A word of advice relative to defective car batteries and their impact on dash-cams.

David Markham

Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
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Location
Blue Mountains, NSW
Country
Australia
Dash Cam
Thinkware Q800-Pro
G’day everyone.

This morning upon getting my Highlander serviced, I was informed that the car’s battery had failed, to the extent that it was no longer delivering the amperage required for reliable startup and accessory usage.

This development got me thinking:
Was the battery failure – that was quite possibly damaged internally by a defective alternator last year – the root cause of my dashcam’s infuriating memory-loss issues?

This question I posed to the in-shop auto electrician, as I have been pondering the potential benefits of installing a smoothing capacitor into the accessories feed, so as to eliminate any current ripple that the dashcam itself might not be able to tolerate.

Here, I was advised that a smoothing capacitor would likely not be of any advantage at all, as modern automotive circuitry nowadays has put paid to damaging voltage spikes and ripples, but not necessarily insufficient current flow. In other words, my current dash-cam – a Thinkware U1000 – may be more intolerant to poor amperage than that of current ripple, as I had previously thought.

In light of all of this, it may be prudent for all of us to inspect our car’s batteries on a regular basis – that is, each and every time the vehicle goes in for a scheduled service.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this matter, as I have been earbashing Thinkware and it’s hypersensitive U1000 more frequently in recent months than I have a right to do.

Cheers.

David.
 
your setup,,,, of anything, are only as good as its weakest link.
My 2012 car will have to get a new battery too soon, even if i will only be using parking guard for 1 hour duration's while shopping, but it is a "old" battery, and like the car it is a small battery, so will do all the up-sizing i can do without going to extremes which i sadly cant do due to having no access to tools / materials ASO i would need to really go crazy beneath the bonnet.
but i am sure if we Danes have gotten a winter like in the good old days, i would have experienced starting problems, but as it is now the norm for January are 0 degrees C and this year the average even for a single day have not been that low, it have more been like +5 - 10 degrees C, and the month seem to be on target to be the warmest January ever in Denmark.

Often it seem simple things are to blame for dashcam problems, and the influx of power are often one of the prime culprits.
We often had users here having a camera acting really strange ASO, and then after a few pages of forum going back and forth trying to problem solve, we learn that the user use some weak in car USB socket or aftermarked USB charger for power, and so getting him to change to the provided PSU fix what appeared to be a very strange problem.

On the flip side, most people probably don't have the skill or tools or money to have their battery examined by a professional, so as you have learned things can be quite frustrating.
 
On the flip side, most people probably don't have the skill or tools or money to have their battery examined by a professional, so as you have learned things can be quite frustrating.
just about every place that sells batteries here will do a free battery test, it's their chance to sell you a battery
 
Yeah that is probably the way to go, never thought that far as i always go strait to DIY.
When i have to help my family with something, i have to provide the tools too as if they have any tools it is very basic ones.
In between my little sister - nephew and his 2 sisters, i am the only one with any form of power tools, so if anyone need a hole drilled i am the go to guy.

And really my own supply of tools are very basic too.
 
just about every place that sells batteries here will do a free battery test, it's their chance to sell you a battery

You’re right on the money there Joklin:
The NRMA service centre I went to this morning tried telling me that the battery had a 2-year warranty.
I had that battery installed in October 2017, and so if I had believed their rhetoric, the battery was barely 3 months out of warranty.

After complaining at the front desk over this apparent stunt of theirs – emphasising the statutory importance of ‘reasonable durability’, I was quickly told that the battery was, in-fact, covered after all, as it had a 3-year warranty.
It just goes to show what a little knowledge and assertiveness does for you when people try to pull the wool over your eyes.
 
You’re right on the money there Joklin:
The NRMA service centre I went to this morning tried telling me that the battery had a 2-year warranty.
I had that battery installed in October 2017, and so if I had believed their rhetoric, the battery was barely 3 months out of warranty.

After complaining at the front desk over this apparent stunt of theirs – emphasising the statutory importance of ‘reasonable durability’, I was quickly told that the battery was, in-fact, covered after all, as it had a 3-year warranty.
It just goes to show what a little knowledge and assertiveness does for you when people try to pull the wool over your eyes.
Sorry to get a bit off topic but I know a good deal about the functionality of a vehicle and fix my problems when I am not too lazy. It is amazing the amount of lies you can get from a mechanic. A cousin of mine was told that his transmission needed to be rebuilt by a few mechanics. Only AAMCO of all of them said that I am most likely correct but due to the nature of their store, they just completely rebuild instead of fixing individual problems. I got an aftermarket valve body for it on ebay for $35 USD and a special nut from the dealer for $18 USD.

I removed the battery, air intake and had access to the valve body opening on the TOP of the transmission. Quickly replaced it then dropped one engine mount and lowered a jack holding the engine and removed a side cover to replace one Nut. To this day, he still drives his Saturn that was supposed to need a whole new transmission.
 
I worked for a while in a transmission shop when I was an apprentice mechanic, the challenge with transmissions if you only fix what's wrong the next time something else in the transmission fails the customer wants to blame the mechanic, you end up with this all or nothing repair mentality with transmissions as a result
 
Keep in mind that I've only had my cameras last a maximum of 2 years. Most have mysterious failures after a single year. I can also say for certain that my cameras contributed to the early demise of my battery that I just recently replaced. The Black magic or whatever it is called was set to low 12 volts and that was apparently too low to keep my battery when the car isn't being driven everyday. It had gotten to the point where parking would only last a few seconds before it would reach low voltage shutdown. I eventually got a BlackVue B124 which wasn't nearly enough capacity for me so I made a diy battery that gave it about 60+ hours of runtime. How bad was the spikes of your alternator? If it did damage, the damage would most likely be immediate and not show up months later.


