Viofo HK3 kit fails!

[bobcat]

Update Jan. 2022: Viofo reached out to me and offered a replacement unit. The replacement unit failed as well after 3-4 days and does not start up the dash cam any more as there is no power going to it. There is a bad batch of faulty units out there.


Original post:
About a month ago I pulled a trigger, although was very hesitant due to numerous bad reviews on Amazon, and purchased and installed Viofo HK3 kit for my A129 Pro. It was working fine for about 2-3 weeks and then I noticed my camera was not making any sounds - and indeed after checking it - it was not powered on! I immediately knew something was wrong on the HK side when I tested the voltage output of the cable and saw 0v. After tearing out half of the passenger compartment panels (Mustang S550 is a pain in the butt to get to the fuse box) and verifying that all fuse connections are nice and tight the only other thing to try was to teardown the HK3 module and see what's up.

If you ever installed one, you would know that there is a red led hidden inside that indicates the module is powered on. The led was off. There were no signs of anything burned, however I did note poor solder job on few connections- but that was not the issue. After checking incoming 12v connections with a multimeter - all was ok so the only thing left was try to troubleshoot HK module by changing order of connection to power source.

When connecting red wire to source, the module had voltage incoming but was dead. After touching and holding yellow wire to red for about few seconds the module would magically power on, and stay on after disconnecting yellow wire (as it should as yellow is just a signal lane). Disconnecting and reconnecting red wire - it is dead. The only thing that would wake it up was reconnecting yellow to power. A few times after repeatedly reconnecting yellow to red while the red was constantly connected to source the led would start flickering and dimming off. The only conclusion I can make is that Viofo uses some trash IC logic in these HK kits and would advice against from purchasing one of these until Viofo recognizes the issue and fixes these modules! This part should be set it and forget it as it is not easy to hardwire everything properly and aesthetically just to find out that this critical part fails.

It really seems like there is an IC lottery with these modules as numerous people have reported module dying within short period of time (or not working straight out of the box) and the reason for that is faulty, unsuitable or fake logic ICs Viofo uses in these modules.

Attaching internals of the HK3 kit in case if anyone sees anything strange (as I know few people have disassembled theirs in search of faults). You may notice one of the power ICs (the one at the bottom) looks as if it has been burned, but I think its just the solder bridge that melted the body of IC (I suppose the bridge should be there, right!?)

Using the opportunity - can anyone recommend a good HK kit with parking logic output? I am planning on keeping the viofo cabling (and solder it to the replacement module) as I have no desire whatsoever to disassemble again the pillars and even the visor to replace the wiring going to the camera.

 

[Mtrev]

I take it the voltage level supplying the kit is good?
As you have discovered, If you disconnect the red power then the kit won’t power up until it sees the ACC signal (I only recently discovered this) so that part is normal behaviour.

 

[Nigel]

After touching and holding yellow wire to red for about few seconds the module would magically power on, and stay on after disconnecting yellow wire (as it should as yellow is just a signal lane). Disconnecting and reconnecting red wire - it is dead. The only thing that would wake it up was reconnecting yellow to power.

As in the above post, that is actually expected behaviour if the engine is not running and the battery voltage is below the turn on voltage.

Not saying that it is definitely working correctly, but that is definitely not magic behaviour, it is correct. Obviously there was a problem of some sort, but need to be a bit careful with the diagnostics!

 

[Mtz]

The Viofo hardwire kits are very good quality, were tested and measured by many forum users. Do not compare the Average Joe from Amazon with people from this forum.
Of course, there can be some isolated bad manufactured items, this should be accepted by all manufacturers, but your general advice for the people to not buy their hardwire kit is a... joke. People have tested on this forum their hardwire kits for years and almost nobody wrote so desperate advice to not buy them. If that hardwire kits were so bad like you wrote, this forum should be full of reports like yours 2-3 years ago and people could stop buying this product 2-3 years ago.

