Originally Posted by Tom Frank

Well not quite... you can only conclude that the card was in the camera when it died. This could happen in ANY camera.

FYI, just inserterd a new TF card in my camera, and guess what.... It also died! So now I dare to conclude that my camera kills TF cards!

I tried to recover with Ultimate Boot CD, which has a low level (operating system independant) recovery tool for flash cards... But even this tool doesn't see the card. Telephone doesn't see it. And the normal photocamera locks up (not able to format it). So yes, the cards are 100% destroyed.

As this was with a #3 cam, and also I think it never happened to anyone else, I will not use the camera anymore and not bother you anymore in this thread .

Thanks for pics tom...I was wondering why my cam didnt record as good as everyone elses...I was getting very grainy videos...I tried to refocus and it didnt get better...then I noticed the pics on chucks site...well...you can see what Im talking about here look at the battery wires compared to yours...I think I got a reject camera that was fixed and sent out...

Looking at the auto plug pic I posted my fingers are on the cable end going to camera...it comes apart ez if you hold the cable and pull one side at seam...it dont snap together it kinda pushes together....the silver ring at front dont come off but I got it opened enought to slide out circuit board...

I did try auto plug on old #3 cam to see what happens and that was a bad idea...the cam didnt light up at all...after unplugging it still no lights...a few minutes later the cam did work again but I wont do that again...LOL

Originally Posted by finster

Thanks for pics tom...I was wondering why my cam didnt record as good as everyone elses...I was getting very grainy videos...I tried to refocus and it didnt get better...then I noticed the pics on chucks site...well...you can see what Im talking about here look at the battery wires compared to yours...I think I got a reject camera that was fixed and sent out...

EDIT: Nevermind, I just double checked and my wiring is exactly the same as Tom's. Don't know what I was thinking....Old Timer Disease or something

Yabba

Originally Posted by yabbadaba2

finster,

That's interesting. My wires are like yours and the pos goes thru the hole in the circuit board and is soldered on the opposite side from the neg. Not sure if that's what you are referring to or not but mine appears like yours.

Haven't had any problems with it....yet.

Yabba

That is very interesting! I know you bought yours before I did, Yabba, and the vendor did say they had made some changes from earlier models, but yours has a good picture. I wonder what other changes they might have made other than the point where power is supplied???. I didn't see any numbers on my circuit board that might indicate a date or revision.

In looking at my circuit board picture to where your red battery wires are soldered, it almost looks like that solder point on mine has some "ragged" solder there, as if the red wire may have been soldered there at some point, and was changed. I'm going to take a much closer look at my board to see if the picture is correct or just a bad image.

finster, I'd think you could get a replacement camera from your vendor, especially if you show him an example of the problem. If for some reason that fell through (or if he just sends you another camera and doesn't want yours back), I'd try resoldering the power leads to the pads where mine are... your camera has them too. If the board then smokes, no big loss, maybe?

Originally Posted by mavlo77

FYI, just inserterd a new TF card in my camera, and guess what.... It also died! So now I dare to conclude that my camera kills TF cards!
...

Now I might be inclined to agree! Electronics can fail by themselves in the camera, too. Sorry it cost you a second TF card to come to that conclusion!

Originally Posted by clx1

The Blackberry charger has a rated output of 5VDC at 500mA while many generic wall warts are only outputting 100mA to 300mA.

Maybe the camera is supersensitive to the input current.

I haven't received my 808HD yet but can report that my Blackberry 9630 is very touchy about the input mah on a wall-wart. It will only charge when 500mah is being delivered.

I learned this on a recent trip out of town. I brought a 300mah wall-wart and the BB's USB cable. When it didn't charge the phone I found a store near my hotel selling a 1000mah 5v USB brick -- still no dice. When I got home I tried a 700mah charger with equal results. In some instances the phone will detect and show the connection with a lightening bolt over the charge indicator bar, but it does not take a charge unless it's receiving a 500mah current.

Dave

Originally Posted by yabbadaba2

EDIT: Nevermind, I just double checked and my wiring is exactly the same as Tom's. Don't know what I was thinking....Old Timer Disease or something

Yabba

I think maybe it was from drinking too much "lens cleaning solution" and listening to too much banjo music!

Point is that a wall charger is normally not "sending" current, but is just a constant voltage source capable of delivering a certain amount of current at that voltage (if demanded by the load).

Originally Posted by dghutt

Maybe the camera is supersensitive to the input current.

I haven't received my 808HD yet but can report that my Blackberry 9630 is very touchy about the input mah on a wall-wart. It will only charge when 500mah is being delivered.

I learned this on a recent trip out of town. I brought a 300mah wall-wart and the BB's USB cable. When it didn't charge the phone I found a store near my hotel selling a 1000mah 5v USB brick -- still no dice. When I got home I tried a 700mah charger with equal results. In some instances the phone will detect and show the connection with a lightening bolt over the charge indicator bar, but it does not take a charge unless it's receiving a 500mah current.

