Battery drain

KeithW

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Sep 26, 2018
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Location
Rochester, Kent
Country
United Kingdom
Dash Cam
Innovv K2
Alerted by some posts on the Innovv forum I went out to check my battery voltage and the multimeter was showing 12.11v. I have lots of extra wiring on my bike but none of it is live with the ignition off – except the K2 cameras. After recharging the battery on the Optimate (to 12.8v) I disconnected the camera supply and inserted an ammeter. I turned the ignition on and the cameras powered up and were drawing around 365ma, which was about as expected. I left them on for a couple of minutes and then turned them off. The DVR shut down about 7 seconds later and the current dropped to 11ma. Powered up again and current was 360ma and on shutting down this time the current dropped to 40ma. I recycled the power another twice and each time the current dropped to 40ma. That’s 2A/Hr in 2 days, which will have a big effect on a 10A/Hr battery. Which is why my battery is so low. Leaving it like that is not an option so I thought about putting a switch in the line, but then I’d have to remember to switch it on and off!

On my bike I have a PDM60 power module, from Rowe Electronics, supplying all my accessories and there was a spare channel so I connected the K2 to that. The really good thing about this PDM is that it is programmable. Before the cameras were fitted the PDM was set to power up with a 7 second delay and to shut down with no delay. Now, with the cameras connected, I have left the power up delay at 7 seconds and the camera channel has a delay of 20 seconds before it shuts down and current limit set to 5A. This allows the DVR to shut down properly before the power is removed. The 7 second power up delay is obviously added to the delay built into the camera system.

PDM60 | Rowe Electronics

As I understand it, the consequences of this are that the “Park” mode is no longer an option and the GPS may take a bit longer to find itself. Not sure about time and date but it should be ok in the short term. I think I read somewhere that it gets the time from the device used to communicate with it. If that’s the case, then all you have to do is connect your phone and all will be well!
 
Does the K2 not have some means of turning itself off for real (zero current draw) if the host voltage falls below a certain threshold?

That's a feature of some dashcam wiring kits IIRC.
 
It does, but it's too little, too late. Drain drops to 7mA when the battery is below 12V, but at that point the battery is effectively dead. Bikes don't have that much margin on battery SOC.

The other workaround is to put a 1N4003 diode inline with the module's ground wire. That forces it into the low-power mode even when the battery is charged. You still lose parking mode though.
 
Another option could be a very small Lithium battery, charged from the main system with no return to it, where the battery would be powered from...
In case of drainage, it would be just on the "accessory" battery, keeping the engine one topped up...
 
That seems like a pretty major flaw. I don't have anything as fancy as a PDM60, just a Blue Sea Systems fuse panel.

Bike is parked in my garage, or a protected parking lot, nearly all the time, so parking mode isn't very important then. I might want parking mode to work when on road trips though.
 
Thinking a bit more on this, I'm about to implement this.
It would work with your Blue Sea Systems fuse panel, or any other for the matter...
 
A $300 auxiliary battery (Cellink) sure isn't going to happen, no.

Will be interested to see how well your solution works and cost to implement.
 
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