512 Parking Mode Power Problem

If you're not sure about the fuses, then as Tiffany suggested you need a multimeter. (or a son with the gear)

These days modern fuses have 2 tiny viewable metal tips where you can probe a multimeter to check both the power status and in multimeter continuity check mode, the fuse itself - - without removing the fuse.
Thank you, Kremmen. I've just been advised by Mazda HQ Technical Department (they finally rang back) that there are no permanently live fuses in the cabin of a Mazda 2. All fuses are off when the ignition is off. Presumably the only live ones are in the engine bay, which is a no-no. So that's the end of that. The only hope for getting a 512 plus rear camera in my wife's car is therefore a quick resolution from Nextbase in the form of a firmware update for the over-sensitive g sensor so that the camera could be hardwired to an ignition-linked fuse without the camera's internal battery being drained after a few hours by very frequent "false"/inappropriate protected recordings.
 
I'm surprised at no perm live fuses. There are some things that need permanent power. Interior lights when you open the door springs to mind. Dash 'alarm on' light.

They could be right or they could be trying to persuade you not to fiddle. I'd still be checking with a probe.
 
I'm surprised at no perm live fuses. There are some things that need permanent power. Interior lights when you open the door springs to mind. Dash 'alarm on' light.

They could be right or they could be trying to persuade you not to fiddle. I'd still be checking with a probe.

Hi Kremmen
Thank you. Good points. I got into quite a tussle with the lady manning the switchboard at Mazda HQ as she refused to let me speak to their technical department, as they are "non-customer facing" (heaven save us from this gobbledegook), but she said she would take a message and get back to me. I tried to explain that there was a high chance of misunderstanding and every chance that we would end up going back and forth with supplementary questions and long waits for answers. So I may have been fobbed off. I will, therefore await my son and his trusty multi-meter.
 
Good ploy, he'll tell you.
 
My guess would be that they are wrong and there are several permanent live fuses like wot Kremmen said.
 
Hi Tiffany
4. The Mazda 2 is a 2014 petrol model if that helps re exact specs for the fuses. If you could give me some very precise directions for the right fuse to shove under the noses of the technicians at my local Halfords (the instructions, not the fuses, to shove under their noses), that would be excellent.
Thank you.

That is odd, if you just sit in the car can you use the radio? Does anything work with the key out? A multi-meter would be best (or your son) but for a quick test you can do that.
 
Surely 'Power door locks' would be perm live, else how are they going to work?
 
What got me was fuse 23, a 25A fuse for the interior roof light ?

What is it, a WW2 searchlight.
 
I bought a 512 plus rear camera four days ago, hardwired by Halfords. Latest firmware (22.5), so issues with rear cam previously known hopefully avoided. Long story short, now on my second 512, Halfords and Nextbase support deeming the first one faulty. Second one not holding its charge because parking mode (for which I bought this model) was being triggered throughout the night. I live in a very quiet area. Viewing the recordings shows no activity (no passing cars or pedestrians). Thus the battery was drained by the morning. Halfords had told me to turn down the G sensor sensitivity as the 512 is known to be too sensitive (subsequently confirmed by Nextbase advisor), but this was pointless advice because, Nextbase advisor told me, there are two G sensors in the 512, one for triggering a protected file when in recording mode (e.g. a crash or pothole) and one for triggering a protected file in parking mode. The setting on the camera which enables changing the sensitivity of the G sensor relates only to the first G sensor and has no effect on the parking mode G sensor, which cannot be modified by the user. The advice from Nextbase was to turn off parking mode! That's one of the main reasons I bought the thing. He also said that to get over the draining of the battery I would need to bring the dashcam into the house regularly to charge it properly, as the car will take a long time to give it a full charge. No, I'm not prepared to do all that faffing about. He said the longer term solution was for Nextbase to produce a firmware fix, but that they were discontinuing the "1" series soon (312, 412, 512 etc), so they might not see the fix as a priority. I also pointed out that the camera was running for 1 minute after a protected file has recorded then shutting down, not 10 seconds as the manual says (I have auto shutdown set at 10 seconds). The Nextbase chap checked this at his end and said "you're right: we didn't know that. We'll have to put that in the next firmware update".
All in all, a shambles. I will give this camera two more nights to see if the above was a fluke then get it uninstalled by Halfords and a refund. Not impressed so far.

I have almost the exact same problem. 512GW set up with permanent live and so called 'intelligent' parking mode. Dozens of videos recorded overnight, despite absolutely no movement - very quiet location, away from roads, etc. So many recordings (every five to ten minutes) that it routinely drains the car battery to critical levels after a few days, let alone the internal dash camera battery. I'm also running the 22.5 firmware, though the previous version also did the same thing.

Would love an update to this very obvious bug...! Tiffany?
 
Do you have moonlight where it's parked, changes in lighting count as movement to the image sensor
 
Do Nextbase have image sensors or G-force sensors for parking mode ?
 
Do you have moonlight where it's parked, changes in lighting count as movement to the image sensor

Yes, of course however, I’m confused by the inference. Tiffany has previously said that motion triggers recording in parking mode, not visual movement outside the vehicle. Are you saying that the software, in permanent power mode, is triggered by the G sensor *and* movement detected by the optical camera?
 
From what I've read they use motion detect if permanently powered, G-Sensor is used for the low power sleep mode when doing parking mode using the internal battery
 
From what I've read they use motion detect if permanently powered, G-Sensor is used for the low power sleep mode when doing parking mode using the internal battery

I've seen conflicting comments on this. As it stands, parking mode with permanent live, is unusable in 22.5 firmware, as it records every 5 to 10 minutes, and flattens the battery on my car to the extent that stop/start doesn't work, and after a long weekend, I get a 'critical' battery alert (Mercedes).

It would be great to have some solid information on how this function is intended to work from Nextbase, and some configuration options - i.e. 'optical / movement / both' and 'sensitivity - high/medium/low'. Pretty basic stuff i'd have thought?
 
If it recorded nothing it would use almost the same amount of power, it's being on and waiting that uses all the power, writing to disk uses a negligible amount of power
 
If it recorded nothing it would use almost the same amount of power, it's being on and waiting that uses all the power, writing to disk uses a negligible amount of power

All I really want it to do is go to deep sleep (like it does when it doesn't have permanent live) and wake if the G-Sensor detects movement.
 
It only works like that if not wired to permanent power

Exactly why it's a problem for me, and why it's draining my car battery. Any way to give me the option to activate with G-Sensor and/or Video Motion Detection ?
 
Back
Top