A B1W in an all electric Nissan Leaf car.

[Geordie]

I run an all electric Nissan Leaf car and to start the car for a journey it's necessary to press the brake pedal as you also press the start button. However for just wanting to listen to the radio or music player instead of starting the car, you simply press the start button without also pressing the brake pedal. I wondered if I could run the parking mode on the B1W using this mode and have experimented over the last couple of days and found it works.
I press the start button and the green light starts to flash on the camera. Using the Blueskysea app I stop the recording and the camera shows a steady green standby light. I have the G-sensor set to High and I open the driver's door and slam it shut. Immediately the green light starts to flash and the Record light flashes on the app. After 30 seconds the recording stops. If I repeat opening then slamming the door, recording starts again for a further 30 seconds. Each 30 seconds video plays back perfectly.
I'll continue trying this again but anyone with an electric car might be able to repeat this with their own B1W. Let us know.

 

[TonyM]

I run an all electric Nissan Leaf car and to start the car for a journey it's necessary to press the brake pedal as you also press the start button. However for just wanting to listen to the radio or music player instead of starting the car, you simply press the start button without also pressing the brake pedal. I wondered if I could run the parking mode on the B1W using this mode and have experimented over the last couple of days and found it works.
I press the start button and the green light starts to flash on the camera. Using the Blueskysea app I stop the recording and the camera shows a steady green standby light. I have the G-sensor set to High and I open the driver's door and slam it shut. Immediately the green light starts to flash and the Record light flashes on the app. After 30 seconds the recording stops. If I repeat opening then slamming the door, recording starts again for a further 30 seconds. Each 30 seconds video plays back perfectly.
I'll continue trying this again but anyone with an electric car might be able to repeat this with their own B1W. Let us know.

That should be the same behaviour in any car where you turn on the electrics (fan, radio etc) but not the engine. So long as there is power to the 12v socket the camera will turn on and record.

 

[Liber8]

That should be the same behaviour in any car where you turn on the electrics (fan, radio etc) but not the engine. So long as there is power to the 12v socket the camera will turn on and record.

Yeah I could do this in my Challenger but I don't want to drain my battery

 

[Geordie]

That should be the same behaviour in any car where you turn on the electrics (fan, radio etc) but not the engine. So long as there is power to the 12v socket the camera will turn on and record.

I agree but there is the fact that although I have the normal video segmentation set at 3 minutes, when I slam the car door, as stated above, it records 30 seconds of video. It does this without a hard wire kit.

 

[Nigel]

That should be the same behaviour in any car where you turn on the electrics (fan, radio etc) but not the engine. So long as there is power to the 12v socket the camera will turn on and record.

With most cars, you would need to leave the key with the car, which would be illegal.

Even on an electric car I wouldn't be surprised if it turned off again after 20 minutes or so.

But at least you have a decent sized battery that will power a dashcam for a month or two

 

[Geordie]

With most cars, you would need to leave the key with the car, which would be illegal.

Even on an electric car I wouldn't be surprised if it turned off again after 20 minutes or so.

But at least you have a decent sized battery that will power a dashcam for a month or two

 

[Red68]

With most cars, you would need to leave the key with the car, which would be illegal.

Even on an electric car I wouldn't be surprised if it turned off again after 20 minutes or so.

But at least you have a decent sized battery that will power a dashcam for a month or two

The Leaf has a separate battery used for the accessories, just like a normal car does. The large battery pack underneath the car, is for the cars traction motor.
The best thing to do is hardware your b1w to the accessories fuse in the fuse compartment on the passenger side. I have doe this in my Nissan Leaf and it was very easy.

 

[Nigel]

The Leaf has a separate battery used for the accessories, just like a normal car does. The large battery pack underneath the car, is for the cars traction motor.
The best thing to do is hardware your b1w to the accessories fuse in the fuse compartment on the passenger side. I have doe this in my Nissan Leaf and it was very easy.

So if you run the battery flat, can you still start the engine, or do you need to leave some power in it?

 

[Red68]

So if you run the battery flat, can you still start the engine, or do you need to leave some power in it?

Power to the the electric motor is gone if you run it flat. The cars 12v battery will still have power for the accessories but this does not give any power to the main onboard battery for traction. The 12v does however get topped up by the main battery when parked. This is helpful for dash cams that are hardwired with parking mode on.