Any PowerBank users out there?

[RaybanRJ]

Got a new RSC Nano dashcam and diggin’ it! Before that I had a really cheap one from Walmart but the pic quality wasn’t anything close to the Nano. But I want to power it all night and do not want my car battery running dry. So.....

Just bought a Blackweb from Walmart, 20,000 Mah. ($35 Cdn)Charges a Blackberry Playbook and an iPad FAST. I plan to use it for my cars dashcam also so I can power it all night and not worry about my car battery running dead.

Just wondering what people’s experiences are with Batterybanks and what brands are decent out there.

If a device is 5v, how long would it take to drain 20,000 mah?


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[RaybanRJ]

Some pics

I have never had a power bank this big, and it sure took a long time to charge. To get it from 19% to 100% it took something like eight hours I believe. I have read that any new lithium ion device as big as this might take about 5% more time to charge (The first time) because it’s been sitting on the shelf for a while and the battery might need to “exercise” a bit.

Can I assume correctly that this power bank would have a shut off circuit when it’s fully charged? Does anyone else use a power bank to save their car battery?

I am aware of the OBD2 connection circuit cables one can connect in their car and when the cars battery is low (usually around 11.8 V) it ****s off the dashcam but I don’t think I trust them. For Canadian winters I want as many CCA’s that I can get to turn over the engine when it is cold.

So I thought a Batterybank would be a good idea. I did match the voltage so it would not be more than 5V and that is what the RSC Nano uses.


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[jokiin]

there's a section here dedicated to batteries which has quite a lot of info already, there are members here that are regular power bank users and have a lot of experience with them, @Dashmellow has been using them on a daily basis for many years already and has posted a lot of valuable info that you might want to check out

 

[JB-007]

I was tempted to use a power bank but ever since I researched up on Lit-Ion power banks not being safe in hot weather in extreme heat its dangerous. The banks that are dedicated for in car use like the blackvue 124, and Cellink Neo. are Lit-Poly-Ion and Are safe for hot cars and extreme temps. I didn't want to take a chance of a mishap in my car like a battery failure fire etc. in the heat of the summer so I won't use unless the temps are within the range of the manufacturers operating temp specs...

 

[RaybanRJ]

there's a section here dedicated to batteries which has quite a lot of info already, there are members here that are regular power bank users and have a lot of experience with them, @Dashmellow has been using them on a daily basis for many years already and has posted a lot of valuable info that you might want to check out

Ah thanks. Maybe a Mod could move this thread to there


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[RaybanRJ]

I was tempted to use a power bank but ever since I researched up on Lit-Ion power banks not being safe in hot weather in extreme heat its dangerous. The banks that are dedicated for in car use like the blackvue 124, and Cellink Neo. are Lit-Poly-Ion and Are safe for hot cars and extreme temps. I didn't want to take a chance of a mishap in my car like a battery failure fire etc. in the heat of the summer so I won't use unless the temps are within the range of the manufacturers operating temp specs...

Good to know and understood. Well I only plan to use the power bank when I’m parked overnight and I’m in an underground Parkade living in Canada so I’m not too worried about that the heat. During the day I plan to use the cigarette socket and then plug it in the evening and switch to the power bank. My car is a 2005 so I have a hot cigarette socket all the time and I just don’t wanna run the risk of draining my battery



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[Dashmellow]

Good to know and understood. Well I only plan to use the power bank when I’m parked overnight and I’m in an underground Parkade living in Canada so I’m not too worried about that the heat. During the day I plan to use the cigarette socket and then plug it in the evening and switch to the power bank. My car is a 2005 so I have a hot cigarette socket all the time and I just don’t wanna run the risk of draining my battery

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Most 5V dash cams require approximately 500 mAhs of current to run but should be supplied with minimum of 1 amp. Your new 20,100 mAh power bank will probably run your dash cam for a minimum of 40 hours continuously and probably at lot longer than that. Last winter I did some tests with two different 20,000 mAh power banks running a SG9665GV V1 camera (both of which had already been in service for months so they were not new). One ran the camera for 44+ hours and the other for about 54 hours. I don't recommend draining your power bank to zero on a regular basis because it will shorten its lifespan but this gives you an idea of the potential. I've been running four cameras in my truck using two power banks when away from my vehicle for over four years now and have never experienced any issues. Doing so requires common sense along with good battery maintenance and charging practices.

When I have some time I will try to answer any questions you may have but in the meantime I'd recommend perusing THIS lengthy four year old thread on power banks that will provide you with a lot of information and opinions both worthwhile and occasionally questionable.

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/powerbank-battery-for-a-dashcam.7579/

 

[RaybanRJ]

Most 5V dash cams require approximately 500 mAhs of current to run but should be supplied with minimum of 1 amp. Your new 20,100 mAh power bank will probably run your dash cam for a minimum of 40 hours continuously and probably at lot longer than that. Last winter I did some tests with two different 20,000 mAh power banks running a SG9665GV V1 camera (both of which had already been in service for months so they were not new). One ran the camera for 44+ hours and the other for about 54 hours. I don't recommend draining your power bank to zero on a regular basis because it will shorten its lifespan but this gives you an idea of the potential. I've been running four cameras in my truck using two power banks when away from my vehicle for over four years now and have never experienced any issues. Doing so requires common sense along with good battery maintenance and charging practices.

When I have some time I will try to answer any questions you may have but in the meantime I'd recommend perusing THIS lengthy four year old thread on power banks that will provide you with a lot of information and opinions both worthwhile and occasionally questionable.

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/powerbank-battery-for-a-dashcam.7579/

Whoa! Will do thanks. Yeah I know that lithium ion batteries don’t like to be fully run down and I plan to keep a good eye on the percentage gauge on the powerbank. I’m really curious to see how the drainage rate will be.

