Shadow GT680W

sounds like bad luck then if yours is one of the 2 out of 15 gone down...

jouvoo has some innovv c1 for sale at £31 ...
 
DeLorean said:
Nope... Parking and Motion modes are off... for 4 days it behaved perfectly and now it just acts all weird :confused:
My thoughts about the battery were the same as yours as the battery as it's mounted on the other side if the PCB to the SD card slot.
Fortunately the SD card has tested fine indicating the heat is being generated elsewhere.
... anyway it's duff so contacted JooVuu :(
Bit gutted really as it was absolutely perfect for where I needed it in the rear window (using sticky mounting bracket) and the quality of the video was superb.
After a little scouring the net it appears that the battery in the GT680W appears to be it's Achilles Heal.
Click to expand...
Pants! and sand in the pants!, sorry to hear... and got me concerned too!

Love the camera, need to leave feedback, just hesitant for now... I'll give it another week, before would start jumping up or down ;)

BTW I hatched up plan already as how much I will be using it :D
in the car I already have 12v- 2 USB 5v splitter,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121288029291 From fuse box- will (would?) connect to
(1) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151445907328and have spare hardwired charger for phone (2), whilst I could re'mount DVR in to more easily accessible place, so I could reach buttons to set as Parking Guard.
IF DVR holds on till warmer season, I just take battery and DVR and mount it on a bike.
Clever! no?
Ideas?
MIND (asking) more tech figures knowledgeable peeps to correct , if such would be wrong in some ways?
 
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JooVuu have been in touch and requested I updated my firmware to see if this resolves the issues, but unfortunately the camera still thinks it's always connected to 5v.
This is why the SD card was full of small corrupt files... once disconnected from 5v the camera continues to record until the battery gets low and the camera shuts down.
However the camera still thinks it's connected to 5v, so automatically restarts and so on and so on (creating a new file at each reboot) until the battery is completely flat.
Unfortunately JooVuu have told me that "The sale we had on the shadow was a "once they're gone they're gone" and so we cannot replace your camera."
So I'll be sending it back and looking around for a suitable replacement :(
I'll put my old 99p bullet proof camera back for the moment (as it's not bothered by intense cold or heat) and take my time to peruse the market.
 
I've got it all set up ready for driving to work on Monday, but I've got a duff power supply from the cigarette lighter socket. The little red light just won't stay on which is a bit of a shame as it's the only lead that's long enough to reach as I'm in a VW Transporter van.
I think I have somewhere a little extension with a USB socket on it, so that will be my next move.
Annoyed about the original plug though.
 
Splinterboy - I suggest using a 12 volt extention instead of extending the usb end.
 
Qvadrat said:
gps doesn't work. There is no any lights on gps when pluged in to the working camera ( Orange Or Blue)... No position and speed on record. Try to Drive 50km witch attached gps. Nothing happens. Dead unit?
Click to expand...
Now I know why... I was bought another one gt680w and on gps with new one blue and orange led bliknking... In old one gt680w gps socket in camera was broke...
 
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Okay... I've managed to bag another brand spanking new GT680W off eBay for £30 :D
The guy said he bought 2 but only ended up using one, so I suspect it was one of the £25 GT680W's JooVuu was selling off cheap.
This time I've fitted a thick clear plastic disc to the rear windscreen with black weatherproof 3M double sided tape so:
1) I can bridge the rear demister bars by leaving a gap between the strips of tape.
2) Use the sucker mount rather than the sticky pad mount (as it’s a nightmare to position and almost impossible to get off).
I thought I was going to damage the rear demister whilst trying to remove the last sticky pad mount from the camera that went duff.
I ended up hacksawing it off with dental floss, but it still took ages and killed my fingers.
Fingers crossed this camera last longer than 4 days like the first one did.
Anyone else had any problems with these cameras?
 
like I said, in first of mine gt680w gps port was broke... second one works fine but have a little bit worse night records...
 
mine? works like an dream, still looking for an battery etc set-up for the forthcoming biking season...
 
