battery for 1 hour footage on a squash court!!

[Phil43]

Bit of an odd one this.
I am intending to buy a dashcam for use in my car. I almost certainly won't use it when I'm not driving as I tend to only park in safe areas (yes I know I'm lucky). The point is this: Given the wide angle lens I would also like it to use as a training tool for my squash. I would like to record about an hour's footage that I can then analyse at leisure with/without my coach. Dashcam specific battery packs look VERY expensive and seem to have a far higher capacity than I would ever need. I can pick up a good quality lead-acid battery on ebay for under £12, 7000mAh. is there any reason that I couldn't use this? I am assuming that dashcams are 12v .. but maybe some are 5v? I'm a newbie as you can tell. Any help much appreciated thanks.

 

[jokiin]

most cameras are 5V and will run off a power bank

 

[Nigel]

Lead acid batteries are heavy, inconvenient and don't last long if you often discharge them by much or don't regularly charge them to 101%.

Much better to use a USB powerbank, 20,000mAh recommended, will last 24 hours with most dashcams, 48 hours with some, can be fully discharged, doesn't need regular charging, etc.

Reason for a 20,000mAh is to get a decent current, smaller ones don't always maintain a decent voltage at higher loads, although the better brands are normally fine, I use a 5000mAh powerbank sometimes if I only want 1 hour.

If you have a 12 volt camera then you can get USB-12 volt converters which work OK.

 

[SawMaster]

I had a borrowed van for awhile without a ciggie-socket for my G1W dashcam PS to connect to. I hooked up a ciggie-socket from my junkbox to a used 7A (7000mA) SLA battery I also had on hand and was getting 4+ hours of recording time so I'm certain what you speak of will get you an hour as you need.

A powerbank will be a more elegant solution, as you won't need to clip in a car battery charger all the time and it's lighter and prettier, but both ways will work.

Phil

 

[Phil43]

I assume that the term 'powerbank' refers to the device that people buy to recharge phones, tablets etc. through a usb cable. That being the case, I have gone down that route and thank everyone for their useful replies.
Great forum.

 

[Nigel]

I assume that the term 'powerbank' refers to the device that people buy to recharge phones, tablets etc. through a usb cable. That being the case, I have gone down that route and thank everyone for their useful replies.
Great forum.

Correct, hope it works well for you.

 

[RaybanRJ]

Are use a 20,000 mA power bank and I get 2 1/2 days out of it in an underground Parkade. I also use a 16,000 mA and I get a little more than a day usually with that one. You can always turn off the motion detection if you want to make sure you want to capture the entire match. I use my power banks anywhere from -10 Celsius to +30 Celsius and never a single problem but usually the car is parked in a cool out of the sun underground Parkade


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