Troubles with Kenwood Dash Cam DRV-A601W

[AndreaIT]

Hello everyone,
first of all I want to introduce myself.
I'm Italian guy and I live in the north of Italy and it's my first post in this forum.
It seems that there is no italian forum regarding the dashcam but fortunately I found out this one.

I've bought a kenwood kit front and rear dashcam:

Front: DRV-A601W
Rear: KCA-R200

I've already cabled my vehicle using the kenwood hardwire kit CA-DR1030. I've connected the cable to the fuse box of the car
I've upgraded the firmware of the dashcam with the latest one, the V9.5 (08.12.2020).
I've enabled the parking mode and I have the G-sensor sensibility set to medium.

I have some trouble when I start the engine. The dashcam correctly turns on and starts recording automatically, but after 30/60 seconds the device goes into a sort of sleep mode (the blue led indicator stays on steady) even if I'm driving. So the display turns off and there is no way to activate again the dashcam. The only way to start correctly the cam is to turn off the vehicle and turn on again.

Only sometimes the camera starts correctly when I start the vehicle (without having to turn on and off the engine 2\3 times)

Do you have any ideas of this strange behaviour? Did you have a similar issues?

Thanks and regards,
Andrea

 

[kamkar]

Ciao Andrea, welcome to the forum.

I have no experience with this brand of cameras, it is actually rare Kenwood systems are mentioned in here.
Your hard wire kit is that a 2 or 3 wire type ?
What brand/ model memory card do you use. memory cards can also be the reason of camera problems, so if you can test it in a card reader on the computer it will be a good idea, use free programs like H2testw and crystaldiskmark, but really any disk benchmark program will probably work.
The memory card should have no broken sectors ASO, and depending on the speed of your card reader you might also be able to see if the card have the promised read / write speeds.
What car do you have ? newer cars with smarts like can bus in the electric system can some times be problematic choosing the right fuses to tap into.
Most cameras the LCD screen go out after a few seconds, have you looked on the footage on the memory card to see there if the camera actually stop.

Some cameras have a flashing LED to indicate recording but others will have a LED with a steady light when recording and flashing when not recording.
If G - sensor are only on while parked ( no need to have it on while driving but some cameras only have one option that go for both parked and while driving )

You can also try and disconnect the rear camera, if one of those are not properly connected or maybe the wire is bad / broken it can also cause problems, if you do that and the cfront camera then work properly that might be the problem.

you can also try a larger boot delay time if the camera have that option, some times with a older power system there can be dips in the voltages and dashcams do not like that during boot, so if you can delay startup a few seconds that might fix it.

 

[AndreaIT]

Ciao Andrea, welcome to the forum.

I have no experience with this brand of cameras, it is actually rare Kenwood systems are mentioned in here.
Your hard wire kit is that a 2 or 3 wire type ?
What brand/ model memory card do you use. memory cards can also be the reason of camera problems, so if you can test it in a card reader on the computer it will be a good idea, use free programs like H2testw and crystaldiskmark, but really any disk benchmark program will probably work.
The memory card should have no broken sectors ASO, and depending on the speed of your card reader you might also be able to see if the card have the promised read / write speeds.
What car do you have ? newer cars with smarts like can bus in the electric system can some times be problematic choosing the right fuses to tap into.
Most cameras the LCD screen go out after a few seconds, have you looked on the footage on the memory card to see there if the camera actually stop.

Some cameras have a flashing LED to indicate recording but others will have a LED with a steady light when recording and flashing when not recording.
If G - sensor are only on while parked ( no need to have it on while driving but some cameras only have one option that go for both parked and while driving )

You can also try and disconnect the rear camera, if one of those are not properly connected or maybe the wire is bad / broken it can also cause problems, if you do that and the cfront camera then work properly that might be the problem.

you can also try a larger boot delay time if the camera have that option, some times with a older power system there can be dips in the voltages and dashcams do not like that during boot, so if you can delay startup a few seconds that might fix it.

Hej kamkar,
thanks a lot for your reply and your suggestions.
Below some answers to your questions:

The hard wire kit is a 2 wire type (the parking mode is working using the internal motion sensor of the dashcam that recognise when the vehicle is parked or is moving)
The SD card is the Samsung Evo Plus 64GB UHS-I U3. For sure I will test it as your suggestion.
The car is a Volkswagen T-Roc 2.0TSI.
I've set the LCD screen in order to keep on all the time. I'm sure that the camera is not recording. The camera has a flashing led blue\red when it's recording.
I'll also try to disconnect the rear camera.
The camera does not have the option to set the boot delay.


Thanks and regards,
Andrea

 

[SuperCurro]

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B08XB8DVGL/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A394XV48IUDZC&psc=1Hej kamkar,
thanks a lot for your reply and your suggestions.
Below some answers to your questions:

The hard wire kit is a 2 wire type (the parking mode is working using the internal motion sensor of the dashcam that recognise when the vehicle is parked or is moving)
The SD card is the Samsung Evo Plus 64GB UHS-I U3. For sure I will test it as your suggestion.
The car is a Volkswagen T-Roc 2.0TSI.
I've set the LCD screen in order to keep on all the time. I'm sure that the camera is not recording. The camera has a flashing led blue\red when it's recording.
I'll also try to disconnect the rear camera.
The camera does not have the option to set the boot delay.


Thanks and regards,
Andrea

Hello AndreIT

I have the same configuration as you except that I have a continuous power supply with 11.6V cut, but I have just returned the KENWOOD DRV-A601W main unit and bought another one.
In my case everything has been running smoothly for 3 weeks, parking mode, running, start-stop etc. last week I realised that the parking mode stops after 10 minutes of continuous recording. I contacted amazon for help (no idea) with local support in France (no answer) then I returned on the last possible day to amazon. The problem was the G-Sensor, it changes from +-0.1 to +1.5 then it was always in "event" recording a permanent action in parking mode up to 10 minutes and then shutdown or every time I drive over a bump indicate a crash event.