Most of the fails of hardwire kits are because of users and this was showed many times on this forum by, for example, poor connection of GND, wrong fuse for ACC or BAT. Intermittent connection can kill a hardwire kit and almost nobody who is killing a device (generally speaking) is not assuming their fault, but blaming the manufacturer. This is an old story and will never end because in this way the human is build. An intermittent power connection can kill a TV or a fridge, why to not kill a dashcam or a hardwire kit?

 

[bobcat]

Agree with you guys, however it is unclear what caused it to go into "death mode" needing complete disconnect-reconnect cycle of all wires to get it working again - no idea.

Also tested power cut-off on low voltages and no luck there - after the power-cycle trick module keeps outputting 5.5v without cutting the power even if input voltage is below 10v - so definitely something going on with controlling IC.

 

[bobcat]

The Viofo hardwire kits are very good quality, were tested and measured by many forum users. Do not compare the Average Joe from Amazon with people from this forum.
Of course, there can be some isolated bad manufactured items, this should be accepted by all manufacturers, but your general advice for the people to not buy their hardwire kit is a... joke. People have tested on this forum their hardwire kits for years and almost nobody wrote so desperate advice to not buy them. If that hardwire kits were so bad like you wrote, this forum should be full of reports like yours 2-3 years ago and people could stop buying this product 2-3 years ago.

Most of the fails of hardwire kits are because of users and this was showed many times on this forum by, for example, poor connection of GND, wrong fuse for ACC or BAT. Intermittent connection can kill a hardwire kit and almost nobody who is killing a device (generally speaking) is not assuming their fault, but blaming the manufacturer. This is an old story and will never end because in this way the human is build. An intermittent power connection can kill a TV or a fridge, why to not kill a dashcam or a hardwire kit?

I'm pretty profound with electronics and building my own stuff for hobby as well - and here I am sharing my experience - and based on my personal experience and reviews left by others facing similar issues - I am giving this suggestion not to buy. A voltage regulator with some minimal logic is not an overly complicated device and there are good choices for ICs out there that could handle things reliably - these guys chose to use no-name something with chip id shaded off...

I did not write out of the blue but took my time to research on the product and some of the negative reviews out there. 1 case of abrupt death is, fine - 2 -3 -5 more or less, but you can find a lot more on this same behavior.

And yes - I am pissed as hell for something as simple that would cause hours of work to fail. Bad QC, bad design - and don't call it perfect please. There are a lot of reports with measurements demonstrating how "bad" these modules can get and how big of a lottery it is - for something as simple as this.

 

[Mtz]

Your suggestion to not buy, no matter how good are you in electronics, could have a value in the first months after launching the HK3. But you came here after 2-3 years of a good product sales, telling us that is bad quality, poor engineering, everything is poor.
I am just comparing the facts. A product which is 3 years old with no major failures compared to an aggressive advice from you do not buy a product because you discovered the hole in the donut.
Maybe your HK3 is poor manufactured, maybe you are unlucky, for sure you will receive your money back from Amazon. Maybe you will find the perfect hardwire kit for a dashcam on Amazon, full of fake reviews. Or maybe not, because there are small chances that other hardwire kit manufacturer with mini USB connector to create a better one than the Viofo one.

On this forum there are posts from other users which measured for example the voltage cut off and all of them were amazed about how precise is this small device which you say that is so poor that should be not bought by anybody,

 

[bobcat]

I think between your reasoning (which is legit, no doubt) and my experience potential owners can decide for themselves. I'm sure for many failed users there is only a fraction that will go in here for example and report it, not even mentioning disassembly and testing. So here I am. Got a faulty unit, after disassembling it observed poor craftsmaship, no QA marking and scratched off chip ID on a simple device that is supposed to power things... my verdict - do not buy.

And yes, voltage cut off feature failed as well on my specific unit, that could potentially cost me hundreds of dollars.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Agree with you guys, however it is unclear what caused it to go into "death mode" needing complete disconnect-reconnect cycle of all wires to get it working again - no idea.

Also tested power cut-off on low voltages and no luck there - after the power-cycle trick module keeps outputting 5.5v without cutting the power even if input voltage is below 10v - so definitely something going on with controlling IC.

