70mai Dashcam Battery Pack - Unboxing & Review

[Julian23]

The 70mai battery pack has been in use since April. With the cold weather I want to give a quick update.
The fast few weeks have been very cold here in Germany.
We had temperatures down to -15°C.
With these very cold temperatures the battery pack needed noticeably more time to charge.
Whether this is because it needed to heat up before starting to charge or because the charge rate is limited is unknown to me, I can't see the indicator light where it is mounted.

Since the battery pack needs more time to charge, it wasn't able to reach the usual battery level it usually reaches with my daily driving. I got a 3-4h shorter run time.
Again, several factors will influence the drain. Cold temperatures are known to affect batteries, reducing their total power.

This decreased performance was noticable from 0°C and below.

Other than that the battery pack has performed flawless so far. I did not experience any unexpected behavior.

 

[Hack_man]

I experience very similar behavior with the PowerCell 8. Shorter run times in the cold and also the battery seems to self discharge faster when parking mode is off.
I can't imagine if my garage was detached rather than underground how poor the charging performance would be. The coldest garage temp is currently 42ºF. If it was detached it might go to 15ºF.

 

[ujsc]

The 70mai battery pack has been in use since April. With the cold weather I want to give a quick update.
The fast few weeks have been very cold here in Germany.
We had temperatures down to -15°C.
With these very cold temperatures the battery pack needed noticeably more time to charge.
Whether this is because it needed to heat up before starting to charge or because the charge rate is limited is unknown to me, I can't see the indicator light where it is mounted.

Since the battery pack needs more time to charge, it wasn't able to reach the usual battery level it usually reaches with my daily driving. I got a 3-4h shorter run time.
Again, several factors will influence the drain. Cold temperatures are known to affect batteries, reducing their total power.

This decreased performance was noticable from 0°C and below.

Other than that the battery pack has performed flawless so far. I did not experience any unexpected behavior.

Julian, I respectfully disagree with your conclusions but not your observations. They are what you saw. My battery pack is kept in the car. Even though temp drops overnight to below zero it still powers my dashcam when running with monitor off during non driving hours (parking mode setting off-maximal load on system but maximal frame rate when recording). When I am charging the battery pack off the alternator, the battery pack warms to rt during the first 5 min of the run of the car and heat generated during use. I have no issue maintaining 5 bars of power. I see no issues in recharging when running car (2-3 hrs per day) and the time it records when monitor is off is usually no more than 14h continuous.

I know when battery pack gets hot it loses charge. I fixed that by putting a fan under it which doesn't run at night. Recall I am running the Wolfbox Tripro system which consumes 8W measured with monitor off during non driving times and 13W when driving with the monitor on. This allows me to record around the clock at maximal frame rate (probably not good for longevity for device but I do this as an experiment as wanted to see how it behaved under constant use, so far perfectly!

What I am saying is battery seems to charge up during my commute to/from no issue and I can run the dashcam continuously through the night. Perhaps you are observing a faster discharge rate rather than a slower charge speed than normal and you are not replenishing the charge during your commute (charging rate of power input may be the same). Is that what you may mean?

 

[Julian23]

Julian, I respectfully disagree with your conclusions but not your observations. They are what you saw. My battery pack is kept in the car. Even though temp drops overnight to below zero it still powers my dashcam when running with monitor off during non driving hours (parking mode setting off-maximal load on system but maximal frame rate when recording). When I am charging the battery pack off the alternator, the battery pack warms to rt during the first 5 min of the run of the car and heat generated during use. I have no issue maintaining 5 bars of power. I see no issues in recharging when running car (2-3 hrs per day) and the time it records when monitor is off is usually no more than 14h continuous.

I know when battery pack gets hot it loses charge. I fixed that by putting a fan under it which doesn't run at night. Recall I am running the Wolfbox Tripro system which consumes 8W measured with monitor off during non driving times and 13W when driving with the monitor on. This allows me to record around the clock at maximal frame rate (probably not good for longevity for device but I do this as an experiment as wanted to see how it behaved under constant use, so far perfectly!

