7500 mAh / 96 Wh - BlackboxMyCar PowerCell 8 / BlackVue B-130X / Thinkware iVolt Xtra BAB-95

[Panzer Platform]

I'll report my findings to Thinkware about this second BAB-95 battery pack failure.

Oof.

 

[rcg530]

Several months ago, I had a second BAB-95 battery pack that failed. I shipped the first and second BAB-95 battery packs back to Thinkware and I was told that both of them had a uncommon failure of a chip on the circuit board. I was sent a third BAB-95 and it has been working okay until the past couple of weeks. The third BAB-95 did not completely fail. The battery pack's charge level mysteriously would quickly drain off without any dash camera drawing any power from it. The most recent occurrence of this problem happened yesterday.

I parked my car after my multi-hour drive on Friday 12-Jan-2024. I powered down the Thinkware U3000 2-channel dash camera using the power button on the front dash camera and I then turned off the BATT+/ACC+ power to the U3000 from the BAB-95 using a DPST toggle switch. The car remained parked and the U3000 remained powered down since the afternoon of the 12th.

Monday 15-Jan-2024 at 4:13 PM, I checked the charge level using the iOS iVolt app. It was at 90% | Input 12.6V/0mA | Output 12.8V/0mA.

Tuesday 16-Jan-2024 at 09:56 AM, I checked the charge level using the iOS iVolt app. It was at 88% | Input 12.5V/0mA Input | Output 11.4V/0mA. The output voltage level is very odd/low for the charge level of 88%. I ran some errands in a nearby town by driving my other vehicle. The car with the U3000/BAB-95 remained parked at home.

When I attempted to check the BAB-95 charge level around 3:00 PM, the iOS iVolt app could not find a battery pack to connect to at that time.

Tuesday 16-Jan-2024 between 09:56 AM and 3:00 PM, the iVolt Xtra BAB-95 fully discharged itself. The car was parked the entire time and the U3000 remained fully powered off the entire time.



I checked the vehicle’s battery voltage level to make sure the vehicle itself was not in a low voltage state. I did this since the BAB-95 is connected to constant battery power via its hardwired input charging cable. My battery tester showed the vehicle’s battery voltage level was 12.33 volts and that was after opening the side door and the trunk which awakened the vehicle’s body control module which caused the voltage to drop a small amount. So, the vehicle’s battery voltage level was good!



I tried moving the BAB-95's mode/slide switch from “High” to “Off” and then back to “High” or “Low” and there was no response from the BAB-95. I have a test charging and green (ACC IN) wire harness in my office for testing/charging the BAB-95. I connected the BAB-95 to a DC power supply. When I turned on the DC supply’s output power, the BAB-95 remained “off” as it should since the green “ACC IN” wire had no power yet. I then turned on the power to the green “ACC IN” wire and the BAB-95 started charging. I was able to connect with the BAB-95 using the iVolt app. The app reported a charge level of 1 (one) percent.



The next strange thing was that when I turned off the “ACC IN” power the BAB-95 did NOT stop charging. It was continuing to draw 6.6 to 7 amps. I exited the iVolt app and terminated it on my iPhone and the Bluetooth connection LED turned off, but the BAB-95 was continuing to charge. I even removed the green “ACC IN” wire from the “Output” port and the BAB-95 continued to charge. At that point I turned off the power provided by the DC power supply.

I've been tracking this issue for the past couple of weeks. I've reported my findings to Thinkware. I had to swap out the Thinkware iVolt Xtra BAB-95 battery pack since it's not working correctly.

The Thinkware iVolt Mini BAB-50, BlackboxMyCar PowerCell 8, Cellink B and BlackVue B-112 battery packs have been working well in that same vehicle.

 

[rcg530]

With additional testing of the Thinkware iVolt Xtra BAB-95 (unit #3) in my office, I found that it is now very broken. The "ACC IN" power feed (green wire in "Output" connector) no longer controls when the BAB-95 charges nor when the "ACC OUT" (to the dash camera) has power. I ran a test with the BAB-95 not connected to any input charging power nor was the "ACC IN" (green wire) connected to anything. In that state, when I turned on the BAB-95 by moving the mode switch from "Off" to "High", the "ACC OUT" would have power present when it should not. Thinkware just shipped a replacement (unit #4).

