Viofo A129 Pro Dual Dashcam - 4K Front + 1080 Rear

[CaptureYourAction]

On the A119 series, there was a piece of tape blocking most of these holes as well. Not 100% sure, but I think they are there to block the LED lights from shinning through the holes, which would probably be very annoying at night.

 

[EGS]

Maybe you make the mistake of thinking that those vents are functional vents and not just decoration on what would otherwise be a rather boring looking piece of visible plastic. Opening them up may even have a negative effect on the carefully designed and tested air flow within the camera and definitely destroys your warrantee!

Note that there is also a vent at the front bottom (assuming lens is at the front), which on mine does appear functional, presumably cool air is supposed to go in that one and over the components behind it, rather than in the one you have uncovered, uncovering the bottom rear vent may result in the cool air not passing over certain important components. Also note that there is no vent at the top where you might expect one to let the hot air out - the cooling system on this camera is not quite as simple as people might expect. Also moving the antenna may affect operation, maybe the vent was allowing the radio waves out and the antenna is now behind RF shielding? Plain plastic isn't always simple plain plastic! Or maybe since you have now moved the antenna relative to the sensor which it is very close to, you will now get RF interference on the image.

Since it was already working 100%, there will be no way of knowing if you have improved the cooling or had no effect, and if it now dies then we will have to assume that your changes had a negative result!

I think it is a mistake to think that the piece of tape you have removed was not functional in some way, clearly it was not there just for sticking the antenna to.

I checked some recordings for RF interference on the image while I paired to my phone and all seems fine, however, I know I am taking a very premature action on y side. To be fair and have more accurate results I will put the tape in place as it was before and wait for the summer hot days if the camera gets affected by the heat.

 

[Nigel]

I checked some recordings for RF interference on the image while I paired to my phone and all seems fine, however, I know I am taking a very premature action on y side. To be fair and have more accurate results I will put the tape in place as it was before and wait for the summer hot days if the camera gets affected by the heat.

I doubt it has any real effect on cooling, maybe it is there because the antenna isn't good at sticking to plastic and it avoids the antenna coming loose and getting tangled up in the lens rotation mechanism? I do think it must be there for a reason, and it does seem to be sized to neatly block the holes.

 

[EGS]

I doubt it has any real effect on cooling, maybe it is there because the antenna isn't good at sticking to plastic and it avoids the antenna coming loose and getting tangled up in the lens rotation mechanism? I do think it must be there for a reason, and it does seem to be sized to neatly block the holes.

the glue on the antenna is quite sticky and did adhere quite well to the plastic but on top of that I added a strip of kapton tape knowing that heat can soften up the adhesive. I'm sure Viofo put many hours on the design and research on the cooling mechanism. For me It still worth investigating In the future when the real hot temperatures start kicking in on the hot summer days and see what the results are.

 

[djxpress]

What's the best way to reduce the interior glare off the inside of the windshield? It's pretty significant. I already have a CPL filter on. Maybe the lens isn't turned correctly, though it's at a 45 degree angle like the videos show...

 

[sam duyvejonck]

What's the best way to reduce the interior glare off the inside of the windshield? It's pretty significant. I already have a CPL filter on. Maybe the lens isn't turned correctly, though it's at a 45 degree angle like the videos show...

maybe that's helpfull ?

cheers

 

[kamkar]

What's the best way to reduce the interior glare off the inside of the windshield? It's pretty significant

I run both a CPL filter and a dashmat, the dashmat are home made as no one make such things for my insignificant little Suzuki car.
I used some black cloth same as are used in theaters and by photographers for a black background.
For sure you will want your CPL to be tuned properly, and some times they do come out of wack, still a CPL do not remove all reflections.

 

[Nigel]

maybe that's helpfull ?

Not very!

Note that he only managed to get his lens hood out of the view by pointing the lens up at the sky, this will result in incorrect exposure, you want the camera to expose for the road, not the sky, and you might want to see a license plate in the bit that is off the bottom of his image. In reality, losing 1 stop of light is not such a disaster, it is only 1 stop, or maybe 1.3, and although he says this is half the light, light does not have a linear scale so it is much better to think of it as 1 stop when you have lots of stops available.

If you are movie making and you want to use a fairly narrow field of view, not including the front of your own car then this is a very good method, although in most cases, if you have a narrow field of view then you don't have a reflection problem anyway! If you are using the camera as a dashcam then you want the front of your own car in the image to give a reference so that viewers can judge distance and speed.

 

[SawMaster]

maybe that's helpfull ?
cheers

There are different ways to approach the problem with each having drawbacks. It's widely known that fitting a CPL will mean readjusting the exposure to help compensate for the lowered brightness reaching the sensor. Not a perfect solution but maybe the most common one. Dashmats can do a lot of good too, but aesthetics and finding one for your car with the proper non-refelctive qualities can be issues. Seems to be the most effective approach overall. The ideas of 'shields' to physically block the reflections seem smart and can work, but the automatic exposure adjustments in the cam may not respond correctly according to how the light metering is done.

