Solved - What to Do When the A119 Battery Finally Dies?

Skeezix

Skeezix

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Dash Cam
Viofo A119
Back in 2016 a member of this forum wrote that the A119 has a rechargeable battery that is embedded in the microprocessor IC. He also wrote that the battery will last around 3 to 5 years. When the battery finally does die, does that mean I need to buy another in the A119 series?
 
The battery holds the time and date only. Are you having issue in that regard?
 
No, the dashcam has always given me the correct time and date. The only issue I have with my A119 is what I described in my opening post. After 2.5 years, one morning it did not start when I turned the key to IGN. Well, it did, actually. It flashed an image (the correct image, BTW) for about 1/10 of a second and then shut off. I pressed the Power button several times but nothing happened. So I started my 250-mile trip, periodically pressing the Power button in vain. (BTW, the A119 is hard-wired to turn on whenever the key is at the IGN spot.)

At the 200-mile point I stopped, turned the engine off, and rested for about 1/2 hour. When I started the truck again, the A119 also restarted. Now it seems that the problem went away all by itself.

Problems that go away by themselves - - - return by themselves! ;)

I always thought that the circuitry causes the capacitors to discharge slowly (via an RC time constant) so that in the event of an accident and power is lost, the entire event would be recorded and saved. I will test that shortly by starting the A119, turning it off while counting "1, 2, 3, etc" and then viewing the file to see exactly how many seconds the camera stays on.
 
the battery only does time and date

the recording will stop a few seconds before the camera turns off so your count test won't really show much
 
Skeezix said:
No, the dashcam has always given me the correct time and date. The only issue I have with my A119 is what I described in my opening post. After 2.5 years, one morning it did not start when I turned the key to IGN. Well, it did, actually. It flashed an image (the correct image, BTW) for about 1/10 of a second and then shut off. I pressed the Power button several times but nothing happened. So I started my 250-mile trip, periodically pressing the Power button in vain. (BTW, the A119 is hard-wired to turn on whenever the key is at the IGN spot.)

At the 200-mile point I stopped, turned the engine off, and rested for about 1/2 hour. When I started the truck again, the A119 also restarted. Now it seems that the problem went away all by itself.

Problems that go away by themselves - - - return by themselves! ;)

I always thought that the circuitry causes the capacitors to discharge slowly (via an RC time constant) so that in the event of an accident and power is lost, the entire event would be recorded and saved. I will test that shortly by starting the A119, turning it off while counting "1, 2, 3, etc" and then viewing the file to see exactly how many seconds the camera stays on.
Click to expand...
Strange, this post is showing as new to me, so the first post from you does not describe any issue. Anyway, have you tried the supplied 12V car adapter and Viofo USB power cable (I think I remember posting this to you about a week or so ago in another thread, but maybe it's this thread, but I just can't see older posts)?
 
In follow-up to my previous post:

1. I started counting up from 1 at one-second intervals and immediately turned the ignition on. The red REC LED came on immediately.
2. When I reached "7", video appeared on A119 screen, and I kept counting up to "15".
3. When I reached "15", I turned the key off and immediately began counting from "15" down to "0". The A119's video also turned off (i.e. the red REC lLED went out) at that time and I kept counting down to "0".
4. When I reached "0" I removed the SDHD card and put it in computer.
5. On the computer, the video did not begin until I was at count "13", not at "7" like I had expected.
6. On the computer, the video stopped when I reached "13".

That tells me that my A119 begins recording not when it displays video but 13 seconds after I turn it on. And continues to record video for 2 seconds after I turn the key off.
 
Skeezix said:
In follow-up to my previous post:

1. I started counting up from 1 at one-second intervals and immediately turned the ignition on. The red REC LED came on immediately.
2. When I reached "7", video appeared on A119 screen, and I kept counting up to "15".
3. When I reached "15", I turned the key off and immediately began counting from "15" down to "0". The A119's video also turned off (i.e. the red REC lLED went out) at that time and I kept counting down to "0".
4. When I reached "0" I removed the SDHD card and put it in computer.
5. On the computer, the video did not begin until I was at count "13", not at "7" like I had expected.
6. On the computer, the video stopped when I reached "13".

