Random fault

[Tony lovelock]

Have had my 422 since last June, I've issued no faults with it (apart from a naff battery). Set up on my GPS sticky mount with Samsung 128gb EVO plus u3 sd card. Today after driving for about an hour or so I unplugged from the USB port once the ignition was off, dash cam powered down as normal but it stayed on but not recording & I was unable to switch it off on the power side button had to a hard reset... Let it cool down for an hour or so & it's recording/functioning OK again.

Charging the dash cam up on a daily basis now which is getting annoying, waiting to upgrade to the viofo a119 v3 with the super capacitor instead of a w4nky battery

 

[Rickn55]

I take it you take your dashcam out of your car everyday? Either way the battery should be fully charged if it's been plugged into power for your journey.

I've had the same problem as yours with my 522 crashing but only when I've been messing around with the rear window cam and plugged it in or out while forgetting the main Dashcam is still on and it having a hissy fit.

 

[Tony lovelock]

I have it inside my works van but yeah I remove it every day & would charge it up inside the house at least every other day... Yeah when recording in the van it shows its charging but notice when I unplug it the battery indicators quickly de charge

 

[Kremmen]

I'm surprised a fairly recent dashcam was designed with battery instead of capacitor. During lockdown I didn't use my capacitor based unit for about 6 weeks, sat on PC desk.

When I did use it, pushed it onto windscreen mount and away it went.

 

[Rickn55]

I have it inside my works van but yeah I remove it every day & would charge it up inside the house at least every other day... Yeah when recording in the van it shows its charging but notice when I unplug it the battery indicators quickly de charge

Yeah it's a shame Nextbase don't fit them with bigger batteries or these capacitors everyone keeps saying. My 522 stays on around 13-14 minutes just left sat idle. If you mess around with it while on it's more like 6-7 mins.

 

[Tony lovelock]

After all these days I would of hoped they'd fit super capacitors as standard perhaps with the higher spec models with what's going on inside of them etc... Maybe nextbase haven't found away of fitting them yet I'm not sure

 

[Kremmen]

My redundant Nextbase 380 was capacitor

 

[M8TJT]

And just how long did it record for after removing the 12V power K?

 

[jokiin]

And just how long did it record for after removing the 12V power K?

Should have been good for one or two seconds at least

 

[M8TJT]

I get the impression that even a duff battery will last longer than that.

I really can't get my head around this capacitor thing. They only last long enough for the cam to shut down gracefully, and to dfo any sort of parking mode at all you need a permanent connection to 12V.
A battery is by far the best way to go, IF they lasted a bit longer when fully charged. You get the best of both worlds. Graceful shutdown and power free parking mode.
BUT the problem with that sort of parking mode is that you only see the 'culprit' driving away, rather than what happened which is bordering on the pointless.

 

[jokiin]

Capacitors are only there to allow the camera to close the last file and then power down, the process is handled differently than a battery powered camera

 

[M8TJT]

Yes I know, but are you telling me that a battery will not do that? And even if it doesn't, what's the problem?

 

[jokiin]

Yes I know, but are you telling me that a battery will not do that? And even if it doesn't, what's the problem?

the firmware is not the same, even if it was setup to work like a capacitor based camera once a battery starts to fail the cameras get very flaky so at some point they'll start to misbehave, factories that make dashcams with batteries do it because it's easier, not because it's better

 

[M8TJT]

I didn't say it was better. I said that one with a battery can be used for (limited) parking mode without a permanent 12V supply and that a capacitor only lasts a few seconds so that the cam can tidy up.
I fail to see why people rant about the 'advantages' of a capacitor over a battery, or why they consider it better. Ease of manufacture isn't one the the average user either knows or even cares about.

And why is it easier to 'do it' with a battery than a supercap. It might be cheaper, but in either case it's only two connections.

 

[SawMaster]

Should have been good for one or two seconds at least

But RELIABLY, and there's no good in a dead battery losing the last file in a crash so this IS the better way

Phil

 

[jokiin]

And why is it easier to 'do it' with a battery than a supercap.

less technical challenges with batteries, even with batteries there are manufacturers that still get it wrong, any kind of parking mode in a battery based camera is going to have issues of one type or another, for this type of product batteries are a liability

 

[Kremmen]

I don't use parking mode so capacitor is better for me. Fit and forget technology.

I assume batteries degrade faster than capacitors hence why we see lot's of requests for DIY battery replacement tips.

If the batteries were easily replaceable instead of 'being in prison' like electric toothbrushes .......

 

[SawMaster]

Supercaps are sufficient, give less trouble, and give a much better user-experience. Which is why most of the good dashcam manufacturers have now switched to them and abandoned the problematic LiPo's. It's simply the better way to do things.

Phil