Q800Pro with Rear Cam - randomly rebooting

Strange.....the footage vanished yet was still giving you GPS based alerts. Feel free to DM us and we would be happy to exchange your unit again and we are going to run a full diagnostics test on your dash cam.

I don't think the footage vanished, I think it was NOT recorded to begin with (despite the tell-tale sign - double beep). I think when the camera is in this "weird" mode it only appears to be working but not actually recording anything (manual mode or otherwise)...
 
So here is the video of the camera initially "starting on the wrong foot" then once power-cycled, it starts working properly (and continues to do so for the next half hour). Please let me know if this properly documents what I've been trying to convey all along...

Please also let me know if this can be blamed on a wiring defect, a weak fuse tap or any other imperfection in the power supply circuit. I would also like to know what's the role of the built-in capacitor - if not for the camera to be able to "ride-through" momentary voltage dips?
Thanks for sharing the video. Is parking mode enabled? The camera is not going into parking mode. Notice how when the dash cam starts up you are not receiving the parking mode report. Do you have any parking mode videos? Also, which firmware version is your dash cam running?

The super capacitor powers the dashcam long enough to finished writing a video file if power is lost. This is to prevent corrupt footage. The super capacitor does not provide enough power to continuously act as a constant power source.
 
Thanks for sharing the video. Is parking mode enabled? The camera is not going into parking mode. Notice how when the dash cam starts up you are not receiving the parking mode report. Do you have any parking mode videos? Also, which firmware version is your dash cam running?

Parking Mode enabled and set for Energy Saving Mode. Camera is definitely going into parking mode about 30 seconds after shutting off the engine, this is confirmed by giving the car a good "shake" then camera will double-beep indicating it detected the shock and starts recording and blink the Red LED. It will only announce the parking mode report if there was an event while in parking mode.

Firmware is 1.02.01 and latest version (although it's now a year since released)...


The super capacitor powers the dashcam long enough to finished writing a video file if power is lost. This is to prevent corrupt footage. The super capacitor does not provide enough power to continuously act as a constant power source.

Trust me, I know what a super capacitor is and what it does. I use these in some of my own designs... I thought I was clear when I said "...to be able to "ride-through" momentary voltage dips". Did you miss the momentary part?
 
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Yep! Please reply to your current ticket with out support team and they will send you a new unit

Thanks for the offer, but still genuinely curious how was it determined that a brand new replacement is malfunctioning and needs replaced again... Because initially you were dead set on the "faulty wiring" theory, and kept insisting I test with the 12V cable. Did the video I provided, or any of the other symptoms I mentioned lead to this conclusion? Have you contacted tech support in Korea for their take on this?

So, just to summarize - behavior at engine start-up is VERY consistent and camera can randomly either:
1. start and work perfectly fine no matter the trip duration (no glitches, nothing, nada), manual recording and all other functions work or,
2. it APPEARS to start (blinks LEDs, makes announcements, GPS makes speed camera announcement, shock detection triggers, etc) BUT there is no recording (manual recording and ADAS warnings don't work either). It's like camera is completely "blind". If I power-cycle by holding the Power button pressed for about 5 seconds, then briefly press it again it starts EVERY TIME and it's back to case 1 above. One other difference - there is no "melody" when powering off, it just quietly shuts down. If I power off from case 1 above it will play a 2-3 seconds "melody" before shutting down
 
It is strange that the issue is still persisting after an exchange. We have not encountered an issue like yours before. We are going to run a diagnostics on your unit here at our office. Thanks for the summary!
 
It is strange that the issue is still persisting after an exchange. We have not encountered an issue like yours before. We are going to run a diagnostics on your unit here at our office. Thanks for the summary!

Can I count on you to assist on getting a brand new replacement again? Last time I had to fight for one instead of a refurbished unit. I will then contact phone support (rather then ticket reply) as they’re the ones that helped me last time
 
@Thinkware Dash Cam... So are we done troubleshooting here? I was hoping you'd ask me to do some more detailed testing. I took upon myself and done the following since you provided no further instructions:

1. disabled the battery protection in Parking Mode - this made no difference, camera would still start "on the wrong foot" about 3 times out of 5
2. disabled the Parking Mode entirely - still testing this, but so far haven't seen the issue

So (pessimistically) assuming 2nd test above does not completely eliminate the issue, I'm back to having to ask for a replacement - would you be willing to pull some strings so I can get a brand new replacement again?
 