What I am saying is battery seems to charge up during my commute to/from no issue and I can run the dashcam continuously through the night. Perhaps you are observing a faster discharge rate rather than a slower charge speed than normal and you are not replenishing the charge during your commute (charging rate of power input may be the same). Is that what you may mean?

The charge time actually did increase.
If the battery is completely discharged, I was usually able to fully charge it without issues. Right now it takes longer to charge driving the same time.
With a longer drive the battery fully charged and I had some more runtime. But still shorter than in the summer.

 

[ujsc]

The charge time actually did increase.
If the battery is completely discharged, I was usually able to fully charge it without issues. Right now it takes longer to charge driving the same time.
With a longer drive the battery fully charged and I had some more runtime. But still shorter than in the summer.

I have had the battery pack almost as long as you. I think the power demands if the Tripro are probably higher than the majority of dashcams. Why haven't I seen such an issue? It always seems 5 bars after 45 min of driving (that's when I look, no formal scientific study). Only time it fully discharged really quickly was when it got really hot in the summer and the fan solved that issue. Perhaps your car is way colder than mine and the battery capacity is parabolic with lows in capacity and charging capability at extreme temps????

PS: If you are charging after battery has equilibrated to rt, why should charging capacity be any different if charging is a function of temperature???

 

[Julian23]

I have had the battery pack almost as long as you. I think the power demands if the Tripro are probably higher than the majority of dashcams. Why haven't I seen such an issue? It always seems 5 bars after 45 min of driving (that's when I look, no formal scientific study). Only time it fully discharged really quickly was when it got really hot in the summer and the fan solved that issue. Perhaps your car is way colder than mine and the battery capacity is parabolic with lows in capacity and charging capability at extreme temps????

PS: If you are charging after battery has equilibrated to rt, why should charging capacity be any different if charging is a function of temperature???

I think there are two simple differences here.

First, I am running two dashcam systems off the same battery pack, so the overall power draw is higher than a single setup.
Second, my daily driving is much shorter, usually two trips of about 30 minutes, not several hours.
Also worth mentioning, my car is parked outside and cools down to ambient temperature overnight, down to about -15°C recently. So the battery starts every drive fully cold.
70mai also states that the charging temp is from 0°C to 45°C. I'm well below that threshold.

I’m not saying anything about a different battery capacity. I’m only describing that under these conditions it takes longer to recharge during short drives, while longer drives still allow it to fully charge.
That’s all I’m observing, nothing more than that.

 

[ChelpiBoy]

Hi everyone, I’d also like to share my experience regarding the drop in temperatures in France.


I own two 70mai battery packs and two 70mai T800 cameras. With temperatures below 0 °C, it was awful: the batteries simply wouldn’t charge. I drive about 20 minutes to get to work and another 20 minutes to get back home. With such short charging times, the batteries really struggled, as you mentioned, and I barely got around 3 hours of parking mode operation.


This was very frustrating, especially since the batteries and cameras were purchased after an attempted theft of my vehicle. Since temperatures have risen again to around 10 °C, charging has returned to normal and the batteries now fully recharge, allowing them to last throughout the entire night.

 

[Hack_man]

I have honestly been shocked over how few reports there have been similar to yours, especially in the really colder climates like in Canada.
It would be interesting to test how long it takes for the battery temperature to increase as the interior of the car heats up.
Unfortunately you don't have a battery app with the 70 mai to monitor charging and temperature vs time or I would have suggested it.

Suggestions:
Locate the battery closer to a heat vent in the car. This might be a pain if wires have already been concealed
Bring the battery inside at night and put on charger

 

[TonyM]

I have honestly been shocked over how few reports there have been similar to yours, especially in the really colder climates like in Canada.

For most people I expect a dashcam battery is fit-and-forget. No many owners will check the charge status regularly, or review the recorded parking duration and correlate to the weather conditions.

