Power supply options for parking mode

[TonyM]

I don't use parking mode myself, but my wife wants to use a dashcam to record while she is parked at work during the day. No need to record when parked at night on the driveway.

She only drives about 15min each way to work, so not much time to charge up either the car battery or an additional device like a cellink B. In fact she had to replace her car battery last year after too many short trips.

So do i choose the cellink and hope it gets enough charge on the 15min drive home, and 15min again to work, to run the camera for 10 hours when parked? Will the extra drain of charging the cellink battery be bad for the car battery?

 

[arcticfire]

Short commutes will drain the battery especially when running the cam whilst parked. I used to have mine set for 12 hours recording after ignition off but eventually my car warned me of a low battery despite the car only being 6 months old and being an AGM 95Ah battery.

I reduced to 6 hours and it's been fine but I do take the car out for a good run at least once a week, often more to give it a fighting chance.

Can the cellink be charged in the house? How many hours can it run from a full charge?

 

[Dashmellow]

I don't use parking mode myself, but my wife wants to use a dashcam to record while she is parked at work during the day. No need to record when parked at night on the driveway.

She only drives about 15min each way to work, so not much time to charge up either the car battery or an additional device like a cellink B. In fact she had to replace her car battery last year after too many short trips.

So do i choose the cellink and hope it gets enough charge on the 15min drive home, and 15min again to work, to run the camera for 10 hours when parked? Will the extra drain of charging the cellink battery be bad for the car battery?

Just buy a decent quality 20,000 mAh power bank and you can run a dash cam all day. Buy two and you can charge/swap them out every day. You can a buy safe, reliable and well made 20,000 mAh lithium power bank these days for about 20 bucks US.

 

[TonyM]

Just buy a decent quality 20,000 mAh power bank and you can run a dash cam all day. Buy two and you can charge/swap them out every day. You can a buy safe, reliable and well made 20,000 mAh lithium power bank these days for about 20 bucks US.

Thanks for the suggestion. That's what I do whenever I want to use my cam in parking mode, which might be once or twice a week, and I don't mind bringing it inside to charge occasionally.

I was wondering if there is an option that recharges automatically, but the alternatives seem to be a lot more expensive and probably impractical given her short daily commute.

 

[Dashmellow]

Thanks for the suggestion. That's what I do whenever I want to use my cam in parking mode, which might be once or twice a week, and I don't mind bringing it inside to charge occasionally.

I was wondering if there is an option that recharges automatically, but the alternatives seem to be a lot more expensive and probably impractical given her short daily commute.

There is really no safe and suitable automatic recharging option nor is it wise to simply leave power banks in one's vehicle full time. (heat, vibrations, temperature issues during parts of the year, etc.) Of course, there's also the whole business with pass-through charging, which is to be avoided.

I've been using power banks for extended periods in my vehicle going on three years now and I just bring them in at the end of the day, let them rest for awhile, then charge them overnight. It has just become a routine habit and it is no big deal. My oldest power bank is two months shy of three years in service and it is still in great condition and still holds virtually a full charge.

Your wife could even charge one of the power banks while at work every day.

 

[SawMaster]

I was wondering if there is an option that recharges automatically........given her short daily commute.

AFAIK there is no battery technology which would charge well in that time-frame AGM and wet lead-acid are as close as you'll get; they tolerate high initial charge rates better than the rest. But the answer might lay in that direction if you want to get somewhat deeply involved

A large AGM or deep-cycle battery and a charge isolator such as RV dual-battery systems use would probably be able to keep up provided that you gave it a good slow-charge on the weekends at home (or regularly plugged it in overnight). You could use a quick-disconnect plug for the off-board charger so there'd be no need to open the hood or trunk and clip the leads on. Having that large capacity would also allow for some 'forgetting' unlike a powerbank that needed a daily swap-out.

I'm heading this way myself when time and money permit to run at least 2 cams 24/7 though I drive enough to not need an outboard charge. I'm too forgetful to swap out powerbanks every day
Phil

 

[TonyM]

Thanks for the comments. This is going to be my wife's first dashcam. Her car has been hit 3 times in the last 3 years whilst parked. Thankfully the other party has always admitted to it, but she is now more concerned about being hit when parked than when driving.

