Yesterday for the first time in ages I took a look at a video from the Cycliq Fly12 – I wanted to see what the grid-locked traffic looked like. As usual, I did it through the USB connection since I’ve found the Android app to be barely usable for connecting to the device, let along trying to view any video. Watching the video I realised it was still set to GMT+11 so the timestamps were an hour out. Time to connect from the phone…
Oakleigh 3 week rail shutdown; gridlock one way, completely empty the other
Must have been the first time I’ve run the app. since changing over from my Galaxy S6 to the S8 as I was presented with various popups telling me what parts of the UI would do, I dismissed those and tried to reconfigure the time. Connecting over bluetooth it sat there… and sat there… said it had connected, but when I pressed the “Setup” button it just sat for over twelve minutes saying “Connecting” and never displayed anything.
Pressed the wifi button on the Cycliq, connected to the wifi network from my phone and was able to view the settings, and presumably reset the time. After I was done I turned off the wifi, then plugged it into the USB charger and left it there all afternoon. By the end of the day it was displaying green on the charge light.
Had a 20-30 minute ride in the evening with light and camera on, although at one point in the ride it beeped and started flashing red/green which I think means there’s a problem writing to the SD card – I turned it off and back on and it ran normally for the rest of the ride. At the end of the ride I turned it off and left it overnight. At this morning when I left home to ride to work it wouldn’t switch on. Didn’t matter how long I held down the power switch nothing happened.
Got to work and plugged it in to the Macbook Pro USB and no USB light came on. Unplugged it and plugged it into the charger I’d used yesterday and no USB light came on.
Interestingly enough, the phone app. said it could connect to the Cycliq, but once again, it just sat spinning and never displayed the device settings – although in my experience this is just how the app. always behaves over bluetooth.
Master reset and it made various noises, flashed a light combination that probably means the SD card is missing – which it is, I’ve plugged the card into my laptop while investigating. The Cycliq Fly12 now appears to be charging, and judging by the timestamps on the videos, I at least managed to reset it to GMT+10 when connected over wifi yesterday.
It shouldn’t be this hard.
Fully charged at after an hour or so, I plugged the SD card back in and opened up the app. on my phone. The app. says that it has connected to the Cycliq. I then Selected “FLY12 SETTINGS” and I’m told “Please wait… Retrieving Device Status”. Five or more minutes and eventually I gave up and turned the wifi on and can connect, check that the device appears ok. Finally turned it off, I guess we’ll see at going-home time whether it works or if I’ll have to use my $5 emergency backup lights.
Yes, on sundown, it worked when I needed it to go home, but I can’t say I’m thrilled to know that I’m using a headlight that due to software problems, might just simply not work when I need it.
It shouldn’t be this hard!
Update
This morning I wanted to take a look at the footage due to a “close pass” by truck that turned right into the street I was riding in… and into me. The bang bang bang as my arm hit the truck should indicate the “insufficient care when passing.” Surprise! Discovered that the Cycliq has been happily running every day to and from work, but hasn’t recorded any footage since – four days after the last problem! I’ve now reformatted the SD card from the Cycliq app. menu and made a test recording at my desk, both completed without any errors.