You can see the accelerometer while the car was in the parking.



I love the kit because all references from Rusia was that the system was reliable and stable and because the form factor it is super compact and you can not see the cameras from outside... but it seems that the quality is mediocre if you plug the rear camera and it is not reliable at all... I will have to switch to VIOFO A129 or better VIOFO A139 because the car next to me kit me the door and it was not recording (g-sensor fault) and I can not see through the cameras the doors windows.

I hope this will help you.

 

[AndreaIT]

Hello AndreIT

I have the same configuration as you except that I have a continuous power supply with 11.6V cut, but I have just returned the KENWOOD DRV-A601W main unit and bought another one.
In my case everything has been running smoothly for 3 weeks, parking mode, running, start-stop etc. last week I realised that the parking mode stops after 10 minutes of continuous recording. I contacted amazon for help (no idea) with local support in France (no answer) then I returned on the last possible day to amazon. The problem was the G-Sensor, it changes from +-0.1 to +1.5 then it was always in "event" recording a permanent action in parking mode up to 10 minutes and then shutdown or every time I drive over a bump indicate a crash event.

You can see the accelerometer while the car was in the parking.

View attachment 57286

I love the kit because all references from Rusia was that the system was reliable and stable and because the form factor it is super compact and you can not see the cameras from outside... but it seems that the quality is mediocre if you plug the rear camera and it is not reliable at all... I will have to switch to VIOFO A129 or better VIOFO A139 because the car next to me kit me the door and it was not recording (g-sensor fault) and I can not see through the cameras the doors windows.

I hope this will help you.

View attachment 57287View attachment 57288View attachment 57289View attachment 57290View attachment 57291View attachment 57292View attachment 57293View attachment 57294

Hi SuperCurro,
thanks a lot for your suggestion and for sharing your experience.

I've also returned my kenwood unit and changed it with the new one and now it seems that is working better. For sure there are still some troubles with the parking mode (no problem during the driving).
Based on my experience for sure I can say that this could be a great camera but there are some old hardware units with a lot of problems and also the firmware is not bugless.
But for a moment I'll keep the kenwood camera because I've already cabled all my car with front and rear cables and I don't want to disassembled all again.


Let me know please how the new camera will work for you....


Ciao,
Andrea

 

[SuperCurro]

I am in contact with the French Technical Service and testing my second unit, at the moment 4 hires with Z axe at 0.5, and one freeze in parking mode. Driving no problems.

I have the opportunity to swap to Viofo A129 Pro Duo 4K, with better front camera but bulkier and not sure how stable it is. And I will lose the Kenwood rear camera 70€ that I can not return.

I love the form factor of the Kenwood 601W but in parking mode is not stable, at least every week you have once freeze or problem with the acceleration sensor.

Enviado desde mi ELS-NX9 mediante Tapatalk

 

[mc1457]

I am the unfortunate owner of two DRV-A601W's with the rear KCA-R200 camera.

The first vehicle is a 2005 Tacoma with the front camera wired to constant-on power. It worked fine for months without the rear camera on firmware v9.5. Last week I added the rear camera. Now the Parking mode no longer detects motion, the camera *turns off* when the screen saver comes on, and the only way to turn the camera on is via the power button.

So I disconnected the rear camera. But the front camera still functions incorrectly. I updated to the latest firmware - no change.

I noticed that the blue LED is constantly on. Never red...always blue. Since blue = charging, I suspect that the internal battery (actually a Bitwell Supercapacitor) is no longer holding a charge. I had this same problem with a cheap made-in-China camera that this unit replaced. It's not serviceable. This is the garbage we, as consumers, accept.

The second is a brand new install, front and rear, in a 2007 Camry. It has the same behavior immediately after installation.

Both cameras were purchased used (demo models) off of Ebay.

Conclusion: while the hardware has the ability to be an amazing dash cam, it's utter garbage. I'll likely be tossing $400 worth of cameras in the trash and replacing them with another brand. I'm done with JVC/Kenwood as a brand.

 

[kamkar]

Yeah.
You be amazed how often you see pretty good hardware that are not even used 50 %, it is a damn shame indeed.

 

[mc1457]

I am the unfortunate owner of two DRV-A601W's with the rear KCA-R200 camera.

The first vehicle is a 2005 Tacoma with the front camera wired to constant-on power. It worked fine for months without the rear camera on firmware v9.5. Last week I added the rear camera. Now the Parking mode no longer detects motion, the camera *turns off* when the screen saver comes on, and the only way to turn the camera on is via the power button.

So I disconnected the rear camera. But the front camera still functions incorrectly. I updated to the latest firmware - no change.

I noticed that the blue LED is constantly on. Never red...always blue. Since blue = charging, I suspect that the internal battery (actually a Bitwell Supercapacitor) is no longer holding a charge. I had this same problem with a cheap made-in-China camera that this unit replaced. It's not serviceable. This is the garbage we, as consumers, accept.

The second is a brand new install, front and rear, in a 2007 Camry. It has the same behavior immediately after installation.

Both cameras were purchased used (demo models) off of Ebay.

Conclusion: while the hardware has the ability to be an amazing dash cam, it's utter garbage. I'll likely be tossing $400 worth of cameras in the trash and replacing them with another brand. I'm done with JVC/Kenwood as a brand.

I think I was a little too harsh, given that I just bought a new replacement for one camera, and the other appears to be working again. It does appear that one camera died on me, but I bought it used on Ebay, so...don't buy used dash cams on Ebay?!