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So it feels like my calls are being ignored @Thinkware Dash Cam... Either that or you gave up "genuinely trying to assist".

As a follow-up to my last message, it seems like disabling the Parking Mode totally eliminated the issue. It's now been a week since I've done that and the camera starts properly EVERY SINGLE TIME. So much for your comments that "we've seen this when connection is intermittent due to weak fuse taps or bad wiring"... In my (professional) view this is either a software bug, or buggy hardware (SoC) that only manifests when certain (and perhaps unlikely) conditions are met
 
Hi @wally_walrus. Sorry to hear you weren't able to get through to an agent. Please pm me your phone number, I'd be happy to have an agent reach out directly to resolve your issue.
 
Hi @wally_walrus. Sorry to hear you weren't able to get through to an agent. Please pm me your phone number, I'd be happy to have an agent reach out directly to resolve your issue.

So I thought I'd do a follow-up here... Took a while and some convincing, but have now received a new replacement and this finally works properly. No more "false starts" and no-recording, so it's now 100% confirmed the fault was with the camera and not my wiring...

Would also like to hear if the issue has been replicated at your lab, so would appreciate if @Thinkware Dash Cam can confirm that


Thanks for helping resolve this
 
So I thought I'd do a follow-up here... Took a while and some convincing, but have now received a new replacement and this finally works properly. No more "false starts" and no-recording, so it's now 100% confirmed the fault was with the camera and not my wiring...

Would also like to hear if the issue has been replicated at your lab, so would appreciate if @Thinkware Dash Cam can confirm that


Thanks for helping resolve this
We could not replicate the issue with your device. The one variable we think could be causing the issue is temperature, as we tested the device at room temperature (~20 degree Celsius).
 
Honestly @Thinkware I don't believe temperature was a factor as the camera would fail to start up properly even when car was in the garage in Oct - Nov when temperatures were nowhere near freezing. And I'm saying this as someone who does temperature testing for computer hardware using thermal chambers, so I know what I'm talking about.

I suggest whoever did the testing make sure they properly hardwire both permanent 12V as well as ACC terminals, then turn ACC OFF to simulate an engine off condition and allow the camera to go in Parking Mode. As well make sure parking mode is set to Energy Saving, as I wasn't able to reproduce the failure in any other parking mode. Upon turning the ACC terminal back ON, check that the camera actually starts recording (check files on SD card). Do this multiple times (ie more than 10) as it's highly intermittent.
 
I have a
Honestly @Thinkware I don't believe temperature was a factor as the camera would fail to start up properly even when car was in the garage in Oct - Nov when temperatures were nowhere near freezing. And I'm saying this as someone who does temperature testing for computer hardware using thermal chambers, so I know what I'm talking about.

I suggest whoever did the testing make sure they properly hardwire both permanent 12V as well as ACC terminals, then turn ACC OFF to simulate an engine off condition and allow the camera to go in Parking Mode. As well make sure parking mode is set to Energy Saving, as I wasn't able to reproduce the failure in any other parking mode. Upon turning the ACC terminal back ON, check that the camera actually starts recording (check files on SD card). Do this multiple times (ie more than 10) as it's highly intermittent.
My situation is almost 120% same as you, after using it slightly over a year. I am super frustrated now, and testing every single solution, e.g. reseting the dashcam / formating the sd card. But the problem is still here!
 
I have a

My situation is almost 120% same as you, after using it slightly over a year. I am super frustrated now, and testing every single solution, e.g. reseting the dashcam / formating the sd card. But the problem is still here!
Hello, we're very sorry for your experience with our dashcam, please reach out to us via email or phone call at support@thinkware.com or 1 (844) 865-9273 so we can assist you further. Thank you!
 
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