Where can I get a non-defective A119 V3? (SOLVED)

I have made an account just to say that I have the same problem with my Viofo A119 v3 purchased in late 2021 and it is being very frustrating to troubleshoot.
The camera resets the settings (except time) every few days. Unlike @CaptainTivo, I've always used the original cable, so I don't think that's my problem. Also, my car is a 2006 Mazda that doesn't look even the slightest bit like a Tesla. After reading the post, I'm going to try replacing the 12V USB adapter just in case it's broken and will update with results.
 
Try running it indoors on a mobile phone charger just to rule in or out the device.

Ditto with SDCard after testing it with h2testw.

I've seen so many dashcams of various brands throwing errors in the car but working OK on a smooth indoor power source.

If the unit works indoors and if the card passes integrity and speed tests then it has to be a bad power connection.
 
Kremmen said:
Try running it indoors on a mobile phone charger just to rule in or out the device.

Ditto with SDCard after testing it with h2testw.

I've seen so many dashcams of various brands throwing errors in the car but working OK on a smooth indoor power source.

If the unit works indoors and if the card passes integrity and speed tests then it has to be a bad power connection.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestions, I tried it indoors and it worked fine. I then tried another USB adapter in the car but kept losing settings each time. I was about to give up when I noticed that the camera wouldn't even turn on sometimes, so assuming the adapter was faulty, I got yet another one.
And finally, for the past week my dashcam did not lose settings at any time.

Thank you all for troubleshooting this problem. It still doesn't make any sense to me to save the settings when the camera is shutting down, but oh well, whatever...
 
I don't understand why your settings are changing, mine stay as set on both my V3's.

The only thing I can think of is a firmware update still on the card, unlikely.
 
Unfortunately, after two weeks, the same problem came back and the camera resets the settings every other day. I'm thinking that maybe the 12V port is damaged somehow. Would it be possible to connect the dashcam to the fuse box directly?

Kremmen said:
I don't understand why your settings are changing, mine stay as set on both my V3's.

The only thing I can think of is a firmware update still on the card, unlikely.
Click to expand...
I have no idea honestly. Viofo confirmed that the camera saves the settings every time it shuts down, which doesn't make any sense. But that would mean that if the camera doesn't shut down correctly for whatever reason it will return to default settings on next boot.
 
The only other thing I can think of is the internal battery, if there is one, that holds the settings, has had it.
 
Kremmen said:
The only other thing I can think of is the internal battery, if there is one, that holds the settings, has had it.
Click to expand...
There is one battery inside but as far as I know it only stores the date and time, and that's the only setting I don't lose on every reboot.
 
Identical issue here, driving me nuts.
 
After months of troubleshooting and trying different things, I give up. In case it's useful to anyone, this is what I already tried:
  • Update the dashcam.
  • Changed the original Mini-USB cable to a new one as suggested previously in this thread.
  • Switched through 4 different USB chargers.
  • Powered the camera from a different power outlet.
  • Got a new car battery.
  • Soldered the USB cable and a DC-DC buck converter on the back of the power outlet in case the socket was bad and didn't make good contact with the charger.
  • Changed to a new dashcam (same model: A119v3).
  • Installed the hardwire kit and powered it from the fuse box.
None of these solutions fixed the problem. The camera still loses its configuration after a few days/weeks. The only thing I didn't try yet is a new GPS module, but I'm too tired of this **** already. Maybe there's a problem with my car, who knows. In any case, it could be easily fixed via software by not messing up with the configuration on power off or by having a configuration file in the SD card.
I'm going to switch to a different dashcam. and stop wasting time and money on this one
 