That tells me that my A119 begins recording not when it displays video but 13 seconds after I turn it on. And continues to record video for 2 seconds after I turn the key off.
Click to expand...
sounds as expected, nothing unusual
 
This seems to be a new tread and the description of the symptoms are better detailed in this one and according to the description, it doesn't sound like the memory battery or the capacitors. it sounds more like a power source issue. Bad capacitors is almost guarantees corrupted data and according to the description data is good. A good and easier way to diagnose and rule out external power issues would be removing the camera, take it home with you, plug it directly to a wall charger, power cycle it on and off several times by disconnecting it from the wall and see if it still fails. If it does then maybe re loading the firmware and resetting the settings would be next in line. but my initial suspect is something wrong with the hard-wired adapter.
 
I've read quite a few posts here over the years with similar problems.

The one thing that keeps cropping up as the possible culprit is the timing of the 12v power.

When I start my car I tend to turn the ignition to position 1, wait a second, then turn to ignition position 2 and then after another brief pause, on to fire the starter motor.

A lot of cars circuitry is killed off by the starter motor to give max power to it. For example, watch headlights dim or go out when you crank the starter.

If you have your dashcam wired to such a circuit it can get power, then lose it, then get it back again which I had a problem with once. They start bootup, then lose power so start the shutdown stage, then power is restored during shutdown and they get confused.

My solution was to wire my Viofo to ignition position 2. That change, along with a 5 second bootup delay has caused no problems to any of my dashcams in years.

...and don't get me started on stop/start cars and dashcam power issues :)
 
Last edited:
Post #1 in this thread asks a question about the battery in the A119. I just wanted to know what to do when the little battery in the A119 dies.

Post #2 by "CaptureYourAction" posted a reply explaining the purpose of the battery and asked if I'm "having an issue in that regard".

Post #3 is probably where the confusion started. I answered the question in Post #2. Then I had a "senior moment" and mistakenly repeated the problem I was having in the thread about weak capacitors causing an A119 start-up problem :sorry: .

So my question is, when the battery in the microprocessor of the A119 finally dies, does that mean I need to buy another A119? (Or is the battery external to the microprocessor, in which case I just replace the battery?)

One last thing: The reply to me that you just wrote is very helpful and probably is the answer to the question about the weak capacitors. It must have been a glitch, because I did not turn the engine off when the problem arose. I just drove off, and the next time I turned the engine off and then back on, everything worked fine.

Clear as mud, right??? Sorry for the confusion that I caused.
 
the battery is separate on the mainboard, technically possible to replace it assuming you have suitable tools/skill, it's a sub $2 component
 
364CEEDE-95C7-43BA-95CE-52C859A2B8D3.jpeg
 
That is the 3v memory battery. I opened my camera today to read the specs but the only thing I could identify is the brand name which is FDK Japan
 
D847CB5D-577D-41E9-B445-A0F231D07BA0.jpeg
 
And there is one of the capacitors for reference
 
Skeezix said:
Post #1 in this thread asks a question about the battery in the A119. I just wanted to know what to do when the little battery in the A119 dies.

Post #2 by "CaptureYourAction" posted a reply explaining the purpose of the battery and asked if I'm "having an issue in that regard".

Post #3 is probably where the confusion started. I answered the question in Post #2. Then I had a "senior moment" and mistakenly repeated the problem I was having in the thread about weak capacitors causing an A119 start-up problem :sorry: .

So my question is, when the battery in the microprocessor of the A119 finally dies, does that mean I need to buy another A119? (Or is the battery external to the microprocessor, in which case I just replace the battery?)

One last thing: The reply to me that you just wrote is very helpful and probably is the answer to the question about the weak capacitors. It must have been a glitch, because I did not turn the engine off when the problem arose. I just drove off, and the next time I turned the engine off and then back on, everything worked fine.

Clear as mud, right??? Sorry for the confusion that I caused.
Click to expand...

Note if you also have a GPS module you will find another battery in it.
Looks like the same battery type.
 
If someone isn't up to replacing the RTC battery, any good computer shop should be able to do it. Computers use a very similar cell on the motherboard for the same purpose. These usually last 5+ years but occasionally one may not last quite that long.

Phil
 
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