Parking mode is not working

e1.

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Location
Bratislava
Country
Slovakia
Dash Cam
Thinkware F770 2-channel
Hi Guys!

I'm new here, and I'm also a newbie dashcamer. A month ago I bought an F770 with 2nd camera and hardwiring. Because I don't have my own garage, outside is below 0°C and I also haven't enough experience with electronic installations in cars, I let a local company install it. It took them 2,5 hours with hardwiring and camera positioning. The guys who made the installation said, the wires are connected directly to the back of the fuse box. The car is 2012 Skoda Fabia II (5J), what is technically something like VW Polo/Club.

First everything seemed ok, but when I checked the memory card after few days, it seems, the cameras are always in continuous recording mode, and it doesn't switching to parking mode. When the engine is started, the voltage is around 14,0-14,4 V, when it's off, it is around 12,2-12,3 V. My question is: what's wrong?
Thank you for your help.


P.s.: Firmware is updated (v1.00.06).
 
I think the first thing would be to return to the people who fitted the camera. If it is always in continuous, then the camera has been wired up incorrectly.

Incorrectly being the wrong wire to the wrong fuse, or the wrong fuse being chosen in the first place.

The cable labelled BATT should be connected to a continuous live feed with the cable labelled ACC connected to a feed that is only live when the ignition is on.

An example on my car is:

BATT to 12V power socket fuse which is live always
ACC to rear wiper fuse which only works once the ignition is on.
 
Thank you for quick answer.
Do you now which cable is ACC and which is the BATT? There were 3 cables, red, yellow and black. I think the yellow was the ACC, red the BATT, but I'm not sure. Thanks.
 
The black cable forms the earth. This will more than likely be connected to a bolt on the car body.

The colours for red and yellow seem to have changed recently so it's best to follow the labels. There should have been tags along the cable showing the description.

There could be the chance that you have a cable where the colours have changed and the installer has just assumed without reading the labels?

Can you access the fuse box yourself and swap the two locations over and see what happens?
 
I can access the fuse box, but the mechanic said, the cable is connected to the back side of the fusebox, and that is no accessible for me. I will go back to the garage, where the cams were installed, but not this week, because outside is -5°C and I have tracheitis. :-/
 
The parking mode is working now, but I still have a little problem. When I switch the ignition on (but I'm not starting), the camera reboots. It plays the melody, the continuous recording starts, then the GPS is on, and after that it switches back to parking mode. It's awkward. o_O
 
If someone can actually check the powers supplies at the plug at the camera end they should be as attached. It def doesn't sound right....

P.S. A paperclip is perfect size to fit up the middle pin
 

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I was in the car to check the plug and the circuits with voltmeter when the engine is on and off, and I think, I shorted something. o_O First I detected 13,7 V on the permanent circuit, whit started engine. After that nothing. Then I plugged back the camera, and it's not working. F**k, f**k, f****k!!! :mad:Logically, the camera is ok, but probably I connected something wrong when I manipulated with that multimeter and the paperclip. It's hard to check that 10 cm cable near the mirror, with multimeter which contact cables are 30 cm long. Definitely not my day. :(
 
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I don't know to which circuit/fuse is the camera connected, so my answer is no. Of course, I checked the fusebox, but the hard wiring is not visible because it was connected to the fusebox from the others side. I saw the electrician when he get the complete fusebox out of it's place under the dash. I think, the solution is: getting new HWC, and let another electrician remove the old one and install the new like I want it. With that overpriced cable it will be another 80-100 €. :mad:

BTW, the Thinkware company pissed me to, because there is not a f**king word about HWC installation in the F770 user manual.
 
I did mine myself as I Googled the installation from forums. The best way to connect is by piggyback fuse connectors and not the back of the fuse box as this sounds like a soldering job, the acc wire needs to be off a fuse that is switched and the battery wire a permanent fuse, piggyback fuses need to be connected the correct way as to break the current when a fuse blows, I used a bulb and some wire to test which fuses to use and double checked everything before connection, a bit of head scratching and all works as it should.
 
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The new genuine hardwire kit is at home (f**king expensive), and I bought also the piggyback fuse connectors (if you want them fast, expensive to). I tested them at home with a 12V UPS battery. The camera is switching between continuous and parking modes, but when I switched it to continuous mode (I connected the ACC to the battery, BATT was still connected), there is a jingle, like when the dash cam is booting up. Is it a normal behavior?

P.s.: Derek, thank you for the tip for the piggyback fuse connectors.
 
Yes the 'Jingle' when it goes from parking mode to normal recording mode is Normal.
 
This cams definitely needs a better firmware with more options to configure sounds/jingles/alerts/volume levels/etc. Is there a way to ask Thinkware to make a better firmware with more options?
 
I have mentioned a couple of things to them, i don't think it will happen to be honest. To be fair you get used to sounds after a few weeks anyway and they become background noise. I also agree with Thinkware that the camera should always make some sounds as that way you know if something has gone wrong with the camera. If i had a pound for every call i have had when people have an incident (with other makes of dashcam) then when they try to view the footage there's no recording for the last few weeks. Perhaps because the camera has failed or the memory card corrupted and the driver wasn't aware. At least with sounds you would pick up your not hearing the start up Jingle and can get it investigated.
 
Even with sounds people get used to them after a few weeks as you said and can effectively tune out and still miss the warning signs, better than not having them but still missed by many
 
The problem is, I live in Slovakia, and the roads here are in bad condition, so the camera is always beeping, because it is detecting shocks. The beeps are very annoying, but I can't turn them off, because I wanna know that the cams working. But I don't need the jingle, or talks from the camera. Two short beeps for continuous recording started, and one short for parking mode is enough for me. I also don't need to know about GPS status. It's logical that the GPS will lost the signal in garages or tunnels, and then when I get out from them, the signal will be detected. Only things what I need to know by word, is the number of recorded parking incidents when I starting the car, with a minimum 5 minutes long recording on the SD card, and information about problems with the SD card.
The very loud "manual recording started" messages on the footages are also very annoying. I pressed the button, so a silent and short beep is enough as feedback. But when the manual recording is ending, there is no alert about that. If I need to manually make a longer recording I need to push the button every minute, what is not ideal when I'm talking to the police officer.
I'm happy with the camera, but there are too many of these stupid little things (I can write dozens of them), which are ruin the whole user experience of Thinkware cams. And do you know what is pissing me of most? These are just software things. Everything what is needed is "just" a little firmware and software optimization/update.
 
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Agree, the F770 has so much potential to be perfect but its the little things that really wreck the experience.

Thinkware is rigid when it comes to software development and their settings, so I advise anyone looking at thinkware products to research extensively and see how the product works day in and day out because its the little things that will annoy the hell out of you.
 
I a unhappy Blackvue user and have been monitoring this forum as the form factor of the F770 is appealing. But, I see more negative and some outright scary comments that make me seriously question my next camera.
 
You must remember that people that are satisfied with their Thinkware Cameras seldom post on these forums. They are the happy campers. It is the prople that are having problems or are dissatisfied that post here.

While it might seem like a lot are having problems, if you look at the number of products in use, the percentage is actually very small.

I have a F750 (converted to F770) and two F50s. All three are performing as advertised.

My main reason for choosing Thinkware is the Buffered Parking Mode, which works flawlessly.

I use 128GB (LEXAR 633x) SD Cards in all three cams, and have no problems. It seems that most of the problems arise when people try to use "budget" SC Cards, or ones that have not been found to work.

Just my $0.02

RodeoGeorge
 
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