Smallest Ambarella Car DVR a.k.a. Mini 0801

[jokiin]

Is it possible re-sellers are selling OLD stock 0801's (that previously recorded in .TS) and upgraded the firmware to 20130924?

nothing is impossible, not likely though

 

[Lunar]

nothing is impossible, not likely though

Okay.. couple of questions on that G-sensor joklin.

Does the orientation of the camera affect the G-force calibration. ? Should it be calibrated in situ in the car or does it not matter. ?

Having an electronics background, I assume it's merely some sort of encapsulated minature vibration type switch, maybe a bit smarter perhaps, something that gives a resistance reading or a value on perhaps 4 outputs depending on which side g-force is sensed or is jolted in a certain direction.

 

[Jez]

The reason you let it record for many hours is to fill the card. Once it's full, put it back into your car, and start/stop your car over and over to see if it errors our again. It won't error out unless the card is full.

My 0801 GPS+8gb with 32GB Class 4 has been recording 2.5 hours non stop on a USB power adapter. I'm going to wait at least 4.3 hours before checking to see if it's "full" and in recycle mode. (AMB0001.MOV will have been deleted)
http://dashcamtalk.com/recording-time-calculator/

I just checked the bitrate of my videos and they're just under 10Mbps, so according to the calculator my card will hold 7.5hours of footage at that bitrate...

Did I read you were getting 17Mbps somewhere?

 

[Street Guardian USA]

The Bitrate is variable. It will be near 10Mpbs if you're recording darkness or a still non moving image. It will only kick up to 17Mbps once you are recording with lots of movement (driving) and in bright daylight.

 

[Jez]

The Bitrate is variable. It will be near 10Mpbs if you're recording darkness or a still non moving image. It will only kick up to 17Mbps once you are recording with lots of movement (driving) and in bright daylight.

Ok, I sorted the files by bitrate, minimum is 8981 kbps, maxmimum is 12563 kbps.

This is over 109 3 minute files, mostly whilst driving and some in bright sunshine.

Should I be expecting higher?

 

[Street Guardian USA]

I've never used firmware 20130924 before, and haven't looked at the bitrate of my recordings yet. It's possible they lowered the bitrate again. It's gone anywhere from 12 to 17 depending on which firmware you have.

 

[Jez]

Ok thanks, it's still very good quality, I suppose that's what matters.

H2testw just finished writing to my sd card...now it's verifying it. I can't imagine it will solve the errors though.

 

[Lunar]

JazJon.. I should really have posted that bit about the sensor calibration to DDP who was experiencing his lock issue being on all the time, unless he disables the G-sensor. Page 74.

It can get a bit confusing when there's a few posts going on with slightly different issues..lol TBH I may put a message in main section, suggesting new users start a new thread with subject specific to their problem, that way it may help users to more easily find information and possibly create less confusion as this thread is starting to get pretty long, and you have to admit, it can take a while for new users to read 75 pages..lol Think it would be better. We can always link to this one anyway.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

I have to agree, any new unrelated or newbie type questions, please create a NEW Thread in the new Mini 0801 section!
http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/index.php?forums/mini-0801.37/

If it's urgent you can post here, but at least post the link to your NEW post and ask that the answer be talked about there.

If my latest test fails I'm going to turn G-SENSOR off to see if that somehow helps too. Since Jez pointed out that Bitrate is most likely lower on firmware 20130924 I guess I'm going to have to let this thing record over 6 hours instead of 4.

 

[Jez]

Hey! I made some sort of contribution

I'll make another one...I'm wiring this up so that it turns on with the ignition but there will also be a switch to turn it on when the ignition is off.

I put all the wiring in place today, but unfortunately the switch I had (just an old one lying around) doesn't do the job. Now I just need to work out the type of switch I need. If anyone's interested I'll explain how I did it when it's up and running, hopefully tomorrow...

I think it's possible, can't see why not. It's almost a matter of "can I do it" and I do like a good challenge...

 

[Jez]

H2testw showed no errors on my card.

-Put it back in camera
-Returned to default settings
-G sensor off (just another variable to eliminate)
-Driver number off (probably pointless but worth a shot)
-Motion detect off
-Full HD
-Card formatted

I'll plug it in overnight to fill up the card and let you know what happens tomorrow.

Bedtime for me, it's late here and I've got work tomorrow.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Hey! I made some sort of contribution

I'll make another one...I'm wiring this up so that it turns on with the ignition but there will also be a switch to turn it on when the ignition is off.

