Thinkware U3000 - Testing / Review - RCG

[AAziz]

I received a replacement U3000 front camera (unit 4). On 01-Feb, I powered the replacement U3000 for several hours in my office to charge up the RTC clock battery. I installed the U3000 in my car. The U3000 remained powered off from 01-Feb-2024 until today 09-Feb-2024. I was sick so I wasn't driving my car. The RTC clock issue occurred again. The first four minutes of video files from today's drive had a date/time from 01-Feb-2024 just after I installed the U3000 into my car. I reported that behavior to Thinkware support.

I discovered that the internal microphone on this replacement U3000 (#4) is not working correctly. There is a low level audio "hiss" sound present in the audio track. I confirmed I have the "Voice Recording" setting turned on in the settings. I used my headphones to listen to the audio track contents. The very first file created today has a very low volume / muffled "have a safe drive today" announcement recorded. So, the U3000 was attempting to record audio, but the internal microphone is messed up in this U3000 front camera.

U3000 unit 4 has a serial number that is 10 before the serial number from unit 3 which also has the RTC battery issue. Both were manufactured in June 2023. I've reported this problem to Thinkware support as well. _bang_head_here_

I'm having the same issue.

Camera is in a sports car. When the doors and windows are close, there is a loud hissing noise. When the windows are down and I'm driving, I hear nothing but wind. I had a VioFo temporarily inside that car and it picked up much better audio.

 

[pnorth]

Hi folks. I have an U3000 but the voice recording quality is shocking. It's crackling and heaps of static. Is that normal?

 

[rcg530]

Hi folks. I have an U3000 but the voice recording quality is shocking. It's crackling and heaps of static. Is that normal?

No that is not normal. Just this week, I sent back a U3000 that won't record any audio other than some low level static.

 

[pnorth]

No that is not normal. Just this week, I sent back a U3000 that won't record any audio other than some low level static.

Yes. So much static and crackling... I am sending it back too...
Thanks for your help.

 

[Thinkware Dash Cam]

Hello, any related concern or issue similar to static and crackling sound please send us an email to support@thinkware.com so we can evaluate it and for possible replacement if found faulty.

 

[pnorth]

Hello, any related concern or issue similar to static and crackling sound please send us an email to support@thinkware.com so we can evaluate it and for possible replacement if found faulty.

Thanks. I've already contacted Thinkware Australia and started a return.
I've sent multiple videos and they confirmed the issue. They told me that never "happened before". We all know it has happened before...
So hard to tell the truth?

Cheers

 

[AAziz]

@pnorth did the new camera work any better?

I'm facing the same issue and they are asking for video proof, but this is a wide range issue with all of their cameras...

 

[pnorth]

@pnorth did the new camera work any better?

I'm facing the same issue and they are asking for video proof, but this is a wide range issue with all of their cameras...

I am still waiting for a replacement. 3 weeks later...
I will let you know as soon as I get the replacement... Pretty sure it will be crap too. Looks like their camera is just a overpriced POS...

 

[rcg530]

U3000 Real-Time Clock (RTC) / Battery Behavior

In this thread, I've mentioned an issue with the RTC not maintaining a current date/time value when my vehicle was parked in my garage for more than three of four days. When I park my car in my garage, I use the power button to power down the U3000 and I turn off the constant battery power and accessory power (if the ignition it still on) using a DPST toggle switch. I use the switch to prevent the minimal amount of power draw from the U3000 (6 mA / 0.08 Watts) from unnecessarily draining power from the Thinkware iVolt Xtra BAB-95 battery pack while it's parked in my garage.

How I detected the RTC issue is due to the fact that the first two or three video files (front & rear) that are created during the first use of the U3000 after being unpowered for more than a few days have the incorrect date/time. The U3000 internal battery that powers the RTC had fully depleted its charge. When the U3000 powers up and the RTC battery is fully discharged and the RTC value is wrong, the U3000 defaults the "current date/time" value to just after the date/time value associated with the recent video file recorded before the U3000 was powered down when I parked the car. This causes the first few video filesets (front/rear) to have the old date/time value in the filename and the video status line. When the U3000 acquires a GPS signal, it updates the RTC value to the current date/time value.

Since the first few minutes of video files had the incorrect filenames (date/time are wrong), the backup scripts I use to copy video footage from the memory card to my NAS drive would miss those video files.

