Viofo A139 pro // router plus sim-card instead of external Wifi-antennas

[acters]

Hello Acters.



I started the two wget-instances only ~2sec. apart. Both instances grabbed the same file. But data-amount per stream was ~1/2.

View attachment 64808

One corresponding file is created in the directory but the file is somehow corrupt (maybe of incorrect parameters?). VLC doesn´t play it, but without any error-message.

View attachment 64809

Because of this (behaviour) i wanted to give aria2 a go if it somehow might be superior to wget regarding that.

I have no words for the type of frankensteining type of work that is being conducted here. Please understand that a single antenna is limited at a physical layer.(It can only do as much as it can) Software can only compensate for this, not improve or modify the physical behavior.

Pretty much all the time, or almost all the time i have been into dashcams have a asked for another storage media.
But having that, and a large one, well you might want a few things to come with that.
1: A automated backup routine, so when you backup you only backup footage recorded after your last backup.
2: Means of backup, so this could be to a fast USB thumb drive, or also via the air to your home NAS or cloud service, personally i would prefer a USB thumb drive as really i dont use WIFI or other wireless technologies other than for controlling RC hobby things.

ATM i am mostly inclined to want a M2 drive, 2 TB would be sweet, and actually not cost that much. This if you get a newer gen 4 X 4 drive, would also have read / write speeds to support several 4K cameras in the system, for sure cooling a SOC that would handle that would be the biggest problem.
Bringing me to the remote cameras systems i favor, CUZ then your main unit can be as large as you need to accommodate a proper cooling solution, and really it could even be active cooling.

I wish for so much more from these high priced dash cams.
The only solution I have come up with that is semi-satisfying for this need to have better storage capabilities is to get a SD Card Multiplexer that can switch between two SD Cards. One for the camera and the other has the data offloaded to an external system, like a Raspberry Pi with an SSD attached. This multiplexer is niche and needs to be made by hand. It is such a pain to not have a proper storage medium, I hate SD Cards. For now I simply bought a SD Card for every day of the week, Swapping manually and formatting the SD Cards before I put it in the camera. I read online formatting an SD Card prolongs its lifespan. /shrugs
For the active cooling part, you can just stick a fan on it and hook it up to the cars wiring, or separate battery pack.
I drive an electric vehicle, the 12 V battery is kept charged up when driving or charging the larger Li-Ion battery. which is everyday and EVs don't need lots of power to turn on, so I don't worry with a battery pack.

 

[kamkar]

Yeah the smart cameras, well not really that smart compared to other consumer electronics.
Suit me fine though CUZ for me a smart phone are too smart for my liking and i feel i die a little every time i touch my phone, which are fortunately just 1- 2 times a week, but even that is too much, i just can not throw it away as my old sick mother need to get in contact with me, but when she is gone i think my phone will go too.
The smarts in my roomba "vaccum" cleaner, well that i liked CUZ it could clean my floors 2 times a week when i was at work, but now i dont work anymore so it is off its schedule and actually i have gotten a regular vacuum cleaner.

Mind you my next and probably last car, it will probably be a EV even if those too have a lot of smarts i would like to be without, for instance i hate any forms of brake assist and steering / traction assist, i am that old, hell i would prefer a cheaper car and have manual windows.
Only new things i like in cars are heated windscreens and steering wheels, and as winter are more or less a done deal here in Denmark, even those i barely need / want, okay air con are nice too, but mu current car i have driven for 10 years and its so small and cheap it dident even come with air con or a radio for that matter.
But then again that hot summers / summer days, well normally we get 3 - 5 in the 3 month summer, and it is rare you get 2 days in a row with +30 deg C temperatures, which are hot for us, air con in Danes private homes, also very rare you see that.

