70mai Dash Cam Battery Pack - Test & Review PP

[kamkar]

Can we use solar panel to charge these dashcam battery ?

I dont think this is feasible.

1: A solar panel put behind glass window and i assume car windscreen will have a loss in performance, at least conventional, there are other more expensive solar panels that will work in that way, even with artificial light.
2: putting a panel on the outside not a option, though i just saw this but it was on a old VW loaf box car car and on a frame on the roof, they was also flat which at least up here in Denmark would impede performance.

But i sort of think it would work otherwise as the power packs are 12 V input,,,, not quite sure if you would need a charge controller in front of the power pack.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Can we use solar panel to charge these dashcam battery ?

You can charge any dash cam battery pack with a solar panel if the panel can provide enough power.
The minimum amperage is around 6 Amps @ 14.2 Volts.
So around a 100 Watt panel would be needed.

Post in thread 'BlackVue B-130X Test & Review PP'

Jan 1, 2023

B-130X Solar Panel Charge Test

Good news for off grid folks. The B-130X is capable of being charged with a solar panel without the need for specialized equipment like a charge controller. However you will need a 100 Watt Panel. This is possible because the B-130X is 24 Volt compatible, and the internal BMS is sophisticated enough to deal with the raw 24 volts coming directly off the panel.

I started with a completely discharged B-130X, meaning when turned on it does not provide the start up / welcome ringtone. I set up my 50 Watt panel to receive 100% direct sunlight. I measured a no...

• Chuck McCoy

• 

 

[Chuck McCoy]

not quite sure if you would need a charge controller in front of the power pack.

No charge controller needed.
Dash cam battery packs built-in BMS will "take care of it"

Post in thread 'BlackVue B-130X Test & Review PP'

Jan 1, 2023

B-130X Solar Panel Charge Test

Good news for off grid folks. The B-130X is capable of being charged with a solar panel without the need for specialized equipment like a charge controller. However you will need a 100 Watt Panel. This is possible because the B-130X is 24 Volt compatible, and the internal BMS is sophisticated enough to deal with the raw 24 volts coming directly off the panel.

I started with a completely discharged B-130X, meaning when turned on it does not provide the start up / welcome ringtone. I set up my 50 Watt panel to receive 100% direct sunlight. I measured a no...

• Chuck McCoy

• 

 

[Nigel]

No charge controller needed.

Make sure the maximum output voltage of the solar panel is within the capabilities of the battery pack, if you are not going to have a charge controller. 12 volt solar panels are often capable of 23 volts when nothing is drawing power, 24 volt panels may produce 46 volts.

Also, you will very likely get significantly more power out of the panel if you use an MPPT charge controller between the panel and battery. The MPPT bit allows the solar panel to operate at it's optimal voltage instead of the voltage being overloaded and dragged down by the battery to the point that the solar panel doesn't produce much power. (Solar panels are like diesel engines, they work best in a fairly narrow voltage range.)

 

[Chuck McCoy]

24 volt

The B-130X, and 70mai battery packs are 24 Volt capable for commercial vehicles.
The PowerCell 8 is only 12 Volt capable.
I forgot about that.

Post in thread 'BlackVue B-130X Test & Review PP'

Jan 1, 2023

B-130X Solar Panel Charge Test

Good news for off grid folks. The B-130X is capable of being charged with a solar panel without the need for specialized equipment like a charge controller. However you will need a 100 Watt Panel. This is possible because the B-130X is 24 Volt compatible, and the internal BMS is sophisticated enough to deal with the raw 24 volts coming directly off the panel.

I started with a completely discharged B-130X, meaning when turned on it does not provide the start up / welcome ringtone. I set up my 50 Watt panel to receive 100% direct sunlight. I measured a no...

• Chuck McCoy

• 

 

[Nigel]

The B-130X, and 70mai battery packs are 24 Volt capable for commercial vehicles.
The PowerCell 8 is only 12 Volt capable.
I forgot about that.

Looking at your solar panel, which will have been sold as a 12 volt panel, open circuit voltage is 21.6V, so you don't want to plug that into a 12V maximum battery, because it will output 21.6V in full sun, if the battery is full and has stopped charging. The "Optimum Operating Voltage" is 18V, so that is the voltage an MPPT charge controller would operate the panel at to extract most power. If you connect it directly to an empty LiFePO4 battery, the voltage will drop to around 12V, and the panel will produce far from optimum power; once the battery is fully charged, the panel will be outputting 21V and cooking the battery.

