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

Evan55 said:
First it started flaking out, wouldnt stay on. Then there was a pop and burning smell and it was toast. Eprance wouldnt replace, but said it was under a 1 year warranty and I could ship it back for repair. I said ok, and then asked them for their shipping address 4 times without response. This was just past the ebay feedback / buyer protection window, so obviously the 'warranty' only lasts until then.
I would not reccomend anyone buying from eprance.

So, assuming that the issue was a fluke, otherwise i really liked the unit and id like another, but obviously I dont want to give eprance any more money after their poor service. But since aliexpress doesnt accept paypal im not comfortable buying from there. Ill try spytec, hopefully their prices are competitive.
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I had the same experience, i.e., I plugged it in, started the car and it worked for about 3 seconds then went "pop" and I got that burning smell too. I just assumed it was because it took a surge from the car but it sounds like they need some over-voltage/over-current protection (MOV, fuse).

I have an order in at ePrance for a new one, but I would like to send the old one back for repair.

Let me know if you hear from them!

Chris
 
Are we now saying these things are a fire hazzard? I think we are now into the realms of legal issues. I suggest that someone buying from this "e-prance" or "eprance" whatever it is - needs to request the factory ROHS, FC, and CE certification. Please post on here if you get it - this is essential. If one of these causes a fire whilst you are driving along a motorway - it could be fatal. I dont deal with these people on ebay - but may do - and I would like to know if they are fully certified. Can anyone with a contact ask for these? A photo JPG of the certificates would suffice.
 
smitty69 said:
Are we now saying these things are a fire hazzard? I think we are now into the realms of legal issues. I suggest that someone buying from this "e-prance" or "eprance" whatever it is - needs to request the factory ROHS, FC, and CE certification. Please post on here if you get it - this is essential. If one of these causes a fire whilst you are driving along a motorway - it could be fatal. I dont deal with these people on ebay - but may do - and I would like to know if they are fully certified. Can anyone with a contact ask for these? A photo JPG of the certificates would suffice.
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Smitty,

I don't think it's a fire risk at this time ... Yes, something did "die" inside the camera, but it may have been designed to fail that way. However, I have a 2005 Honda Accord with many miles on it and have used the same DC outlet for radar detectors, iPod and iPhone power and I've never had any issues. So naturally I was surprised (and disappointed) when this happened.

I think it would be worthwhile for the factory to take a look at these failures and see if there is an issue with the over-current protection. I would think they have a chip MOV to deal with the voltage spikes normally associated with engine starts. The package came marked with all the certifications so I would expect that they actually got them certified.

Chris
 
Rayman.Chan said:
you can try to use the w/ GPS firmware on your no GPS device, there is no problem if the hardware is same.
but, please do not upgrade a NO GPS firmware to your w/ GPS device, you will lose the GPS function.
you can try NO internal storage firmware on your W/ storage device, that may works properly;
NEVER upgrade w/ internal storage firmware to a NO storage device, it will be damaged, confidently.


Jez, i am not sure where you got your 0801; there are too much posts in the past days which will take a long long time to find out....
if necessary, you can try the 20130913 we are using on NO internal storage W/ GPS devices. Wish you a good luck.
www.megcn.com/cn/upload/product/dvr/X24/20130913-NO1-SPIF-TB15.bin
other guys, please remember my warning before you download:
Firmware only works stable on specified hardware!
you'd better prepare a backup of your current firmware on PC, before you copy a different version to your TF
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"you'd better prepare a backup of your current firmware on PC, before you copy a different version to your TF"
Could you please tell me how to make this backup.
Thanks in advance.
 
Lowen said:
"you'd better prepare a backup of your current firmware on PC, before you copy a different version to your TF"
Could you please tell me how to make this backup.
Thanks in advance.
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Think one or two of us would also like to know.. I have a special OTG usb cable ready.. ;-)
 
Would a car charger with surge protection protection against this. I found this charger:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/838861-REG/Just_Mobile_CC_188_Highway.html

I'm assuming most chargers don't have this fuse built in?