echo_ said:
After months of troubleshooting and trying different things, I give up. In case it's useful to anyone, this is what I already tried:
  • Update the dashcam.
  • Changed the original Mini-USB cable to a new one as suggested previously in this thread.
  • Switched through 4 different USB chargers.
  • Powered the camera from a different power outlet.
  • Got a new car battery.
  • Soldered the USB cable and a DC-DC buck converter on the back of the power outlet in case the socket was bad and didn't make good contact with the charger.
  • Changed to a new dashcam (same model: A119v3).
  • Installed the hardwire kit and powered it from the fuse box.
None of these solutions fixed the problem. The camera still loses its configuration after a few days/weeks. The only thing I didn't try yet is a new GPS module, but I'm too tired of this **** already. Maybe there's a problem with my car, who knows. In any case, it could be easily fixed via software by not messing up with the configuration on power off or by having a configuration file in the SD card.
I'm going to switch to a different dashcam. and stop wasting time and money on this one
Click to expand...
Sounds very annoying but I'm sure viofo will try to resolve it.

Which power connector are you using?
e.g GPS or the side of the Dashcam.

One other thought, does the Dashcam wiggle in the GPS mount even 1mm.

If you haven't already plug it in the Dashcam that's what I've done.
What amperage was the Buck converter able to supply.

Cheers.
 
Deeply apologize for all the inconvenience our DC brought to you. We can totally understand your feelings. We noticed that you have tried to update the firmware, shall we know what firmware version is on your camera now?
echo_ said:
After months of troubleshooting and trying different things, I give up. In case it's useful to anyone, this is what I already tried:
  • Update the dashcam.
  • Changed the original Mini-USB cable to a new one as suggested previously in this thread.
  • Switched through 4 different USB chargers.
  • Powered the camera from a different power outlet.
  • Got a new car battery.
  • Soldered the USB cable and a DC-DC buck converter on the back of the power outlet in case the socket was bad and didn't make good contact with the charger.
  • Changed to a new dashcam (same model: A119v3).
  • Installed the hardwire kit and powered it from the fuse box.
None of these solutions fixed the problem. The camera still loses its configuration after a few days/weeks. The only thing I didn't try yet is a new GPS module, but I'm too tired of this **** already. Maybe there's a problem with my car, who knows. In any case, it could be easily fixed via software by not messing up with the configuration on power off or by having a configuration file in the SD card.
I'm going to switch to a different dashcam. and stop wasting time and money on this one
Click to expand...
 
I started this thread when I purchased my A119V3 and had the same problem. At the ime I purchased it, I simply plugged it into the power adapter that I had been using on my old Viofo, but that did not solve the resetting. I eventually found a solution by simply using the 12V power plug adapter supplied by Viofo with the A119V3. The spontaneous resetting stopped and that was the end of the story until a couple of weeks ago. After being rock solid for 18 months, my unit has started spontaneously losing its stored settings upon power up again. When it happens, have to manually re-enter the settings. It then stays for a week or so and then, bang, it loses them again. I am using the same, Viofo supplied, power adapter so that should not be the problem. I suspect something (decoupling cap, maybe?) is degrading in our Texas heat wave. Not sure what else to do now.
 
When you are using a alternative power source, that also include a older PSU from the same brand.
Well the first thing you should do is try the provided power source.

I once lost a rear camera recording of me getting rear ended, it was a single camera ( mobius ) on a long cheap USB wire from a USB power source in the front of the small car.
I actually known for months that the little camera did not always boot, so serve me right.
Good thing that guy that hit the car behind me and shunted it into me, well he assumed blame before his 4 X 4 came to a stop, and my front and side cameras, they did tell that i was right to stop as i did.
Just too bad the phone junkie ( i assume ) did not see it, the poor girl behind me was quite shocked and in pain ( whiplash i assume )

After that i tapped into a fuse and installed three 12 V sockets under the back seat, so i could use the provided power source with cameras.
 
