Power Magic Pro - effectiveness?

[RacingSnake]

I got one of these to go with the 550, it took me a couple of hours trying to fit everything - main issue was removing the roof lining.

Anyway, I hooked up the PMP as one of my first jobs before moving onto the main wiring... after 2 hours the battery on my car was dead :|

Of course I'm not necessarily blaming the unit as interior lights were on, ignition was cycling etc - but even so it made me instantly very wary of the unit.

What are peoples experience of them? do you use the 12v cut off or 11.8 (mine was set at 12).

 

[jokiin]

it will only help you with the cameras, if something else is using battery (like your interior lights) obviously means nothing

 

[RacingSnake]

yes of course in this instance, but am still interested in peoples experience of the unit itself... and/or any scenarios where it hasn't performed its job.

 

[jokiin]

yes of course in this instance, but am still interested in peoples experience of the unit itself... and/or any scenarios where it hasn't performed its job.

hardware failure seems pretty rare, I think from memory I've only read of one person complaining of a faulty unit, they rarely get a mention for any problems

that said though the cameras running for two hours shouldn't go anywhere near giving you a flat battery, perhaps your battery wasn't in great shape already and the couple of hours with the doors open, ignition on off etc didn't do it any favors

 

[RacingSnake]

It's a 1 year old Range Rover, the battery should have been fine
PoS car. lol

 

[Hillbilly]

I have been using two of them for nearly 2 years and my friend has one in his car.
Neither of us has had any trouble.
All of ours are the plain Power Magic not the Pro only difference is the switch which I wanted in a different place so didn't waste money on the Pro

Why did you have to remove the headlining.

To fit mine I usually put them near the fuse box and just lengthen the wires to the rear and run it behind the trim along the floor.
The rear camera in the Passat wagon is mounted under the roof just inside the tailgate as it was too much of a mission to run it into the door itself.
The wires go along the right hand side trim and up under the taildoor seal and just a small loop out to the camera.
It remains in park mode for an hour ATM but have had it on for 3 hours with no probs. The car only gets used about every 10 days but no flat batteries.
However VW's turn the interior lights off after about 5 mins even if doors are left open.
I would say you have run it flat while installing.
Mine is set at 12 also.
If it is installed correctly you should have no trouble.

Just to make sure I have a switch in the line in mine so I can turn off the parking mode to the rear camera as PM is in behind the dash and cant reach it.

Front camera is wired differently and doesn't have parking mode

 

[holee]

I got one of these to go with the 550, it took me a couple of hours trying to fit everything - main issue was removing the roof lining.

Anyway, I hooked up the PMP as one of my first jobs before moving onto the main wiring... after 2 hours the battery on my car was dead :|

Of course I'm not necessarily blaming the unit as interior lights were on, ignition was cycling etc - but even so it made me instantly very wary of the unit.

What are peoples experience of them? do you use the 12v cut off or 11.8 (mine was set at 12).

I am using the PMP too. I hardwired it to the fuse box under the dashboard. Already been 1 month now, so far all is good.

I tested the different time cut off setting, like 12 hours and 24 hours, no problem too.

 

[RacingSnake]

ok thanks guys

Why did you have to remove the headlining.

Because everything was already at the 'top' of the car - it made sense at the time!!

 

[Hillbilly]

Along the floor would have been easier in hindsight I bet LOL

I ran the wires to the rear r/h corner with a ciggy socket on the end and then just plugged the supplied plug in behind the trim and taped it up so it would vibrate loose.
Had pulled the camera plug wire through from behind door seal.
All is connected to spare fuses in the box in the end of the dash.

 

[defbear]

I have the Power Magic Pro Plus with two outlets and have my cut offs set at 12v and 12 hours. I have tested it letting my battery run down etc. It works as advertised and I would not be without this or a similar device. I like the box with the two switches. Again, works great!

 

[RacingSnake]

Great stuff thanks guys
I had the car back in to the dealers for a quick software reset (I have to do this if the battery drains down ), so hopefully now it's all place I shouldn't have any issues

 

[Milamber]

Fortunately for us we have duel battery for lights and radios so I've never experienced the power magic pro from not cutting off power at the required voltage. Mine was professionally installed so I'm not sure if anything specific was done, when your vehicle is parked what uses your auxiliary devices?

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 4

 

[RacingSnake]

I have about a million sensors running on the car at any one time
but this thread was more about the 'overall' effectiveness, as this initial battery drain I think would have been down to the ignition cycling whilst installing. :|

 

[Hillbilly]

The overall effectiveness is that it works as designed if installed correctly and the camera is setup to use it properly.
Haven't seen any problems over about 4 forums about dashcams

 

[RacingSnake]

Understood.... but there was no harm in me asking again.