Your 12 Volt PowerCel 8 will accept more than 12V, but I don't know what the maximum charging voltage is, I don't know if it can cope with the 21.6V, maybe it is OK, I wouldn't be surprised if it can go up to 32V? An MPPT charge controller will take control of the output voltage, and is a good idea anyway to extract more power, a solar panel inside a vehicle will always be operating in far from optimal conditions, the MPPT will allow it to produce more power, and allow use of a smaller panel.

It appears from your multimeter photo that the label on the solar panel should not be completely trusted, some 12V solar panels can reach 24V when no power is being drawn, there are different technologies of solar panel, some may get even higher.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

once the battery is fully charged, the panel will be outputting 21V and cooking the battery.

Incorrect.
The battery pack's BMS will "shut off" power to the LiFePO4 cells when fully charged, (the same way when installed in car).
MPPT charge controller NOT needed.
The battery pack's BMS is the "charge controller".
You would know this if you ever did hands on real world testing with dash cam battery packs, and not relying on theory.
Angry face.

 

[kamkar]

I just noticed.
My power pack / system sent a Notification to me early Sunday morning about low power, and i can not blame it.
And the camera is indeed off, CUZ no hole melted on the windscreen.
But the funny thing is the 4G modem / hard wire kit remain on for a day or so more, i am stripping video of my CCTV box as i type to compile a time lapse CUZ you can see the LED of the 4G kit in the footage,,,,,, even if windscreen is white with frost.

 

[Nigel]

Incorrect.
The battery pack's BMS will "shut off" power to the LiFePO4 cells when fully charged, (the same way when installed in car).
MPPT charge controller NOT needed.
The battery pack's BMS is the "charge controller".
You would know this if you ever did hands on real world testing with dash cam battery packs, and not relying on theory.
Angry face.

As far as I can see from specifications, the maximum charging voltage of the Powercell 8 is 14.2V. I don't really believe that, since car alternators can go a little higher, but if you put the 23.6V shown on your multimeter into it, will it survive? Possibly not.

Yes, a battery pack BMS will manage the charging and discharging of the battery, but you have to supply it with power that is within the correct voltage range, and it will do nothing to manage the output of your solar panel. Use a 24V solar panel, which will output 47V when not under load, and I would expect the Powercell 8 to produce some smoke and stop working. Use an MPPT solar charge controller to manage your solar panel and you will get more power out of it than without the charge controller.

Is the charge controller absolutely necessary? I don't know, but unless you can find a specification for your battery pack that says it can take the 23.6V that your solar panel can produce, you could be making an expensive mistake by connecting the two without a charge controller.

 

[SafeDriveSolutions]

Hey @Panzer Platform i did some testing with the 70Mai battery pack and I found something very interesting. I found that he battery pack will still charge even with ignition wire not hooked up. Which means it would kill your car battery. Have you tested this?

 

[rcg530]

Hey @Panzer Platform i did some testing with the 70Mai battery pack and I found something very interesting. I found that he battery pack will still charge even with ignition wire not hooked up. Which means it would kill your car battery. Have you tested this?

The 70mai battery pack could be in cigarette lighter adapter [CLA] charging mode which ignores the third [acc] wire. Switching back from CLA charging mode to 3-wire mode usually only takes using a 3-wire charging cable and the battery pack seeing ACC power on the 3-wire wire in my testing of the 70mai battery pack. I've had the 70mai battery pack installed in my car using the 3-wire charging cable for over a month now without any problems.

 

[SafeDriveSolutions]

The 70mai battery pack could be in cigarette lighter adapter [CLA] charging mode which ignores the third [acc] wire. Switching back from CLA charging mode to 3-wire mode usually only takes using a 3-wire charging cable and the battery pack seeing ACC power on the 3-wire wire in my testing of the 70mai battery pack. I've had the 70mai battery pack installed in my car using the 3-wire charging cable for over a month now without any problems.

So hypothetically,

Your ignition fuse blows for the circuit you are using to get ignition trigger from. Will it just go back to cigarette lighter mode and kill your car battery?

