Turning camera Off (simulating power button) by Wi-Fi API?

Haha I've ordered an ESP32 and will use it using a relay to the actual switch of the Viofo Camera. I can then turn it on like that. I wanted to avoid this as its possible by software but for the moment, this is what I am doing.

I'll code the ESP32 to monitor my dashcam battery voltage, car temperature and car ACC battery voltage too 😛 Cuz why not.
Using a BLE server I will send it to a 24/7 computer and easy peasy. Long life.
 
ChampaRando said:
Haha I've ordered an ESP32 and will use it using a relay to the actual switch of the Viofo Camera. I can then turn it on like that. I wanted to avoid this as its possible by software but for the moment, this is what I am doing.

I'll code the ESP32 to monitor my dashcam battery voltage, car temperature and car ACC battery voltage too 😛 Cuz why not.
Using a BLE server I will send it to a 24/7 computer and easy peasy. Long life.
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So you are going to open up the camera ? How you going to turn on and off the wifi for the camera though ?
 
mrpk said:
So you are going to open up the camera ? How you going to turn on and off the wifi for the camera though ?
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I don't think he's gonna open the camera, rather cut-off the power all together.

Anyway, in case of openining it, you can either bypass the button/s or connect via UART directly and send specific commands.
 
Nath said:
I don't think he's gonna open the camera, rather cut-off the power all together.

Anyway, in case of openining it, you can either bypass the button/s or connect via UART directly and send specific commands.
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I am even more confused now, hardwire kit stops camera if voltage falls below 12.4 - 12.0 range (selector mode available). The Camera does thermal shutdown too when gets too hot. So all that is already available. How will monitoring the car temp. voltage etc. really useful, unless i get it, to make it little cooler maybe to turn it off and an on again. But i like to see "remote" ability to turn Wifi On and off 🙂. maybe a relay that pushes a stick finger on to wifi button for 15 seconds remotely 🙂. That be nice.
 
mrpk said:
I am even more confused now, hardwire kit stops camera if voltage falls below 12.4 - 12.0 range (selector mode available). The Camera does thermal shutdown too when gets too hot. So all that is already available. How will monitoring the car temp. voltage etc. really useful, unless i get it, to make it little cooler maybe to turn it off and an on again. But i like to see "remote" ability to turn Wifi On and off 🙂. maybe a relay that pushes a stick finger on to wifi button for 15 seconds remotely 🙂. That be nice.
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Well in cooler temperatures, the camera does need a voltage cutoff. Recommended is 12.2 (50% battery). In hotter weather, it'll shut itself off I guess through overheating if left in the baking sun too long. I'm sure my ceramic tinted windows which get hot as hell don't help. Seems the glass does get very hot to the touch at times when I tested this summer.

I'm a bit skeptical if anyone in the southern hemisphere tests this camera, they'll be able to get more than a few hours of park mode in the sun.
 
HonestReview said:
Well in cooler temperatures, the camera does need a voltage cutoff. Recommended is 12.2 (50% battery). In hotter weather, it'll shut itself off I guess through overheating if left in the baking sun too long. I'm sure my ceramic tinted windows which get hot as hell don't help. Seems the glass does get very hot to the touch at times when I tested this summer.

I'm a bit skeptical if anyone in the southern hemisphere tests this camera, they'll be able to get more than a few hours of park mode in the sun.
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Yea most likely temp. will kill it before battery runs out of juice, heat and cold kills batteries too and much quicker.. extreme temps are no ones friends.
 
No I'm not gonna open the camera for this though. I'll just cut the power altogether like Nath predicted Might corrupt the last video but doesn't matter because it'll be a garage video (if it's even recording that is). Hopefully SD card doesn't become corrupt but should be good.

I'm monitoring my camera battery voltage (I've installed a seperate battery for dashcam only. Well I will soon). So I'll monitor THAT to remotely see how much is left and it'll warn me to recharge the external battery.

Monitoring car battery (seperate from dashcam one) is just for fun lol. Since I already have an esp32 setup in the car, why not monitor that too incase car battery ever, if ever, goes low. Lol.

Temperature again, just for fun. Or maybe for precautions. Yes camera turns off but if I park outside my house, it's too hot, camera turns off. But then esp will tell me it's too hot so I can then go and turn my battery off or bring it inside and turn esp32 off too for added safety. Again nothing that should happen but just for fun the last 2.

🙂
 
Well I'm going to create a second thread. The A139 has TWO MAJOR ISSUES.



The A139 has TWO MAJOR ISSUES.

1. Overheating Shutdown.
2. Corrupt File.

Corrupt file is NOT specific to overheating. It's no where near warm outside, but I have been cleaning out house, so my car is sitting outside with parking running. Voltage cutoff set to 12.2V. I noticed with low voltage cutoff, the last file is corrupt on Voltage Cutoff Shutdown.

