What can you do if your dash camera stops recording, the screen goes blank, or it didn’t start recording after the car ignition, etc. Here are some simple ways to find the cause of, and solve, dash cam recording problems.
Dash cam stops recording suddenly
Turn off motion detection feature. For smaller SD cards, this feature stops the recording if no motion is detected in front of the camera. When movement is detected the camera will start recording again. For larger SD cards with more memory this feature is not needed.
Dash camera’s screen goes blank
Turn off the back light or enable power save function. This feature will switch off the LCD screen after a selected time in order to reduce distraction at night. This can give the impression that recording has stopped but it will still be recording in the background.
The Camera fails to start recording after ignition is switched on
This can happen if the internal battery is heavily discharged. If the camera has not been used for some time and the internal battery is fully discharged, it may take a few minutes before there is sufficient energy from the power adapter to charge the battery and power the dash camera.
The car DVR / dash cam recording is intermittent
● Check your SD card speed: use an SD card with a speed of at least Class6. If the card recording is not fast enough files may become corrupted.
● Make sure the SD card is not fake: there are some fake SD cards on the market, which may not perform to their specified speed and can cause recording problems, especially when recording at Full HD resolution.
If you wish to check the speed of an SD card there are programs available such as ‘HD Tune’ which can confirm the data transfer rate. Class6 & Class10 cards are recommended for use with most modern dash cams.
● Make sure the SD card is compatible with the camera.
● Make sure the SD card used is not UHS – Ultra High Speed type (indicated by a number inside a “U”), as these may not be compatible with many current dash cameras.
● Check power supply.
● Ensure that the 12V power adapter is securely fitted into the car power socket, the LED is always illuminated, and that the engine is switched on. If the LED flickers or goes out during use, then the power adapter may not be securely fitted into the socket, causing the camera to power off.
● Check whether the fuse in the end of the adapter has blown. Check the cable for damage, which could have caused the fuse to blow.
● Check the 12V power socket on Stop/Start vehicles.
● If you have a stop/start vehicle, make sure that the 12V power socket does not power down when the vehicle enters stop/start mode. If this happens the dash camera will switch off as well.
The dash cam’s screen displays “Card Full/Error”
“Card Full“: if the loop recording function is enabled the dash cam will operate properly and the oldest files will be automatically deleted, otherwise this message will appear on the screen every time the card becomes full. To avoid this problem set the length of each individual video clip to 3 or 5 minutes.
“Card Error“: Means the SD card is corrupted. Remove useful files then re-format the card using the camera menu option.
