This is what happens when the SG overheats...

azchrisf

azchrisf

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It's 110 in Phoenix today, and I leave my Dashcam on my car as I am in a line of work where I may need to leave quickly sometimes.

Least to say, now I know this is what happens when the camera overheats. It took over an hour with with the Cabin at a decent temperature before the thing began recording clearly enough and not blurry as hell. Maybe it's time for a "Extreme Temperature" version?

I've seen @jokiin and Pier28 say they have no problems with them in extreme environments. Doesn't fly with me - I've seen this with two different cameras.

YouTube:

Raw Video:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/91174912/2016_0808_144225_009.MOV
 
I forgot to mention I have the replacement CPL attached @Pier28 sent me as well. The sun in Arizona is too bright for the camera without massive and constant reflections.

Take note @0:03 too - a "26" appears next to the Street Guardian...
 
forgot to ask, had the cam been running while parked or just switched off, how long were you parked for?

the video sample is how soon after driving off?
 
Switched off and parked for about 5 and a half hours. First videos at 9:00AM-9:30 was fine. The video sample (which was at 2:40PM-ish?) is about 5 3/4 minutes after driving off. First 5 minutes Immediate video after starting car shows same blurriness (was started with A/C running to cool off), but is private because of address showing and faces.

The unit simply cannot handle the temperature, or it's a CPL issue.
 
azchrisf said:
Switched off and parked for about 5 and a half hours. The video sample is about 3 1/2 minutes after driving off. Immediate video after starting car shows same blurriness, but is also private because of address and faces.
Click to expand...

ok thanks for the detail, talking to our lens supplier today so it's helpful, this is not something that has been a problem for us in the past but it has come up a couple of times recently so we need to get to the bottom of it
 
Well, I can tell you the first GC I bought in January had the issue, the replacement from Pier28 had the same issue (then broke on me for some reason - starting rejecting a good memory card, then refused to boot at all with any cards or even no card just going into a bootloop - that's the one I destroyed and took apart out of curiousity as I told you), then this new one I just bought has the same issue.

FYI.
 
if they all came out of the same production then that's quite possible, we've been through hotter summers without issue so there's something different going on
 
It's a unit issue. Had the same issue in the Florida sun. Both my V1s in two different cars exhibited the same behavior after sitting in the hot sun. Pier28 sent me replacement V2, and it exhibits the same behavior. I don't have a CPL.

Here's the video I made after I first noticed it in the V1


When I noticed it in the replacement V2, I went about documenting conditions with an IR temp gun:

13 JUL 15 at about 1730
Hood (Outside of car) 122F
Dash (Inside, and I use a sunshade) 128F
Vico Vation BDP 121F (IR read 127F)
SG9556GC V2 135F (temp taken near SD card slot)

Slight focus shift

Frame_2016_07_13_17_29_47_0_00_45_003.jpg


At end of trip, about 10 min later. Temp of dashcam read 126F at stop
Frame_2016_07_13_17_40_53_0_11_51_904.jpg


14 JUL 15 at about 1635
Hood (Outside of car) 146F
Dash (Inside, and I use a sunshade) 147F
Vico Vation BDP 127F (IR read 127F)
SG9556GC V2 160F (temp taken near SD card slot)

Major Focus Shift
Frame_2016_07_14_16_46_56_0_00_54_666.jpg


At end of trip, about 10 min later. Temp of dashcam read 140F at stop. Focus shift still there, but improved
Frame_2016_07_14_16_57_56_0_11_53_913.jpg


You can see the focus shift gets worse with the hotter temp on the second day.

Whats common is the units always return to normal once cooled down. I've reported this to @jokiin amd @Pier28. I've chalked this up to a characteristic of the camera.

I've been looking at some tint options (purely clear) for the front windshield to cut back the temps, but having problems finding a shop in Florida that will do it (illegal here).
 
It is being looked at already and we'll work it out for you once we have it sorted. In the mean time, the important thing is focus returns to normal.
 
Just had an idea, maybe put a small, clear, UV/Thermal Rejection tint strategically placed around the SG. May cut back the temps. I might give this a go.
 
Pier28 said:
It is being looked at already and we'll work it out for you once we have it sorted. In the mean time, the important thing is focus returns to normal.
Click to expand...

Does that apply to both of us?
 
We had a couple with this that popped up and are looking at the cause so it's addressed properly in any replacement. Stand by to stand by
 
azchrisf said:
Does that apply to both of us?
Click to expand...

not sure what your question is but if you have a problem that is product related we'll get it sorted, we don't put time limits on replacements or refunds or whatever if there's a manufacturing fault, it's unreasonable to expect you can always find a problem within a set time frame like 30 days or whatever
 
Pier28 said:
We had a couple with this that popped up and are looking at the cause so it's addressed properly in any replacement. Stand by to stand by
Click to expand...

"Standing by as I stand by" - how did you know I'm in the Army, we live for standing by!

I personally believe this is a characteristic of the camera. My V1s were part of the first run, and the V2, well don't know when it was made but it's a V2. And all three exhibit the behavior. Honestly I'm not really upset by it, those conditions are brutal. If it keeps functioning despite those temps, which they are, then I'm relatively happy.
 
Yooshaw said:
I personally believe this is a characteristic of the camera. My V1s were part of the first run, and the V2, well don't know when it was made but it's a V2. And all three exhibit the behavior. Honestly I'm not really upset by it, those conditions are brutal. If it keeps functioning despite those temps, which they are, then I'm relatively happy.
Click to expand...

the temps you recorded are above the operating temp of the CMOS sensor, we have tested above that previously though and without issues so it shouldn't have any major drift even at those temps
 
mine goes a bit out of focus, not as much as above though, about half of that, in extreme heat in middle of summer when internal temp reaches around the mid 70 degree Celsius but comes good fairly quickly soon after with aircon on, 5 minutes maybe. cant get 100% perfect, but HEAPS better than those blackspews though.
 
No dashcam product is Military/NASA heat shield perfect, but we will continue to make all Street Guardian products better and not cheaper when it comes to keeping over all long term stability in multiple environments. When the heat is the worst of the worst (even beyond CMOS rated specs) important thing is focus returns to normal. Many low end products the heat shift focus is a one way process. (perm)
 
There is one thing you all have to remmeber:
Metal and plastic expand when be heated. In fact, everything expand when be heated. And Metal expand less than plastic. Science has prove that. And a very little changing of distance beween lens and sensor makes shift focus issue. So i think it's not a suprise if we have shift focus when heated. Metal lens holder only means: this dashcam which uses metal lens holder is less shift focus than one with plastic lens holder. Thermal expansion coefficient of metal is smaller than thermal expansion coefficient of plastic

So, the problem in here is: this dashcam can't be back to nomal when it was cooler. Yes, it's lens problem like jokiin said before.

The SG dashcams use metal lens hoolder: it's the best a dashcam can has.
 
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