I posted about this on my other cellular forum about battery banks and one person mentioned that I might only get 14 hours and possibly LESS than that because supposedly if a Powerbank is 20,000 mah, the actual might only be 4-10,000 mah.

But I have a hard time believing the hit could be THAT bad.

One thing is for sure, it took a LONG time to jump start this Powerbank and it sat at the same percentage for an hour before it started moving up.

I just recently got a Blackberry Playbook given to me and the person thought it didn’t work but I put my 10 amp charger on it and it took a full 2.5 hours to re-activate it. It sat for many years.

So I can understand why it took a LONG time for this Powerbank because who knows how long it sat on the shelf.


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[Bushman123]

I installed a low voltage cut off device instead of one of these. My camera has run 24/7 on my jeep battery with no issues. It will disconnect at 12.1v if need be but has not reached that if I drive everyday.

My calculations were the powr banks could not keep up all night and dangerous to keep charging litium ion in the hot car all the time.

 

[RaybanRJ]

I installed a low voltage cut off device instead of one of these. My camera has run 24/7 on my jeep battery with no issues. It will disconnect at 12.1v if need be but has not reached that if I drive everyday.

My calculations were the powr banks could not keep up all night and dangerous to keep charging litium ion in the hot car all the time.

Cool, well I definitely won’t charge it in the car, I don’t mind bringing it up into the house. I pretty much drive daily so I don’t think I will run the Batterybank dry.

I wonder if anyone has experienced a worn out or failure on their Micro SD card? I heard somewhere that they have to work pretty hard with being constantly re-written with data, etc.


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[RaybanRJ]

Just for the record I bought a 32GB Kingston class 10. My spare card is a 16GB PNY class 10.


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[jokiin]

Cool, well I definitely won’t charge it in the car, I don’t mind hanging it up on the house. I pretty much drive daily so I don’t think I will run the Batterybank dry.

check with @Dashmellow but I think he uses more than one powerbank and rotates them so he has a charged one ready to go, he's perhaps the heaviest powerbank user here as he'd been doing it for years so no doubt will have it worked out

I wonder if anyone has experienced a worn out or failure on their Micro SD card? I heard somewhere that they have to work pretty hard with being constantly re-written with data, etc.

yep, they wear out and fail, smaller cards wear faster than larger ones as they get overwritten more often, if you use it a lot then it's a good practice to replace your cards regularly, yearly at least

 

[Bushman123]

2-3 years on my 64gb cards and no failures yet. Mileage varies I think

 

[RaybanRJ]

check with @Dashmellow but I think he uses more than one powerbank and rotates them so he has a charged one ready to go, he's perhaps the heaviest powerbank user here as he'd been doing it for years so no doubt will have it worked out



yep, they wear out and fail, smaller cards wear faster than larger ones as they get overwritten more often, if you use it a lot then it's a good practice to replace your cards regularly, yearly at least

Question, how do you know if they fail. Does a dash cam flash with lights or something or do you just have to wait until you notice that you can’t see any of the videos. I’ll bet a lot of people have a bad memory card and they think it’s the dash cam


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[RaybanRJ]

2-3 years on my 64gb cards and no failures yet. Mileage varies I think

I can put up to a 64 GB card in my RSC Nano, I should get one soon.

What brand cards do you use?


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[jokiin]

you might find some useful info in this section https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/forums/wr1.243/

 

[Bushman123]

Start reading the threads, lots of good info achieved

 

[RaybanRJ]

What I’d really like to know and I can’t find any good explanation for, is if my battery bank has a chip circuit protection for overcharging and if it is true they should be initially charged for 24 hours when new.

Edit: I will phone the 1-888 number on the box soon, just to confirm it but I’m sure it would have circuit shutoff.

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[Nigel]

What I’d really like to know and I can’t find any good explanation for, is if my battery bank has a chip circuit protection for overcharging and if it is true they should be initially charged for 24 hours when new.

Edit: I will phone the 1-888 number on the box soon, just to confirm it but I’m sure it would have circuit shutoff.

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Yes, it will have overcharge protection, otherwise a lithium battery bursts into flames!
And it should have been supplied at around 50% full - lithium batteries always are.
It should take about 10 hours to charge from empty given that it has 72Wh capacity and a 10W input, which is what it says on the back of the box.

It should be safe as long as you only charge it when its temperature is between 5°C and 45°C. Charging it outside that temperature range can result in the cells dying, often in a cloud of smoke and sometimes with flames. For discharge want to keep the temperature under 80°C.

A typical dashcam uses about 2W of power, your spec has 72Wh, so it should power the dashcam for about 72/2 = 36 hours.

It's not always a good idea to base your calculations on the 20,000mAh value since that is not actually a measure of power, some 20,000mAh powerbanks contain half the power of others!

 

[RaybanRJ]

Yes, it will have overcharge protection, otherwise a lithium battery bursts into flames!
And it should have been supplied at around 50% full - lithium batteries always are.
It should take about 10 hours to charge from empty given that it has 72Wh capacity and a 10W input, which is what it says on the back of the box.

It should be safe as long as you only charge it when its temperature is between 5°C and 45°C. Charging it outside that temperature range can result in the cells dying, often in a cloud of smoke and sometimes with flames. For discharge want to keep the temperature under 80°C.

A typical dashcam uses about 2W of power, your spec has 72Wh, so it should power the dashcam for 72/2 = 36 hours.

It's not always a good idea to base your calculations on the 20,000mAh value since that is not actually a measure of power, some 20,000mAh contain half the power of others!

Good to know! Thanks.

Yes it was at 54% when I bought it yesterday.

“Half the power?” As long as it has more than a 10,000 mah I’ll be happy. I was originally going to go for 10,000 but the price wasn’t too bad on this one.


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