 

[Hack_man]

For most people I expect a dashcam battery is fit-and-forget. No many owners will check the charge status regularly, or review the recorded parking duration and correlate to the weather conditions.

In my case the battery was completely depleted and had not charged at all because of severe cold.
Those are the cases I would expect to hear more.

 

[GPak]

People don't report this or complain about it because it's not a malfunction, but rather a known drawback of LFP (lithium-iron phosphate) battery technology.
All dedicated batteries have/must have protection against charging at temperatures below 0°C (32°F).
When I tested the Ecoflow River 3 portable power station at a temperature of around -4°C (25°F), a 5 min engine and cabin warm-up + 15-minute commute to work was not enough for the battery to warm-up and start charging.

AI explains it here better than I can do:

Google Search

To ensure uninterrupted operation of dashcam throughout the year, dedicated batteries based on LTO technology are needed.
@70mai_Official , @viofo , and others.

 

[Hack_man]

People don't report this or complain about it because it's not a malfunction, but rather a known drawback of LFP (lithium-iron phosphate) battery technology.
All dedicated batteries have/must have protection against charging at temperatures below 0°C (32°F).
When I tested the Ecoflow River 3 portable power station at a temperature of around -4°C (25°F), a 5 min engine and cabin warm-up + 15-minute commute to work was not enough for the battery to warm-up and start charging.

AI explains it here better than I can do:

Google Search

"LiFePO4 batteries suffer significant performance drops in cold temperatures, losing up to 50% capacity at \(-20^{\circ }\text{C}\) to \(0^{\circ }\text{C}\) (\(14^{\circ }\text{F}\) to \(32^{\circ }\text{F}\)). Crucially, they must not be charged below \(0^{\circ }\text{C}\) (\(32^{\circ }\text{F}\)), as this causes irreversible lithium plating on the anode, ruining the battery. To manage low temps, use insulated storage, heating pads, or self-heating batteries, and limit charge currents to \(0.1\text{C}\) near \(0^{\circ }\text{C}\)."

To ensure uninterrupted operation of dashcam throughout the year, dedicated batteries based on LTO technology are needed.
@70mai_Official , @viofo , and others.

Understood but most people would expect a battery to work near freezing temperatures and are not really thinking about battery chemistry.
Its in the battery specifications that it wont charge at freezing and its not a malfunction but is a severe limitation of LFP chemistry that I would expect to get more attention when used in a typical automotive environment.

 

[Julian23]

Hi everyone, I’d also like to share my experience regarding the drop in temperatures in France.


I own two 70mai battery packs and two 70mai T800 cameras. With temperatures below 0 °C, it was awful: the batteries simply wouldn’t charge. I drive about 20 minutes to get to work and another 20 minutes to get back home. With such short charging times, the batteries really struggled, as you mentioned, and I barely got around 3 hours of parking mode operation.


This was very frustrating, especially since the batteries and cameras were purchased after an attempted theft of my vehicle. Since temperatures have risen again to around 10 °C, charging has returned to normal and the batteries now fully recharge, allowing them to last throughout the entire night.

Nice to hear that someone else also has the same observations.
It does not like below 0°C temps. That's for sure.

 

[Julian23]

I have honestly been shocked over how few reports there have been similar to yours, especially in the really colder climates like in Canada.
It would be interesting to test how long it takes for the battery temperature to increase as the interior of the car heats up.

That was the reason why I mentioned it.
No other reports about this as far as I know.

Maybe many people don't even notice it? I use the 4G features and got a notification that the dashcam reached the voltage limit.
Otherwise you wouldn't really notice if you don't check the dashcam before turning on the ignition.
Just a guess.

Suggestions:
Locate the battery closer to a heat vent in the car. This might be a pain if wires have already been concealed
Bring the battery inside at night and put on charger

Funnily enough, I placed mine very close to the vent under the passenger seat. I didn't have any other good location.