I assume your aware that there is a 90 second delay from when the kit senses voltage below the settting and when it actually kills power to the camera (Red light in kit turns off)?

 

[Mtz]

CYA, you as a retailer know very well how good are the hardwire kits made by Viofo because you can count the percentage of the DOA units. Also you can know how frequently the returns were because of buyers fault which damaged them and also you can count how many returned items had no problems but still returned because of improper install. From all returns the most important percentage is about real defective units because of manufacturer fault. Are they more than 2-3%?

I am not asking you to be on the Viofo side with any price because you are selling their products but you can judge from your real selling experience with more products and not only Viofo how poor manufactured or not are the Viofo hardwire kits and how real is the bobcat advice.

 

[Paul Iddon]

I'm dismayed...

Paul.

 

[IAmATeaf]

Unless the hardware inside the unit is exactly the same you can’t really rely upon previous performance and apply that to a current changed design can you?

 

[SawMaster]

The HK3 usually does well, though at one point in the past there seems to have been some problems. Haven't heard of those in a long time and Viofo was aware of it so presumably those problems were fixed. Perhaps you got one of those older units sent to you? And as always with anything mass-produced a very small percentage will likely need their warranty, which is normal. An "erased" chip doesn't always signify a cheap chip although that does happen, so I wouldn't try to read too much into that.

As you're not willing to uninstall-warranty yours, the only suggestion I can make is to obtain another HK3 from a reputable seller such as CaptureYourAction and solder it in. That should solve things for you

Phil

 

[CaptureYourAction]

CYA, you as a retailer know very well how good are the hardwire kits made by Viofo because you can count the percentage of the DOA units. Also you can know how frequently the returns were because of buyers fault which damaged them and also you can count how many returned items had no problems but still returned because of improper install. From all returns the most important percentage is about real defective units because of manufacturer fault. Are they more than 2-3%?

I am not asking you to be on the Viofo side with any price because you are selling their products but you can judge from your real selling experience with more products and not only Viofo how poor manufactured or not are the Viofo hardwire kits and how real is the bobcat advice.

I couldn't say a percentage, as I do not bother tracking it. In my case as a seller of these kits, the following is what I see. Other sellers could likely be different as they could have received different manufactured batches. Faulty components in a batch could certainly be defective in some way.

1) The number one reason I see for returning a kit, is either improper install or they purchased the wrong kit. I say wrong kit because I sell these with fuse taps and users constantly purchase the wrong ones, which prompts them to return the whole kit instead of just buying new taps or contacting me for the correct ones (this only seems to occur on Amazon). All my listings clearly state to make sure you know which taps you need, but it seems they don't check or they rely on bad info from the internet. I have recently had one Amazon buyer buy and return 3 kits until he purchased the kit with the correct taps. Each return claimed the kit was faulty, likely so he didn't have to pay the return shipping. Kits were clearly new/untouched when I received them back. Unfortunately, unlike eBay, Amazon does not allow you to block a buyer. I do sell just the kit as well and those return numbers are lower.

2) Users try connecting just the red and black wires and assume the kit should work. Some even try just the yellow and black, thinking this means it will only power the camera with accessories on. Some have the red and yellow wires switched.

3) Of all the returned kits, I can recall only throwing away one. This was not because it was faulty, but because the cable was pinched during install and broke the outer shielding. All other returned units were bench tested and appeared 100% functional. Most have since been packaged along with open box/used units and I have not had any buyer tell me they had an issue with that kit. The kits in my family cars were returned units and I have given some to friends and family. I'm not claiming there have not been faulty kits, I'm sure there have been. If a buyer contacts me, and after some troubleshooting steps we can determine there is a real fault, then I usually just send out a replacement without receiving the old one back, so I cannot test and confirm any fault on that kit.

Again, I'm not saying that I haven't received and sold a faulty kit. However, from the returns I have received, it's been very rare. I think if more buyers would contact their sellers and troubleshoot with them, the poor reviews and returns would drop dramatically.

 

[Mtz]

Thank you for this post, you are confirming 99% of what I was guessing. It is showing a big difference compared to the first post of this thread and is based on a big experience with HK3, not with just one.