 

[rcg530]

I received the iVolt Xtra BAB-95 replacement unit #4 on Thursday. I created a 15-minute side-by-side video showing various tests of the BAB-95 operational status. The replacement BAB-95 operated "correctly". If you want to check out the tests I ran for both units, I've included the tests and results below.

• General Test Configuration
  • Each BAB-95 had its input power provided by a separate DC power supply (14.2V with a max amps of 10.20)
  • Each BAB-95's "Output" Connector
    • Dash camera wires (yellow [BAT], red [ACC OUT], black [Ground]) were connected to a U3000 using a hardwire cable
    • The "Battery Status" communicates cable was connected to the "BAT" port on the U3000 front camera
    • Green [ACC IN] wire was connected to the DC power supply via a SPST toggle switch to simulate a vehicle ignition switch
• Test 1
  • Config
    • BAB-95 mode switch in the "Off" position
    • DC power supply was off / providing no power
    • Green [ACC IN] wire power was off
  • Replacement BAB-95 (unit 4)
    • "ACC OUT" wire was at 0V [correct behavior]
  • Failed BAB-95 (unit 3)
    • "ACC OUT" wire was at 11.42V [incorrect behavior]
• Test 2
  • Config
    • BAB-95 mode switch in "High" position
    • DC power supply was off / providing no power
    • Green [ACC IN] wire power was off
  • Replacement BAB-95 (unit 4)
    • "ACC OUT" wire was at 0V [correct behavior].
    • Yellow [BAT] voltage level reached 12.79V [correct behavior]
    • iVolt app reported 0.0V/0mA "Input" power @ 9% charge level [correct behavior]
    • Because there was no power present on the red [ACC OUT] wire the U3000 connected to this BAB-95 remained powered down [correct behavior]
  • Failed BAB-95 (unit 3)
    • "ACC OUT" wire was at 11.17V [incorrect behavior]
    • Yellow [BAT] voltage level reached 12.69V [correct behavior]
    • iVolt app reported 0.0V/8500mA "Input" power and a status of "Charging" @ 19% charge level [incorrect behavior]
    • Because there was power present on the yellow [BAT] wire and the red [ACC OUT] wire the U3000 connected to this BAB-95 booted and started to record video [incorrect behavior]
• Test 3
  • Config
    • BAB-95 mode switch in "High" position
    • Each DC power supply was turned on and provided 14.2V with a max amp load set to 10.2 amps
    • Green [ACC IN] wire power was still off (no power) for this test
  • Replacement BAB-95 (unit 4)
    • iVolt app reported 14.2V/0mA "Input" power @ 9% charge level [correct behavior]
      • The charge percentage remained at 9% showing that it was not charging [correct behavior]
    • "ACC OUT" wire was at 0V [correct behavior].
  • Failed BAB-95 (unit 3)
    • iVolt app reported 13.9V/8500mA "Input" power and a status of "Charging" @ 20% charge level [incorrect behavior]
      • The charge percentage began to increase meaning it was actually charging [incorrect behavior] with "ACC IN" power off.
    • The "ACC IN" having no power means this unit should not be charging [incorrect behavior]
• Test 4
  • Config
    • BAB-95 mode switch in "High" position
    • DC power supply was on providing 14.2V with a max amp load set to 10.2 amps
    • Green [ACC IN] wire power switch was turned on to simulate vehicle ignition switch being turned on
  • Replacement BAB-95 (unit 4)
    • With the [ACC IN] now having power, this BAB-95 started charging [correct behavior]
    • "ACC OUT" power voltage rose from 0V to 13.9V [correct behavior]
    • U3000 connected to this BAB-95 booted up and started recording [correct behavior]
  • Failed BAB-95 (unit 3)
    • Turning on the [ACC IN] power made no difference in the status of the BAB-95 charging nor the status of the U3000 dash camera [incorrect behavior]
• Test 5
  • Config
    • BAB-95 mode switch in "High" position
    • DC power supply was on provided 14.2V with a max amp load set to 10.2 amps
    • Green [ACC IN] wire power switch was turned off to simulate vehicle ignition switch being turned off
  • Replacement BAB-95 (unit 4)
    • [ACC OUT] dropped to 0V [correct behavior]
    • BAB-95 stopped charging [correct behavior]
    • U3000 went into parking mode after the U3000 30-second parking mode entry delay timer [correct behavior]
  • Failed BAB-95 (unit 3)
    • [ACC OUT] continued to have power / did not drop to 0V [incorrect behavior]
    • BAB-95 continued to charge [incorrect behavior]
    • U3000 did not enter parking mode since the [ACC OUT] wire still was powered