Right that’s it :mad:
I'm never knowingly buying such cheap crap like the GW860W again!!!

After only an hour of testing my new camera, it did exactly the same as the last one and overheated and went berserk!

Here's the cause of the problem... apart from the GW860W being absolute garbage (especially when you open it up and see how poorly it’s constructed inside).
I’m using the charger that was supplied with my Dome G90 as I didn’t want to use the one supplied with the GT680W because the voltage converter and ferrite core (which are in a really stupid place on the cable) wouldn’t allow me to route the cable round the windscreen and through the dashboard etc to get to the lighter socket.
The standard specification for USB output voltage is 5V +/-5%
However the G90 charger gives out 5V +9% e.g. 5.45 volts.
This equates to only a measly 0.20 volts above the recommended specification, but is enough to wreck your G860W!

On close inspection of the G860W’s PCB, there appears to be absolutely no voltage regulation and/or overvoltage protection on the power input to the camera.
So if you pump in slightly too many volts for a short duration, it will cause the unit to subtly overheat several key components and cause a snowball effect.

Once the camera has initially overheated, the camera will excessively overheat on subsequent uses (even if you power it below 5 volts).
I’m not prepared to keep running it too see how hot it will eventually get (as lithium ion or polymer batteries are not funny when they overheat), but let’s just say the battery and several other key components were almost too hot to touch!
...and to add insult to injury it will eventually overheat and fry your Micro SD card!

So if you’re thinking of using an alternative charger or a battery pack to power your GW860W, be very careful you don’t inadvertently kill your camera or worse.

Right... that's my rant over... I'm off to put my original 4 year old trustworthy dashcam back in the car (which has been happily running of the G90 charger for 6 months) :rolleyes:
 
Does anyone with a good knowledge of these cameras have an idea which failed component could be causing the issue?

I'm sure the problem lies with a fault in the voltage conversion/detection side, but identifying the surface mount components is near impossible without a circuit diagram.
Putting just a slightly higher voltage into an unprotected voltage conversion circuit can produce serious side effects.
The old TomTom GO range of Sat Nav's were very prone to a similar problem.

The symptoms are:
1) The camera appears to detect when power is applied but can't detect when it's removed.
2) The charging/battery icon always indicates it's connected to USB power regardless.
3) The Novatech IC, battery and several power inductors get hot.

It will still record video until the unit gets too hot and starts corrupting the files.

If I could replace the damaged component the camera would be up and running again.
As it's happened to two identical cameras, it's most likely a know issue when the input voltage is to high.

Any pointers or help would be greatly appreciated or it's going in the bin :confused:
 
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Strange... the three voltage conversion circuits appear to be outputting the correct 1.0v, 1.8v & 3.3v voltages require for the Novatech nt96650BG IC.
There must be an failed component elsewhere probably now allowing a draw from the 5v side, but I think I've had enough now and it's not going to be easy fix anyway.
 
Putting basic protection into a circuit is easy and inexpensive... I'd put it down plain and simply to a bad design.
If I could locate the blown component (probably a transistor) then It'd be up and running again, but I don't have the kit to test the circuits to that level :(
 
My favourite is the layers of paper stickers (which fall off when you open it up) that are used to pack the space between the PCB mounted buttons and the case buttons.
The soldering is pretty awful with lots of partially and un-soldered joints... one switch fell off of it's own accord whilst opening it up due to no soldering on one side.
Usually if poor joints are identified on inspection they are reworked by hand... but with these I guess they turn them on and if they work it's boxed up and shipped out :confused:
As dashcams are becoming more popular the prices of branded cameras is falling... it's probably worth spending a few more £ or € now to get a product that will probably last longer with better support (e.g. firmwares etc).
 
there are sellers that will ship product with known non working items amongst them, reputation means little, some they'll get away with, some they won't
 
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