Personal hotspot auto connect

[Hyundai kona 2024]

Is the f800 ment to automatically connect or do you have to do it manually every time as I’ve been having to do

 

[TKSX]

It is meant to auto connect to personal hot spot.

 

[Hyundai kona 2024]

Thanks il give it another go later.probbley me being impatient

 

[Peter Ang]

For me, it auto connects to my phone hotspot provided it is not in parking mode as even with the latest firmware, once in parking mode, WiFi and GPS is still switched off.

 

[Hyundai kona 2024]

For me, it auto connects to my phone hotspot provided it is not in parking mode as even with the latest firmware, once in parking mode, WiFi and GPS is still switched off.

do i need to turn off parking mode then even when the car is left parked

 

[Peter Ang]

do i need to turn off parking mode then even when the car is left parked

No that is not what I meant. If you turn off parking mode and the car is parked with the engine off, the dashcam is obviously effectively completely switched off so there will be no connection whatsoever.

What I meant is for the cloud features to work in parking mode, WiFi should obviously be kept on. Otherwise obviously it too cannot auto connect to any hotspot accessible from the car so the cloud features will not work. The latest firmware v1.01.01 updated on 2017-11-08 still turns WiFi off in parking mode as I can see the WiFi led turns off (GPS too) and I then cannot connect to the dashcam anymore, not even pressing the WiFi button.

When the car is running, the dashcam will be in continuous mode with WiFi turned on and for my case, it auto connects to my phone hotspot as I will hear the announcement it connects to the internet. Only hotspot has internet.

Only for direct/peer-to-peer WiFi mode do we need to manually press the WiFi button on the dashcam before connecting from the app using WiFi mode option and in this mode it does not serves internet and thus the announcement is "connected to WiFi" instead of "connected to the internet".

The above is only my limited understanding from the few days of meddling with it.

 

[Peter Ang]

Only for direct/peer-to-peer WiFi mode do we need to manually press the WiFi button on the dashcam before connecting from the app using WiFi mode option and in this mode it does not serves internet and thus the announcement is "connected to WiFi" instead of "connected to the internet".

I may have been inaccurate to state the announcement when connected in WiFi mode is "connected to WiFi"... it should be "connected to smartphone".

 

[Hyundai kona 2024]

ok just done a firmware update and the f800 is connected automatically to personal hotspot.
i have done this on a 12volt transformer in the house so all wifi ect signals are very good. we shall see what happens when i put it back in the car,
fingers crossed

just spoken to some on dashwitness chat . they say to get the cloud option to work you need a wifi dongle in your car ,?????

https://www.dashwitness.com/blog/thinkware-f800-air/

 

[Peter Ang]

ok just done a firmware update and the f800 is connected automatically to personal hotspot.
i have done this on a 12volt transformer in the house so all wifi ect signals are very good. we shall see what happens when i put it back in the car,
fingers crossed

just spoken to some on dashwitness chat . they say to get the cloud option to work you need a wifi dongle in your car ,?????

https://www.dashwitness.com/blog/thinkware-f800-air/

Previous v1.00.02 firmware already supports manually specifying a SSID and password under hotspot connection. I tried it once from the multi-storey carpark next to my apartment and when my smartphone hotspot was turned off, I heard the F800 Pro announced "connected to the internet". However, from inside the car possibly due to the glass as well as the short range of the F800 Pro WiFi, the signal was too weak to conduct further test. Just outside the car, I could connect to my Home Wifi from my smartphone. So I guess it will be a challenge to rely on external WiFi signal outside the car such as home or free WiFi option instead of using a mobile hotspot inside the car.

I believe they are referring to a mobile WiFi router with a data plan from the telco that remains switched on and connected 24/7 inside the car. I used to do that when I was running a Car PC as a head unit when Android was not in the market. However, with smartphone and its own data plan, I no longer need it but if the cloud capabilities develop further to justify use cases, I might put one back in. I'm only interested in parking impact notification and perhaps live view over the cloud when parked. So since the car will mostly be parked at home or in the city where I live with free WiFi coverage, I was hoping it will suffice but I now doubt so.

