Viofo A 129 duo 3 Wire ACC Hardwire Kit Cable HK3 problem

luchun

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2019
Messages
29
Reaction score
1
Country
Croatia
Hi, my electrician has connected HK3 kit but not on fuse but directly on wires (he used constant power for wire for car lights-škoda fabia 2016).
Problem is..camera is recording normally while driving and switch to parking mode when parked and turn off the car.
And then for 1 hour or sometimes 2 hours the camera shuts down, and I can't turn it on until I turn key to the right for 1 step (before ignition).
Voltage option is set to 11.8 V

Please for advice.
(power cable is connected directly to camera usb slot, not in gps mount)
 
Hi, my electrician has connected HK3 kit but not on fuse but directly on wires (he used constant power for wire for car lights-škoda fabia 2016).
Problem is..camera is recording normally while driving and switch to parking mode when parked and turn off the car.
And then for 1 hour or sometimes 2 hours the camera shuts down, and I can't turn it on until I turn key to the right for 1 step (before ignition).
Voltage option is set to 11.8 V

Please for advice.
(power cable is connected directly to camera usb slot, not in gps mount)

Hi luchun,

Possible causes:
*Power is switched off on circuit mistakenly identified as constant power. On some circuits power remain for some time after switching off the engine.
*Voltage drops below 11.8V.

Possible solution: Check voltage using multimeter.
Consider connecting Hardwire BAT+ wire directly to the battery (with additional fuse!).
Please note, that the voltage can appear on circuit again after door opening etc.
 
Last edited:
Hi, my electrician has connected HK3 kit but not on fuse but directly on wires (he used constant power for wire for car lights-škoda fabia 2016).
Problem is..camera is recording normally while driving and switch to parking mode when parked and turn off the car.
And then for 1 hour or sometimes 2 hours the camera shuts down, and I can't turn it on until I turn key to the right for 1 step (before ignition).
Voltage option is set to 11.8 V

Please for advice.
(power cable is connected directly to camera usb slot, not in gps mount)

Hi, it would seem you battery is dying or dead. You could use a multimeter to check the voltage of the battery under the hood, just set it to DC and hold the red cable to the positive (+) and the black cable to the negative pole (-) on the battery.

You could do it the other way around, no worries, the display on your multimeter will then show the same number, only as a negative. So for example, normally it would show 12,6V and when you switch red and black, it will show -12,6V.

Anyway, just check if your car battery is showing 11,9 or higher.

Another easy way of checking it is just to set the voltage switch to 12,4V. You said it would only record for an hour, sometimes 2. If you set it to 12,4V, that should be a lot shorter if the battery is bad. Maybe it will record for a few minutes only. In that case, it is highly likely that the battery is dead. Other causes may be;

- Faulty adapter or fuse (could happen but not likely)
- Something else in the car is leeching power (happens sometimes)
- Installation of HW kit has gone wrong (unlikely if an electrician did your wiring)
 
Oh and by the way, setting it to 11,8V (20%) is not a great idea to be honest, it will shorten the lifespan of the battery a lot and while your car might still start, it could fry systems in the car. It is much safer to set it to 12,4V (80%).
 
First time I hear that low car battery could fry my car electronics.
 
First time I hear that low car battery could fry my car electronics.

It can, maybe frying is the wrong word, damage would be more appropriate.

It could even wear out your alternator, which can be quite expensive to replace (500-1500 euro). https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/27815/can-a-weak-battery-destroy-an-alternator

But a lot of systems can be damaged by trying to start a car with a bad battery, I suggest to try and avoid it, but hey, it’s your car.
 
So why then Viofo sell this hardwire kit? If below 12 V is not safe?
45912
 
So why then Viofo sell this hardwire kit? If below 12 V is not safe?
View attachment 45912

Well I cannot answer for VIOFO obviously, they might have reasons why to do it. Perhaps it was requested by people with older cars that will have no issues with it. Or maybe they included it because so many manufacturers use this as the only option? I have no idea.