I was looking for the simplest way to power her new camera, which I figured was by using a powerbank, but thought I should explore other options.

Ergonomically there's not an obvious place in her car to store a powerbank close to the 12v-to-USB adapter, to make switching easy and tidy.

 

[old4570]

Hmmm , you can buy solar cells ...
Feed the powerbank some solar power ...
2017 I will hopefully explore parking mode and the SAFE hardwire kits ..
I also have a solar powerbank on the way , and I have a USB SOLAR cell in a draw I can't wait to try ..
Just keep the powerbank out of the sun ..

( Yeah , most of those solar powerbanks are not that flash )

 

[TonyM]

Hmmm , you can buy solar cells ...
Feed the powerbank some solar power ...

Unfortunately, her office car park is in a basement

 

[old4570]

Here is an idea ...
Get a SAFE hardwire kit , that recharges the Power Bank ..
The power bank powers the cam
And the Solar Cell works with the Hardwire kit ..
Not sure they do a twin into 1x Micro plug ( Dual power input ) ( I will have to check Ebay - Probably want one or two for myself )

Or a powerbank with dual inputs ( for recharging - that would be interesting )

 

[old4570]

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/232194461574
Something like this might work for dual power sources to recharge the PB

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/282198688523
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/141982543365

 

[arcticfire]

Do you have a garage at home which the car will fit into?

 

[TonyM]

Do you have a garage at home which the car will fit into?

If I take out all the junk, yes

 

[TonyM]

I think my wife will have to get used to switching between car USB and powerbank. She can even leave the powerbank connected for the drive home, if she's in a rush to pick up the kids.

My next task is to choose an appropriate camera. I've given her my Mobius 1 with 90deg A lens, but really she could do with a wider angle and something that works better in low light without the benefit of headlight illumination. A119? The Mobius will be good enough to get her started.

 

[Dashmellow]

I often travel from my rural home to a nearby town or city running my cams on 12V/5V USB adapter power from my vehicle. When I arrive at my first destination where I will be parking my vehicle for any length of time I switch to the two power banks and generally leave them plugged in for however long I will be in town conducting business, running errands, shopping and parking in different locations. The cameras can run all day on the power banks if I want them to. Often I will leave the cameras running on the power banks until I arrive home again but depending upon how far away I might be and how long I will be driving I may plug the cams back into the vehicle's power for the return journey.

When I first started to use power banks this way I did an awful lot of plugging and unplugging but leaving them plugged in is far more convenient if I want full time parking surveillance with the least amount of hassle and is quite viable, as is the evening ritual of recharging the banks for the next days usage.

 

[arcticfire]

If I take out all the junk, yes

Taking into account that you mentioned the short trips alone ran the battery down never mind with adding more stuff if may be worth looking at garaging the car on Friday night, removing the battery terminals and connecting a charger to the battery. Should only be a five minute task and will keep the car battery good as well from all those short journeys.

 

[alexanderfitu]

I tried doing this with a powerbank and a y cable. Did not work. It kept backfeeding the usb charger and caused the camera (mini 0805) to get stuck and turn off randomly.

Ended up doing a switching supply with a DPDT relay to swap power from the banks to the usb socket when ignition on/off. Works well.

 

[TonyM]

So for now I have given her my Mobius and my 15000mAh battery to see how she gets on with them.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice.

 

[old4570]

I tried doing this with a powerbank and a y cable. Did not work. It kept backfeeding the usb charger and caused the camera (mini 0805) to get stuck and turn off randomly.

Ended up doing a switching supply with a DPDT relay to swap power from the banks to the usb socket when ignition on/off. Works well.

??????

Sounds interesting !
What was the actual set up ?
I am waiting on a Y cable myself , and am planning on trying a few things ..

1) I don't know that a dual power source would work
2) I would how ever use a power bank
A) Have a hardwire kit power the bank ( recharge ) and the bank power the cam
B) Have a solar panel recharge the bank , and the bank power the cam
C) Y cable splits solar panel and hardwire kit to recharge powerbank

I dont know if I could split a hardwire kit and a powerbank into the cam ?????