Nextbase not charging whilst hard wired?

[HarleQuinn]

Hi everyone, new to the forum.

I had a Nextbase 412gw fitted on Tuesday by Halfords. It is fitted using the Nexbase hard wire kit. The main reason for this is I want to be able to leave the dash cam static in the car permanently. However the dash cam is giving me a low battery warning.

Should it not be being charged by the car and always have plenty of battery? In theory I should never need to charge it via anything other than the hardwire which is installed?

Kind regards.

 

[kamkar]

It should charge a little bit for the little battery of capacitors there in case of a emergency.
Not sure about the hardwire kit ? is it also for parking guard use or just to have any wires out of the way and your car cigarette lighter unused.

 

[Nextbase Support]

Welcome @HarleQuinn

Have you charged it inside you home before use first for 2 hours?

How many hours are you driving in a week?

Has it been wired up to an ignition live fuse (turns on/off with the ignition) or is it on a permanently live fuse?

 

[HarleQuinn]

Hi, thank you both for the replies, it was charged fully before use yes. I have since let it charge overnight and am due to put it back into the car today.

Driving hours a week are only 3-4 hours on short trips and city driving. Could parking mode be draining the battery as it can record when the ignition isn't on?

It does turn on and off with the ignition, should I return to Halfords for them to have a look?

 

[Nextbase Support]

Thanks for charging, it should be fully charged now so if you turn it on not connected to anything how long does it last?

Yes parking mode will drain the battery, each parking mode trigger will be 2 minutes so out of a full 30 minute battery you should get 15 triggers.

 

[HarleQuinn]

I am not sure how long it lasts, I had the g sensor on high. I have put it down to medium now.

If i still have an issue would turning parking .ode odd possibly solve this as there would be no use except for when driving and this means the battery would run off the ignition only?

 

[Nextbase Support]

If the G-Sensor is on high it will be protecting more files than normal, I imagine you still want parking mode to work though? Are you noticing lots of files being recorded when you're parked up?

Pop the setting down to medium or low and then see how you get on with the amount of files protected then.

The battery is really important though to ensure the final file is closed correctly in the event of an incident when your ignition is turned off.

 

[HarleQuinn]

Ideally yes I want parking mode but not at the cost of having to keep removing the dashcam to charge it or have the cigarette lighter plugged in. This is why I had it hard wired so it would just run off the cars electrics. I did notice a lot of parked up files yes, oddly nothing seemed to be happening on the recordings.

 

[Nextbase Support]

Right yes - put the G-Sensor setting down to medium/low.

If the unit is on an ignition power supply even fully charged it'll be completely draining between uses if there are lots of parking mode protected files.

With the new firmware you can put the camera on a permanently live fuse and it will turn off if no movement is detected. This is version R11.7.

 

[HarleQuinn]

Hi, thank you for that.

I did update the firmware to this the other day actually. Does this mean moving the fitting placement of the fuse Halfords installed to another fuse then?

 

[Nextbase Support]

Yes I'd recommend reducing the sensitivity to medium either way if you're getting files with nothing relevant on them.

Halfords can swap the fuse to permanently live if you like, you should be OK though as you are with reducing the sensitivity so it isn't turning on unnecessarily in between charges/journeys.

 

[HarleQuinn]

Ok I will see how I go with the sensitivity turned down to medium. If I still get an issue I will post again here for further advice,

thanks for all the help

 

[Nextbase Support]

Yes of course - we can talk you through changing the fuse if you like too so just post back here if you need us.

 

[DashcamDPR]

The problem is Halfords...

....I was gonna add some more to that statement before realising that those four words explain it perfectly

 

[HarleQuinn]

I heard multiple bad things about Halfords but the deal was the hardwire kit and fitting for £30 so seemed a good deal.

I fully charged the dashcam yesterday, today I have noticed it is down to one bar. The car has been driven for a total of 20 mins in that time. When driving the dashcam does show the red wave type line going through the battery so it is drawing power from the ignnition right?

 

[Nextbase Support]

It sounds like you've got a good deal @HarleQuinn there isn't anything wrong with their installation.

Did you have any parking mode files? Or are there none now the sensitivity has dropped?

It should be fully charged after a full charge yesterday and top up 20 minutes today.

 

[HarleQuinn]

Not too many parking files to be fair, I have now dropped the G sensor to low. Hoping I don't have to run it without parking mode.

 

[HarleQuinn]

Fully charged the dashcam last night, put it back in the car. No parking files over night but after todays driving there were...

11 parking files where nothing happens at 2 minutes long roughly each
1 protected parking file where nothing happens

G sensor was dropped to low and this is still happening. I am guessing the recordings whilst parked which amount to 24 minutes are the issue here?

 

[HarleQuinn]

Battery was low again today.

11 parked files.
2 protected parked files.

Nothing happens in any of these files.

So am I right in saying the battery on the dashcam has about 25-30mins when not charging from the cars hardwire kit? If this is so then the low battery from recording when parked makes sense. However can I get round this by using a live fuse so there is constantly power to the dashcam or should I just turn parking mode off? I mean is parking mode meant to be constantly on or is it a feature just for when you park somewhere you are not comfortable?

 

[jokiin]

don't power the camera constantly, not something you should think about doing when they have an internal battery