Sjcam sj4000 running temperatures

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spzHades

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Hello, I own a SJCAM SJ4000 wi-fi and I am experimenting some problems at low temperatures.

First time i tried to film it was very cold, below -15°C , i managed to film for like 5 mins , but it was not fully charged. Second time I tried to film, i made sure the camera si fully charged. It was like -5°C max when i got the camera out of the pocket. I powered it on and in 5 secs the battery went low and then it shut down. My Iphone was working fine , i used it all day but my "ACtion cam" went dead. The second day it was above 0°C and i managed to film for like 50 mins.

Anyone else got this problem? Should i buy a second accumulator, or sell it and make an effort for GOPRO?
Thank you!
 
We are checking on this for you. We will reply to you shortly.

Thanks for your patience.
 
Hi there,

I have the exact same problem. I go skiing quite often and love taking videos and pictures and fully charged today I took the camera out for the first time after skiing for about 3 hours in the cold and it was dead and shut down instantly. But now that I have come back and have been in room temperature, the camera says it is fully charged. Must be a battery problem, really need to consider the type of battery you guys are using, and change it to one that is able to function in cold temperatures.

Please get back to us with this problem when you can.

Thanks
 
How cold was the environment? It seems that when it is too cold the battery may have an issue. Is this an issue with batteries for other devices?
 
Well... first time it was really cold.. below -15 *C but my cam was not fully charged, it had 2 bars. After 5 mins it shut down as well as my Iphone , but later at room temperature the battery worked again and it had 2 bars. The second time i made sure it is charged to full. It was somewhere between 0 *C and -5 *C , my cam went from full to none in 5 seconds after i powered it on and it shut down , meanwhile my Iphone lasted the whole day w/o dying, and at the room temperature my battery was still drained dead. I recharged it to full and went filming the second day when it was 0* C to 7 *C and it worked fine, i managed to film for like 1 hour.

For an action cam... i don't demand it to work at -30 *C ... but at leas to work at -10*C to 0*C. I was kind of disappointed to be honest, one of my friends had an action cam too, not sjcam , and it worked fine.
 
Yeah I basically am in the exact same boat as Hades. The first time out it was quite cold so it was acceptable but I have been out and it has been between -1 C to -5C and it has died from the cold.

I fully agree with Hades, yes there is a certain temperature that it is acceptable to not work, but it should be able to work up to at least -10C. Especially when you have a helmet attachment which you see people with all the time at the slopes, along with a picture of a guy skiing using it on the box that the camera came with.
 
Okay, so do you guys think this is a battery issue? We have relayed this to our team. We have only started to receive complaints about batteries not working in the cold recently.
 
I would say that it is due to the battery as the camera does turn on most of the time and just says low battery then turns off. Sometimes I do get about 5 or 10 minutes worth before shutting down if I turn it on closer to the beginning. But yes I think it is a battery issue.
 
I went snowboarding again yesterday... temps were -8*C to -12*C. I managed to film for 15 mins only.
Let me make an resume:
Battery was 100%;

Went up the mountain, camera was in pocket on the inside of the ski jacket. After 1 hour i pulled the camera out, battery was full. I filmed for 15 mins, it consumed 1 bar and i was pleased with that. Then I shut down the camera and put it in the pocked. After 2 hours i wanted to film again, took the camera out of the pocket , powered it up and it had 2 bars (the camera battery had drained in shutdown mode). I said to myself, well it is ok , anyway i don't want to film much, if i can film another run it is ok, 2 bars should be enough... I started filming and after 10 secs it shut down. Later in the car the camera worked and it had 2 bars again.
My Iphone worked all day long , it was in my jacket pocked next to the camera and i pulled it out all day long. Battery drained a little bit faster , but no problems.

I was pleased that i managed to film for 15 mins, but i expected at least 30-40 minutes of filming.

I do not know what to say.. if it is battery problem or not. I am considering buying another battery. 1 in the camera and one in warm environment , and when one don't work to switch and see if it works with normal temp battery.
 
Quite easy to test this, just put the camera in the fridge.
 
I had the same issue with my 5000+ model the other day.
I went skiing, had 2 fully charged batteries.
Outside temperature was arround -15 C.
Camera was in the waterproof case.
When I turned on the camera, it was working for 7-8 seconds, then shows Low battery and turns off.
I tried both batteries.
I even had a powerbank and tried to recharge them. No success.
Later, in the car, it was working, showing the full battery.
I dont know what is the problem, but I am very dissapointed...
 
Last edited:
I bought 2 extra batteries and i am confused.

1 battery was in the camera , 1 battery in my pocket in a small blanket to keep it warm , and one in the car , in my backpack at a warm place.

The first battery was showing 2 bars in the cold and 4 bars later in the car.
The second and third battery was showing 4 bars in the cold and full later in the car.

I wonder... they do not test the cameras at low temp before putting them on the market. For an action cam this is a big minus
 
Well i hope that the manufacturer can tell me that for certain if it is battery or camera problem. I bought this camera to film.. not to make QA.
For its price the video quality is good, but i don't think it is good for temperatures below 0*C.
 
I see more people complaining on snowboard forums about the sj4000 not filming when low temps. Someone said at -15c his camera filmed 10 secs and then died.
 
Just a quick thing.

Make sure that you store your camera at room temperature - we had a customer recently who stored their camera (it was not an SJCAM camera) outside with their ski gear. They brought the camera inside and said they put in paper towel in the waterproof case when skiing and never had a problem since.

I have no idea if this will work but might be worth a try.
 
Camera is always stored in my room where the temperatures are ok. I really doubt putting paper towels in the waterproof case will keep low temps away...
 
spzHades said:
Camera is always stored in my room where the temperatures are ok. I really doubt putting paper towels in the waterproof case will keep low temps away...
Click to expand...

I would as well, but all insulation helps. It's just an idea you don't lose anything by trying.
 
So i was on a snowboard trip with a group of people, one of them had a sjcam 4000 wifi, just like mine.
We went for some kickers and we decided to start filming. While his camera worked the whole time , my battery was already dead just before filming anything. He had 2 batteries , so when one depleted , he switched with another one.
After that i asked him to put my battery in his camera and give me his battery. The camera worked with his battery and his camera didn't work with my battery.

So the problem are the batteries. I forgot to take the reserve batteries with me this time, but next time i will have them with me.
 
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