A lot has happened since my last post.
Camera kept on restarting and going into error mode right on the system start up.
Went to test the battery and it resulted as good but needing a good charge.
As that was just before my over 2k miles trip holiday, I had the battery tested after half of that milage, expecting it to be charged by then.
Turned out that alternator wasn't producing enough charge and a battery change wouldn't do much. Faulty alternator could damage the new battery and I would come back to square one.
Sourced the voltage regulator for the alternator and had it swapped over. Rather spend £50 and £40 for the replacement service to try and resolve the issue than jumping the guns and spending £400-£450 on the new alternator.
Values of the charge have increased but didn't noticed any major changes on the battery voltage and the camera was still behaving as it was.
Over two nights in one weekend, I had a battery charged up by the charger and went to test it again.
Battery was much, much better and I could see the improvement after voltage regulator replacement.
This didn't sorted the camera either.
Turned to some bloke who advertised online with mobile diagnostic/scanning services and had the car looked over.
Engine was perfect, all electrical components fine and battery health good.
This guy was even surprised that, even for a 9 year old battery, I have managed to pull up it's charge and it is still in good shape. It does need replacing at some point but he recons, this state would have nothing to do with the camera.
Alternator also been checked on crank voltage and general output, turning out to be good.
Camera wiring have been terminated properly and avoiding CAN system so no power drops were detected.
This concluded my searches: car had nothing to do with camera behaviour and it must've been the camera fault again.
Started to think about the camera and when it does the loop restart.
Whenever I was in the underground parking lot, camera was fine, recording perfectly even on parking mode and allowing me to connect with the app on my phone.
If I drove out on the streets, loop error was starting and I could not have or do any of the above.
Conclusion? Something to do with GPS signal.
Discussed with Steve from Chameleon Codewing, who is the tech support for Thinkware and their UK's distributor.
He sent me a temporary camera to try if it does the same as mine.
It didn't and it still doesn't. It is perfect and performs as it should.
I must be really unlucky, Steve said: "In our approx. 4 years of Thinkware I have had 4 cameras that get the ‘Pink Sky’ and we sell 1400+ units per month. I’ve never had a faulty GPS on any camera since the F750 model and only 2 of those and overall Thinkware runs less than 1% failure rate during the 2 year warranty period which for a product that works in a very tough environment (boiling in the Summer and Frozen in the Winter) is amazing"
Well, I have had produced that 1% now so rest of Thinkware customers can relax. LOL
Whole above resulted of me getting an upgrade to Q800Pro model, not FOC but after 20% discount code Steve gave me.
This code will still work so if somebody is considering Thinkware dash cam, have a look on their website:
https://chameleoncodewing.co.uk/
and type in discount code: TWLMS2019 for 20% discount on anything they do.
If you can, type ASN in purchase notes or message as this will notify them of the code reaching to all ASN members.
If you are a member on another Audi forum, by all means, share this code there, if you want.
I know my thread does look like a bit like I'm having a go on Thinkware dash cams or diss them. No, nothing like that.
Opposite.
Still sticking to the brand and after technical support Steve provided, I will say only that, Chameleon support and Steve's service is second to none.
He has literally bend backwards to help me resolve the issue I had.
It was by far THE BEST customer service and technical support I have ever experienced.
BIG thank to Steve from Chameleon again.
New camera is on order and should be arriving tomorrow.
I should be able to rewire the car in the evening so will drop some pictures afterwards.
Sent from H P20 PRO
