BMW ACE 3.0 Pro Parking Mode: G-Sensor Trigger Fails (Missing Pre-Recording)

[Zeki61]

Hello everyone,

I had the BMW ACE 3.0 Pro Dashcam installed in my X3 xDrive30e. The installation and camera cost around €1000. All functions are working, except for one crucial feature.

• The wiring has been checked by three different workshops; everything is connected correctly.
• The camera itself has been replaced.
• I have deactivated the Radar function, leaving only the G-Sensor (Parking Mode) active.
• The firmware is up-to-date.

My Problem:

The G-Sensor in Parking Mode does not detect any strong jolts when I shake the car vigorously. However, if I tap the car body lightly, the recording starts immediately. Crucially, the 10 seconds before the trigger are completely missing. The camera only starts recording AFTER the tap. According to the manual, the preceding 10 seconds should also be saved.

The Curious Part:

As soon as the driver's door is open and the camera switches into Parking Mode, it records every small tremor, and the 10 preceding seconds are also present.

I even drew the 12V supply directly from the 12V battery to rule out the "Deep Sleep" function. This changed nothing.

Does anyone have any idea what could be going wrong here?

 

[gamesfrager]

The issue is that you got an OE dash camera. I know the integration and the look is fitting the car, but they are crap.
My brother's X1 uses the surround cameras as dashcam in case of a hit.

He got rear-ended and it did not get triggered. Yet, the only footage it has captured is a month old when he was existing the garage. So yeah, pretty useless.

I feel bad you have spent nearly €1000. Could have gotten a superior camera with a seamless and professional install for way cheaper and including a dedicated parking battery too.

 

[Zeki61]

The issue is that you got an OE dash camera. I know the integration and the look is fitting the car, but they are crap.
My brother's X1 uses the surround cameras as dashcam in case of a hit.

He got rear-ended and it did not get triggered. Yet, the only footage it has captured is a month old when he was existing the garage. So yeah, pretty useless.

I feel bad you have spent nearly €1000. Could have gotten a superior camera with a seamless and professional install for way cheaper and including a dedicated parking battery too.

No, you misunderstood. The surround view system can act as a dashcam, but it only records while driving. It’s not meant for parking surveillance. That’s exactly why I bought a separate camera, the "BMW Advanced Car Eye 3.0 Pro", and that one handles the parking mode.

 

[kamkar]

Probably not many in here with experience in this particular brand.

At first i was thinking BMW probably just slapped their name on some other brand camera as this is pretty normal, but then looking it up, it do not look like anything i am familiar with.

If there is no buffered footage from before " tap " then the system might be in a power saving mode, this is now becoming more and more normal as systems,,,, or some systems are able to boot up and record pretty fast.
But of course if the camera need to buffer 10 seconds from before, in essence it need to be on all the time to do that and so it will have a completely different ( higher ) power use, and so expected duration it can do parking guard.

So maybe in the menus there is a option to have extra low power parking guard VS just normal parking guard with buffer.

 

[Zeki61]

Probably not many in here with experience in this particular brand.

At first i was thinking BMW probably just slapped their name on some other brand camera as this is pretty normal, but then looking it up, it do not look like anything i am familiar with.

If there is no buffered footage from before " tap " then the system might be in a power saving mode, this is now becoming more and more normal as systems,,,, or some systems are able to boot up and record pretty fast.
But of course if the camera need to buffer 10 seconds from before, in essence it need to be on all the time to do that and so it will have a completely different ( higher ) power use, and so expected duration it can do parking guard.

So maybe in the menus there is a option to have extra low power parking guard VS just normal parking guard with buffer.

No, unfortunately that setting doesn’t exist. To rule out the issue, I even connected the camera directly to the 12V battery, but the problem still persists. And as far as I know, the camera is made by Thinkware, BMW basically just put their branding on it.

 

[kamkar]

It is very strange you can tap it and get a recording but shake the car and get nothing.

I will say when i test dashcams G-sensor i most often do so by kicking a tire hard with the sole of my foot, but i can not say i have felt like systems will sense this " sharper" force but ignore the rocking force which i still feel is a shunt to get a car going rocking from side to side.

Also strange if it do not have the option to do buffered G-sensor mode, or for that matter other modes, i personally prefer low bitrate that always record, but this CUZ i only like parking guard to be on for a few hours after i have parked.
CUZ most places i park i have CCTV on the car, so parking guard is only really needed when i go shopping ( and this is soon over ) or the rare cases i visit some family that do not have CCTV.

Last time i had problems my car was hit while parked but 2 - 3 hours after i parked it, and back then i only used 1 hour on the timer, fortunately little old lady living in same place saw it all and took down plate number.

This was one of the guests / new comers to our country that do not understand one way signs, sh she came driving against the traffic, and then a car going the right way forced her to reverse,,,, and so hitting my car.
She also put paper in windscreen, but returned a hour later and removed that,,,,, little old lady also saw this.

I do not like people that can not follow the simple rules, that is there so our societies do not turn into the places where people come from, or where the most stupid Danes also is with their mindset.

Just browsed your model again, and front unit look like no thinkware i have seen, but the rear camera do give me thinkware feelings looking at it.