Zenfox T3 insides

richx

Active Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
385
Reaction score
213
Country
Malaysia
Dash Cam
A129 Duo, A139, Mola N3, A119v2, B4K
Well since this thing is not reliable and stable apparently due to SOC overheating, let's just open up and see what's inside and if there's anything we can do to make things better. 5 external screws open up the casing, 2 more screws release the front camera module from the eyeball mount. Shoddy soldering on the supercapacitor positive lead. There's not really much space inside. Definitely can't add a fan. I could possibly try to mount a bunch of ramsinks on the RF can, more fins might give better heat dissipation? I will definitely replace the thermal compound.

Last thing to try is probably drill more holes at the bottom of the eyeball mount to allow more outside air to come in via convection? The existing ventilation design doesn't seem to support natural convection that much. I did note that the vents meant for intake have a mesh inside to prevent dust from getting in.


IMG_7317.JPG
 
This has already been covered, where several of us attempted to modified our T3's with copper plating. Zenfox's response was to release a firmware that disables the interior camera upon reaching a thermal max, in hopes of preventing the camera from shutting down due to heat. A known problem where the 3 Channel camera generated so much heat, with poor dispensations, that the interior camera dropped out, followed by the front and rear.

Zenfox didn't care and simply left our forum. Going on to find people on Redit and other mediums who raved about the product in exchange for cameras.
 
Definitely can't add a fan.
How about a fan instead of the heatsink?
I think in Malaysia, a fan is a good idea.

I think more holes would also help, but note where the top and bottom are when mounted so that you do generate some convection, depending on the angle of your windscreen the existing grills may not be in the best place.

Note that the ribbon cable shield is conductive - don't let it touch anything that is not grounded, such as that super capacitor solder joint!


Presumably this is a pre-production test unit, the production units have been improved on the thermal design, and the soldering should be better since they are made on the production line.
 
@HonestReview adding copper plating isn't going to help because it's not going to dissipate the heat better? It's just going to be a thermal buffer and store the heat for longer. I tried the firmware and all it did was add double beep when it decides to stop recording. Well, better than not knowing it stopped at all I guess.

@Nigel thanks for the tip on the ribbon shield. Will try to insulate the solder joint tip a bit better when I close it back. The issue with adding a fan is powering it. Already the USB port's 2A can barely keep up with the triple camera power consumption, even if the fan draws 0.1A, it's probably better to power it externally. A 4cm fan might be a tough fit, maybe behind (the outside of) the eyeball socket. A 2cm fan would be easier to fit but also more exotic and expensive to procure. For now I think I will try change the thermal compound and maybe remove the interior mesh from some of the vents.

Actually the recording quality seems OK, it would be a waste to chuck this into the bin just because it overheats after an hour of driving. I'm hoping to make it stable then I can donate to someone who hasn't gotten a dashcam yet.
 
Actually the recording quality seems OK, it would be a waste to chuck this into the bin just because it overheats after an hour of driving. I'm hoping to make it stable then I can donate to someone who hasn't gotten a dashcam yet.

That's a pretty good reason to chuck it.

Something is better than nothing, but, unless stable, no point passing on a false sense of security.
 
It's clear that it needs better cooling, but it never got that. It might be made to run cool enough to support one channel reliably, perhaps two, but I honestly don't think it will ever do all 3 channels reliably except in a very cold climate where summers are never hot. I would want to test it well before giving it away, and I'd hand it over without any parts which it cannot support reliably.

Personally I consider this cam a dead-end road, and hardly worth fooling with unless you want to strip it for parts. I'd rather have lesser vids reliably than better vids which may not be there when I need them. Dashcams are like an insurance policy and nobody would want an arbitrarily intermittent insurance policy, would they? ;)

Phil
 
@HonestReview adding copper plating isn't going to help because it's not going to dissipate the heat better? It's just going to be a thermal buffer and store the heat for longer. I tried the firmware and all it did was add double beep when it decides to stop recording. Well, better than not knowing it stopped at all I guess.

@Nigel thanks for the tip on the ribbon shield. Will try to insulate the solder joint tip a bit better when I close it back. The issue with adding a fan is powering it. Already the USB port's 2A can barely keep up with the triple camera power consumption, even if the fan draws 0.1A, it's probably better to power it externally. A 4cm fan might be a tough fit, maybe behind (the outside of) the eyeball socket. A 2cm fan would be easier to fit but also more exotic and expensive to procure. For now I think I will try change the thermal compound and maybe remove the interior mesh from some of the vents.

Actually the recording quality seems OK, it would be a waste to chuck this into the bin just because it overheats after an hour of driving. I'm hoping to make it stable then I can donate to someone who hasn't gotten a dashcam yet.

Copper plate will draw the heat away from the chip, which is what's overheating. You can then add ventilation holes to help that heat escape. Some on here drilled holes in the plastic housing to allow better airflow.
 
It's clear that it needs better cooling, but it never got that. It might be made to run cool enough to support one channel reliably, perhaps two, but I honestly don't think it will ever do all 3 channels reliably except in a very cold climate where summers are never hot. I would want to test it well before giving it away, and I'd hand it over without any parts which it cannot support reliably.

Personally I consider this cam a dead-end road, and hardly worth fooling with unless you want to strip it for parts. I'd rather have lesser vids reliably than better vids which may not be there when I need them. Dashcams are like an insurance policy and nobody would want an arbitrarily intermittent insurance policy, would they? ;)

Phil

Analogous to: Your house is flooded due to a hurricane. Sorry but your policy doesn't cover damages that happen on Weekends.....
 