All my listings clearly state to make sure you know which taps you need, but it seems they don't check or they rely on bad info from the internet.

I don't know how is looking your listing and I am not asking to show me one to not be considered spam, but I think you need to find a way to tell them that the fuse must be verified on the fuse box of the car and not from any other source. Of course the order can be more complicated if the fusebox have both Normal (ATO) and Mini.
With the buyers which are reasonable you can explain that a Mini fuse tap can be used instead of Normal and instead of Mini Low Profile. More than that the Mini fits better compared to Mini Low Profile. So the only cases when Mini cannot be used are for Micro 2 and Micro 3 (which are very very rare).

PS: I am not interested in your store just because you are in USA and maybe Canada and I am from EU, so any buy from that region is too complicated for me, I prefer to buy from EU because of customs employers, taxes and VAT.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Thank you for this post, you are confirming 99% of what I was guessing. It is showing a big difference compared to the first post of this thread and is based on a big experience with HK3, not with just one.

I don't know how is looking your listing and I am not asking to show me one to not be considered spam, but I think you need to find a way to tell them that the fuse must be verified on the fuse box of the car and not from any other source. Of course the order can be more complicated if the fusebox have both Normal (ATO) and Mini.
With the buyers which are reasonable you can explain that a Mini fuse tap can be used instead of Normal and instead of Mini Low Profile. More than that the Mini fits better compared to Mini Low Profile. So the only cases when Mini cannot be used are for Micro 2 and Micro 3 (which are very very rare).

PS: I am not interested in your store just because you are in USA and maybe Canada and I am from EU, so any buy from that region is too complicated for me, I prefer to buy from EU because of customs employers, taxes and VAT.

I have adjusted the listing multiple times over the years in hopes making things more clear/obvious, but unfortunately, I have seen little difference. I will continue to try though. I don't sell the Micro3 taps.

 

[Paul Iddon]

Seems that the OP has gone overboard with his post doesn't it? Instead of reaching out he has chosen to blast the company (unfairly and wrongly). These kind of forum posts boil my p*ss.

Why can't people just be nice?

 

[bobcat]

These kind of forum posts boil my p*ss.

If it makes your piss boil - I suggest taking a cold shower could help maybe? I can assure you after spending hours under the sun meticulously routing and triple checking everything and the thing failing after two weeks of use - needless to say I was not happy to say the least.

For all others who tried to respond in any reasonable way I have ordered the same kit from another supplier and will have to manually solder it inside the car, since I cut the cords and not willing to re-route the new cable. On my convertible it is really a pain in the butt to route these cables, with a huge risk of breaking a 200$ part (it involves taking off passenger visor and then some other parts, pretty much getting to bare metal to get to hide the wiring).

Will repost back if internals of the new ordered part look any different and if it fails after some time as well.

I tried looking at other HK brands with parking mode but it sounds like they are more trouble than solution when it comes to A129 Pro cameras.

@CaptureYourAction Any chance I can get a link to your store for this kit?

 

[CaptureYourAction]

If it makes your piss boil - I suggest taking a cold shower could help maybe? I can assure you after spending hours under the sun meticulously routing and triple checking everything and the thing failing after two weeks of use - needless to say I was not happy to say the least.

For all others who tried to respond in any reasonable way I have ordered the same kit from another supplier and will have to manually solder it inside the car, since I cut the cords and not willing to re-route the new cable. On my convertible it is really a pain in the butt to route these cables, with a huge risk of breaking a 200$ part (it involves taking off passenger visor and then some other parts, pretty much getting to bare metal to get to hide the wiring).

Will repost back if internals of the new ordered part look any different and if it fails after some time as well.

I tried looking at other HK brands with parking mode but it sounds like they are more trouble than solution when it comes to A129 Pro cameras.

@CaptureYourAction Any chance I can get a link to your store for this kit?

I'll PM you the link.

What wires did you cut and are now going to solder?

 

[bobcat]

I'll PM you the link.

What wires did you cut and are now going to solder?

Cut them on both ends of the board. So I will be doing pretty much a PCB replacement.