My dashcam drained my battery..

[Nigel]

End of the day, what would you rather have. A 5 year lifespan on a battery or video proof of an accident / event? I can't fathom that most people buying Dash Cameras are doing so because they want cool piece of electronics to brag about in their window. Instead it's a CYA situation (Cover Your Ass).

Individuals worried about battery drain can invest in a battery pack.....

How many years will your battery pack last before being worn out?
Is it is going to work out cheaper than just using the car battery?
Is it going to provide enough hours of coverage each day?

 

[HonestReview]

How many years will your battery pack last before being worn out?
Is it is going to work out cheaper than just using the car battery?
Is it going to provide enough hours of coverage each day?

Personally, I see using a battery pack as more of a pain in the ass, than anything...

Let's say a new battery for $100-300 USD / 100-300 Euros. Battery Pack cost around 200 USD / 200 Euros.

So within the 4 yrs....Chances are both will have warn out and need replaced. As Lithium Batteries don't last forever either...Making the situation favor a battery where I don't have to screw with a battery pack. Plus, I'm paying double since a battery WILL NEED replaced at some point. Maybe 20% sooner...That 20% doesn't offset the price of a battery pack.

 

[Nigel]

You clearly have NO IDEA what you're talking about man! 11.8 = DEAD......at 11.8 You're towing the car....

https://www.researchgate.net/post/what_is_the_minimum_voltage_needed_to_start_a_car

Here is the guideline for battery health report (in general) that also answers your question:

Battery Voltage Available charge
12.66v . . . . . . . . . . 100%
12.45v . . . . . . . . . . 75%
12.24v . . . . . . . . . . 50%
12.06v . . . . . . . . . . 25%
11.89v . . . . . . . . . . 0%

According to dashcamtalk.com:

Battery Discharge Prevention - DashCamTalk

Battery Discharge Prevention - prevents the discharge of the vehicle battery by blocking power to the dash cam if the voltage drops below a specified value.

dashcamtalk.com

50% charge at UK temperatures is 11.96V, in which case 12.0 seems a good cut-off voltage.

Unfortunately the table doesn't give the type of battery, so I will stick with my recommendation of 11.8 for AGM, 12.0 for 5 year warranty (calcium) batteries and 12.2 for 3 year warranty batteries.

For most AGM batteries you don't need to worry about the deep discharge, as long as you don't go below 25%, for normal batteries 50% is a better limit and they are not really designed even for that.

 

[skansen]

How many years will your battery pack last before being worn out?

LiFePO4 lifespan is 2000-3000 cycles ~10years.

Is it is going to work out cheaper than just using the car battery?

It's not issue of costs. For some applications mentioned before (car was suffering from low battery before/the car is on the guarantee or leased and hardwiring to battery is prohibited/camera stops recording due to low battery/car is diesel and climate zone is cold/car is hybrid or electric and 12V battery is small etc.) power bank is good choice

Is it going to provide enough hours of coverage each day?

Cellink Neo6/B-124 can covereage 24 hours (Viofo A129Dual)-data based not only on math but my (and not only mine) experience.
It can be extend by adding additional, extension battery (multiple). But in this case, charging time will be longer as well.

 

[Leonauto]

You clearly have NO IDEA what you're talking about man! 11.8 = DEAD......at 11.8 You're towing the car....
Battery Voltage Available charge
12.66v . . . . . . . . . . 100%
12.45v . . . . . . . . . . 75%
12.24v . . . . . . . . . . 50%
12.06v . . . . . . . . . . 25%
11.89v . . . . . . . . . . 0%

The critical battery charge and the table are probably from battery manufacturers, such as Varta, Bosch, they are reinsured and indicate overestimated critical low battery levels of 12.2 V (and 11.8 = DEAD) , or averaged data guaranteed to indicate battery charge status.
The correct check is to check with the load.
How to Perform A Load Test?
To pass a load test, the battery must maintain 9.6 volts at 15 seconds when tested at one-half the CCA rating and 70°F (or above). This test must be done with a true load (carbon pile) and not one of the hand-held testers that work off a conductance algorithm. The test must be run with the battery in a high state of charge.

The table confirmed by practice is slightly different from the one given, and 11.8 volts corresponds to approximately 30% of the residual battery charge. There are examples for this: How to Troubleshoot Deep Cycle Battery Issues and Leisure Battery Care and Charging

Spoiler

AGM battery starting a small petrol engine will have no problem with 11.8V, while a old fashioned lead acid battery will struggle to start a big diesel in -30°C temperatures at 12.2V.

AGM technology battery is also lead-acid, only more advanced

 

[Nigel]

LiFePO4 lifespan is 2000-3000 cycles ~10years.

I'm not convinced that you will get that much from a CellLink, the charge rate is rather high, although it maybe OK with an extension battery connected.