Why Was It Happening

After several emails between myself, my Thinkware support contact and then between Thinkware support and Thinkware HQ, the charging strategy for the U3000's RTC battery has been more clearly defined. Thinkware HQ stated that it can take up to 10 hours of "use" (having constant battery power) for the U3000 to fully charge the RTC battery. A fully charged RTC battery will last approxamitly two weeks (with no constant battery power supplied to it). Since I was driving my car 45 minutes on Tuesdays and about three hours on Fridays along with turning off the constant battery power to the U3000 when I parked at home, the RTC battery was not charged enough to last more than three or four days.

A test that was run had me park my car at home and power down the U3000 using the U3000 power button, but leave the DPST toggle switch on. I left the U3000 in this state for six days. When I started the car and the U3000 began recording, the RTC date/time value was correct. Even though the U3000 was powered off, at least part of the 6 mA / 0.08 Watts that it continues to draw when it's powered off is used to charge/maintain the RTC battery.

I've not experienced this behavior with dash cameras from other companies. At least the reason it was occuring is understood and it's not a bug/problem with the U3000.

 

[rcg530]

Thinkware iVolt Xtra BAB-95 - Current Status

I purchased a BAB-95 battery pack back in December 2022. I created a review video of that battery pack along with a two others. That BAB-95 battery pack was working well until I installed it into my dash camera test car. It worked fine for a couple of weeks. On a drive to a friend's house, that battery pack failed shortly after U3000 exited parking mode and resumed normal recording mode (no output 12V constant battery power from BAB-95). That BAB-95 was replaced with another unit. The second unit worked for a few weeks and then it failed in the same manner. Those units were sent back to Thinkware HQ and a bad chip was found on both of them. A very uncommon issue for the BAB-95. The third unit eventually failed as well. That's when we all asked (myself and Thinkware) what the heck is going on in my car to provoke this kind of failure.

A conversation with @safedrivesolutions and then @Ted@SafeDriveSolutions included the discussion of the relays that I use to provide the accessory charging power to the other dash camera battery packs in my dash camera test car. The 4-pin relays can potentially create a flyback voltage spike on the relay control power wire when the relay's control circuit power is turned off. The BAB-95 has its own internal control circuitry to enable/disable charging and when to send power out the "ACC Out" wire to the dash camera. The BAB-95's "ACC In" wire was connected to the same fuse box fuse tap for switched/accessory power that the relay control circuits were getting their power from since there is a very limited number of fuse sockets that provide switched/accessory power in my car.

I used an oscilloscope to monitor the voltage on the relay's control power wire and I found that there were flyback voltage spikes of up to 40V occuring when the control power was turned off. It appears the 40V spikes may have been the root cause for the BAB-95 failures. The solution for the battery pack power relays was to add a flyback diode to each relay's control wire pairs. This lets the flyback voltage spike to be feed back to the relay's coil and drain off the spike so it does not feedback into the vehicle's wiring.

As an extra layer of protection/isolation, I added a 10-amp capable programmable digital relay to the BAB-95's "ACC In" wire. I've used that type of relay before to help stabilize aftermarket radio head units that didn't like the fact that the vehicle's 12V power was temporarily turned off while starting the vehicle's engine. The relay is programmed to only supply output power (to the BAB-95's "ACC In" wire) if the relay's input 12V power has been on for at least five seconds. This BAB-95 has been providing power correctly to the dash camera since it was installed several weeks ago.



The only problem with the most recent BAB-95 is that the U3000 feature to announce the battery charge level is not working. It worked twice while testing it on my filming desk, but the remainder of the test runs on my filming desk and all of the time it has been installed in my car, the U3000 does not announce the battery charge level when entering/exiting parking mode. Two different U3000 dash cameras have been used, U3000 settings have been checked and verified and three different BAB-95 output power cables have been tested. Thinkware support is sending me yet another BAB-95 that has been successfully used with a U3000 to have the U3000 announce the battery charge levels.

 

[Nigel]

The solution for the battery pack power relays was to add a flyback diode to each relay's control wire pairs.

A decent automotive relay comes with a flyback diode built in, this Bosch shows it on the cover diagram:

If you are buying a relay, choose one with a diode.
For some things they are not required, but for switching power to anything electronic, you should use a relay with flyback diode.