RCT715 stops recording; no way to restart from Edge 1040

Strivike
1 month ago

Mid-ride, I noticed that the recording icon for my Varia RCT715 was missing from the Edge display.

I went into the sensors menu to check what was connected. Both the rear light and radar were listed as connected and working. As for the camera as usual there was no entry in that list. I assumed it was recording anyway, just not showing the icon. Surely it's not that broken, right?

A few kilometers later, the doubt grew stronger: “What if it’s not recording?”

At the next climb, I started troubleshoting:

  • Turned the radar off and on again; nothing.

  • Turned the rear light off and on; nothing.

  • Turned both off and on; still nothing.

  • Power-cycled the Varia; nothing.

  • Rebooted the Edge; still nothing.

Then I remembered: there’s that Varia mobile app. I opened it and saw a greyed-out camera icon in the bottom left. I tapped it: it instantly turned into a red square (indicating recording), and suddenly the camera icon appeared on the Edge too.

When I got home, I checked the footage. The RCT715 had recorded exactly three 30-second clips from when I was getting ready. Nothing after that. It had completely stopped recording until I manually restarted it via the mobile app.

Now, when I started the Edge earlier that day, it had auto-connected to the RTL515, my backup light for long night rides. To avoid accessory confusion ***, I went through the full exorcism ritual:

  • Powered off the Edge.

  • Powered off the RTL515.

  • Waited 10 seconds.

  • Powered on the Edge and waited out the flood of “light connected / radar disconnected / network formed / radar connected / light disconnected / network re-formed” messages.

  • Verified that all sensors and accessories were properly connected, then started my ride.

Note:

  • Edge 1040 – firmware 27.14

  • Varia RCT715 – firmware 6.10.0

  • RTL515 – firmware 3.36

Question:

My RCT715 has always started recording as soon as the Edge connected to it. I don’t have any app or widget on the Edge that lets me manually control recording. I just want it to record automatically; that’s the whole point.

So:

  • Is there an official procedure to restart recording if it stops?

  • If not, has anyone found a reliable hack to trigger recording again?

If the answer to both is no, then just take note of the workaround that finally worked for me: opening the Varia app and pressing the camera button in the bottom left.
Might save you some headaches down the road.