GoPro Woes

unleashd

unleashd

Wannabie Member
I recently bought a used GoPro Hero 12 Black, and this one drains the battery even when sitting "powered off" on my desk in less than 8 hours :O OTOH, My GoPro 11 looses only about 6% in 24 hours while sitting on the desk next to the 12. Both cameras are setup identically with media mod and ND filters.

While being a good camera for action photo/videography, I cannot understand why GoPro cannot improve their battery efficiency. Tech has come so far along. GoPro puts out all these awesome features and then tags in the mini print that you can't use them effectively :( At this rate, the battery will be dead in less than 30 mins of riding and filming.

I have turned off all the options on the 12 that could be a cause - wifi, bluetooth, front screen, reduced brightness, auto upload, etc. Any other suggestions?
 
And FYI, I am using batteries that were bought from GoPro.

i-VPFph44-XL.jpg
 
Sounds like it is broken... I'd send it back TBH. IT is possibly why the original owner sold it.

You said that you'd turned off all the settings like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, have you turned off GPS (if that is an option)?

Is it fully turned off, or has it been set to go into standby mode?

Have you tried a total factory reset on it?

The white endurance batteries are great in my Hero 10, with how I use my cameras I can often get a days trail riding out of a single battery.
 
HippoDrone said:
Sounds like it is broken... I'd send it back TBH. IT is possibly why the original owner sold it.

You said that you'd turned off all the settings like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, have you turned off GPS (if that is an option)?

Is it fully turned off, or has it been set to go into standby mode?

Have you tried a total factory reset on it?

The white endurance batteries are great in my Hero 10, with how I use my cameras I can often get a days trail riding out of a single battery.
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I bought it off the Bay from a reputed seller(over 2K positive reviews in the past 12 months). No clue of the history of this camera. I don't think it has a GPS setting, but will check again. It has been reset to factory a couple of times. It has also been powered off completely by holding the power button down until it turns off. The same battery lasts quite a bit longer in my GoPro 11.
 
unleashd said:
I bought it off the Bay from a reputed seller(over 2K positive reviews in the past 12 months). No clue of the history of this camera. I don't think it has a GPS setting, but will check again. It has been reset to factory a couple of times. It has also been powered off completely by holding the power button down until it turns off. The same battery lasts quite a bit longer in my GoPro 11.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure that the 12 does not have GPS. I recall thinking it was a step back from the 11. I am fairly certain if anyone that is regulary on here might have a clue as to what is draining the battery then it would be @Drakhen99 since he has a few models.

You said he 11 has 6% loss after a certain amount of time off; what is the 12% loss for the same amount of time?
 
Well, If you see the pictures, and watch the clock on the top left, you will see that it drops the charge even when on a power source. I understand that the BT connection to my phone is turned on in these pics, but for the duration between the screenshots, I had turned it off.

Anyways, I reached out to the seller and he will take it back. Processing a return now.
 

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I just saw this, and I know you're returning it, but ...

GoPros will lose a lot of juice if they're in a Media Mod, even if off. I could fully charge my 10 or 12, leave it overnight, and it'll be dead or close to it in the morning.

When I started storing my GoPros outside of their Media Mods... the drain went away, and after 7 days, will still be at 87%.

-John
 
Drakhen99 said:
I just saw this, and I know you're returning it, but ...

GoPros will lose a lot of juice if they're in a Media Mod, even if off. I could fully charge my 10 or 12, leave it overnight, and it'll be dead or close to it in the morning.

When I started storing my GoPros outside of their Media Mods... the drain went away, and after 7 days, will still be at 87%.

-John
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insight. That doesn't seem practical to me. When I am on a long distance tour and vlogging, I am on the motorcycle for 10-12 hours at least. If the media mod is going to drain the battery, then I can't record much at all. It is not practical to keep swapping batteries every few hours. And it takes a few hours for each battery to recharge.

With the GoPro 11 in the media mod, I was able to run 1 battery for 6-8 hours at least depending on how much vlogging I was recording.
 
I rode for about 8 hours in July, and recorded with my Hero 12 in a media mod. It was connected to The Remote for power on/off and start/stop record. One battery lasted the whole time.

I was unclear in my earlier comment - I haven't noticed a huge drain when the camera is on versus not being in the Media Mod. The GoPro's battery powers the Media Mod, so expect *some* draw when it's on. In my anecdotal tests, I noted about a 10% difference between Hero 10 and Hero 12, with the 10 being "naked" and the 12 in the Media Mod.

The biggest thing is when the cameras are turned off. The drain there... is just weird. And disconcerting. And sometimes the 10 or 12 in a Media Mod, while turned off, will power-on and drain itself. Glitch in the Matrix.

-John
 
I quit using GoPro at the Hero 8 stage. I have been using DJI Action cameras since, but I don't let it run for long periods of time. I use my remote or just tap the record button to record my clips. But i have had no issues with DJI. I hope that you get it figured out. No fun purchasing something and being disappointed with it.
 
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