I worked for a while in a transmission shop when I was an apprentice mechanic, the challenge with transmissions if you only fix what's wrong the next time something else in the transmission fails the customer wants to blame the mechanic, you end up with this all or nothing repair mentality with transmissions as a result

Yeah, AAMCO was the only one honestly enough to say that. They said that the valve body on these cars were problematic OEM and that that bolt is most likely contributing to improper pressure buildup in the valve body. They should all know that hard shifting can not and will never be caused by a bad torque converter or bad auto clutch discs. Hard shifting is almost always going to be a valve body, electrical and/or pressure building issue. The thing is that many of them will just toss in another used transmission that most likely have the same issue down the road as the issue is from GM's original valve body.
 
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Working at a Mitsubishi dealer i met a not happy customer, he was there for the #3 time to get his manual transmission fixed, and the car had only done like 12000 KM
And driving a stick are the norm here, many people go thru life without ever driving a automatic,,,,, pretty much the opposite of other places.
 
Was the battery failure – that was quite possibly damaged internally by a defective alternator last year – the root cause of my dashcam’s infuriating memory-loss issues?
...
I would like to hear your thoughts on this matter, as I have been earbashing Thinkware and it’s hypersensitive U1000 more frequently in recent months than I have a right to do.
I think it is highly unlikely.

If the battery has enough power to start the engine then it has plenty of power to run a dashcam. Dashcams all take less than 10 watts, starter motors take 1000 watts.

As for voltage, I've not met a dashcam that won't work down to around 9 volts, except those with a low voltage cutoff, and any lead acid car battery is completely empty at 10 volts. So voltage shouldn't be an issue either.

This question I posed to the in-shop auto electrician, as I have been pondering the potential benefits of installing a smoothing capacitor into the accessories feed, so as to eliminate any current ripple that the dashcam itself might not be able to tolerate.
The voltage regulator in the camera (hardwire kit/power adaptor for USB powered cameras) will deal with localised issues in the accessory circuit. For larger ripples such as when you power up the starter motor, no sensible sized capacitor is going to smooth that, the cameras have to cope with it.
The main smoothing component is the battery (not "modern automotive circuitry"), it does a very good job of smoothing things, including spikes in power from a failing alternator. The only time you can get issues is when the battery becomes disconnected, running a car engine with the battery disconnected is quite likely to cause a lot of very expensive damage, possibly including the alternator, it is important to make sure the battery connections are tight and corrosion free.
 
I think it is highly unlikely.

If the battery has enough power to start the engine then it has plenty of power to run a dashcam. Dashcams all take less than 10 watts, starter motors take 1000 watts.

As for voltage, I've not met a dashcam that won't work down to around 9 volts, except those with a low voltage cutoff, and any lead acid car battery is completely empty at 10 volts. So voltage shouldn't be an issue either...

Well, I've come to agree with you, as the dashcam has now lost its memory again - twice now in the space of four days.

Clearly, the U1000 has some serious deficiencies, relative to both its unacceptably high sensitivity, as well as its inability to retain its memory settings.

The fact that I still currently have the U1000 in my vehicle is primarily because I don't like the form factor of the F800 or the Q800.

If the F770 were to be updated to a standard on-par with either of these models, I would lunge at it.

We just have to wait and see what Thinkware is going to release this year. The sooner, the better, as the U1000 is to Thinkware, what Windows Vista was to Microsoft.

David.
 
G’day everyone.

This morning upon getting my Highlander serviced, I was informed that the car’s battery had failed, to the extent that it was no longer delivering the amperage required for reliable startup and accessory usage.

This development got me thinking:
Was the battery failure – that was quite possibly damaged internally by a defective alternator last year – the root cause of my dashcam’s infuriating memory-loss issues?

This question I posed to the in-shop auto electrician, as I have been pondering the potential benefits of installing a smoothing capacitor into the accessories feed, so as to eliminate any current ripple that the dashcam itself might not be able to tolerate.

Here, I was advised that a smoothing capacitor would likely not be of any advantage at all, as modern automotive circuitry nowadays has put paid to damaging voltage spikes and ripples, but not necessarily insufficient current flow. In other words, my current dash-cam – a Thinkware U1000 – may be more intolerant to poor amperage than that of current ripple, as I had previously thought.

In light of all of this, it may be prudent for all of us to inspect our car’s batteries on a regular basis – that is, each and every time the vehicle goes in for a scheduled service.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this matter, as I have been earbashing Thinkware and it’s hypersensitive U1000 more frequently in recent months than I have a right to do.

Cheers.

David.

This is why you use a voltage cutoff that doesn't drain your vehicle battery... Improper hardwiring is a user error and not that of the manufacturer.

New Battery = 12.6 Volts (100%)
New Battery with a slight amount of age = 12.4 (75%). = This setting will work well in beginning...
Normal Battery with regular amount of wear = 12.2 = 50% - Recommended setting for almost all uses.

12.0 = 25% ....Possibly Walking home as vehicle might not have enough juice to start.
11.8 = Dead Battery. Jumping your car or a tow truck.

Moral here, research and set voltage properly, and you won't have to worry about your battery being drained. Sure, Dash Cameras do shorten a battery's life some, as it is continuously drawing power, but the trade off is well worth it.
 
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