The only thing I do know is that it’s not advisable.
 

Attachments

  • 09BC062D-BAC2-4D1A-90C9-C79975C9C99C.jpeg
    09BC062D-BAC2-4D1A-90C9-C79975C9C99C.jpeg
    49.9 KB · Views: 42
Ok thanks.
So forget on Viofo hardwire kit. I bought Rhundo rs-20s. It have battery discharge prevention.
Car is Skoda Fabia 1,9 SDI 2006 that have non stop power through cigarette lighter.
Which Voltage should I set to turn off powering my Viofo a129 duo, and to be safe, and if possible to have 10 hours per day recording when parked?
Sorry, I am really not good at this stuff.
 
It is quite difficult to explain the inner workings of an alternator and dead battery plus electronics to most people because it might not all make sense to you, the design and rules may seem crazy and dumb.

But let me explain it like this:
A battery with a low voltage will try and charge itself as quickly as possible. The Alternator is basically a slave to the battery and delivers what the battery demands, trying to charge the low 11V battery with voltages up to even 16 or 17V! And your ECU in your car might only support 14 or max 15V.

Meaning, that when the car starts, your dashboard might light up like a Christmas tree and send you warnings like ESP not working, Airbag disabled, traction control disabled, park distance control not working etc.

After a while, maybe 10 minutes, the warnings disappear and your car starts working as intended. Because the alternator drops voltage in the range of the ECU.

But in the mean while, the higher voltage might have damaged or fried sensitive components like Airbag computers/sensors, ESP systems or something basic like a power folding mirror.

Yes you have fuses in a car and generally there are a lot of systems that protect your electric equipment but it doesn’t always work. A 30 Amp fuse for example can handle loads up to 35 or sometimes even 40 Amps. In a very short burst (1-20 milliseconds) , it isn’t an issue, but with prolonged exposure (1 minute to 30 minutes) it becomes a problem and your fuse does not really protect you.
 
Ok thanks.
So forget on Viofo hardwire kit. I bought Rhundo rs-20s. It have battery discharge prevention.
Car is Skoda Fabia 1,9 SDI 2006 that have non stop power through cigarette lighter.
Which Voltage should I set to turn off powering my Viofo a129 duo, and to be safe, and if possible to have 10 hours per day recording when parked?
Sorry, I am really not good at this stuff.

No The VIOFO 3 wire kit is fine, just set the slider to 12,4V if you want the battery to last you 2 to 3 years and go for 12,2V if the battery is older and does not handle voltage very well anymore.

If the Rhundo supports voltage cut off, you could set it to the same voltages but I am not sure that this adapter works the same way.
 
It is quite difficult to explain the inner workings of an alternator and dead battery plus electronics to most people because it might not all make sense to you, the design and rules may seem crazy and dumb.

But let me explain it like this:
A battery with a low voltage will try and charge itself as quickly as possible. The Alternator is basically a slave to the battery and delivers what the battery demands, trying to charge the low 11V battery with voltages up to even 16 or 17V! And your ECU in your car might only support 14

14,5V is normal charging current in most of the cars. So ECU should work properly on 14.5V.
 
Oh and by the way, setting it to 11,8V (20%) is not a great idea to be honest, it will shorten the lifespan of the battery a lot and while your car might still start, it could fry systems in the car. It is much safer to set it to 12,4V (80%).

AGM battery (installed in most modern European cars) will be about 30%-40% of its capacity while voltage will be about 11.8V...
 
14,5V is normal charging current in most of the cars. So ECU should work properly on 14.5V.

Yes “might”. Normally between 14 and 15V is fine. Above becomes problematic but happens when a battery is dead and the alternator charges with 16 or 17V, which is normal.
 
AGM battery (installed in most modern European cars) will be about 30%-40% of its capacity while voltage will be about 11.8V...