 

[acters]

Yeah the smart cameras, well not really that smart compared to other consumer electronics.
Suit me fine though CUZ for me a smart phone are too smart for my liking and i feel i die a little every time i touch my phone, which are fortunately just 1- 2 times a week, but even that is too much, i just can not throw it away as my old sick mother need to get in contact with me, but when she is gone i think my phone will go too.
The smarts in my roomba "vaccum" cleaner, well that i liked CUZ it could clean my floors 2 times a week when i was at work, but now i dont work anymore so it is off its schedule and actually i have gotten a regular vacuum cleaner.

Mind you my next and probably last car, it will probably be a EV even if those too have a lot of smarts i would like to be without, for instance i hate any forms of brake assist and steering / traction assist, i am that old, hell i would prefer a cheaper car and have manual windows.
Only new things i like in cars are heated windscreens and steering wheels, and as winter are more or less a done deal here in Denmark, even those i barely need / want, okay air con are nice too, but mu current car i have driven for 10 years and its so small and cheap it dident even come with air con or a radio for that matter.
But then again that hot summers / summer days, well normally we get 3 - 5 in the 3 month summer, and it is rare you get 2 days in a row with +30 deg C temperatures, which are hot for us, air con in Danes private homes, also very rare you see that.

I promise you my Chevy bolt ev is not too smart and it is more capable than some gas chugging vehicles(the ones that get less than 15 mpg lol)
The make it less of a headache, I exclusively use regen braking in L mode for 1 pedal driving and have the battery kept below 90% charge(Hilltop Reserve mode) because regen braking speed is less powerful when the battery is full(obvious reasons).
If you go down a hill it will charge past 90% from regen braking, which is a nice plus for me because the city is lower elevation and I live at a higher elevation. Plus it is better for a battery to not be 100% charged all the time.
I don't have all those fancy features in my EV like heated windscreen or steering wheel or seats.
Considering I live in a location that never sees below freezing. I am quite happy with my EV.
If I lived in an area that does see below 20 degree Celsius, I would get a different EV that has a heat pump instead of the resistive heater.(efficiency reasons)
In all we both have different climates. EVs have major advantages over gas powered vehicles in my area than your area.
I average 5+ mile(~8+ KM) per KWH compared to someone in denmark getting less than 3 Miles(~5 KM) per KWH
Edit: because I live in a hot climate the garage keeps my vehicles cool and I can stay charged up. Lots of advantages for someone that lives in hotter climates with an EV than gas.

 

[kamkar]

Well gasoline here are 2 X of the US or so i use to say, just did the math and 1 gallon / 3.7 Liters is 52 DKkr which is 7.66 USD.

Problem so is the KWh prize, actually last i looked only Germany had higher power prices then Denmark.
It would seem all our wind turbines, many often pull out of the bunghole when it come to little Denmark, well it is not free power they make.

Electricity prices around the world | GlobalPetrolPrices.com

Electricity prices, September 2023: The chart shows the price of electricity for households and businesses in over 100 countries. The prices are per kWh and include all items in the electricity bill such as the distribution and energy cost, various environmental and fuel cost charges and...

www.globalpetrolprices.com

 

[acters]

Well gasoline here are 2 X of the US or so i use to say, just did the math and 1 gallon / 3.7 Liters is 52 DKkr which is 7.66 USD.

Problem so is the KWh prize, actually last i looked only Germany had higher power prices then Denmark.
It would seem all our wind turbines, many often pull out of the bunghole when it come to little Denmark, well it is not free power they make.

Electricity prices around the world | GlobalPetrolPrices.com

Electricity prices, September 2023: The chart shows the price of electricity for households and businesses in over 100 countries. The prices are per kWh and include all items in the electricity bill such as the distribution and energy cost, various environmental and fuel cost charges and...

www.globalpetrolprices.com

haha yea I am paying about 0.16 cents per KWH including taxes and fees. No solar panels are installed, it is for obvious reason because cost of KWH is already low enough to make the cost solar panels take 60+ years to pay back.
the most efficient gas powered vehicles in my area achieve about 35 to 40 mpg(for a full-size sedan carrying driver and a passenger)
To compare the EV: (KWH equivalent to 1 gallon of petrol for travel)