So the basic problem, is camera does not exit properly on Voltage Cutoff AND Overheat. Corrupting the last file AT SHUTDOWN.

Very easy for someone to test this one one. I am runningFirmware 1.2 by the way. Tested this on both 3 minute and 5 minute loop files. However, I imagine this will be a problem on ALL FIRMWARES since the Overheat Shutdown problem + Corrupt File remained on Version 1.6 since I last tested.

Meaning, the Voltage Cutoff Shutdown + Corrupt File will likely be there, too.

Testing Conditions:

Park Car outside. Let car shut off with voltage cutoff. Check for Corrupt files.
 
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HonestReview said:
So the basic problem, is camera does not exit properly on Voltage AND Overheat.
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Well, in that case you have more than just a problem with your A139. (probably SDcard or HWK)

If I recall correctly nobody ever reported issue with corrupting files due to power cut-off - that's the purpose of supercaps inside, to preserve enough power to save files correctly...
Nearest I was able to get to corruption is when Windows don't like the file system in my SDcards after they are unplugged from A139. (but no corrupted files whatsoever)
 
Nath said:
Well, in that case you have a more than just a problem with your A139. (probably SDcard or HWK)

If I recall correctly nobody ever reported issue with corrupting files due to power cut-off - that's the purpose of supercaps inside, to preserve enough power to save files correctly...
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Well sh*t. Bad SuperCapacitor is the likely cause. I yank out the power cable to simulate the voltage cutoff, and camera immediately powers off. There's no delay between power loss and camera shutdown. This doesn't speak well for the A139's longterm durability.
 
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Could be a bad unit.

Well, I said multiple times in other threads that the supercaps, despite rated for 65°C, definitely run around their max or at even higher temps (so they are likely to fail sooner) in A139. But I run two units simultaneously for months 24/7, parked multiple times for hours during summer exposed to sun and they still run like champs.

mrpk said:
... maybe a relay that pushes a stick finger on to wifi button for 15 seconds remotely 🙂. That be nice.
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Say no more. Fingerbot is about to arrive on the scene, not to mention SwitchBot 🤣
 
Nath said:
Could be a bad unit.

Well, I said multiple times in other threads that the supercaps, despite rated for 65°C, definitely run around their max or at even higher temps (so they are likely to fail sooner) in A139. But I run two units simultaneously for months, parked multiple times for hours during summer exposed to sun and they still run like champs.


Say no more. Fingerbot is about to arrive on the scene, not to mention SwitchBot 🤣
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There's zero doubt this unit has failed. Correct me if I am wrong, but the purpose of SuperCapacitor is to store enough power to shut off camera. I yank the power cord and the camera immediately powers down. There's no delay between power loss and shutdown.

So both the Hardwire Kit Cutting Power and Yanking Power Cord result in immediate power loss. And Corrupt files.

Guessing the heat might have fried my unit....or it could have been a bad unit early on.

Either way, my A129 Duo runs like a champ....This one has failed.
 
I let me car run for 10 minutes, then pulled the power. Car was turned on during this test. Still same result. Camera shuts off immediately, resulting in corrupted files. Supercapacitor appears to be dead. This doesn't bode well for longterm durability. I hope the overheating isn't the cause of the supercapacitor dying....

See Video.

 
ChampaRando said:
There is a geo-fencing option in the newest beta, but for me that's not enough because I sometimes park right outside my driveway if my wife is home, so I need parking mode OUTSIDE. I have a permanent raspberry Pi running linux. I have a script setup in that pi to capture my blackvue and my a139 footage automatically and backup to a large NAS in my house. So once I am finished with that, I want to send a CMD to turn the camera OFF else if its outside the garage, ill leave it running. I have methods to detect if car is inside or not, that was easy because the camera wifi signal does not reach raspberry pi if its outside garage, so a simple logic in C++ solved my issue of raspberry pi detecting if car is inside or outside garage. Just need to solve auto power off via wifi/remote method.

I am sure there would exist one but I do not want to run any random command which will ruin the camera haha.

I have noticed, if we manually press the power button and turn it off, it shuts down (great). And if the car is back up (ACC is ON again), the camera re-powers up. This behaviour is perfect! Only thing is I cannot make my raspberry pi go in and press a button 😛. SO I need some automatic way to do so.
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Very important opportunity! More details?
 
Nath said:
Since Novatek's SDK is pretty much something not in reach for mere humans, as I said in A139 firmware thread, you can get access and modify multiple things via internal UARTs which are not protected (one is for bootloader with commands, the second is for linux terminal).

Btw, you shouldn't be worried about voiding your warranty, because there is no seal which you can break and the disassembly is quite straight forward.

And since the jack connectors are not "closed" you can run the wires even like this. 😆
View attachment 57595
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How do you open the A139 / A139 Pro to access the main board?

Is it just 4 phillips screws on the bottom?
 
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