Second Major Problem on A139. - Voltage Cutoff Corrupt File.

[Nath]

The problem is that there is 60°C inside the camera even when ambient in car is about room temperature, and those caps are rated for 65°C. I don't know what calculations and measurements Viofo made before releasing it but this seems like somebody overlooked something.

Too bad you can't open the unit without risking voiding your warranty.

1. Not sure how the Viofo A139 Opens up. But even if I knew how, I can't risk voiding warranty. Last thing I want Viofo to do is refuse to replace the camera I paid full price for! No Promo here.

It is possible to open it without anybody knowing it.

 

[HonestReview]

Maybe you need to remove that tint

Has anyone else done what you do? That is, yank the plug out just to see if it causes damage? I'm thinking 99.99% of owners would never do this under normal conditions. Or are you the only person wise enough/daft enough to do it?

Because I am the only one in the world with a dash camera and tinted front window.

Do you think if this camera cannot survive being placed on Tint, it will last very long in Places like Australia, South America, etc where temperatures get very very hot?

Not a chance.....

The cables are fine....I never yanked the power cable testing the camera all that much, only the Front + Rear coax cable. Matter of fact, I didn't even know the supercap had died or when it died. I repeat, it's been maybe 16C (60F) and I have cleaned out my house. So car parked outside.

I went to check videos of car parked outside and noticed corrupted files. I then figured maybe this was a fluke or error on card. I formatted sd card and repeated the test. Still a corrupted file. Per @Nath, he suggested the supercap might be bad.

I tried a power down test by removing power cable, and yes it shuts down immediately. So that confirmed what @Nath said was true. Don't think removing power cable is "beyond normal limits" to see if the camera shuts off properly...

 

[HonestReview]

What has luck got to do with it? Deliberately subjecting the camera to intense heat is not luck...

If your job is to test things then that is fine, but not so sensible when you are buying the camera yourself!

Ya because people who live in hotter climates may not experience this problem....If the supercap dies in 2 months exposed to heat, that's pathetic. I hope I have a one off bad camera with a faulty supercap. Otherwise, this camera is TOAST when people in South America, Australia, etc start buying and parking their car in the sun. Australia sees 50C outdoor temperatures and that will far exceed anything my tint would generate.

It's under warranty. So Viofo needs to replace.

 

[HonestReview]

When a reasonable person knowingly exceeds the listed specs of anything they accept that their actions can lead to failure. It was much the same for me when I was told long ago that continuous recording might kill my dashcam; I accepted the well-meant advice and the risk, but since I could not find anyone who had actually tried it I decided that I would. Happily my results were good, but if they hadn't been I would not have complained about it one bit

I'd say the lesson here is that if your car has ceramic tint, on the windshield then it probably isn't a good place to put a cam. If you exceed the listed specs knowingly or unknowingly you can have no complaint. It is up to the user to not exceed the specs, and solely their own fault if said excesses cause failure

Phil

Because I am the only one in the world with a ceramic tinted front window and a dash camera . Yes the ceramic tint absorbs heat and yes it makes the windshield hot.

However, You do realize my A129 Duo sits on the very same windshield adjacent to the A129 Duo and never once experienced a failure in 2.5 years? Heat related or otherwise. Just because my ceramic tint gets very hot (absorbs sun apparently), isn't an excuse for the camera to die.

Do you think this product would survive in Australia, South America, etc? No chance in hell. I would be you ANY AMOUNT of money an Australia 50C day would surpass any amount of heat my windshield absorbs in a moment.

I am hoping the supercap issue dying is a one off. It's very possible this camera had a faulty one....

Otherwise, I guess this camera needs sold with a Disclaimer based upon your response:

Camera not recommended in Australia, South America, or Southern USA (Death Valley, Arizona, and Southern Texas) due to being unable to handle longterm exposure to heat.

 

[HonestReview]

The problem is that there is 60°C inside the camera even when ambient in car is about room temperature, and those caps are rated for 65°C. I don't know what calculations and measurements Viofo made before releasing it but this seems like somebody overlooked something.

Agreed. Once isn't a trend. So I can't draw conclusions. The first camera worked fine, except I requested a replacement when noticing the overheat corrupt file issue. As there was no way to find out if this was an issue on all cameras, without a replacement. I sent back the first camera, as I was told to do, and kept the second.

So this second camera could just have a poorly made supercap that failed prematurely. It's 100% possible.

Unfortunately, it's also possible that Viofo didn't properly heat test this camera and put it through the paces.

I am very hopeful #2 (Viofo not properly testing) isn't the issue here. Otherwise, this camera is not going to pass muster in many parts of the world (Australia, South America, USA (Southern Texas, Death Valley, Arizona, etc) for long term use.

It is possible to open it without anybody knowing it.

It may be possible to open, but I'm not chancing it. Never opened this camera before, and my luck, I'd do damage.

It's pretty clear the supercap is bad. Opening would just show how it failed and why. Being I paid full price, I just don't want to create any scenario where Viofo can deny a replacement.

 

[HonestReview]

So I'm still engaged in back and forth with Viofo. Language Barrier is always fun.

First they wanted to offer me 80% refund on a product that lasted two months to return and "walk away"... I declined.

Bit insulting if you ask me. Your product died and I should eat a 20% loss in purchase price? Ya no thanks.

Second, I am dickering with them on trying to send out an advanced replacement. Which they ABSOLUTELY seem to ignore or not answer. I've offered to provide payment information if they don't trust I would send it back.