Joe Beets said:
I had the same experience, i.e., I plugged it in, started the car and it worked for about 3 seconds then went "pop" and I got that burning smell too. I just assumed it was because it took a surge from the car but it sounds like they need some over-voltage/over-current protection (MOV, fuse).
Chris
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bugelrex said:
Would a car charger with surge protection protection against this. I found this charger:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/838861-REG/Just_Mobile_CC_188_Highway.html

I'm assuming most chargers don't have this fuse built in?
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You should'nt experience any power surge in a car, it's a constant voltage unlike mains AC power, one may get voltage drop when starting your car, but thats all. One would like to think that most of the lighter socket USB 5V chargers will have some form of over voltage protection, even if it's only something simple like say a 5.8v zener diode across it's output, so it conducts when the output voltage hits 5.8v, effectively resulting in a short which will blow the fuse instead of blowing the device in the event something went wrong and the full 12v were to go through it. These days they dont' use old fashioned 7805 +5v regulators, they all use modern dirt cheap dedicated chips which does it all, including over voltage protection, and current control too.
A well designed device should also have protection inside it to check it's supply is valid, but thats not always implemented due to cost cutting..lol. (Bit like PC power supplies, which use a 'Power Good' line on pin 8 of the ATX power supply socket when you switch your PC on)

If I was the slightest bit worried I'd be more concerned about it blowing my expensive ipad or iphone when I charge it in the car, than my cheap £70 camera..lol, I think as long as the USB charger is a decent branded one say like Belkin or similar well known brand ,one would assume it to be reasonably safe. As someone who worked for BAE for many years helping to design electronic plane controls equipment, I'm more worried about my plane getting to it's destination in one piece when I fly...lol than USB power adapters blowing up in my car. ;-)

AAMOI, Have they used a test meter on the power adapter to see what voltage it's putting out ? otherwise how do you know if it was due to over voltage, it may just be that the 2 camera's themselves had something burn out inside without any external voltage issue at all. ? It does happen sometimes.
 
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Thanks, but explanation for the 2 members with burnt out units? The surge of power must have come from somewhere

Lunar said:
You should'nt experience any power surge in a car, it's a constant voltage unlike mains AC power, one may get voltage drop when starting your car, but thats all.
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bugelrex said:
Thanks, but explanation for the 2 members with burnt out units? The surge of power must have come from somewhere
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You are assuming they were caused by too high a voltage being applied, not yet proven, but if its a faulty adapter then
It's likely the voltage regulator IC decided to go bang in the adapter, and if it's not well designed with decent protection these things can happen, I'm not saying they don't. A bit like the recent cheap fake Apple chargers that were blowing up recently, but it's most unlikely to have been caused by a voltage surge from the car feeding the lighter socket, more likely just 2 faulty cam power adapters if it is indeed the power adapters that caused it, which is unlikely, I suspect it's just 2 camera's that decided they did'nt want live any longer..lol If the 2 adapters are putting out more than 5v when checked with a meter then the cause is obvious.

However, even designs that are reasonable or even excellent can and do go wrong sometimes, these usb chargers may be junk I don't know as I've not opened one up to find out, but they are not stupid and I suspect these 2 are isolated cases, they sell lots of these things and occasionally things go wrong. If your concerned about over voltage causing damage then just put a 5.8v zener diode of suitable wattage across the 5v out, it will then blow your inline fuse instead of damaging anything. This basic simple protection method has been used extensively in devices for many years as a cheap effective form of protection.

I dont actually use the supplied adapters, as I've wired my front and rear cams in directly using a couple of these. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130905268784 this way it leaves my lighter socket free for other devices, and before you ask.. no I have no idea if they have over voltage protection, The whole thing is sealed, they are from China so your guess is as good as mine. Am I worried... absolutely not...lol. Don't forget Apple iPads, iPhones ect are all manufactured in China, except for the batteries which are made in Taiwan by Simplo Technology, and the quality of Apple stuff is amazing, IOW you get what you pay for. ;-)

Its obvious these cams are built down to a price as most things are these days, but the quality that comes out of some of these small dashcams is trully amazing considering how little they cost. How reliable they are is anyone's guess, but I do have one which has been running almost contantly as a home security camera for 2 weeks now.. yes.. I thought it would have packed in by now as well..lol but I just glanced at it and it's still flashing away.. :-) It's pretty cool here at the moment so that may be helping a little, as the camera is only slightly warm.
 
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So, I have updated to the latest firmware version, and now other strange things started to happen: first of all it doesn't starts recording when I turn on the ignition, only the red LED is blinking. I have to start the camera manually. I can't calibrate the G-Senzor anymore, and also there is this strange thing that after I have removed the SD card from the camera to copy some files, and after I put the card back, it starts with a black screen, all the menus work and it even starts recording, but it doesn't save anything.