 

[EricSan]

To ensure uninterrupted operation of dashcam throughout the year, dedicated batteries based on LTO technology are needed.

It was intolerance to temp extremes that made me abandon LiFePo batteries and go with LTO chemistry instead.

For most people I expect a dashcam battery is fit-and-forget. No many owners will check the charge status regularly, or review the recorded parking duration and correlate to the weather conditions.

Ah, but we’re not “most people.” That’s why some of these companies have asked us to test things for them 😉.

No other reports about this as far as I know. Maybe many people don't even notice it?

I find this surprising as well. Much of the world experiences temps outside of the 0c-45c range. By the time you discover that things weren’t working properly, you’ve missed the critical evidence that you need…

 

[TonyM]

I see the 70mai battery does not come with a 12V CLA charging cable in the box. The website is not clear that this is an optional extra, and there's no link to help you add it to the basket if required. I found the item in the 'cables' section for £10.

 

[Hack_man]

I see the 70mai battery does not come with a 12V CLA charging cable in the box. The website is not clear that this is an optional extra, and there's no link to help you add it to the basket if required. I found the item in the 'cables' section for £10.

The option to purchase the CLA lighter charging cable shows up when you purchase the battery.

 

[TonyM]

The option to purchase the CLA lighter charging cable shows up when you purchase the battery.

View attachment 89350

Ah, I see. The 70mai UK store does not have those options, and we don't have the "frequently bought together" items either.



There is a list of "you may also like" items, but it does not show the cigarette lighter cable.


@Oliver_70mai please can you review the 70mai UK store page for the dashcam battery and offer the same hardwire or cigarette lighter options as the global store? I noticed there is a 1-star review from someone complaining that the cigarette lighter charging cable is not in the box.

 

[ujsc]

The 70 Mai battery may not be the only issue. I tested two dashcams, a Viofo a229pto and the Wolfbox Tripro. At temps below 0 oC for two days straight, they didn't accept proper current flow (hardwired) after a 10 min car warmup. They acted like they were energy deprived (turning off and on) and wouldn't operate. This is ridiculous. When I let the car equilibrate above 0 oC for several hrs, the dashcams both came online

Upon systematic testing after Julians report, I saw also the 70 Mai battery pack had trouble charging or holding charge above 40 oC and below 0 oC. You were right Julian! I didn't see it at low temp until I really paid attention (temp only recently hit 5 below here).

I will never buy another dashcam battery pack, too expensive and too low capacity. I bought a bluetti ac70 (765.5 Wh) for $280 on sale (similar to 70 Mai cost) with the extras I bought but way more powerful. It has a small footprint and fits on back floor of a sedan.

If temp stayed 0 deg or above, I could run two dash camera systems (both 3-4 cameras) for 36 hrs straight (monitor off but recording) and still had plenty of battery left. If I plug it into cigarette lighter to charge (107 Watt car input) and I could also keep battery charged while driving. I didn't see any energy issues in temp below zero (temp 5 degrees to 0 oC) for 36h straight maybe because the pack started at 100 percent. The dashcams shutdown at -5 degrees but not due to just the battery

 

[ujsc]

I think there are two simple differences here.

First, I am running two dashcam systems off the same battery pack, so the overall power draw is higher than a single setup.
Second, my daily driving is much shorter, usually two trips of about 30 minutes, not several hours.
Also worth mentioning, my car is parked outside and cools down to ambient temperature overnight, down to about -15°C recently. So the battery starts every drive fully cold.
70mai also states that the charging temp is from 0°C to 45°C. I'm well below that threshold.

I’m not saying anything about a different battery capacity. I’m only describing that under these conditions it takes longer to recharge during short drives, while longer drives still allow it to fully charge.
That’s all I’m observing, nothing more than that.

Read what I observed. I acknowledged that charging issue but capacity was also affected with the 70.mai battery pack at temp extremes. I also ran two heavily energy intensive 3-4 camera dash cam systems to mirror your conditions.