I prooved to myself with my mod that with the proper design and installation of the cooling system, this camera would have much better chances of success.
@rich, I would suggest to go the main tread where several of us had a very long discussion of the most prominent issues and the way we dissected this camera in hopes to demonstrate where the biggest problem was.
I will try to find that link and poste it here for you. There is a LOT of reading to follow on what went on with that system.
 
Last edited:
@HonestReview adding copper plating isn't going to help because it's not going to dissipate the heat better? It's just going to be a thermal buffer and store the heat for longer. I tried the firmware and all it did was add double beep when it decides to stop recording. Well, better than not knowing it stopped at all I guess.

@Nigel thanks for the tip on the ribbon shield. Will try to insulate the solder joint tip a bit better when I close it back. The issue with adding a fan is powering it. Already the USB port's 2A can barely keep up with the triple camera power consumption, even if the fan draws 0.1A, it's probably better to power it externally. A 4cm fan might be a tough fit, maybe behind (the outside of) the eyeball socket. A 2cm fan would be easier to fit but also more exotic and expensive to procure. For now I think I will try change the thermal compound and maybe remove the interior mesh from some of the vents.

Actually the recording quality seems OK, it would be a waste to chuck this into the bin just because it overheats after an hour of driving. I'm hoping to make it stable then I can donate to someone who hasn't gotten a dashcam yet.
 
 
@SawMaster Yeah I get it. That's why I felt it was worth a last ditch effort before actually ditching it. If it can be made reliable as front + indoor cam, it's still pretty OK. Too bad there's no way to switch the front to FHD. Might reduce the CPU heat load a bit.

@EGS thanks. I'll try to catch up. The few months around when I received the test unit, I had been busy with work and learning how to cook (country was in pretty serious lockdown mode), and hadn't had the chance to drive much. So I wasn't testing it enough to find issues with it at that point. It was only July onwards our country opened up again and I managed to clock 1,200 km on it on a couple of road trips.

It does seems like it's a fixable problem ya? I've gotten the EMI can off, and will see what I can do to replicate your solution.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EGS
Tell us later if you solved this problem, OK? I do not use this stuff, but I have a buddy, who constantly has the same bugs. I will tell your answer or even invite the guy to join this discussion. The man simply dislikes online forums and chats. LOL.
 
Tell us later if you solved this problem, OK? I do not use this stuff, but I have a buddy, who constantly has the same bugs. I will tell your answer or even invite the guy to join this discussion. The man simply dislikes online forums and chats. LOL.

Issues were never resolved, only prolonged. Modifications kept it working longer, but ultimately, the unit continued to overheat after a few hours of being parked.
 
Tell us later if you solved this problem, OK? I do not use this stuff, but I have a buddy, who constantly has the same bugs. I will tell your answer or even invite the guy to join this discussion. The man simply dislikes online forums and chats. LOL.

Sure thing. As of now I'm waiting for the copper spacers to be shipped from China. They're like $1 items which I paid $2 for shipping :ROFLMAO: I've already drilled about 5 holes around the bottom of the case to hopefully facilitate more convection air flow.

@HonestReview My unit did not ship with hardwired parking power supply so I did not test its parking modes. Also because it lacks proper motion detection or G-sensor event recording, so it's not anything I would be bothered to actually use.
 
Sure thing. As of now I'm waiting for the copper spacers to be shipped from China. They're like $1 items which I paid $2 for shipping :ROFLMAO: I've already drilled about 5 holes around the bottom of the case to hopefully facilitate more convection air flow.

@HonestReview My unit did not ship with hardwired parking power supply so I did not test its parking modes. Also because it lacks proper motion detection or G-sensor event recording, so it's not anything I would be bothered to actually use.

You can use parking mode with the Viofo Hk3 hardwire kit. It's compatible. Camera will overheat in park mode with 3 channel recording. Also overheats normally according to some while driving.
 
Sure thing. As of now I'm waiting for the copper spacers to be shipped from China. They're like $1 items which I paid $2 for shipping :ROFLMAO: I've already drilled about 5 holes around the bottom of the case to hopefully facilitate more convection air flow.

@HonestReview My unit did not ship with hardwired parking power supply so I did not test its parking modes. Also because it lacks proper motion detection or G-sensor event recording, so it's not anything I would be bothered to actually use.

FYI it will do low bitrate parking mode, but the interior camera disables first, followed by both front and rear once it overheats in the sun. You're in Malaysia so that's a guarantee. If you have air conditioning going, its fine while driving for most part. Although there were some here that reported it still overheated on a hot day without hardwiring.

Another note... I used those copper spacers and my case melted LOL. Read the thread and see my pictures. The camera gets THAT hot. Copper spacers drew away so much heat, the case warped.
 
@HonestReview yeah mine overheats randomly. It could be a hot day and it ran fine for 1 hour+. It could be an overcast day and overheated after 35 mins. It never overheated under heavy rain though. So I still need to improve the reliability before someone else can use it even if it's without parking recording.
 
@HonestReview yeah mine overheats randomly. It could be a hot day and it ran fine for 1 hour+. It could be an overcast day and overheated after 35 mins. It never overheated under heavy rain though. So I still need to improve the reliability before someone else can use it even if it's without parking recording.

It's a very flaky camera. Spacers drew away a LOT of heat. As I said, I posted pictures of the case melting!
1604372367629.png
1604372633486.png
 
Last edited:
Yeah I saw that from the main thread. Looks a bit extreme, the plastic housing is really thick and I was quite nervous about drilling holes because I had to push hard to get the drill bit to bite and when it goes thru, I have no idea if it'll break something on the other side. So I stopped at 5 holes around the bottom curve, avoiding the WiFi antenna patch.
 
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
sendoh_dash Zenfox 3
rcg530 Zenfox 12
kamkar Zenfox 7
R Zenfox 4
Nigel Zenfox 4
Back
Top