 

[Hyundai kona 2024]

my hotspot will not connect in my garage unless i do it manually. it wont even connect from the hotspot as im driving up the road.
if i put in a wifi dongal as the dashwitness chat person said that would be on a switched live in the car as if i put it on a positive live surley it would drain my car battery
the only thing i can think of is putting a power bank in between the dongal and the swiched live
so when the car starts it charges the power bank as well as powering the wifi dongal,
DOSE THAT SOUND A GOOD IDEA???

 

[Peter Ang]

I have to reiterate I yet to have another opportunity to test if it will auto connect to any form of hotspots other than the smartphone's after the firmware update so perhaps someone else who has done so could better advise you.

 

[Hyundai kona 2024]

I have done a firmware update today but will still not automatically connect to personal hotspot,

 

[Edwin8484]

Previous v1.00.02 firmware already supports manually specifying a SSID and password under hotspot connection. I tried it once from the multi-storey carpark next to my apartment and when my smartphone hotspot was turned off, I heard the F800 Pro announced "connected to the internet". However, from inside the car possibly due to the glass as well as the short range of the F800 Pro WiFi, the signal was too weak to conduct further test. Just outside the car, I could connect to my Home Wifi from my smartphone. So I guess it will be a challenge to rely on external WiFi signal outside the car such as home or free WiFi option instead of using a mobile hotspot inside the car.

I believe they are referring to a mobile WiFi router with a data plan from the telco that remains switched on and connected 24/7 inside the car. I used to do that when I was running a Car PC as a head unit when Android was not in the market. However, with smartphone and its own data plan, I no longer need it but if the cloud capabilities develop further to justify use cases, I might put one back in. I'm only interested in parking impact notification and perhaps live view over the cloud when parked. So since the car will mostly be parked at home or in the city where I live with free WiFi coverage, I was hoping it will suffice but I now doubt so.

Can you explain the process in how to manually add an specific SSID to the Thinkware? I don’t seem to find this option under hotspot connection. I have a hotspot unit that’s always on in my car and I would like to have the camera always connected to this. Thanks

 

[Hyundai kona 2024]

I’ve brought one of these to see if that solves the problem
Huawei E5885 4G Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot

 

[Peter Ang]

Can you explain the process in how to manually add an specific SSID to the Thinkware? I don’t seem to find this option under hotspot connection. I have a hotspot unit that’s always on in my car and I would like to have the camera always connected to this. Thanks

In the Cloud version of the app, bottom right WiFi router icon name "Connection Settings", within it there will be a place to add SSID.

 

[Peter Ang]

I have done a firmware update today but will still not automatically connect to personal hotspot,

Didn't realise your post title state F800. Is your F800 or F800 Pro? Only the Pro has the cloud features so auto connect to hotspot might be only possible with the Pro. Otherwise, since Edwin8484 also seems to need manual SSID and password input, perhaps your auto connection in your home is actually to your smartphone's hotspot.

 

[Peter Ang]

I’ve brought one of these to see if that solves the problem
Huawei E5885 4G Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot

If yours is a Pro version but does not auto connect to even your smartphone's hotspot, I doubt this will help too.

 

[Peter Ang]

When I was at the dealer installing my Pro version, apparently some other customers smartphones were found to be incompatible to complete the setup so the installer had to use their own smartphone to complete it. It was something about hotspot connection as well.

 

[Peter Ang]

I'm not sure if this helps... initial set up of the Pro is via WiFi direct connection because even if you select hotspot connection, it will bring you to direct connection first only then followed by hotspot connection. After the set up, I realised if I press WiFi button to be in direct WiFi mode, pressing it the second time disconnects it and the Pro will attempt to search for hotspot connection and connect to my smartphone hotspot that I have already set up. Of course I didn't have to do that anymore. Once I get into the car to turn on the engine with my smartphone hotspot also turned on, I will hear "connected to the internet".

 

[Peter Ang]

Didn't realise your post title state F800. Is your F800 or F800 Pro? Only the Pro has the cloud features so auto connect to hotspot might be only possible with the Pro. Otherwise, since Edwin8484 also seems to need manual SSID and password input, perhaps your auto connection in your home is actually to your smartphone's hotspot.

You could also be connected via direct WiFi connection if yours is the non-pro version.