I put all the wiring in place today, but unfortunately the switch I had (just an old one lying around) doesn't do the job. Now I just need to work out the type of switch I need. If anyone's interested I'll explain how I did it when it's up and running, hopefully tomorrow...

I think it's possible, can't see why not. It's almost a matter of "can I do it" and I do like a good challenge...

Since you're new to the forum not sure you saw
http://dashcamtalk.com/battery-discharge-prevention/

and several good ideas here:
http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/index.php?forums/diy-projects.31/

 

[jokiin]

Okay.. couple of questions on that G-sensor joklin.

Does the orientation of the camera affect the G-force calibration. ? Should it be calibrated in situ in the car or does it not matter. ?

Having an electronics background, I assume it's merely some sort of encapsulated minature vibration type switch, maybe a bit smarter perhaps, something that gives a resistance reading or a value on perhaps 4 outputs depending on which side g-force is sensed or is jolted in a certain direction.

calibration, as in sensitivity should be no issue, calibration as in orientation though may be an issue, I would suggest doing the calibration while it is mounted and you are not moving

the calibration option is ok, I suspect the different G force adjustments may be a misapplication of the intended purpose though, hard to say without knowing exactly which G-Sensor they have used in this one

 

[Gearhead82]

Hey! I made some sort of contribution

I'll make another one...I'm wiring this up so that it turns on with the ignition but there will also be a switch to turn it on when the ignition is off.

I put all the wiring in place today, but unfortunately the switch I had (just an old one lying around) doesn't do the job. Now I just need to work out the type of switch I need. If anyone's interested I'll explain how I did it when it's up and running, hopefully tomorrow...

I think it's possible, can't see why not. It's almost a matter of "can I do it" and I do like a good challenge...

I wired mine the way you're describing. Here's my post from a different forum showing how I wired it: http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showpost.php?p=1813274&postcount=39

 

[Jez]

Thanks for the responses guys,

I wasn't keen on just leaving the camera on motion detection as it could be useless...it might only catch someone driving off in the distance by the time the camera's woken up.

I wired mine the way you're describing. Here's my post from a different forum showing how I wired it: http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showpost.php?p=1813274&postcount=39

Is the black part on the right a cigarette lighter adapter? If so, that's how I've wired it up so far Just need one of those switches now, Maplins will have them which is round the corner from me.

I might look into battery discharge prevention though, thanks for that Jazjon

 

[Jez]

Gearhead, your install looks way too easy - I had to tap into an "always on" fuse from the fusebox under the bonnet!

 

[Gearhead82]

Thanks for the responses guys,

I wasn't keen on just leaving the camera on motion detection as it could be useless...it might only catch someone driving off in the distance by the time the camera's woken up.



Is the black part on the right a cigarette lighter adapter? If so, that's how I've wired it up so far Just need one of those switches now, Maplins will have them which is round the corner from me.

I might look into battery discharge prevention though, thanks for that Jazjon

Yes the black part is the lighter adapter. I had to order the 3 position switch from amazon.com because I couldn't find one at my local electronics store (RadioShack).

Gearhead, your install looks way too easy - I had to tap into an "always on" fuse from the fusebox under the bonnet!

Haha yes the wires were easy to tap once I figured out which was switched and which was always on!

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Here's the message I just sent to eBay "e-prance" (Demi)
(I originally bought my first 0801 from e-prance)

"Dear e-prance,

Hi Demi,
Is eBay store eprance and e-prance the same? (do you run both?)
Someone in the forum said they were not gettting a response from eBay seller eprance.
~Jon"

Response.......

"I see, smiles, many customers asked me this question, eprance is one of the cooperation partners of our company.
My store is E-prance, i just run this one.

Kindly form Demi~


- e-prance"

 

[jokiin]

I have no idea how they run their operation but I can tell you that many of these companies will have multiple accounts they sell under and there will be one staff member allocated to each account and they run the online presence for that 'business'

I've seen many of these operations where there's a room full of staff sitting at their desks running the online businesses, sometime 10 or 20 to a room, they may or may not be attached to a factory, there's a market near me where 3 of the 4 floors are dashcam sellers on eBay, Aliexpress etc

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Bad News, 20130924 has the same old problem. I recorded for many hours until the card was full. I then removed power so the camera shuts down. I applied power so the camera turns on and starts recording. Seconds later I get "Low Speed Card" then "Storage IO Error" and it stops recording. (and shuts down minutes later)

I recorded what happens on my iPhone so you can see video of what happens exactly.