That is correct, incorrect and also an assumption.

1. You don’t know what exact battery he has installed in his car. Is it a 35Ah battery? 85Ah? Is it even an AGM?

2. 11.8V is 30-40% in good condition. This battery is almost 3 years old as I understand it. and since the voltage seems to drop below 11.8 in a matter of 1 or 2 hours, it would seem 30-40% is very very very optimistic ;).
 
That is correct, incorrect and also an assumption.

1. You don’t know what exact battery he has installed in his car. Is it a 35Ah battery? 85Ah? Is it even an AGM?

2. 11.8V is 30-40% in good condition. This battery is almost 3 years old as I understand it. and since the voltage seems to drop below 11.8 in a matter of 1 or 2 hours, it would seem 30-40% is very very very optimistic ;).

He wrote that his car is škoda fabia 2016 so his battery is 60Ah (or bigger).

The problem of this forum is that people rarely provide us with sufficient information. Information about engine diesel/petrol/hybrid is one of the most important while considering parking mode powered from car battery.
 
Yes, and Rhundo rs-20s show cca 0,65 A USB slot consumption when viofo a129 duo cam is recording. So this would be around 6,5 A for 10 hour recording? So by this data is this finally bad for my car battery or not?
 
Yes, and Rhundo rs-20s show cca 0,65 A USB slot consumption when viofo a129 duo cam is recording. So this would be around 6,5 A for 10 hour recording? So by this data is this finally bad for my car battery or not?

It is probably 0,65A@5V = 0,27A@12V. It means 2,7Ah per 10h of recording.

Viofo A129 GPS Dual is draining from 100% to 0% BlackVue B-124 (equivalent of Cellink Neo6, capacity 6000mAh). It means that the current is about 0,25A@12V (simmilar to your 0,27A@12V).

Below you can see Viofo A129 GPS Dual energy consumption (Output). As you can see it's 0,2A - 0,3A due to decimal precision:
45919 45920
 
Like Skansen said, it is below 0,3Ah, which is not much at all. But your voltage cut off was set to 11,8, which is very low and already kicked in after only 1 to 2 hours! Normally it will take my 63A battery 2 days to reach 2,4V with parking mode on.

Your car battery drops from 12,6V to 11,8V in 1 to 2 hours! Do you understand what I am trying to say here? There seems to be a problem with the power supply in your car. So what does that mean?

1. That could be the battery, it is 3 years old and probably in need of exchange. This is the most likely scenario (80% chance, this happens most of the time)

2. It could be the alternator not working properly to charge the battery, maybe the alternator only supplies 12,8V or something lower than 13,5V and is unable to charge your car battery properly. But this is not very likely. (10% chance, this could happen but your car is only 3yrs old)

3. It could be the installation of the dash cam that was executed poorly somehow and that drains your battery. But this is also not very likely (5% chance, you would notice more issues with the camera and electronics in the car)

4. Maybe the 3 wire kit is defective and needs a replacement, but this is also very unlikely. (5% chance, it is very unlikely because you would notice other issues with your camera)

And one last issue could be that you make only 5 minute drives every few days, causing the battery to die because it has to start the car but is unable to recharge fully. I cannot say how much chance you have of that because I don’t know how much you drive every day or week.
 
Like Skansen said, it is below 0,3Ah, which is not much at all. But your voltage cut off was set to 11,8, which is very low and already kicked in after only 1 to 2 hours! Normally it will take my 63A battery 2 days to reach 2,4V with parking mode on.

Your car battery drops from 12,6V to 11,8V in 1 to 2 hours! Do you understand what I am trying to say here? There seems to be a problem with the power supply in your car. So what does that mean?

1. That could be the battery, it is 3 years old and probably in need of exchange. This is the most likely scenario (80% chance, this happens most of the time)

In my opinion the most likely scenario is that driving time is not long enough to fully charge the battery.
 
Back
Top