Strange bug...

DAP

DAP

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Location
California
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Dash Cam
Two Viofo 129 PRO cameras and a Tesla Model 3 4 Channel
I went for a hike today. There was a wild pig on the road on the way home. I wanted a copy of the video of this, but the camera malfunctioned. It stopped recording the front camera, but continued recording the rear camera. so there was a long chunk of time with only rear camera video, no front camera files at all.
It was only 65 F outside, but the car sat in the sun for several hours, so it was rather warm in the car. The last thing recorded by the front camera was in motion detection mode while the car was parked. The next thing the front camera recorded was again in motion capture mode in my garage.
Is this an overheating malfunction?
Firmware version is 2.10T. I guess I have not updated it in a while.
 
Camera failed again. This time it saved video, but the image froze. The attached video shows the time that the image froze.
Note that the car had not been sitting in the sun, and the climate control was set to 70 F.
You hear electronic noise that gets louder and louder until the image freezes, then fades away.
Also note that once the image froze, the speed, location, and time continue to update.
The secondary camera continued to operate normally. File sizes remained the same after the freeze as before.
I have removed the secondary camera from this camera to see if that prevents the problem.
 
Ty07allstar said:
What SD card are you using?
Click to expand...
Same card as I am using in the other two A129 cameras in this car that don't suffer this problem. This one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07P4HBRMV
The nature of this problem rules out a memory card problem. The camera is writing valid video files for both primary and secondary cameras. The problem is internal to the camera, the video for the primary camera has frozen, but the overlay text keeps getting updated. This means the memory card, and the subsystem that is writing to the card is working fine.

And, I'd like to point out, this is another instance of a dashcam failing silently. You would never know there was a problem unless you looked at the recorded video. The camera should be beeping continuously as soon as it malfunctioned.
 
DAP said:
Same card as I am using in the other two A129 cameras in this car that don't suffer this problem. This one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07P4HBRMV
The nature of this problem rules out a memory card problem. The camera is writing valid video files for both primary and secondary cameras. The problem is internal to the camera, the video for the primary camera has frozen, but the overlay text keeps getting updated. This means the memory card, and the subsystem that is writing to the card is working fine.

And, I'd like to point out, this is another instance of a dashcam failing silently. You would never know there was a problem unless you looked at the recorded video. The camera should be beeping continuously as soon as it malfunctioned.
Click to expand...
The front camera may need to repair now. Please open a ticket here to get help: https://support.viofo.com/support/tickets/new
 
DAP said:
This camera is one of two I ordered from Amazon December 7 2019. I don't think it is still under warranty.
Click to expand...
You can still return it for repair, there is just a little maintenance fee involved. Please rest assured and open a ticket to contact our official customer service.
 
VIOFO-Support said:
You can still return it for repair, there is just a little maintenance fee involved. Please rest assured and open a ticket to contact our official customer service.
Click to expand...
I will first attempt to find a way to reliably repeat this problem. Sending things back for repair with intermittent un-repeatable problems results in a high probability that it comes back without being fixed.
 
I just ran the camera for 2.5 hours without the GPS, and without the secondary camera. I had a spinning pointer in the frame to keep the camera from going to sleep, since I use the motion detect mode. Air temperature at the time of the test was 80 degrees.
I was unable to reproduce the problem, I did not even hear the electronic noise. Microphone on this camera seems rather insensitive. The other two cameras in the car do not have secondary cameras attached.
I will try again tomorrow with a secondary camera attached.
 
DAP said:
I had a spinning pointer in the frame to keep the camera from going to sleep, since I use the motion detect mode.
Click to expand...
Why are you using motion detection? The times I've tried using it in the past (not with VIOFO cameras) it was unreliable and error prone.
 
DT MI said:
Why are you using motion detection? The times I've tried using it in the past (not with VIOFO cameras) it was unreliable and error prone.
Click to expand...
This camera is in a Tesla. When sentry mode is enabled, it does not power down. Motion detect mode gives me an effective parking mode when parked with sentry mode on, and when driving, the motion causes it to record continuously. There is no real way to implement a hard wired system in a Tesla since the necessary signals don't exist.
 
DAP said:
This camera is in a Tesla. When sentry mode is enabled, it does not power down. Motion detect mode gives me an effective parking mode when parked with sentry mode on, and when driving, the motion causes it to record continuously. There is no real way to implement a hard wired system in a Tesla since the necessary signals don't exist.
Click to expand...
OK, makes sense.

Have you tried your testing with motion detection off? Might help to isolate the problem. (Just thinking out loud without really thinking it through.)
 
DT MI said:
OK, makes sense.

Have you tried your testing with motion detection off? Might help to isolate the problem. (Just thinking out loud without really thinking it through.)
Click to expand...
I need to reproduce it reliably with the same setup I had in the car. One of my current theories is that motion detection requires more power, and that either causes the camera to overheat, or to current limit the power supply.
Once I can repeat the problem, I can start changing things to see how they affect the problem.
 
I attached the secondary camera, and ran the test again. I failed to repeat the problem in three hours of operation.
After the test, I inserted a power measuring device. The power supply I am running is supplying almost 5.2V.
The camera is drawing about 1 A. Surprisingly, this current did not drop off significantly when the display turned off.
I will measure the power used in the car shortly.
 
Have you tried taking SD card out and view on computer? I am just curious. I have seen a few times where app is not loading videos but desktop is 100% fine.
 
safedrivesolutions said:
Have you tried taking SD card out and view on computer? I am just curious. I have seen a few times where app is not loading videos but desktop is 100% fine.
Click to expand...
I only view the video on my computer. I find the wifi connection too unreliable to use. Too often, the app won't connect to the camera even though the phone wifi connects to the camera wifi. In any case, I prefer viewing the video on a 65" screen rather than a 5" screen.
 
DAP said:
I only view the video on my computer. I find the wifi connection too unreliable to use. Too often, the app won't connect to the camera even though the phone wifi connects to the camera wifi. In any case, I prefer viewing the video on a 65" screen rather than a 5" screen.
Click to expand...
Thanks for responding. I seen a different issue a few times as of late where the video will not show on the app but it shows up on desktop software. I am trying to narrow down that specific challenge.
 
I think I have identified the problem. I re-installed the camera in the car with the power meter in place. The camera was only getting 4.5V and drawing 1.3A. This means I need to replace the power supply I have hard wired into my car. This will be a hassle. I always hate the contortions I have to go through to access any internal component of a car.
 
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