with my thermogun pointing directly to the camera, and the temperature is 42 Celcius. When I set to Low Bitrate or Time Lapse Parking Mode, no error appeared, even when I park in the sunny open area at 1pm at 55-60 Celcius.

I think this issue is software related, the temperature cut-off threshold in auto event detection is set to too low, @viofo should have tested this before they release the software.
Firmware is V1.0(20200925)

 

[kamkar]

4K cameras are the hottest cameras, so they have even larger problems doing parking guard in a hot environment, i would have advised against this system if you had asked me before you got it.
But TBH after having felt on my own body how hot it can be where you live, i would have a hard time thinking any camera could deal with that, at least if parked outside in the sun, inside a parking garage or under a roof in shade at least i would say maybe for a better suited system.

I know CCTV cameras are sitting in the sun all day and seem to deal with that just fine, i am not quite sure how they are able to do that, but they are.

 

[bwings]

I am aware that 4K dashcams tend to be easily overheated, FYI I have set the recording quality to the lowest and that didn't help one bit.

 

[SawMaster]

The hot climate of Malaysia doesn't play well with dashcams, especially parking modes mid-day. Even a lot of 2K cams will 'freeze up" or shut down at your temperatures. The most reliable cam for high heat is still the old original Mobius- not too good in low-light and no parking mode but it does have 'time-lapse' settings which will reduce the load on the processor so it runs a little cooler. The B1W also handles heat well but currently is having some other issues; it will get a new chipset in the next production run which may affect how well it handles heat so for now I would avoid it until we see what happens. These are single-channel cams and tend to run cooler than 2-channel cams. Street Guardian cams also handle heat very well, but parking modes are limited with their product line and again 2-channel cams will struggle more with the heat.

There is no easy answer here, and the A129 Plus isn't a good choice for hot climates as you've discovered. Perhaps you can return it for credit toward a cam better suited for your climate. I wish I had something more to offer you but dashcams and high heats do not go together well yet and it doesn't look like anything will be better in the future.

Phil

 

[pnguyen]

It happened to me in California more than 10 times already and the weather in my area was very cool during Fall, around 45-50F at night and 60-70F during daytime right now.

 

[themyst]

Just bought Viofo A129 Plus Duo, Installed with HK3 Kit, 256GB Original Samsung Evo+ SDCard, everything works as it should be, except for the auto event detection in parking mode. No issue when parked at garage overnight with auto event detection, it turned on normally when I start my car in the morning, but when I park my car at open area, even in 8:30am when its relatively cold, its stuck at black screen, red recording led blinking, I cant turn it on/off, button still beeps when pressed, but screen remain off and non-responsive. I have to unplug the cable to turn off the blinking led, and after I plug the cable back in everything is working again. I checked with my thermogun pointing directly to the camera, and the temperature is 42 Celcius. When I set to Low Bitrate or Time Lapse Parking Mode, no error appeared, even when I park in the sunny open area at 1pm at 55-60 Celcius.

I think this issue is software related, the temperature cut-off threshold in auto event detection is set to too low, @viofo should have tested this before they release the software.
Firmware is V1.0(20200925)

Yes, same problem on my camera. I got this camera strictly for auto event detection but if it crashes in the middle of the night, it's useless. I am using Time Lapse as I did on my old A119 Pro for now, but would much rather VIOFO actually fix the problem. Have they even acknowledged this issue?

 

[Mtz]

The problem is not heat, it is a firmware bug. I made so many tests regarding this and I can confirm it is a bug. Don't waste your time with more tests, just use Time lapse or Low bitrate setting when using Parking Mode and wait for a firmware fix.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[Meanevil]

I hv the same issue. I thought my problem is isolated case until read this thread. I just updated my firmware today. After update, my front cam v 1.4, rearcam v1.3 20201210. Are my rearcam updated? Hope the latest solve this issue

 

[sn809]

I hv the same issue. I thought my problem is isolated case until read this thread. I just updated my firmware today. After update, my front cam v 1.4, rearcam v1.3 20201210. Are my rearcam updated? Hope the latest solve this issue

Si senor @Meanevil both are updated to the latest.