Not interested in this design it creates doubt. It should require on the cigarette lighter and hardwire cable to see all 3 wires like IROAD powerpack pro 12 and thinkware IVOLT Xtra does. The point of a battery pack is to protect the car battery

 

[rcg530]

So hypothetically,

Your ignition fuse blows for the circuit you are using to get ignition trigger from. Will it just go back to cigarette lighter mode and kill your car battery?

Not interested in this design it creates doubt. It should require on the cigarette lighter and hardwire cable to see all 3 wires like IROAD powerpack pro 12 and thinkware IVOLT Xtra does. The point of a battery pack is to protect the car battery

No, it does not go into CLA mode without executing the steps in the user manual to convert it from 3-wire mode to CLA mode.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Hey @Panzer Platform i did some testing with the 70Mai battery pack and I found something very interesting. I found that he battery pack will still charge even with ignition wire not hooked up. Which means it would kill your car battery. Have you tested this?

Yes.

Your ignition fuse blows for the circuit you are using to get ignition trigger from. Will it just go back to cigarette lighter mode and kill your car battery?

Robert is correct.
The answer is no.
If the fuse for the ignition wire blows the pack will not charge in 2-wire configuration because the user must perform the unlock procedure listed on page 6 of the owner’s manual to change the charging method from 3-Wire Hardwire to 2-Wire CLA.

https://www.70mai.com/instructions/70maiDashCam_BatteryPack_UserManual.pdf

 

[SafeDriveSolutions]

Yes.

Robert is correct.
The answer is no.
If the fuse for the ignition wire blows the pack will not charge in 2-wire configuration because the user must perform the unlock procedure listed on page 6 of the owner’s manual to change the charging method from 3-Wire Hardwire to 2-Wire CLA.

https://www.70mai.com/instructions/70maiDashCam_BatteryPack_UserManual.pdf

Thanks for the info

Let me just say. They need to change that.
3 wires on cigarette lighter cable would fix this instead of leaving accessory pin empty populate it.
3 wires on hardwire already exists

This is a flawed design.

 

[SafeDriveSolutions]

No, it does not go into CLA mode without executing the steps in the user manual to convert it from 3-wire mode to CLA mode.

Its a flawed design. populate the 3 wire cigarette lighter cable and all fixed

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Let me just say. They need to change that.

I agree 100%.

This is a flawed design.

I agree 100%

This issue was listed in my Pros & Cons & Improvement Wishlist I submitted to 70mai for the second generation of this unit.
I specifically requested they scrap the “Unlock Procedure” in order to change the charging method from LOW to HIGH, (3-Wire Hardwire to 2-Wire CLA), and suggest they just use a simple LOW - HIGH switch like the PC8.

Post in thread '70mai Dash Cam Battery Pack - Test & Review PP'

Oct 27, 2024

After testing the 70mai Dash Cam Battery Pack for 33 days I think I have a good idea of the Pros & Cons, and some ideas for improvement for the next generation 2026 model.

PROS:
MSRP $210-$220
20 Second Soft Start with built-in relay
(8) 26650 vs. (20) 18650 cells
High 8.6 Amp 58 Minute Charge vs. 59 Minute @10A+ PowerCell 8
Low 5.6 Amp 83 Minute Charge vs. 102 Minutes @8A+ PowerCell 8
Red Status LED on CLA
Cold weather charge protection works well

CONS:
Can not charge unit with USB Type-C Input
MR30 Connectors too delicate / small (16AWG Max Wire Size)
No Output Cable with CLA...

• Chuck McCoy

• 

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Its a flawed design. populate the 3 wire cigarette lighter cable and all fixed

Do you mean like how the BlackVue B-130X does it?
I guess that would work too instead of using the LOW - HIGH switch like the PC8.

 

[SafeDriveSolutions]

Do you mean like how the BlackVue B-130X does it?
I guess that would work too instead of using the LOW - HIGH switch like the PC8.

The IROAD powerpack Pro 12 uses all 3 pins
Then you select low for cigarette lighter and high for hardwire.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Then you select low for cigarette lighter and high for hardwire.

Is there a LOW - HIGH switch on the pack?
Or do you change the setting in the smartphone APP?
But yeah, this would be way better than the "unlock procedure" 70mai uses, (I call it the hokey pokey).