(@ 5 Miles per KWH) translates to 35 Miles per 7 KWH or 40 Miles per 8 KWH
Cost of KWH is 0.579 USD for denmark based on your link vs gallon of Gas based on your 7.66 USD estimate:
7 KWH * 0.579 USD = 4.053 USD for an equivalent 35 Miles of travel, gallon of Gas is 7.66 USD
about 47% cost reduction from traveling EV vs Gas
8 KWH * 0.579 USD = 4.632 USD for an equivalent 40 Miles of travel, gallon of Gas is 7.66 USD
about 39.5% cost reduction from traveling EV vs Gas

For me:
Cost of KWH is 0.16 USD for me vs Gallon of Gas in my area is 4.40 USD:
7 KWH * 0.16 USD = 1.12 USD for an equivalent 35 miles of travel, gallon of Gas is 4.40 USD
about 74.5% cost reduction from traveling EV vs Gas
8 KWH * 0.16 USD = 1.28 USD for an equivalent 40 miles of travel, gallon of Gas is 4.40 USD
about 70.9% cost reduction from traveling EV vs Gas

more realistically you will average less than 3 Miles per KWH
(@ 3 Miles per KWH) translates to 35 Miles per 11.66... KWH or 40 Miles per 13.33... KWH
Cost of KWH is 0.579 USD for denmark based on your link vs gallon of Gas based on your 7.66 USD estimate:
11.66... KWH * 0.579 USD = 6.755 USD for an equivalent 35 Miles of travel, gallon of Gas is 7.66 USD
about 11.8% cost reduction from traveling EV vs Gas
13.333... KWH * 0.579 USD = 7.72 USD for an equivalent 40 Miles of travel, gallon of Gas is 7.66 USD
about 0.1% cost increase from traveling EV vs Gas

For me:
Cost of KWH is 0.16 USD for me vs Gallon of Gas in my area is 4.40 USD:
11.66... KWH * 0.16 USD = 1.87 USD for an equivalent 35 miles of travel, gallon of Gas is 4.40 USD
about 58% cost reduction from traveling EV vs Gas
13.33... KWH * 0.16 USD = 2.13 USD for an equivalent 40 miles of travel, gallon of Gas is 4.40 USD
about 51.5% cost reduction from traveling EV vs Gas

As you can see, there is a major advantage for me to travel EV than Gas/petrol.
on top of that. my cost of travel is exceedingly lower than you possibly could achieve.

 

[mikey94025]

Perhaps a little off topic, but if you want setup to automated backup the SD card video data how about leveraging the filesystem mount in some way? So instead of transferring the data over Wi-Fi in station mode leverage the SD card mount over USB-C. It would also be faster to transfer the video files over USB-C than wireless.

1. When you connect the dashcam via USB-C to a Windows laptop the SD card appears a filesystem so that gives you the ability to read and copy any new video files to another drive in the laptop. Now we just need a way to switch between the filesystem mount (when not driving) and unmount (when driving).
2. I don't know if that USB-C connection can also power the dashcam enough to also record but presumably it cannot simultaneously record and present a filesystem to the laptop. So can a USB-C hub supporting power delivery power the dashcam? Then maybe rig something/software on the Windows laptop to mount the filesystem only when the car is not driving or in the middle of the night or ...?

 

[acters]

Perhaps a little off topic, but if you want setup to automated backup the SD card video data how about leveraging the filesystem mount in some way?

1. When you connect the dashcam via USB-C to a Windows laptop the SD card appears a filesystem so that gives you the ability to read and copy any new video files to another drive in the laptop. Now we just need a way to switch between the filesystem mount (when not driving) and unmount (when driving).
2. I don't know if that USB-C connection can also power the dashcam enough to also record but presumably it cannot simultaneously record and present a filesystem to the laptop. So can a USB-C hub supporting power delivery power the dashcam? Then maybe rig something/software on the Windows laptop to mount the filesystem only when the car is not driving or in the middle of the night or ...?

wow you can view the files from the USB C connection? I thought it was power only
edit: I cannot seem to make it appear on my windows laptop from the usb C connector, How did you do it?