I suspect that for most people, the best option for improving on using the car battery is to replace the car battery by an AGM car battery, those that already have an AGM battery will be OK anyway, unless they want their stop-start to actually stop-start! - the main cost may be the extra fuel burned in charging the battery.

 

[skansen]

I'm not convinced that you will get that much from a CellLink, the charge rate is rather high, although it maybe OK with an extension battery connected.

I'm basing - in field of lifespan of LiFePo4 - on available sources, not on my test. It's not new technology, so data about lifespan are not marketing estimations.
If you know sources pointing lower lifespan - please share it.

I suspect that for most people, the best option for improving on using the car battery is to replace the car battery by an AGM car battery, those that already have an AGM battery will be OK anyway, unless they want their stop-start to actually stop-start! -

In my Honda CR-V starts stop is working even that battery have to power camera for about 9hrs/day. In Krakow (second on the list of most jammed Polish cities) the fuel saving benefits are about 3l/100km less thanks to the start-stop (for CR-V). Batteries in cars with starts-stop are working well for many years.

the main cost may be the extra fuel burned in charging the battery.

There will be no extra amount of fuel. For car it's doesn't matter if it have to charge external battery or car's battery-amount of extra energy consumed by the camera is the same.

 

[skansen]

AGM technology battery is also lead-acid, only more advanced

@Leonauto thank you for joining this tread. Could you let us know what solution are you using in cold Russian winter to power you camera while car is parked?

 

[SawMaster]

AGM technology battery is also lead-acid, only more advanced

"Advanced" may not be the right word, but it is newer than wet-cell technology and it does have big benefits in many situations. A good wet-cell battery still does the starting job well for the cost, which is why they're still the most common car battery. The biggest problem with AGM here is cost; is that extra expense giving a better overall value in return? I don't have that answer as I've never used one in this application.

Phil

 

[Nigel]

"Advanced" may not be the right word, but it is newer than wet-cell technology and it does have big benefits in many situations. A good wet-cell battery still does the starting job well for the cost, which is why they're still the most common car battery. The biggest problem with AGM here is cost; is that extra expense giving a better overall value in return? I don't have that answer as I've never used one in this application.

Phil

I'm not entirely sure about cost, but I would think that AGM works out cheaper since you can use a much smaller battery to do the same job, at least for starting your engine. When it comes to dashcams where we are using fractions of an amp instead of 100s of amps the difference is smaller, but still a half size battery can be used due to the "5x" faster charge rate meaning that it does fill up when a standard one wouldn't. Add to that, double the lifespan and it doesn't look so expensive. They also have advantages in size and weight and thus improve car performance.

Lithium should be cheapest, but our car manufactures haven't switched to using it and it isn't really compatible with the charging system in most cars. The reason it's not used is down to poor temperature range - you can't charge it below 0°C which is a big problem for the car manufacturers.

 

[Leonauto]

@Leonauto thank you for joining this tread. Could you let us know what solution are you using in cold Russian winter to power you camera while car is parked?

I do not use the parking mode.
But even a simple calculation allows us to conclude that a 60 Ah car battery will be enough to power the recorder for 10 hours without serious problems when starting the car engine in the morning.
To calculate, take the voltage of a charged battery of 12.6V, the minimum voltage - is 12.2V. The energy that the battery will give at these values - 24 Wh ((12.6-12.2)*60). When recording, dashcam consumes 0.2A, or 2.4 Wh (0.2*12*1).
Total get 10 hours of recording (24Wh / 2.4Wh)

You can use an extra battery, which I mentioned, only use a capacity of 4 Ah. Its capacity is enough to power the recorder for 16 hours (4*12*0.80/2.4), and in the afternoon you can remove it from the car and charge it all day indoors from the electrical network. A power bank with comparable energy reserves should be approximately 13,000 mAh (4Ah*12V/3.7V)

PS: It is possible to charge an additional battery using a simple scheme, if you do not plan to remove it in the afternoon for charging. https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/blackvue-750s-connect-to-powerbank-plug-help.38211/post-455644
Additional energy for charging a small battery will also receive from the main battery of the car after the engine starts.

 

[quetzalquatl]

I do use PM. I got at least 3 days of rec in winter time with Cut Off to 12 V.

Starting here...

Camera stop recording while in parking, Rec light flashing. needs power reboot to start working again.

Did the camera freeze or just shut down? Both. today I saw it just went off for the first time furing parking. Earlier it was freezing

dashcamtalk.com

Sent from my [emoji637] [emoji809] [emoji642] using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Sergiosmvc]

My car is an Honda Civic Hybrid. The car battery is 40Ah. My cam is connected with Viofo's 3HK
If i drive the car for 1h and then turn of the engine and get the parking mode low bit rate enabled, if i don't touch the car it will record for the entire night.
If i do the same thing but try with my keyfob open and close the locks, after 1 or 2 minutes the cam shuts down.
The voltage is set to 11.8v and I've checked the circuit before the cable voltage switch and i get 12.1v - 12.2v with multimeter. So i can't understand why this occurs.
I've tried to disconnect the usb power cable from the cam and connect again but i've get no power.
If i turn the engine on the cam power up again


Any sugestion?

