Street Guardian SG9665GC is very blurry

LOCOLAPTOP

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Dash Cam
Street Guardian SG9665GC v1 & v2
I was looking at my dash cam recordings and noticed that the videos has became very blurry since the last time I looked, I made sure the window was clean, the lens was clean as well, took the CPL off, no change. Is there anything I can do or am I screwed and have to spend another $200 ish for a new one? Since this one I got it in late 2015.


blury.png
 
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has the focus permanently shifted or does it change at times, if it's a permanent shift the focus can be reset and it will likely be just fine
 
It seems to be permanently shifted. If it's best, I can upload a copy to youtube to verify.
 
Please send me a private message or email with your details and I’ll work out an out of warranty action plan deal to get things back on track.

-Jon
 
PMed, I also edited my post. turns out this is the V1 and not the V2.
 
Hello,

I've also noticed over time that my SG9665GC cameras have gone very out of focus. I don't check my footage often (bad, I know), and I think each time I do it has become incrementally worse until it reached it's current state. I bought 2 of the original V1 back March 2015, I think, and I just updated to the latest firmware a couple months ago.

Today, my wife was nearly hit by an idiot doing an illegal left turn/u-turn. Fortunately he slammed on his brakes. This caused him to be rear-ended by the car behind him, which threw him even further into her my wife's path. Fortunately, she swerved (a second time) and missed him.

I was reviewing the footage today and found it to be extremely blurry. Can you provide the steps to reset the focus?


Footage below (I determined the buzzing sound is related to the 3rd party power supply and/or USB cable I installed 3 months ago :rolleyes:)

 
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There have been many improvements since 2015. Private message me and I’ll hook you up with an out of warranty upgrade exchange discount.
 
I think @niko posted some disassembly instructions previously, will see if I can find a link when I get back to the computer, no harm in giving it a go to refocus
 
If your focus dont slide back and forth with temperatures of the day, you should be able to take it apart and refocus the lens by turning it a little, i did the same on my first GC from way back in the day, and after that was done it have remained fine, and are now in service in my friends car.

Taking the GC apart are not that bad, only thing you have to pay attention to is the click mechanism of the "barrel" the lens sit inside, nothing complicated just something to have a little focus on when taking it apart.
 
Disassembly of the similar design B40/A118 can be found from DIY thread.
 
I have 2 SG9665GC v1. While moving my cameras around to troubleshoot an audio buzz issue caused by the 3rd party power supply, I grabbed a still from each camera in the same vehicle.

You can see 1 cam is still sharp, while the other has become blurry:

Highlander Cam.jpg
Avalon Cam.jpg
 
@Jeremy if you can refocus and get it working to your satisfaction then that's always a good option, whenever it does come time to replace it though just get in touch, we do larger discounts for verified V1 owners, you guys are the reason we're still here, if nobody took the leap of faith on the first models we wouldn't be around today
 
If your focus dont slide back and forth with temperatures of the day, you should be able to take it apart and refocus the lens by turning it a little, i did the same on my first GC from way back in the day, and after that was done it have remained fine, and are now in service in my friends car.

Taking the GC apart are not that bad, only thing you have to pay attention to is the click mechanism of the "barrel" the lens sit inside, nothing complicated just something to have a little focus on when taking it apart.

When you say turn the lens a bit to adjust the focus, is it clear how much to turn it? Or will I have to repeatedly make a slight turn, reassemble it, and power it up to check the focus?
 
When you say turn the lens a bit to adjust the focus, is it clear how much to turn it? Or will I have to repeatedly make a slight turn, reassemble it, and power it up to check the focus?
there's no set amount but the adjustment needed is likely to be a few mm or so
 
It will be very little tweaking it take, so important to make a mark so you have a set off point, after all loosening the lens to be able to do this you will go off the "0" point.
But measured on the circumference of the lens it will be less than the width of a match or a couple om mm for us metric people.
I think you have to screw the lens a little out from its starting off position if my memory serve me right and your focus have shifted to the near field.

I often make a scratch on the outside of the outer lens as its metal, and then i grip the lens with pliers and have a pice of rubber in between the pliers and lens to facilitate traction so i dont have to grip too hard on the lens.
 
Here is a pic of a lens i have marked for adjustment.
lens mark.jpg

The mark then correlate to some feature on the camera or PCB, you can also mark the camera housing in some cases or here you might have to put a mark on the PCB maybe a marker or a pice of tape.
 
Thanks for the quick replies.

Wow, you went all the way. I'm guessing it is necessary to "break" the glue that I found is covering the visible portion of the threads?
 
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