Symptons of a Bad Battery?

No, the rear camera is fine, except for a cable connectivity problem that's due to the constant opening and closing of the liftgate. I'm still working on how to solve that problem. :)
 

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That's what I was thinking in asking if it was the rear cam. :)
RavenManiac, have you tried swapping cams?
 
Yes, I'm pretty sure the cameras are fine. There's definitely something going on with the power supply. Now, it's just a matter of tracking down which component(s) it is. To test my theory, I'm going to simply use the mini 0806 provided power adapter and try plugging that into the GPS mount first to see if there's an issue with the mount.
 
I did some further testing and I feel like a total idiot. It looks like the problem is the GPS mount, which is well covered in this forum. The main problem is the ONLY way to insert the monoprice cable directly into the micro USB port (on top of the mini 0806) is to remove the mini 0806 from its mount, insert the cable, then slide the mini 0806 back into the mount. It seems like this works okay, but it may be putting too much stress on the cable.

For those of you who plug the power cable directly into the mini 0806, do this do you use some kind of adapter?
 
Okay, I'm totally baffled. The mini 0806 is acting up again, even with a direct connection. I've been testing the CR-V power for the last half hour and it's a consistent 5.12 volts. What am I missing?
 
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[UPDATE]
So here's the latest. I placed a Drok USB Tester between the micro USB power cable and the mini 0806 and drove the car for a few hours. Here's what I discovered. Under load, the Drok USB Tester reported 4.8 volts and .42-.60 amps. Not sure why the big variation in amps.

Now here's where it gets weird. Occasionally, but not always, when the car comes to a stop and idles the voltage will drop to 3.65 volts and as low as .10 amps. What the heck? Is this a USB charger issue or is there something bigger going on, like perhaps a bad alternator or battery? I haven't noticed any other devices that have been affected. Only the mini 0806.
 
RavenManiac said:
[UPDATE]
So here's the latest. I placed a Drok USB Tester between the micro USB power cable and the mini 0806 and drove the car for a few hours. Here's what I discovered. Under load, the Drok USB Tester reported 4.8 volts and .42-.60 amps. Not sure why the big variation in amps.

Now here's where it gets weird. Occasionally, but not always, when the car comes to a stop and idles the voltage will drop to 3.65 volts and as low as .10 amps. What the heck? Is this a USB charger issue or is there something bigger going on, like perhaps a bad alternator or battery? I haven't noticed any other devices that have been affected. Only the mini 0806.
Click to expand...

what power supply are you using?
 
won't be a car problem (battery or alternator), the camera will only draw what it needs so the variation in amps is nothing to worry about, with the voltage sag though I would think it's more likely the camera is the culprit (assuming you've ruled out the obvious already, swapping outlets, cables etc) the power supply design on this camera is not good and is the cause of most of its issues
 
jokiin said:
won't be a car problem (battery or alternator), the camera will only draw what it needs so the variation in amps is nothing to worry about, with the voltage sag though I would think it's more likely the camera is the culprit (assuming you've ruled out the obvious already, swapping outlets, cables etc) the power supply design on this camera is not good and is the cause of most of its issues
Click to expand...

Sounds like this is more of a power supply issue. Wouldn't the volts be determined by the device that's producing the power, which in this case would be the USB Charger?
 
RavenManiac said:
Sounds like this is more of a power supply issue. Wouldn't the volts be determined by the device that's producing the power, which in this case would be the USB Charger?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't rule out the power source, it needs to be checked, this camera does have a very poorly regulated power supply though so I wouldn't assume it to be all good, there is very little room for error in their design and flaky behavior on this model is very often a by product of the poor PCB design, someone did go to the trouble of pulling one of these down recently and highlighting the design flaws, there is a thread here somewhere on it
 
Well I may have discovered the problem, but I don't think it's the USB Charger. For whatever reason, I decided to check my car's 12 volt battery, which is about 4 years old. A battery monitor I purchased indicated that it wasn't holding a charge very well, so I purchased a new 12V battery.

Now, with the new 12 volt car battery, the power from the USB charger is a fairly consistent at 4.8 volts and will occasionally go up to 5.05 volts. It has not dropped below 4.8 volts since I installed the new battery and there is no longer any quirkiness with the mini 0806–but it's only been a few days.

Could this have been the problem all along?
 
RavenManiac said:
Okay, so here's the latest. The mini 0806 appears to be charging fine when connected to my MacBook Pro. The battery will last about 10 minutes, which is normal. That means I either have a problem with the GPS mount or the hardwired power supply. I guess the next step is to plug the mini USB cable directly into the camera to bypass the GPS mount.
Click to expand...

I can't believe after all the posts, tips, tricks and hints, you're still using the base's USB ports to power your cameras. That should be step one in any diagnostic/troubleshooting process. DO NOT power your camera from the mount. The retractable pins in the mount are inconsistent at providing good conductivity between the camera and the base. It may work fine for a while, but between vibration, oxidation/corrosion (not necessarily visible), weakening springs, sloppiness of the mount interface, you will eventually have unstable voltage and current getting to the the camera - which will cause all sorts of issues, many of which will mimic a failed battery.
 
erkme73 said:
I can't believe after all the posts, tips, tricks and hints, you're still using the base's USB ports to power your cameras. That should be step one in any diagnostic/troubleshooting process. DO NOT power your camera from the mount. The retractable pins in the mount are inconsistent at providing good conductivity between the camera and the base. It may work fine for a while, but between vibration, oxidation/corrosion (not necessarily visible), weakening springs, sloppiness of the mount interface, you will eventually have unstable voltage and current getting to the the camera - which will cause all sorts of issues, many of which will mimic a failed battery.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did try that.

After a few days of testing, I'm pretty sure it was the car battery. After replacing the car battery, everything is working fine now. :)
 
I never bothered to check my situation out as you have. My mechanic checked my car battery and told me that it was fine and putting out 12v. But I did not check out the voltage coming out of my USB ports. I am not the do it yourself type to strip out a cable's positive and negative. As I am a coward :) , I have gone the easy route - I went to Amazon and purchased a PowerJive USB Voltage/Amps Power Meter Tester for $9.99 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/B013FANC9W). It will come on Sat and I'll check out my USB voltage.
 
Joel Irwin said:
I never bothered to check my situation out as you have. My mechanic checked my car battery and told me that it was fine and putting out 12v. But I did not check out the voltage coming out of my USB ports. I am not the do it yourself type to strip out a cable's positive and negative. As I am a coward :) , I have gone the easy route - I went to Amazon and purchased a PowerJive USB Voltage/Amps Power Meter Tester for $9.99 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/B013FANC9W). It will come on Sat and I'll check out my USB voltage.
Click to expand...

That should work fine. Good luck!
 
After about a week, my mini 0806 locked up and started making a squealing noise. The noise continued until the internal battery ran dead. Shortly before this occurred I noticed another extreme power fluctuation, with the voltage dropping to as low as 3.65 volts and .14 amps.

I was hoping the problem was my car battery, but alas that's not the case. I guess I'm back to square one. I'll try a few more tests, but it's probably a defective unit—again. :(
 
This is becoming your profession. :)
Perhaps time to give up on the Mini's?
 
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