Ultimate Dash Cam Battery Pack Comparison

jsmith said:
So is Egen / Cellink simply rebranding their own battery and slapping BBMC name on it? I can't imagine they'd undercut themselves, and there has to be some sort of changes to design / materials beyond casing alone.
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Thats a question for them to answer. But the app they use is CellLinkNeoPlus for their battery pack.

We got offers frequently to put our name on a dash camera in place of manufacturers brand name. The manufacturer will even rebrand their app with our name on it. We also got offered with a korean made battery pack if we ordered a minimum 1000 units.
 
SafeDriveSolutions said:
Thats a question for them to answer. But the app they use is CellLinkNeoPlus for their battery pack.

We got offers frequently to put our name on a dash camera in place of manufacturers brand name. The manufacturer will even rebrand their app with our name on it. We also got offered with a korean made battery pack if we ordered a minimum 1000 units.
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No interest in ever doing your own branded product line?
 
Congrats on completion of your battery pack comparison video. Job well done. Is it possible to hook battery packs in series of you had the right connector?
 
ujsc said:
Congrats on completion of your battery pack comparison video. Job well done. Is it possible to hook battery packs in series of you had the right connector?
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Only @SafeDriveSolutions can answer for certain on models he tested, but battery packs generally let you hook them up in tandem to prolong usage.

Link below as an example. You'll notice the PowerCell 8 can be extended with the Cellink Neo.

https://www.blackboxmycar.com/products/blackboxmycar-powercell-8-dash-cam-battery-pack
 
jsmith said:
No interest in ever doing your own branded product line?
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No we prefer to help dash camera companies compete with each other to better their products by providing feedback towards development and improvement of their products.
 
ujsc said:
Congrats on completion of your battery pack comparison video. Job well done. Is it possible to hook battery packs in series of you had the right connector?
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Some of the battery packs will allow expansion.
Powercell8, viofo for instance. However there are some weird diagrams like Thinkwares which we tried and it did not function like it is intended to.
 
ujsc said:
Did you try to put two 70 Mai in series?
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It does not have an expansion slot. We do not like to play with batteries in that way. Having an expansion slot in my opinion is safest way.
 
ujsc said:
Is it possible to hook battery packs in series of you had the right connector?
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Why put them in series instead of in parallel? Having them in series increases the charge time...
 
Does a battery pack hold its charge after sitting for 1 week
 
So after 1 week of sitting the app said 13% battery charge left when I started this test.

The battery pack has been running for hours at 0%.
Just goes to show how untrustworthy these battery pack apps are.

So doing some math
33 hours x 0.13%=4.29 hours
We are at over 18-20 hours as the test continues

I understand people want apps but they all seem to report improperly from all my testing the last 2 years.
 

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SafeDriveSolutions said:
So after 1 week of sitting the app said 13% battery charge left when I started this test.

The battery pack has been running for hours at 0%.
Just goes to show how untrustworthy these battery pack apps are.

So doing some math
33 hours x 0.13%=4.29 hours
We are at over 18-20 hours as the test continues

I understand people want apps but they all seem to report improperly from all my testing the last 2 years.
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I notice the batteries have 3 or 4 charge indicator lights rather than a % display. I guess with phones capable of showing an actual percentage we're accustomed to seeing that, but are they any more accurate than a 4-bar indicator?
 
TonyM said:
I notice the batteries have 3 or 4 charge indicator lights rather than a % display. I guess with phones capable of showing an actual percentage we're accustomed to seeing that, but are they any more accurate than a 4-bar indicator?
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Well there is LCD indicators on some units
 
So we wanted to test how 1 week after the battery pack was sitting on the bench how it would work.
1. Is it consistent?
2. Is it losing charge just sitting there with no load on the battery pack?

Here are some notes
Powerpack Max 8 - Installed in my vehicle for 3-4 weeks now via cigarette lighter plugin charging Has had multiple charges

70Mai has been charged approx 10 times on the bench throughout testing

POWERCELL 8 - We got this from a customer 1.5 years ago. We gave the customer an IVOLT XTRA in exchange for this powercell8. It is approx 2 years old. Please note: It did not sit in our office collecting dust. We used it in my own vehicle for testing and comparison for last year compared to other battery packs we carry. So it has been consistently used for the last year. Not sure if this is normal expectations of this battery pack or something is wrong with performance of unit as the drop off is approx 29% when sitting for 1 week.
Screenshot 2025-07-27 at 7.59.43 AM.webp
 
SafeDriveSolutions said:
..............
I understand people want apps but they all seem to report improperly from all my testing the last 2 years.
Click to expand...
TonyM said:
I notice the batteries have 3 or 4 charge indicator lights rather than a % display. I guess with phones capable of showing an actual percentage we're accustomed to seeing that, but are they any more accurate than a 4-bar indicator?
Click to expand...
SafeDriveSolutions said:
Well there is LCD indicators on some units
Click to expand...

On the Ecoflow River3, the initial reading of charge level and time to empty was also incorrect, however after just one full charge/discharge cycle from 0% to 100% with a real charge current of 8A and a discharge current of 0.5A, the app and the display on the device itself are now very accurate.
This is what Ecoflow recommends (2-3 full cycles), to calibrate the readings.
(It is also recommended to periodically cycle the battery from 0-100% if the battery never reaches such extreme values in normal use).

Maybe the same applies to these dedicated batteries?
 
SafeDriveSolutions said:
.....
POWERCELL 8 - We got this from a customer 1.5 years ago. We gave the customer an IVOLT XTRA in exchange for this powercell8. It is approx 2 years old. Please note: It did not sit in our office collecting dust. We used it in my own vehicle for testing and comparison for last year compared to other battery packs we carry. So it has been consistently used for the last year. Not sure if this is normal expectations of this battery pack or something is wrong with performance of unit as the drop off is approx 29% when sitting for 1 week.
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I don't see the on/off button on the Powercell 8.
Is Bluetooth always on? Or the USB-A port?
 
GPak said:
This is what Ecoflow recommends (2-3 full cycles), to calibrate the readings.
(It is also recommended to periodically cycle the battery from 0-100% if the battery never reaches such extreme values in normal use).

Maybe the same applies to these dedicated batteries?
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Yes, it applies to all LiFePO4 batteries, because the voltage curves are so flat for LiFePO4 that you can't tell how much power is in them from the voltage, you can only do it by counting the power in and counting it back out again. The measurement is never perfectly accurate, so the battery needs to calibrate itself at fully charged and fully discharged fairly regularly if you want to keep an accurate charge indicator.

The other thing you should do is leave the batteries charging at 100% for several hours occasionally to balance the cells, since LiFePO4 cells can only be balanced at 100% charge, and leave a new battery charging at least overnight for the same reason, probably a couple of days before reviewing a new battery, otherwise you may be missing a bit of capacity.
 
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