VIOFO A139 Pro - Testing / Review Info

[Steve23918]

Q:How does a consumer identify if they have an “old” 24AWG hardwire kit only capable of 11.5 Watts max output, or the “upgraded” 20AWG+24AWG kit capable of 17.5 Watts max output?
A: Check the writing on the hardwire cable, (Type-C connector end).
24AWG = Old
20AWG+24AWG = Upgraded

Thanks for pointing me back to your earlier post, I overlooked that.
My new HK3-C purchase has a QC date of 5/23 and a UPC code of 94044-00048. All three wires, black, red and yellow are 20AWG with the USB-C cable marked 20AWG+24AWG. So it appears mine it the upgraded 17.5 Watt version.
Great info for figuring out what I've got, excellent job, thanks for your work!
Although I still wonder why they didn't update the max output specs anywhere on the product which would make it clearer what a consumer had bought. (

 

[Superturisto]

There is no such word in the Ukrainian language!!
Меншовартість - literally, lower cost, but what's the point of this!!
It's a shame to be an illiterate Ukrainian!!

меншовартість — Великий тлумачний словник сучасної мови

-тості, ж. 1》 Менша цінність, значимість, важливість, вартість. 2》 перен. Відчуття неповноцінності, уразливості.

slovnyk.me

It's truly embarrassing to be ignorant, let alone moskal myrmidon. Your hysterical laughter only accentuates it.

 

[Light]

A139 Pro - Power Consumption Test Results

The A139 Pro is a power-hungry dash camera. I recently spent good portion of a day testing the A139 Pro in its various modes of operation (some 2-channel configurations and some 3-channel configurations). Parking mode power consumption is similar to the power consumption during normal recording modes. Based on my test results, the A139 Pro 3-channel may only last 8 to 9 hours with the 6000 mAh / 76.8 Wh dash camera battery packs on the market. The higher capacity BlackboxMyCar PowerCell 8 7500 mAh / 96 Wh dash camera battery pack should be able to power the A139 Pro 3-channel for 10 to 11 hours. If you intend on using the A139 Pro 3-channel for long parking mode sessions, you may need to have the base dash camera battery pack plus a second or third expansion battery pack to provide power for your parking needs.

I do not have the previous generation A139 3-channel dash camera, so I cannot gather power consumption data for the A139 3-channel to compare it with the A139 Pro 3-channel power consumption. In my opinion, powering the A139 Pro 3-channel configuration with the HK3-C hardwire kit using fuse taps to source power from your vehicle's fuse box would not be recommended if you're intending on getting a decent amount of parking mode recording time.

* Updated 11-05-2022 20:19 GMT-7: Retested with v1.0_1105 firmware & tested ALL camera combinations *
* Updated 11-16-2022 10:55 GMT-8: Added a note that the "Infrared LED" setting was "On" while testing with the interior infrared camera *

3-Channel Power Consumption

View attachment 62535 View attachment 62290

2-Channel (Front + Interior) Power Consumption

View attachment 62534 View attachment 62292

2-Channel (Front + Rear) Power Consumption

View attachment 62293View attachment 62294

1-Channel (Front) Power Consumption

View attachment 62298 View attachment 62299

You may notice that I added two columns to my power consumption spreadsheet showing the Max and Avg Watt values converted to 5-volt amp values. I noticed that the Watt values were quite high for some of the normal mode operations (Wi-Fi on with Live View active). The existing versions of the HK3-C and HK4 hardwire kits have a max power output rating of 5-volts / 2 Amps. The A139 Pro in a 3-channel configuration has power demands (calculated from Watt values) exceeding the 5V/2A max of the HK3-C and HK4 hardwire kits. At no time during my testing did I observe any odd/wrong behavior that might be attributed to a power starvation situation. I raised my concerns with VIOFO. I was told an updated HK3-C will be released in the near future that addresses this concern. The 12-volt cigarette/power port adapter has a max power output rating of 5V/3A, so it should be able to supply the proper amount of power to the A139 Pro in all modes of operation.

A139 Pro - Case Temps

The A139 Pro's front camera case can get a bit warm while the front camera is configured to record 4K 2160P 24fps or 4K 1600P 30fps video. The outdoor temperatures in my location have tapered off a bit over the past several weeks. Most of my testing was with outside temps in the 70F/21.1C to 80F/26.6C range. During today's test trip, outside temps were in the mid 50F/10C range.

Today, the upper portion of the A139 Pro front camera case had temps in 155F/68.3C range. The area around the buttons was a bit warm to the touch with temps in the 115F/46.1C range.

View attachment 62282

May I ask you if the parking mode is turned off in the app will the dashcam still consume power while parked ?

 

[rcg530]

May I ask you if the parking mode is turned off in the app will the dashcam still consume power while parked ?

