8GB of protected files - hardly any were of my choosing

MichaelCh

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Hello all,
I have the 512GW + rear cam bundle from Halfords, hardwired fitting too.
Pretty good except for a few small niggles that I'm hoping some forum members could help me understand?

1) For a bundled 16GB card, 8GB is already taken up by protected files. I'm reviewing them now but I have observed that each time I enter the car, the unit kicks into life and protects that file. I suspect it's due to the Parking Mode feeling that the car door has opened and shut as well as me sitting into driving seat. I've already set the G-Sensor to LOW sensitivity., but that doesn't seem to offer any help. Will I always have to stop the recording to delete that protected file before I drive off? Otherwise the card will fill up with relentless protected files and eventually have no more unprotected files to overwrite.

2) Another side issue of the Parking Mode is that I park at London Underground station car parks. I think fast trains going past would shock the car into thinking a recording is required. Any ideas how to enable Parking Mode recording, without this trigger-happy sensor? As with above, G-Sensor sensitivity is already on LOW setting.

3) I thought that being hard-wired means that the 512GW can run off the car battery, and last at least a day. However, there are times when I've got into the car and been greeted with the screen warning "Low Battery Please connect car charger". I understand that there are some safeguards that prevent the dash cams from draining the car battery... but I find it difficult to believe that a low-powered dash cam could possible pull so much charge anywhere between 6-12hrs that it already reaches that threshold?

4) Somewhat aligned to Q3, is the battery indicator on the 512GW. I drove for an hour, with hardwiring, so car battery is of course fully operational and charged up the dash cam. I unplug it and it IMMEDIATELY shows the battery level as 2/3rds charged. This is a brand new unit. Is this expected behaviour?

Hope someone can give me some advice and tips on how to set things up properly, and avoid the above issues?

Many thanks!!!!
Michael
 
From what I've read here the parking mode sensor isn't the G-sensor but another one built into the firmware that has been reported as 'trigger happy'.

Hardwiring can be hit and miss. Some have hardwired to a permanent live and others to an ignition source. Both seem to occasionally produce issues.
The idea is that under ignition live the unit will shut down and run off battery. In your case the possible train buffeting is flattening the unit battery to a point where it needs at least 2 hours to recharge, hence your 2/3.

Permanent live needs just that, not one that is temporarily shut down when the starter motor kicks in. The problem with that method though is that the SDcard will probably need replacing every few months as they do wear out with writing.
 
With 2 cams (F+R) and most cars, 6 hours of recording would be all I'd expect without unduly shortening the car battery's life. And even that might be stretching the limit with small or older batteries. My relatively huge van battery shows a diminished cranking ability after 12 hours but not at 8 with my different dual-channel cam. It's not so much the car battery's total amperage capacity but how the power is being drawn which shorten's it's life.

Phil
 
I had exactly the same setup, and exactly the same issue. A replacement camera is less trigger happy than the original that I had bought (via Amazon), but still records some 'protected' recordings in parking mode with absolutely no movement.

Judging by the message you're getting, which was the same one I was getting, i'm going to presume that it's installed in a Mercedes? The solution I had in the end was to buy a 5m long USB cable, and plug the camera into the USB socket in the centre armrest. It provides more than enough power to run the camera (W205 C Class) and switches on and off with the car. Interestingly, Parking Mode still works, and lasts on average 2 to 3 days on the internal camera battery alone.

One more thing - your 16 GB card will wear out rather quickly - they're only good for between 500 and 1500 full write cycles, and with your usage pattern, that may only be a handful of months of use. You'd do well to consider an upgrade to a 64 GB or 128 GB 'endurance' type card, which will last many years.
 
I recently bought a 512GW partly because of the (hopefully) more flexible parking mode. Although it only has a 30 min battery it triggers by impact so it should last long enough for most parking situations

I haven’t hardwired it though so I’m curious whether it is recommended to wire to ignition live or permanent live. If permanent live does anyone know the voltage cutoff point? If switch live is recommended I might as well just stick with my 12v socket (Bmw have a nicely hidden one under the glovebox)
 
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