In the end all choices are compromises so you choose what you like and live with the rest. Since it's simple and usually effective I suggest a CPL first; the A129 has good low-light qualities so it should not overly darken night vids.

Phil

 

[sam duyvejonck]

There are different ways to approach the problem with each having drawbacks. It's widely known that fitting a CPL will mean readjusting the exposure to help compensate for the lowered brightness reaching the sensor. Not a perfect solution but maybe the most common one. Dashmats can do a lot of good too, but aesthetics and finding one for your car with the proper non-refelctive qualities can be issues. Seems to be the most effective approach overall. The ideas of 'shields' to physically block the reflections seem smart and can work, but the automatic exposure adjustments in the cam may not respond correctly according to how the light metering is done.

In the end all choices are compromises so you choose what you like and live with the rest. Since it's simple and usually effective I suggest a CPL first; the A129 has good low-light qualities so it should not overly darken night vids.

Phil

maybe ask @viofo how or where the light measurement is done ,suppose if the light measurement is taking place directly thru lens at the image sensor, and if you keep the view angle in mind I shouldn't know why a descent lens cap or black screen would block the incomming light.

About the CPL filter, they should have locked the glasses at factory , they are easily turnable while cleaning.
CPL will be back on only at sunny days,
now I have good image results without the cpl , if you don't mind dashboard glare....

Thanks for your help and reply

 

[Nigel]

CPL will be back on only at sunny days,

Most people just fit it and leave it, I remove mine for about 3 months in the winter.

Looking at that video again, the main difference between his first bad video and the last fantastic video is the position of the sun, in the first it is shining directly down onto the dash and footwell, in the last it is behind the car and lowish down so the dash and footwell are in shadow, almost as though he is cheating to show off his invention, definitely not a fair test! Getting the footwell reflections is a bit unusual, on most cars the camera is mounted too far forward to see those, must have a very shallow angle windscreen and also have mounted the camera very high. I have my cameras mounted below the mirror rather than above it like he has, so my reflections are only of the dash, no footwell, and my dash is a dark colour and designed to avoid reflections because no driver wants to have to look through reflections while driving, or have to use polarised sunglasses to remove them. Some car manufacturers are not as careful as others on dashboard design, something to check when you test drive a car since you will have to look through those reflections every time you drive for as long as you have the car.

 

[xiongguoy]

I recently bought the CPL filter and I can't see any difference, still lots of reflection.
I've double check the alignment, doing that 45 degree thing and the red marker facing up.
Am I doing anything wrong?

Here's a sample from a video for a different purpose.
WDR On, CPL front only, Ev 0 front and back.

 

[kamkar]

Well a CPL filter don't remove all reflections, so hard to tell in your case.
You should probably try in a static place and then record some footage with the CPL on and off to see the difference between the 2 setups.

 

[Teflon490]

It is easy to check what CPL does or doesn't do...simply sit in the car, hold the CPL in front of your face and move it as you like. In the ideal position you should clearly see the reflections disappearing. It is that simple, it does not have to be mounted on the camera to check it.

 

[Nigel]

It is easy to check what CPL does or doesn't do...simply sit in the car, hold the CPL in front of your face and move it as you like. In the ideal position you should clearly see the reflections disappearing. It is that simple, it does not have to be mounted on the camera to check it.

Put a piece of white paper on the dash first so that you have a very clear reflection.

 

[JimInRussell]

Just got my A129 Pro 4K today from Amazon (OCD Tronic Canada storefront). Haven't installed it yet though as I also ordered the Bluetooth emergency remote with it but that is not what I received, instead the HK3ACC hardwire kit came with it. The hardwire kit package has a label on it that says it is the bluetooth remote and I guess the person at Amazon just pulls the package out of a bin without looking at it so they didn't realize it was the wrong item. Now I get to do a return ... Joy!

 

[Nigel]

Just got my A129 Pro 4K today from Amazon (OCD Tronic Canada storefront). Haven't installed it yet though as I also ordered the Bluetooth emergency remote with it but that is not what I received, instead the HK3ACC hardware kit came with it. The hardwire kit package has a label on it that says it is the bluetooth remote and I guess the person at Amazon just pulls the package out of a bin without looking at it so they didn't realize it was the wrong item. Now I get to do a return ... Joy!

Maybe talk to OCD Tronic and do a deal to keep both, the HK3 is a good hardwire kit and was updated to provide enough power for the A129 Pro.

 

[JimInRussell]

Maybe talk to OCD Tronic and do a deal to keep both, the HK3 is a good hardwire kit and was updated to provide enough power for the A129 Pro.

Thanks for the suggestion but I already sent it back, doing a return/refund, amazon sent me the label and I dropped it off at the post office. I'll reorder the button another time.

 

[SawMaster]

I guess the person at Amazon just pulls the package out of a bin without looking at it

Yep, they hire a lot of temporary workers this time of year so things like that are more likely than usual

Phil

 

[jokiin]

Yep, they hire a lot of temporary workers this time of year so things like that are more likely than usual

Phil

they wouldn't know what they were looking at anyway, as good as their inventory system is overall they still have handling errors from time to time