SG9665GC Blurry / Out Of Focus After 4 Years

Already grabbed a .98 cent bottle at Wal-Mart. Went there at an early hour and there was no one at all in the cosmetic isle, no chicks, no gays. Snatched up the first cheap color I saw and got the eff outta there. And they have those self-checkouts so no one noticed and I got away with it. (y)

A rather ravishing hot purple I might add. :)

Now time to give this a try...
 
UPDATE.

Well, this project is actually rather difficult. Definitely wouldn't say this was simple and unfortunately, I ended up breaking something. The first 4 screws requires you to have to peel off the serial number sticker to get to one of the screws. No big deal there. But the next 2 screws to get the lens assembly knobs removed are a challenge because it's very hard to get the 2 screws to fall out once you've unscrewed 'em.

Then, you have this little black duffel-bag looking thing with 2 green canisters (which I believe are 2 electrolytic capacitors). That's the part where I broke a pair of wires off the solder joints on the board. I believe it's either a little speaker or the microphone. Evidently, the duffel bag sits in a socket and you have to pull it out, but the speaker/mic is under a strap on the duffel bag and I ripped the red & black wires off the board (my fault).

So it looks like it's a loss after all. At least I gave it a try. What a shame. This was an excellent camera when it worked. Calling it a loss and will prolly have to just chuck it. I wonder what actually caused it to get out of focus. Never did get to use the nail polish. What would have been tough was to get into the lens assembly itself and somehow figure out how to adjust it. Then you'd have to keep re-assembling it to try it out, pull the card, look at the video, disassemble it, re-adjust again, wash, rinse, repeat and until/if you get it back in focus. That would be a lot of time and hassle. I would have broken it eventually.

Something else concerning is, there's a lithium battery that's glued in place so you can't replace it. Why? Won't the battery die out eventually and need to be replaced? It should be left unglued so you can replace it when it dies. Otherwise, you'd have to buy another camera?

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Thats not a battery that's the capacitors,,,,, filling in for a battery, and it is rare they die.
 
Yes it is a bit painfull to refocus, i did it too with my original V1 of the SG9665GC, with the camera apart and the lens loosened i adjusted it a mm or 2 in one direction, powered up the birdnest, and filmed out my window, then stopped it, put memory card in computer and inspect result, and then back again until i had it in a satisfying focus again.

PS: i think it is the microphone you have "ripped" off, not quite sure where it solder on the PCB but @jokiin can probably advise on that ( also need to get red / black wires in the right places )
 
Re-assembled it and got it recording, but no audio. So it's the mic that I broke. The keypad beep still works. Would have rather had it the other way around. I think I'm just gonna slap it back in the car for now and start shopping for something new.
 
Thats not a battery that's the capacitors,,,,, filling in for a battery, and it is rare they die.

Well, the round silver thing with the glue on it looks to me like a lithium battery. The 2 capacitors are in the black duffel bag.
 
No i think that's the speaker
 
There are a teeny tiny little button cell battery on the PCB, that's the RCT battery the camera need to remember the time/date settings.
I do think those are lithium batteries too, but probably something better than lipo, maybe lifePo
 
I would have to vote for it being a speaker as well. I believe all the 'GC' series cameras did have a small battery to maintain the RTC but it's usually mounted on the PC board somewhere versus on the enclosure.

Edit: @kamkar1 and I were typing at the same time. :D
 
I believe it to be the microphone. The speaker is the larger component on the back plate of the camera housing.

Kind of a shame to see what happened here. The camera really only needed to be opened up gently just to access the lens module housing.

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I think a better tear down tutorial video might have helped. Now that I've looked at the videos @niko posted I think this one for the (very similar but not quite the same) Viofo A119 may have been more instructive for someone who's never done this before because it explains what to do instead of just demonstrating with photos.


@DashCamOnBoard, from reading your comments I'm sorry nobody gave you better instructions beforehand about what to do...and what NOT to do. Also, you would have been able to test your focus results at your desk or workbench without having to reassemble the camera.

Don't feel bad about the camera going out of focus. Count yourself lucky that you got 4-5 years out of this otherwise good product Most people didn't get anywhere near that far before the problem manifested. Out-of-focus problems are/were a common issue with the SG9665GC. I had three GC units with focus issues and you'll find at least a dozen threads here on DCT with numerous reports about the out-of-focus problem on the SG9665GC.
 
