Viofo A129 Duo Parking Mode Problem - Please Help

[jsmith]

Hello,

I hope someone can help me here please, as I am stumped. I owned a Viofo A129 Duo, and after years of use, it failed. On the bad camera, the hardwire kit works perfect, mount worked fine, but the other camera would just shut off on power loss. So, I went ahead and bought a replacement. I reused the hardwire kit, mount, and rear camera. As only front camera had problems.

The replacement came with firmware 2.2 and records fine, will enter parking mode once the car turns off, but the parking mode keeps shutting off after 2 minutes no matter how long the car is driven. This camera shipped with firmware 2.2 and I tried upgrading to 2.4. The same problem happens.

1. I have low bitrate enabled for parking mode
2. I have motion detection off
3. I have Parking Timer Off
4. I have recording duration set to off (choices are 24 hrs, 48hrs, etc)

Everything worked perfect on the old camera and still does. I tried flashing this new camera back to firmware 1.5 (what old camera used) to see if that works, but the new camera WILL NOT flash back. It only let me upgrade from 2.2 ---> 2.4

I would like to see if 1.5 works. Can someone guide me how to flash it back from 2.4 to firmware 1.5?

I have tried downloading Firmware 1.5 from here: https://www.captureyouraction.com/pages/viofo-a129-firmware
Formatting Card to Fat 32

And all the camera does is boot up and start recording.....It won't downgrade the firmware.

 

[jsmith]

I do more testing. I take camera to another car and it works ok. So camera not problem. Troubleshooting other car to see if battery in car or hardwire.

But I was told by Viofo that A129 Duo got Wifi Module upgrade. So firmware 2.2 and newer only work. I did flash to 1.5 (renamed firmware N) but wifi module didn't work of course.

How come on firmware 2.4 has 30 minute / .94GB parking files? I have loop set to 3 minutes?

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Did you use the new GPS mount that came with the new camera? If not, do so as there was a change at some point.

There is a delay of 90 seconds from when the yellow wire on the HK3 kit loses power and when it actually shuts off the cameras, so my guess is either your battery is producing power below the low voltage cutoff when the car is off or your using an old (not compatible) GPS mount.

 

[jsmith]

Did you use the new GPS mount that came with the new camera? If not, do so as there was a change at some point.

There is a delay of 90 seconds from when the yellow wire on the HK3 kit loses power and when it actually shuts off the cameras, so my guess is either your battery is producing power below the low voltage cutoff when the car is off or your using an old (not compatible) GPS mount.

So here is what I have done.

1. I thought issue was camera or firmware. I downgraded to 1.5 firmware as I know this is reliable, but of course Wifi Module was updated and 1.5 not supported. Problem continued.

2. I tested new camera in another car. So Camera works 100%. Parking mode OK. Wifi Module OK with firmware 2.4

3. Viofo did not tell me, but you are 100% right. Wifi Module and GPS mount has changed with new camera. Old Gps Module not working parking mode. However, I power to camera directly and not through Wifi Module in Parking Mode. Do I need to power Camera through new Wifi Module and not Camera directly?

4. I find problem of camera shutting off in parking mode is car battery problem. As camera and parking worked when I try in another car as test and also if I set voltage to 11.8 in car or 12 in car with battery issue. So Camera OK.

5. I set parking timer to OFF. It has Off and 90 second delay.

6. Problem with new 2.4 firmware is parking files are now 30 minutes EACH and .94GB???? How do I make parking files 3 minutes each? I don't want 30 minute parking files and .94GB?

Thank you for helping.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

You can plug power into either the side of the camera or the new GPS mount, parking mode will still work.

The parking mode timer is how long it takes the camera to enter parking mode after engine is turned off. This is different than the 90 second delay related to the low voltage cutoff I was talking about eaflier.

Viofo changed the parking mode file structure in later firmware to optimize parking mode file storage. They are now 30 minutes as you have discovered and cannot be adjusted. If you don’t like it, you’ll need to downgrade to older firmware.

 

[jsmith]

You can plug power into either the side of the camera or the new GPS mount, parking mode will still work.

The parking mode timer is how long it takes the camera to enter parking mode after engine is turned off. This is different than the 90 second delay related to the low voltage cutoff I was talking about eaflier.

Viofo changed the parking mode file structure in later firmware to optimize parking mode file storage. They are now 30 minutes as you have discovered and cannot be adjusted. If you don’t like it, you’ll need to downgrade to older firmware.

What firmware did Viofo change file size of Parking Mode? I am told by support, the new hardward of the Viofo A129 Duo starts with firmware version 2.2. So the choices are only, 2.2, 2.3, or 2.4. Do any of these have the old parking structure format?

If I downgrade before 2.2, the Wifi module isn't supported and will not work.

Again, thank you so much for your help.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Not 100% sure, but I think it was V2.1.

 

[jsmith]

Not 100% sure, but I think it was V2.1.

1. I determined the vehicle had a bad car battery. So that was issue #1.

2. Not a fan of the new 30 minute loop file, but I guess not much I can do here. Must run 2.2 with new wifi module.

All now works perfect. Thank you @CaptureYourAction for letting me know about new GPS Module being required.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

I didn't really care for the 30 minute files at first either, but I know find it easier to just load one file instead of a bunch of files, especially when I don't know exactly when something that I'm looking for has occurred. It's easy to move around looking for something on one file verses 10. I never really use WiFi do download files though either.

 

[jsmith]

I didn't really care for the 30 minute files at first either, but I know find it easier to just load one file instead of a bunch of files, especially when I don't know exactly when something that I'm looking for has occurred. It's easy to move around looking for something on one file verses 10. I never really use WiFi do download files though either.

I agree. From data storage perspective, larger files are not good. If memory card has error or something goes wrong, better to lose 3 minute parking file than 30 minutes.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

I agree. From data storage perspective, larger files are not good. If memory card has error or something goes wrong, better to lose 3 minute parking file than 30 minutes.

True, but if something goes wrong with the card, you'll likely have an issue with more than just 3 files. Also, if something were to occur in parking mode (accident..etc), then the most vulnerable files will be the one currently recording, which will be the needed file anyway.

 

[jsmith]

True, but if something goes wrong with the card, you'll likely have an issue with more than just 3 files. Also, if something were to occur in parking mode (accident..etc), then the most vulnerable files will be the one currently recording, which will be the needed file anyway.

True. Say your car is hit and camera suddenly cuts off, it will be this file that is corrupted. Same would happen if camera had lithium battery or supercapacitor bad and camera loses power. But better to lose short file then entire 30 minutes? Say a speeding car hits your car, the 3 minute file showing car coming to you could be "OK" but then impact video maybe corrupt. In case of 30 minute file, all is corrupt.