I just retested this scenario. It looks like the power consumption drops to the 5 mA level when parking mode is disabled. This is similar to the amount of power the hardwire kit by itself consumes. This scenario appears to consume less power than powering the dash camera off using the power button on the dash camera.

 

[Light]

I just retested this scenario. It looks like the power consumption drops to the 5 mA level when parking mode is disabled. This is similar to the amount of power the hardwire kit by itself consumes. This scenario appears to consume less power than powering the dash camera off using the power button on the dash camera.

Thank you very much for replying sir !
I purchased an a139pro 2ch and I'm planning on hardwiring it to the fuse box with an hk3-c hardwire kit and use lbr for parking mode with voltage cut-off at 12.4V .
I was wondering if this is too much for the car battery (49Ah/320A) to handle especially if I wanted more recording time ?

 

[rcg530]

Thank you very much for replying sir !
I purchased an a139pro 2ch and I'm planning on hardwiring it to the fuse box with an hk3-c hardwire kit and use lbr for parking mode with voltage cut-off at 12.4V .
I was wondering if this is too much for the car battery (49Ah/320A) to handle especially if I wanted more recording time ?

Your vehicle's battery is on the smaller side. A lot depends on the health/age of the battery. If I'm converting the 49Ah correctly (49 Ah X 12.6V) = 617.4 Wh. That seems like a lot of capacity, but a 12V automotive battery that is fully charged has a voltage level in the 12.6 volts range (2.1V x 6 cells = 12.6V). You don't want to drain that battery's charge level too low to help prevent a failure to start the engine or problems with the electronics in the vehicle (BMW vehicles are very sensitive to having the vehicle's 12V battery being drained too low).

Setting the HK3-C low voltage cutoff to 12.4V may only provide a short duration parking session. A "new" automotive battery tends to have a full charge voltage level in the 12.6V range (or slightly higher when new), but as they age and the storage capacity in the battery degrades, the typical voltage level after turning off the charging system in the vehicle will settle into the 12.2V to 12.4V range. You'll have to try the HK3-C with it set to 12.4V to see how long that battery will sustain the parking mode session.

I have a 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid which has very small 51R automotive battery. That battery is not used to start the engine in this vehicle. It doesn't list a Wh value, but converting the 500 CCA to Wh (500 / 7.25) yields 68.96 Wh. I have a Blueskysea B4K 2-channel dash camera in that vehicle using the Blueskysea hardwire kit. The power demands of the B4K 2CH dash camera in time-lapse parking mode is fairly low. I have the low voltage cutoff set to 12.2V on the hardwire kit and the B4K in time-lapse parking mode will record for 6 to 8 hours without a problem.

I didn't perform detailed power consumption tests back when I reviewed the B4K dash camera, but looking at my review video I can see that time-lapse parking mode was consuming between 180 mA to 190 mA as I was testing the low voltage cutoff. Taking 190 mA at 12.15V converts to 2.31 Watts. The A139 Pro 2CH (Front + Rear) consumes on average 5.53 Watts in LBR parking mode and the 2CH (Front + Interior) 6.45 Watts (with IR LEDs on for night recording). I would guess that an A139 Pro 2CH dash camera in LBR parking mode would not last more than a 3 to 4 hours in my vehicle with its now two year old battery.

Depending on your parking recording needs, the vehicle battery may be enough, but I tend to recommend using a dash camera battery pack for parking mode recording with vehicle that have smaller 12V batteries. There is the Thinkware iVolt Mini (4500 mAh), the older BlackVue 6000 mAh battery packs and the larger BlackVue B-130X/BlackboxMyCar PowerCell 8/Thinkware iVolt Xtra BAB-95 7500 mAh battery packs on the market. The BlackVue B-130X is on sale now for $305 USD on the BlackboxMyCar website, the smaller capacity Thinkware iVolt Mini BAB-50 is going for $249 USD on the Thinkware website.

I hope something in this post helps.

 

[Light]

I have a new car SEAT Arona so it's a new battery and yes I'm planning to try the 12.4V cut-off first to see how it'll work .
I'll use lbr mode because it provides continuous recording with audio and i will put HDR ON only at night and I'll try to keep the wifi off .
I wish there was an option where we can long push or double click on a button to turn off parking mode or if there was an option in the app to set a specific time for the dashcam to turn on because when I'm at the office the car is surveilled so there's no need for the cam to record anything and some people probably don't want their dashcam to record at night because it's in the garage or being surveilled too .
I really hope they'll do something about this to make it better .
I really appreciate all the tests you made sir and I appreciate that you replied to my questions , you helped me a lot and I learned from you .
Wish you all the best !

 

[rcg530]

I wish there was an option where we can long push or double click on a button to turn off parking mode or if there was an option in the app to set a specific time for the dashcam to turn on because when I'm at the office the car is surveilled so there's no need for the cam to record anything and some people probably don't want their dashcam to record at night because it's in the garage or being surveilled too .
I really hope they'll do something about this to make it better .