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Oh, well. I'm not sure how many years I got out of it, cos I'm not sure when it went blurry. I basically set it and forgot it and hadn't pulled the card in prolly like 2-3 years. So that's the speaker? I was mistaking the speaker as being a round lithium battery, my error. But still makes me wonder if the battery can be replaced when it dies. This would be a question when shopping for a new unit. And yeah, I've seen the other threads about this.

Then I definitely broke the mic. I played back a recording and it had no audio, but the keypad beep still works out loud, so I definitely broke the mic. (n)

Do other Street Guardians have this same problem, or just the SG9665GC? The other models seem to look similar. It would be nice to get something that can use the same GPS receiver and fuse box power supply and not have to re-wire everything. But then again, I'll prolly have to consider other brands after this...
 
Yeah i cant recall how it was to take the GC apart, dident feel so bad to me, only the clicky thingy for the lens housing seemed a little tricky to me as i recall ( this was back in 2013 as far as i recall )
Maybe i could have advised better, or gome to my friends house ( which i do tomorrow ) and get the GC V1 that's out there, so i can take it apart again for a disassembly video.
All dashcams car slip out of focus due to heat, but at least the better brands have a better handle on it now compared to the "old" days where it was a significant risk not least with cheaper cameras.

Regarding disassembly ( which we should not have the need to do ) are probably the same level on all similar wedge style cameras, many of these housings are much alike.
SG also do returning / brand loyal customers with a rebate on a new camera if they have a breakdown out of warranty or just want to upgrade, something i haven't seen the other brands do,,,,, and i think that's a norm and not just a fluke on this forum.

The GPS mouse should work on newer models, the power source i am not so sure, not least if you upgrade to a dual camera,,,,,, but i am guessing here i always put in the new PSU that come with a camera.
 
Do other Street Guardians have this same problem, or just the SG9665GC? The other models seem to look similar. It would be nice to get something that can use the same GPS receiver and fuse box power supply and not have to re-wire everything. But then again, I'll prolly have to consider other brands after this...
we haven't had that many that go out of focus, even one is too many, but reality is it can and does happen with any brand, nature of the harsh environment they work in

if a DIY fix is beyond what you can handle and you want to get back up and running the easiest way you can send the camera to us and for a small handling fee it can be replaced with a remanufactured unit, we have them in stock in the USA office
 
Understood. And to be fair, the long hot & humid summers we have here (Florida) would certainly have to take a toll on any electronic device sitting in a hot car all day for months on end. I'm talking like when you open the car door, you're blasted with oven type heat in your face and the steering wheel almost burns a little.

Perhaps my DIY attempt was a little beyond my ability (well, I broke something, so must be). :)

But yes, if this can be traded for a refurb, that'd be great! (y) Would you like to send a private message (PM) with the cost $$$ and shipping location? Thanks.
 
On a side note, the manual is very well-written (a rarity in a modern era of oriental translations). Two of the default settings look they apply to European countries. For the U. S., the user would need to change the defaults. I might recommend that maybe this could be mentioned in the manual. In case the user is in the U. S., they'll know not to leave it at the defaults (set it and forget it).

The 2 settings are the TV Mode and the Frequency. The defaults are PAL and 50 Hz. But in the U. S., I believe they would need to be changed to NTSC and 60 Hz. Perhaps a note could be added in the manual to let the user know (since an earlier note says "The DVR is pre-set with logical default settings and is ready to
operate...").

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The 2 settings are the TV Mode and the Frequency. The defaults are PAL and 50 Hz. But in the U. S., I believe they would need to be changed to NTSC and 60 Hz. Perhaps a note could be added in the manual to let the user know (since an earlier note says "The DVR is pre-set with logical default settings and is ready to
operate...").
yeah the manual is written for the Australian market, we did used to do USA versions of the manuals but it became a bit of a headache to maintain, will look at adding some notes about that instead
 
Mine is also out of focus. @jokiin am I able to get mine replaced also? Don't like my chances of opening it up and stuffing around with it. I'm in Sydney, Aus.
 
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