Third, they keep telling me shipping is "cheap", and I have politely said great, then you can provide a shipping label. Which again, they seem to ignore.

Long story short, when I secure a replacement, I'll no longer "test" their product in direct heat. Whether my unit was a ONE OFF that had a bad SuperCap or Continuous Heat will kill this thing almost immediately, I'm no longer inclined to find out.

I'll let the Aussies and People in South America be Viofo's Guinea Pigs. Australia coming up on summer and we'll find out very quickly how long their cameras last in heat and if my issue is "Isolated or not".

 

[TonyM]

Did you buy direct from Viofo?

If you return within 90 days, their warranty policy states "If there are any product quality problems which are not caused by artificial factors such as dis-assembly, misuse, drops or falls, water damage, unofficial firmware, software modifications or any others causes of damage, we will cover the return shipping fees based on the shipping receipt you will provide only if these charges are worth less than US$20."

Perhaps that is why they mentioned the shipping cost?

 

[HonestReview]

Did you buy direct from Viofo?

If you return within 90 days, their warranty policy states "If there are any product quality problems which are not caused by artificial factors such as dis-assembly, misuse, drops or falls, water damage, unofficial firmware, software modifications or any others causes of damage, we will cover the return shipping fees based on the shipping receipt you will provide only if these charges are worth less than US$20."

Perhaps that is why they mentioned the shipping cost?

Original Purchase was in May. New camera they asked me to try was mailed out End of June and received 8 July..Not sure which date they'll consider. Even when the other one was replaced 1 month after purchase, they tried to make me pay shipping!

The fact they are trying to give me 80% back on the purchase was laughable if I simply returned the product.

Unfortunately, other than the Beta T130, there are no other 3 channel alternatives. So I'll suck it up. And do my best to avoid direct sun. I'm checking out of any further testing of the A139.

Guess we'll see what they say. The back and forth is in piece meal English.

 

[k9x9]

Original Purchase was in May. New camera they asked me to try was mailed out End of June and received 8 July..Not sure which date they'll consider. Even when the other one was replaced 1 month after purchase, they tried to make me pay shipping!

The fact they are trying to give me 80% back on the purchase was laughable if I simply returned the product.

Unfortunately, other than the Beta T130, there are no other 3 channel alternatives. So I'll suck it up. And do my best to avoid direct sun. I'm checking out of any further testing of the A139.

Guess we'll see what they say. The back and forth is in piece meal English.

It always ticks me off when a company's product prematurely fails and they demand I pay return shipping. It's even worse that they're trying to get off with an 80% refund though.

 

[HonestReview]

It always ticks me off when a company's product prematurely fails and they demand I pay return shipping. It's even worse that they're trying to get off with an 80% refund though.

Hell, they don't even want to honor their warranty. Now telling me only thing they'll give is a refund. It's up to 100%, but I want a replacement camera. If there were ANY OTHER 3 Channel Solution on the market, I wouldn't care. There isn't any right now.

Only option is to avoid direct sunlight to maximize this cameras lifespan it seems.

 

[DT MI]

...Now telling me only thing they'll give is a refund. It's up to 100%, but I want a replacement camera...

I don't see the problem. Take the 100% refund and purchase a brand new, in the box, with a new warranty, camera. Better than a replacement because with a replacement they could claim the warranty began on the purchase date of the original camera.

Not rocket science to figure that one out.

 

[HonestReview]

I don't see the problem. Take the 100% refund and purchase a brand new, in the box, with a new warranty, camera. Better than a replacement because with a replacement they could claim the warranty began on the purchase date of the original camera.

Not rocket science to figure that one out.

Well what I'm going to do is send back front camera body only for full refund. We've finally agreed. They wanted everything returned for a full refund.

Here's the problem with that:

1. I don't want to rip out the hardwire kit (removing trim).
2. To replace the A139 3 Channel (got special pricing from Viofo.com For Both Hardwire Kit and Camera) would be the equivalent of about $40 or $50 USD more than I paid.

Solution: Cheaper to get the A139 2 Channel online. Keep the Existing Rear and Front Cameras Installed. Have a Spare Camera rear camera.

 

[HonestReview]

100% bad supercapacitor. Ordered online (not Viofo) and received a replacement camera. New Camera holds a charge just fine on power down. No corrupted files. Sending bad one back to Viofo for a full refund.

Their techs can take it apart and verify, but there's zero doubt it was the SuperCap.

 

[HonestReview]

Here's something interesting.

On my replacement camera I ordered elsewhere, Viofo must changed hardware vendors.

Camera came loaded with firmware 1.5. SuperCapacitor Works fine on this one. However, when I downgrade to Firmware 1.2, the Camera records, Wifi Turns on, but the Wifi never works. It'll not show up as having been enabled, ever.

Only when upgrading back to 1.5 does the Wifi work and become visible.

Appears they must be using different hardware that is no longer supported in firmware 1.2.

Just an interesting note.

 

[Nath]

It seems they updated Wifi module, it's in the changelog for v1.5 firmware:

Change log:

1. WiFi Module Compatible Update

If your dashcam can work normally and doesn't have a WiFi problem, you don't have to upgrade.

 

[HonestReview]

It seems they updated Wifi module, it's in the changelog for v1.5 firmware:

That's what I suspected. Changed hardware vendor / updated Wifi Module. Rolling back to 1.2 wasn't compatible. Thanks for finding change log to verify my suspicions.