All what I really want is a firmware that works, I don't care if it's old or not, I don't care if it records in .mov or .ts, I just want the camera to work. I saw in Techmoan's video, that his camera came with 20130617 and his just work fine. Is there any chance to get that version?
 
Thanks, the main concern is not the cost of the cam but the difficulty in getting a good one. You have to wait up to 4 weeks for a unit which may or may not work properly. If you get a good unit, you then get paranoid a power surge is going to to kill it! Would want to reduce the chance as much as possible :)

Lunar said:
It's likely the voltage regulator IC decided to go bang in the adapter, and if it's not well designed with decent protection these things can happen, I'm not saying they don't. A bit like the recent cheap fake Apple chargers that were blowing up recently, but it's most unlikely to have been caused by a voltage surge from the car feeding the lighter socket, more likely just 2 faulty cam power adapters.
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bugelrex said:
Thanks, the main concern is not the cost of the cam but the difficulty in getting a good one. You have to wait up to 4 weeks for a unit which may or may not work properly. If you get a good unit, you then get paranoid a power surge is going to to kill it! Would want to reduce the chance as much as possible :)
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I realise that it's a real pain returning it, and I do sympathise, as I would'nt be very happy either, am just curious..have you actually checked it with a voltage test meter just to see what voltage the usb power adapter is outputting ? or do you not have a meter ? as normally any voltage fluctuation feeding the lighter socket if indeed there was any which is higher unlikely, would be cancelled out by the power adapters own voltage regulator IC. However, If the test meter shows an abnormally high voltage then in this instance it would suggest that the 5v power adapter was indeed to blame for the failure of the camera. If the reading is 5v as I suspect it to be, then it's just mis-fortune that something inside the camera decided to burnout, IOW one of those things that happen from time to time, but until the supply voltage is checked we are really guessing what caused it, and if the power adapter is okay.. we may never know.
 
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I'm back with good news :)

Recap
-Bought from eprance on ebay
-32gb class 4 sandisk card
-"low speed error" and "storage io error"
-Updated firmware to 20130924 on this site, it didn't help

Then I changed the recording mode to "video" instead of "video and audio".

Here's what happened:

-I left the camera to record overnight, memory card was nearly full at this point.
-Just as I was going to bed it stopped recording. I started it recording again and it carried on overnight.
-Once on the way to work today (30 min journey) the same thing happened, it stopped recording. I started it again and it carried on recording fine.

Then I realised that I had changed the loop setting from 1 minute to 5 minutes the previous night. I think this meant that when it had to overwrite old files (which were 1 minute long) it had to delete 5 files at once.

So I formatted the card in the camera, checked the loop time was 5 minutes and left it on all day today in the car.

-Came back to the car after work - still recording.
-Turned it on and off several times - still recording, no errors.
-Brought it back into my house this evening and plugged it in - still recording.

It's now been recording for about 15 hours today, having been turned on and off several times, and I haven't seen a single error.

A few more days to confirm that it's completely sorted but it's looking positive.

As I said, I've had to turn audio off to get the camera to work, but who cares about audio anyway. It's not a feature I'm bothered about.
 
Jez said:
I'm back with good news :)
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You have two variables there:
- Video+audio recording vs Video only recording.
- 1 minute loop recording vs 5 minute loop recording.
So which one is causing your error? Time will tell.
I have tried different loop recording lengths with mine past 2 weeks, and in my own experience, it didn't make any difference to the loop recording error. Meaning the error can still happen despite me trying 1 minute, 3 minute or 5 minute setting.
 
Video + audio is what was causing the errors initially if you look back at my posts from yesterday.

But now I also think it has problems when you switch from 1 minute clips to 5 minute clips.
 
Jez said:
But now I also think it has problems when you switch from 1 minute clips to 5 minute clips.
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not sure of the recycle strategy they use but for my own cameras if you change the recycle file size I recommend formatting the card as it affects the recycle free space calculations, they may do it differently anyway but I still prefer to format whenever changing recycle or quality (bitrate) settings
 
So, it happened again. I removed the card last night to copy a clip to my PC, now all what I'm getting is a black screen. I have reset everything to default, formatted the card, tried it with a class 4 4gb card, formatted the card in my PC then in the camera. Nothing, just a black screen. It starts recording but nothing is saved. I would really like to get an older firmware version to test it out.
 
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