 

[rcg530]

A DCT user asked me about a particular configuration for powering the iVolt Xtra BAB-95 only while the vehicle engine was running. I pulled the BAB-95 from my car for the test. My car has been parked for almost two weeks due to waiting on parts to replace a leaking radiator. When I used the iVolt app I found the BAB-95's charge level was at 1 percent. The U3000 was disconnected (DPST toggle switch which turns off the constant and ACC power to the U3000) from this battery pack since the car was parked. When the BAB-95 is working correctly, the BAB-95 decreases its charge level about 2 percent per day when my car is parked and the U3000 is disconnected.

When I connected BAB-95 (unit 4) to my DC power supply (14.2V / 10.2 max amps) with the BAB-95's "ACC IN" power turned off, the BAB-95 started charging. That's incorrect behavior. I had a dash camera connected to the BAB-95 on my test bench. The dash camera powered up and started recording immediately even though the "ACC IN" was off. Turning the "ACC IN" power on/off made no difference to the dash camera, it would not go into parking mode.

I disconnected the dash camera and tested the power on the BAB-95's "ACC OUT" wire (to the dash camera). When the "ACC IN" power was off, the "ACC OUT" was 12.7V (which is wrong it should be 0V). When the "ACC IN" power was on, the "ACC OUT" was 13.9V. It appears that the BAB-95 (unit 4) has failed in a very similar way to unit 3. I'm still waiting on Thinkware to diagnose unit #3's failure.

If my car is going to parked for 4 or more days, I use a NOCO Genius 10 battery maintainer to maintain the vehicle's starting battery. Since my car has been parked for almost two weeks, my car's starting battery has been connected to the NOCO Genius 10 battery maintainer. The BAB-95 is the only battery pack I have that has a direct connection (through a fused link) to the vehicle's power all of the time. All of the other battery packs in the car only have charging power when the vehicle is "running" (accessory power on or engine running). I have the following dash camera battery packs in that same car: BlackVue B-112, BlackboxMyCar PowerCell 8, Cellink B, Thinkware iVolt Mini BAB-50. The installation location for the iVolt Xtra BAB-95 has been used with a PowerCell 8 and a BlackVue B-130X. When those units are used, I use a 4-terminal relay to convert the constant power to switched power for those battery packs. None of the other battery packs have failed.

Having the BAB-95 always connected to the vehice's constant power is the only "big" difference in how the various battery packs are wired into the car. Is the use of a battery maintainer for the vehicle's starting battery causing something in the BAB-95 to get damaged?

I have a 15 minute video demonstrating failed unit 3 with a working unit 4. I created a 6 minute video showing how unit 4 is now incorrectly behaving.

15 Minute Video - BAB-95 Unit 3 vs BAB-95 Unit 4 (new) Testing

6 Minute Video - BAB-95 (failed) Unit 4 demo 20240224

 

[Panzer Platform]

Is the use of a battery maintainer for the vehicle's starting battery causing something in the BAB-95 to get damaged?

If this is possible, would it also be possible the BAB-95 could trigger a “false positive” error with the NOCO Genius 10 like “bad battery”?
More on this in a separate email.