 

[Nigel]

My car is an Honda Civic Hybrid. The car battery is 40Ah. My cam is connected with Viofo's 3HK
If i drive the car for 1h and then turn of the engine and get the parking mode low bit rate enabled, if i don't touch the car it will record for the entire night.
If i do the same thing but try with my keyfob open and close the locks, after 1 or 2 minutes the cam shuts down.
The voltage is set to 11.8v and I've checked the circuit before the cable voltage switch and i get 12.1v - 12.2v with multimeter. So i can't understand why this occurs.
I've tried to disconnect the usb power cable from the cam and connect again but i've get no power.
If i turn the engine on the cam power up again


Any sugestion?

The lock motors may take quite a lot of power, and with only a 40Ah battery the voltage will drop quite a lot, maybe 1V, while they are operating, then it will rise back to normal after the lock motors turn off. If the hardwire kit turns off due to low voltage, it will not turn back on unless the voltage gets well above the turn-off voltage, I don't know what voltage it turns back on again, might be as much as 13.0V - i.e., you need the alternator running to turn it back on.

 

[Sergiosmvc]

Someone in this forum told me that voltage must be below the limit during 100 seconds

 

[Nigel]

Someone in this forum told me that voltage must be below the limit during 100 seconds

Yes, I read that as well. When the door locks turn off, the voltage will return to the previous value slowly, not instantly. If it is already near the limit then 100 seconds to return is possible.

 

[skansen]

My car is an Honda Civic Hybrid. The car battery is 40Ah. My cam is connected with Viofo's 3HK
If i drive the car for 1h and then turn of the engine and get the parking mode low bit rate enabled, if i don't touch the car it will record for the entire night.
If i do the same thing but try with my keyfob open and close the locks, after 1 or 2 minutes the cam shuts down.

What fuses cavities do you use?

 

[Sergiosmvc]

What fuses cavities do you use?

I don`t know because i asked for a car shop to do the service and they don`t use fuse taps.

I think the problem is not the circuit because measured before the limiter and it has 12.2v

 

[skansen]

I don`t know because i asked the service and they don`t use fuse taps.

I think the problem is not the circuit because measured and it has 12.2v

I'm not sure, if the problem is with the voltage drop.

Initially, in my Honda CR-V I installed Blac Vue Power Magic Pro. Power Magic was switching off power after short voltage drop. It's happened during this scenario: cars stops, the engine was switched off and power magic switched to the parking mode. Then, during opening trunk using automatic trunk opening voltage drops (for very short period) and Power Magic switched parking mode off... The same situation sometimes happened after locking the doors.

Then I replaced Power Magic with Viofo Hardwire Kit. And the problem was solved.

For full overview of situation: my battery is 60Ah and it is special battery for cars with start-stop system. Your battery is smaller, so voltage drop can by longer / deeper.

I'm not sure that the problem is with voltage drop. It can be unsuitable circuit. In my Honda CR-V on some circuits voltage is cut-off after locking the doors. An examples is interior lighting. Plenty of circuits are cut off after door locking. My first idea is wrong circuit. Did you check the voltage on the Hardwire Kit cable or on the other point?

If you are sure that the circuit is OK it can be problem with Hardwire Kit. Automatic trunk opening use much more energy than central locking and in my Honda it's not causing any cut-off.

 

[Sergiosmvc]

I'm not sure, if the problem is with the voltage drop.

Initially, in my Honda CR-V I installed Blac Vue Power Magic Pro. Power Magic was switching off power after short voltage drop. It's happened during this scenario: cars stops, the engine was switched off and power magic switched to the parking mode. Then, during opening trunk using automatic trunk opening voltage drops (for very short period) and Power Magic switched parking mode off... The same situation sometimes happened after locking the doors.

Then I replaced Power Magic with Viofo Hardwire Kit. And the problem was solved.

For full overview of situation: my battery is 60Ah and it is special battery for cars with start-stop system. Your battery is smaller, so voltage drop can by longer / deeper.

I'm not sure that the problem is with voltage drop. It can be unsuitable circuit. In my Honda CR-V on some circuits voltage is cut-off after locking the doors. An examples is interior lighting. Plenty of circuits are cut off after door locking. My first idea is wrong circuit. Did you check the voltage on the Hardwire Kit cable or on the other point?

If you are sure that the circuit is OK it can be problem with Hardwire Kit. Automatic trunk opening use much more energy than central locking and in my Honda it's not causing any cut-off.

I have the Viofo Hardware Kit!

I checked when the camera powered off, i tested red wire of hardware kit and i was on 12.1~12.2v but without any power on camera.

But if i don't touch the car all night. the camera won't power off...