 

[kamkar]

No most dashcams you can plug the whole camera into your computer with USB, and have the dashcam act as a mass storage device.
It is my understand it is one or the other, so no way see files when the system are in record mode

It is also often a slow mass storage device, at least in my test where i also tested a couple of the cheap card readers brands provide, so you get 12 - 15 MB/s transfer speeds VS the memory card in a good card reader where you get 80 MB/s

 

[kamkar]

Maybe if / when dashcams get the same USB- C ports you will see on some computers / GFX cards, where you can then connect a screen to the USB-C plug and have signal and power that way.
But that kind of stuff are not supported in any dashcam related SOC i know off.

There are many things i envy Americans, also things i find crazy,,,, but !!!! my kind of crazy, also somethings hard to fully comprehend as a person grown up in the arms of a huge nanny state.
TBH had i not been a idiot and so migrated 30 or so years ago, well i can see there would be some hard knocks for me to learn from, and i can just hope i would have been able to cut it in a mans world.

 

[acters]

Maybe if / when dashcams get the same USB- C ports you will see on some computers / GFX cards, where you can then connect a screen to the USB-C plug and have signal and power that way.
But that kind of stuff are not supported in any dashcam related SOC i know off.

There are many things i envy Americans, also things i find crazy,,,, but !!!! my kind of crazy, also somethings hard to fully comprehend as a person grown up in the arms of a huge nanny state.
TBH had i not been a idiot and so migrated 30 or so years ago, well i can see there would be some hard knocks for me to learn from, and i can just hope i would have been able to cut it in a mans world.

Its all relative man, I promise you that what kills us americans the most is the amount of debt we get into and how the interest makes it triple to quadruple the price we originally agreed on.
It is a sharks market here. Lots of boomers took all the housing and are renting it out for 10x the cost of the house or selling it to investment firms that prevent individuals from owning any land. It is a strange world to be in where cost of living is low AF but without being able to buy a house at an affordable price and being price gouged in every way possible, like healthcare. We are not as well off as someone who may live in Europe.

 

[acters]

Maybe if / when dashcams get the same USB- C ports you will see on some computers / GFX cards, where you can then connect a screen to the USB-C plug and have signal and power that way.
But that kind of stuff are not supported in any dashcam related SOC i know off.

There are many things i envy Americans, also things i find crazy,,,, but !!!! my kind of crazy, also somethings hard to fully comprehend as a person grown up in the arms of a huge nanny state.
TBH had i not been a idiot and so migrated 30 or so years ago, well i can see there would be some hard knocks for me to learn from, and i can just hope i would have been able to cut it in a mans world.

If you ever want a reason for the type of BS is being run in america and why there is disparity between wealthy americans and the normal citizen:

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/12w6rap/_/jhe87xm

In America you lost the right to look at your neighbor's or boss's taxes. You used to have that right to make informed votes up until the 1970's. In the 1970's they passed a new law making tax information private. You can see also see wage stagnation and wealth concentration start in the 1970's.

 

[mikey94025]

wow you can view the files from the USB C connection? I thought it was power only
edit: I cannot seem to make it appear on my windows laptop from the usb C connector, How did you do it?

I was stating this based on my understanding and what I had read. However I forgot that I did try before to do it with my Windows laptop (USB-C connect to the A139 Pro still mounted in my car) but was unsuccessful [see my post]. Earlier posters had said it was possible so it's worth more experimentation.

 

[Müller]

Hello mikey94025,

mounting the A139 to a Windows-machine usually/basically is no problem (probably individual cable and interface-hassles might occur). But the download-speed is very slow and you cannot record (write to the card) at the same time. Wifi puts you one step ahead by letting you work on the card (download files (although the same "slower-than-creating-speed" as via USB)) but keep the camera capable of simultanously recording to it.