Dave

<edit> Oops, Mavlo77 beat me to the post button<edit>

I think you meah mA (current), not mAh (capacity) ratings. But the ratings on the charger is what it CAN do, not what it WILL do. The device attached will draw the current it needs at the voltage available, assuming the supply can deliver the required current. A supply with a larger current rating does not mean the device will necessarily draw more power from it (e.g. just like my motor doesn't draw any more current from a 2200 mAh battery than a 1200 mAh battery if the voltage to the motor is the same.)

From your description of the problem, it sounds more like there may be an intermittant connection on the USB plug in your phone... maybe just dirty contacts in the plug, poor spring force on one of the pins, or even fractured solder connection on the plug inside the camera.

Looks to me like I got a refurbished camera...Im really starting to think these cams are all refurbished one way or another...I sent it back to eletoponline on the 4th and told him it had very bad video...I just noticed the circuit board yesterday while looking at pics...

[QUOTE=Tom Frank;17094229]That is very interesting! I know you bought yours before I did, Yabba, and the vendor did say they had made some changes from earlier models, but yours has a good picture. I wonder what other changes they might have made other than the point where power is supplied???. QUOTE]

OK, you can stop being confused.

I knew I had seen the wires separate like in Finsters images somewhere.

It IS the second camera I got that has the same wiring as yours (Tom's).

Opening the first camera reveals wiring like Finsters. The pos wire goes thru the hole in the circuit board and solders to the opposite side from the neg wire .

Dangnabit, I knew that i had seen that wiring before

Cue the Banjo music Victa, and pass the Vodka

Yabba

[QUOTE=yabbadaba2;17094741]

Originally Posted by Tom Frank

That is very interesting! I know you bought yours before I did, Yabba, and the vendor did say they had made some changes from earlier models, but yours has a good picture. I wonder what other changes they might have made other than the point where power is supplied???. QUOTE]

OK, you can stop being confused.

I knew I had seen the wires separate like in Finsters images somewhere.

It IS the second camera I got that has the same wiring as yours (Tom's).

Opening the first camera reveals wiring like Finsters. The pos wire goes thru the hole in the circuit board and solders to the opposite side from the neg wire .

Dangnabit, I knew that i had seen that wiring before

Cue the Banjo music Victa, and pass the Vodka

Yabba

You've got two of these already? Are you sure it's not just double vision from all the Vodka?!

OK, assuming you really do have two of them, have you done the date stamp removal on both of them? I thought maybe the power wiring diffences might be a telltale for whether the firmware flash works or bricks the camera? Can you see any difference in the video (other than maybe minor focus differences) between the two, like color saturation, contrast, brightness, etc?

Originally Posted by finster

Looks to me like I got a refurbished camera...Im really starting to think these cams are all refurbished one way or another...I sent it back to eletoponline on the 4th and told him it had very bad video...I just noticed the circuit board yesterday while looking at pics...

These cameras have not been out very long. I don't think they are refurbished, as in sold once, returned with flaws, repaired by the vendor, and resold. But I know they made some design changes from the early ones, one of which gave the ability to flash in new firmware vs brick the camera... the vendor told me that much.

Some of the changes could have just been different firmware, but the power wiring may have been part of the change as well. And they very possibly could have had some of the prior production run unsold, and they made the mods to those rather than scrap them.

Attached are a couple pictures showing a small "hook" of solder on the point where your red power wire was soldered, so that sure looks like a wire had been there at some point, and was unsoldered without "cleaning up" the remaining solder with the iron after removal. I also checked your black wire termination point on mine (on one of the reset switch pins on the opposite side of the circuit board), and it looks clean. But that doesn't mean it didn't have the black wire soldered there at some point. I'm really curious, now, and will ask my HD Camera Guy about these two different cameras?

All I know is mine works pretty good. Did you try the date removal firmware swap before you sent yours in? I assume yours was not bricked before to sent it back.

Originally Posted by Tom Frank

<edit> Oops, Mavlo77 beat me to the post button<edit>

I think you meah mA (current), not mAh (capacity) ratings. But the ratings on the charger is what it CAN do, not what it WILL do. The device attached will draw the current it needs at the voltage available, assuming the supply can deliver the required current. A supply with a larger current rating does not mean the device will necessarily draw more power from it (e.g. just like my motor doesn't draw any more current from a 2200 mAh battery than a 1200 mAh battery if the voltage to the motor is the same.)

From your description of the problem, it sounds more like there may be an intermittant connection on the USB plug in your phone... maybe just dirty contacts in the plug, poor spring force on one of the pins, or even fractured solder connection on the plug inside the camera.

Tom,

Above in Bold. You just described my Blackberry.

Bill

Originally Posted by Prof100

Tom,

Above in Bold. You just described my Blackberry.

Bill

Ha... not uncommon problem with tiny plugs lugged all over outside and plugged/unplugged hundreds of times. Were you able to isolate and fix your problem?