There is a way to conditionally turn off parking mode, but it requires the driver of the car to perform a manual button push before or after turning off the car's ignition switch.

If you have your vehicle at a location where you don't need it to record in parking mode, you can long press the <PWR> button (left most button) and you'll hear a beep from the A139 Pro. After the beep, you can stop pressing the <PWR> button. The A139 Pro will power down and stay powered down until the next time the accessory power is turned on by starting your car. My wife and I use that method to turn off the dash cameras when parked in the garage at home.

 

[Light]

There is a way to conditionally turn off parking mode, but it requires the driver of the car to perform a manual button push before or after turning off the car's ignition switch.

If you have your vehicle at a location where you don't need it to record in parking mode, you can long press the <PWR> button (left most button) and you'll hear a beep from the A139 Pro. After the beep, you can stop pressing the <PWR> button. The A139 Pro will power down and stay powered down until the next time the accessory power is turned on by starting your car. My wife and I use that method to turn off the dash cameras when parked in the garage at home.

That's perfect thank you !
I hope my wife will remember lol

 

[JardaB]

I have an 80 Ah battery in my diesel (Chevrolet Orlando). If I consider charging 80% and ending the discharge at 12.2 V (50% capacity) as a default, I have 30% capacity = 24 Ah. And if I can do the math this is at a 0.4A (5W) draw for a 60 hour record.
It depends what your riding regime is, daily, weekly, how many km mileage

 

[Louman]

A139 Pro - Power Consumption Test Results

...

Hi rcg530,
I just got an A139 Pro 2Ch dash cam. Should I use a 2 Amp fuse or a 5 Amp fuse with the HK3-C hardware kid?

Thanks,
Louman

 

[rcg530]

Hi rcg530,
I just got an A139 Pro 2Ch dash cam. Should I use a 2 Amp fuse or a 5 Amp fuse with the HK3-C hardware kid?

Thanks,
Louman

In my testing, the maximum I observed the 3-channel A139 Pro being power by the HK3-C draw was 830 mA. I would believe a 2 amp fuse would be more than sufficient.

 

[Louman]

Thanks!

 

[ozguy]

I believe that the "sky" portion of the frame is important to include because there can be important information up there.

I know right... like a meteor heading straight for you and landing on your front hood bonnet.
Definitely want to capture that.

 

[Dashmellow]

I know right... like a meteor heading straight for you and landing on your front hood bonnet.
Definitely want to capture that.

You saw the image with my post and read what I said about the importance of capturing the "sky" portion of the frame. I was talking about something far more mundane than meteors falling out of the sky; overhead traffic lights to record that they were green when you drive through an intersection.

 

[ozguy]

You saw the image with my post and read what I said about the importance of capturing the "sky" portion of the frame. I was talking about something far more mundane than meteors falling out of the sky; overhead traffic lights to record that they were green when you drive through an intersection.

View attachment 68676

Yes, I know..It was a joke mate..lol

 

[Dashmellow]

Yes, I know..It was a joke mate..lol

Didn't find it funny.

 

[ozguy]

Didn't find it funny.

Maybe downunder humor doesn't translate well..lol
I actually agree with you, traffic lights are very important to capture.
On another note, I was travelling along a highway once and this little ***Hole threw a rock from an overpass bridge...so there are also other reasons for having a nice vertical view on dash cam.

Plus the odd meteorite.

 

[dom1926]

it's a pleasure to read your posts, as I would like to go further, and monitor my dashcam a139 pro 3ch 24/7, I decided to connect it to my old android smartphone and use it as an nvr associated with a software on android, which sends me an email notification with the screenshot of the recording, in real time (of course subject to an active LTE connection on the smartphone)
I bought this powerbank "Sandberg Survivor Powerbank 8in1 96000 " it should give me plenty of amps (the camera would consume about 2Ah at 5V or 800mAh at 12V, I think I have to connect it to 5v, since this powerbank allows the power-trough, only on 5V DC, my fear, are the charging times of the batteries....through the car cigarette lighter (when in operation). I will update you

 

[speedingcheetah]

You saw the image with my post and read what I said about the importance of capturing the "sky" portion of the frame. I was talking about something far more mundane than meteors falling out of the sky; overhead traffic lights to record that they were green when you drive through an intersection.

View attachment 68676

In my tests, the crop of using Utrawide, only cuts off traffic lights a tiny bit sooner as u pass under them.
Already 95% through the intersection when it cuts off.
Plenty of footage to show that the signal status as i pass under.
Even when turning, I am well into the intersection and can see the opposing lane signal enough to see its status, most of the time, depends on the intersection size and design, some are mounted higher up, or on different type of mount/or hanging.
Some signals here have lens that can only be seen well looking straight on it, and many have round shades over the lens (like in that pic) and u can not see them at an angle.