CaptainTivo said:
I started this thread when I purchased my A119V3 and had the same problem. At the ime I purchased it, I simply plugged it into the power adapter that I had been using on my old Viofo, but that did not solve the resetting. I eventually found a solution by simply using the 12V power plug adapter supplied by Viofo with the A119V3. The spontaneous resetting stopped and that was the end of the story until a couple of weeks ago. After being rock solid for 18 months, my unit has started spontaneously losing its stored settings upon power up again. When it happens, have to manually re-enter the settings. It then stays for a week or so and then, bang, it loses them again. I am using the same, Viofo supplied, power adapter so that should not be the problem. I suspect something (decoupling cap, maybe?) is degrading in our Texas heat wave. Not sure what else to do now.
Click to expand...
Please update this firmware to test if the settings can be kept: https://we.tl/t-eHtFrqbm4U
 
VIOFO-Support, perhaps you had to be more clear in your last post that the firmware you uploaded in there, is NOT new, and has NOT been specifically built by VIOFO recently to address the issue with random loss of settings, although I can see by the likes of your post that it has most certainly been taken that way by some users.

The reality is that the firmware version you uploaded above, is the fairly old test firmware v2.6T, build 20220215, which has been made available by VIOFO to the users out there long time ago.

The feedback I can give you right now is that this firmware version actually does NOT fix the settings loss issue. That has been reported by at least one user at the alternative forum, who had that version installed when it was first made available, and still reports periodical resets of the settings to their factory default values.

Sorry for me having to be a bad news messenger.
 
I haven't read the full thread, but, can you confirm that the dashcam is in regular use, say at least an hour a week, which should keep all the internal capacitors and the RTC battery charged ?

If so then my incling is a defective capacitor

If I leave my V3 on the shelf for over 3 weeks then when I next plug it in, the first 3 minute video does frequently start from a default 00:00 and a date like 2018/01/01 until the GPS kicks in and corrects it

However, it's never changed my settings ......... the only time my settings have ever reverted to default is with a firmware update

Plus, with a firmware update, the SDCard should have the .bin file erased after update to prevent an update loop each time it's powered up. Maybe check the update card isn't read only

Just my thoughts
 
echo_ said:
Viofo confirmed that the camera saves the settings every time it shuts down, which doesn't make any sense.
Click to expand...
It does sound a bit redundant indeed, but there's no harm in doing this. If the cam is used (read: turns on and off) say 10 times a day (which is usually hardly a case I guess) the number of such EEPROM writes would be 4000 per year. Modern EEPROMs have 100K write cycle limits, which means 25 years of eeprom life in those conditions. No worries.
I understand that the problem may be a power glitch during an EEPROM access, and that's what was meant to be taken care of by using those two big internal super-caps, which apparently are not doing their job properly in your case. Read also below.

Kremmen said:
I haven't read the full thread, but, can you confirm that the dashcam is in regular use, say at least an hour a week, which should keep all the internal capacitors and the RTC battery charged ?

If so then my incling is a defective capacitor
Click to expand...
That's "inkling", I guess...

Funny that - I disagree with your reasoning (above the empty line in the quote) but fully agree with your conclusion, below that line. :D

Firstly, RTC battery is not meant to be charged at all. It is a litium (not LiIon!) coincell non-rechargeable battery, and when it is fully exhausted, it just needs to be replaced, not charged.
The fact that it gets "charged" every usage of your dashcam, so you get some more life out of it after that, indicates (to me) a hardware design flaw on viofo's side, because charging those batteries damages their internal chemistry.

Secondly, the supercaps inside the cam, when fully charged, can normally maintain the internal power rails only for a few seconds after external power goes off.
This is just to give a processor enough time to properly complete writing of the current video clip and finish other home duties before everything "dies".

If saving settings to EEPROM is a part of those "home duties" (as the above-quoted post of echo_ suggests) then the compromised time of "life support" provided by the (inferior) supercaps, can indeed lead to the incomplete/corrupted record of settings, which will be then reset to defaults due to a checksum failure, on the next power-up.

Just one of the many possible scenarios.
 
The bottom line for me is that over the 4 years plus we've had the V3, these seem to be the only 2 members with a continuous settings reset problem.

As posted further up the thread, when on a mobile charger, indoors, it's fine, so there is something going on with either the vehicle power, USB converter or the power lead.
 
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