Seeking to replace my G1WH...ended up with a fake "G1WC"

[blackpanther]

Hi everyone

In January 2014 I bought a G1WH from Foxoffer and have been very pleased with it ever since. Everything about the camera is perfect for my uses...apparently with the exception of the battery.

For the last 6 months or so the last file on the camera when power is lost is corrupt. The camera tries to shut down but can't finish doing it in time before losing battery power. I expect as much out of a rechargeable battery being constantly overcharged and in hot conditions so this isn't really a complaint. I consider myself lucky it lasted as long as it did.

Edit: my car's cigarette lighter sockets are "always hot" so when I park and want to continue to record, the camera still has power. When I park and do not want to record, I unplug it. I have no use for the battery at all, except to have the camera automatically save when power is lost.

I sought to replace it with a G1WC. I ended up being scammed by ebay seller mayunstore who was very clearly describing the product, including internal photos, as being a G1WC but instead shipped me a camera in the same outer shell, but with seriously inferior video quality and a battery instead of capacitors (the PCB is marked GS2000 V1.0). I will of course be finding a real G1WC, but this whole experience got me thinking.

I very much prefer the appearance of the G1WH. I like the all-black casing and buttons, and I like the button layout on this camera. The imposter "G1WC" has too much silver and the button layout is different, and from what I can tell, the real G1WC has the same problems. Also on this "GS2000" the microSD card slot is recessed very deep and I need to use an object like a coin or key to push the card to remove it, where the G1WH does not have this problem. I can't tell if a G1WC does or not.

So, my questions...

• Is there a legitimate G1WC that has the same housing and button placement as the G1WH?
• Does a real G1WC have the recessed microSD card also, or is it easily removed with your finger like a G1WH?
  
• Has there been any success converting a G1WH to use capacitors and firmware to support it? I have read about several people trying but having limited success. If I can do this successfully (I know how to solder competently) it would be the best of all worlds...
  
• Is there some way to make the "GS2000" a better camera? May be a pointless question since the buttons suck, the menu sucks, the video quality sucks and it records a strange buzzing noise in the audio...just sucks all around...

It has occurred to me that I can take the battery from the GS2000 and put it in my G1WH, giving it a new lease on life, but eventually that battery will also fail and I'll be back where I am now.
Thanks for any info you can offer!

G1WH identical to the one I have (not my photos):


Photos from the "G1WC" ebay listing (it is identical to the actual camera I received, but what I received is not a G1WC):


My photo of inside the camera:

 

[blackpanther]

Alrighty...decided to take some more photos, for what little they may be worth.






A couple example stills taken with VLC:


The approximately same shots from the G1WH mounted beside it at the time:



In summary, not that it will surprise any of the experts here: barely usable. Would be useful to provide context, but this thing can't legibly record a license plate from any distance.

It is possible that mayunstore did not realize the product was not as-described. The box says it has the Novatek chip. They have since refunded 73% of my total purchase cost leaving them with only just enough for shipping plus a coffee, so I'd call that a decent effort to make it right.

What I DO find interesting...the field of vision seems to be very similar to my G1WH. Is it possible this inferior camera is equipped with the same wide-angle lens? I don't know enough about camera technology to judge what the most likely source of the fuzzy video is.

 

[Module 79L]

What I DO find interesting...the field of vision seems to be very similar to my G1WH. Is it possible this inferior camera is equipped with the same wide-angle lens? I don't know enough about camera technology to judge what the most likely source of the fuzzy video is.

The FoV of every G1W model is the same, despite what sellers advertise. That said, it's not the lense's angle that determine the video quality. In your camera's case it's the lense's and sensor quality (or the lack of it) and probably the processor/firmware combo.

 

[blackpanther]

Well...performed a little surgery last night to swap the good battery out of the new $5.50 cam (after refund) into the G1WH.

Results are a bit strange.
Sometimes, unplug it and the cam turns off instantly. The final clip is not corrupt though.
Other times (more common), unplug it and it continues to run for 15-30 seconds before it says the battery is dead and shuts off. The final clip is also not corrupt.

This accomplished my immediate goal of not corrupting the last video file, but I find it strange that sometimes the cam shuts off immediately and other times it does not. In the cases where it did shut off immediately, I can turn it back on using battery and it will run for 15-30 seconds before shutting off.

In the long term I want to see about converting this cam to use a supercap. Sounds like some people are having some degree of success.

 

[forest gump]

After a year my g1wh would not shut down proper because the battery inside had went bad. I did not want to spend money on a new battery for this cam but I wanted it working. I took the cam apart and desoldered the old battery. I took a battery out of a old black berry cell phone. Since this battery was too big to fit in the case of the dash cam I drilled a hole in the case and ran wire through it because the battery was going to be on the outside. Soldered wire to the cell phone battery and ran it through the hole drilled and soldered it back to the circuit card. Used cable ties to hold the battery. Dash cam is fixed and will now run over 9 minutes with out being powered.

 

[forest gump]

Just went out and took picture of my dash cam with the cell phone battery fix.

 

[chenrp]

very cool. but i am worried about the external battery to get too hot in the car... here in ISRAEL the external temperature can rise up to 45 deg c.

 

[forest gump]

Not sure how much heat a cell phone battery will take but I have a few more around the house if this one does not last. I would have used caps but did not have any.

 

[chenrp]

i haven't found a cap mod that works on the g1wh...

 

[Street Guardian USA]

i haven't found a cap mod that works on the g1wh...

You would need a new firmware with the appropriate faster shutdown timer adjustments added to make super caps work.

 

[chenrp]

still i don't see anyone succeeded in this mod