Quality of supplied cigarette lighter power adaptor for Viofo A119 Pro

[OzAdam]

I have just purchased a Viofo A119 Pro dashcam and was wondering about the quality and fire risk of the supplied 12 to 5 volt cigarette lighter adaptor.

If I recall correctly, the supplied adaptor is rated at DC 5V/3.1A, dual USB port output. The Viofo A119pro spec is listed as 5V, 1A from Viofo's website.

I would assume the supplied adaptor would most likely be a cheap, low quality unit and seeing as I plan to hardwire it to a VicoVation Vico Power Plus for 24/7 parking mode functionally I am concerned it may very well be a fire risk to my car especially because as mentioned it shall be powered all the time and I live in Australia which has very hot summers.

Would you recommend purchasing a high quality cigarette lighter adaptor to use instead? Is there a model that the experts here would suggest that would perhaps provide surge protection, temperature protection etc. as well be safe to run 24/7 for parking mode duty?

 

[SawMaster]

Welcome to DCT The Viofo adapter is a quality product, much better than what is suppliued with most cheaper cams. It should be totally safe to use. These cams do need a more robust 5V power source than most cams do, so you may experience problems using other PS's. The Vico is a good unit and might work- try that if you like but do keep an eye on cam functioning till you're sure it's working well.

Phil

 

[OzAdam]

Welcome to DCT The Viofo adapter is a quality product, much better than what is suppliued with most cheaper cams. It should be totally safe to use. These cams do need a more robust 5V power source than most cams do, so you may experience problems using other PS's. The Vico is a good unit and might work- try that if you like but do keep an eye on cam functioning till you're sure it's working well.

Phil

Thanks for the welcome!

Interesting, so essentially I should not bother getting a different power adaptor as the supplied one is good enough quality to not burn my car down in 24/7 constant usage scenarios? I am weary of Chinese manufactured power supplies in general based on past experiences.

Recently on the news there have been a spate of car fires in my city due to poor quality Chinese 12V phone car adaptors catching fire when the car was left unattended, hence my question.

When you say the Vico Power Plus might work, are you suggesting that’s a poor choice to use with this dashcam? The Vico Power Plus by itself is almost the price of the 119 Pro so I would want to make sure it will work 100% and be safe to use with the dashcam before I purchase a couple for the cars I want to use the camera with.

As mentioned, Viofo state the power requirements of the 119 Pro is 5v, 1A (same rating as the Vico Power Plus) but supply a DC 5V/3.1A adaptor, which I assume is 1.55A per USB port. I wonder what the dashcam actually uses but I assume no more than 1.5A in general usage.

The Vico Power Plus states that standard continuous power usage “rated current” should not exceed 1A but it can handle up to 2A max.

With this said, would you suggest any other products to be a better choice to achieve a safe and quality hardwired/parking mode power solution?

 

[Nigel]

The Viofo charger is very well tested, if there was an issue then we would know about it. The brand name ones tend not to be anywhere near as well tested and so of rather unknown quality, the only USB charger I have ever had blow up with a cloud of smoke was a very well known brand one! It was a high quality one, but that doesn't guarantee reliability!

Viofo also carefully test all the components they sell, including at high temperature, so I don't think there is anything to worry about. Nearly all chargers will be made in China, that doesn't automatically mean they are bad!

I think the 3.1A will be the total available, shared between the two ports, so you can probably safely take 2.4A from the other socket to charge a phone at full USB2 speed. Don't leave it charging a phone unattended though, phones can burst into flames!

I don't know much about the "Vico Power Plus", but again, if there was a problem then we would have heard about it, there are many people here using it.

 

[SawMaster]

I'm not sure of the Vico power output. It is known good quality and works well with other cams, but these Viofo cams have shown a tendency for problems when using power supplies that have no problems running other cams. Using Viofo supplied or recommended PS's gives great reliability, so this is not really an issue for most folks.

Someone here on DCT measured the power usage of the A119 a while back, and it was similar to many other cams- well under 1A. Yet for some reason which nobody seems to know, you need a 1.5A PS to make the A119 series cams function correctly. So as long as the Vico can supply 1.5A it should do the job- I'm just not stating that it will since I do not know that for certain.

Perhaps a good approach here would be to contact a Vico seller and ask them directly whether it will work for you, then before actual purchase get them to agree to accept a return with a full refund if it doesn't. Also use a payment method which accommodates easy refunds in situations like this. I think this will be a successful approach and please share your results when you try the Vico so we will know the answer for the next person wanting to do this.

Phil

 

[jokiin]

The Vico isn't a power supply, it's just power management, 12v in, 12v out, still need to use the power adaptor that goes with the camera

 

[Nigel]

The Vico isn't a power supply, it's just power management, 12v in, 12v out, still need to use the power adaptor that goes with the camera

And remember that it is measuring it's amps at 12 volts, by the time they are at 5 volts you have twice as many amps, so it should be plenty powerful enough unless you are also charging your tablet on quick charge through it.

 

[OzAdam]

I appreciate everyone’s insight to my question, thank you.

I shall stick with using the supplied Viofo charger in that case. I actually need to order a couple more chargers for my other 2 cars along with the V2 GPS mounts in order to facilitate swapping the dashcam over when needed.

I noticed my charger model is the D2000, opposed to the earlier D1000 unit. Hopefully I can acquire the same from where I ordered my 119 Pro.

Sawmaster, good points mentioned. As jokinn states the Vico is simply a BDP device and I still need to use the OEM Viofo charger in the Vico’s female cigarette port. The important aspect would be current draw but I have read on here that people are powering 2 cameras from the Vico so I don’t think there would be any issue using a single 119 Pro from it.

With that said, I do have a RD UM25C inline USB power tester on order so I will be able to do some power tests and see what sort of current is being drawn.

Other users has stated that the supplied car adapter from the A119/A119S does not fit properly. You'd need to buy another.

As quoted above I did read one member stated the Viofo charger isn’t deep enough to create a good electrical contact with the Vico’s female cigarette port, yet others sound like they were successfully using it. This is somewhat a concern! Which is it?

And remember that it is measuring it's amps at 12 volts, by the time they are at 5 volts you have twice as many amps, so it should be plenty powerful enough unless you are also charging your tablet on quick charge through it.

Viofo do state the camera consumes 5v, 1A and yes the Vico is rated at 12v rather than 5v so sounds like I should have no issue then.
The Vico will be hardwired via its own dedicated circuits with only the dashcam connected - no tablets etc will be plugged into it.

 

[Nigel]

As quoted above I did read one member stated the Viofo charger isn’t deep enough to create a good electrical contact with the Vico’s female cigarette port, yet others sound like they were successfully using it. This is somewhat a concern! Which is it?

My guess is that the Viofo charger has grown a little since that one comment, Viofo do listen to feedback.

 

[OzAdam]

My guess is that the Viofo charger has grown a little since that one comment, Viofo do listen to feedback.

Perhaps the reason for the change from the D1000 model to D2000? The thread I quoted from was posted back in May 2017 so this may very well be the case.