Blacksys CF-100 + Power Magic Pro - Battery Issues

Kae

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Hi guys,

I've been running this setup for a couple months now. When I first installed the camera + discharge unit, I noticed that the camera would shut off after a couple hours of parking mode use. I have the discharge unit set to 11.8v and infinite time. At first I had thought that the battery was not holding a charge, as one day I tried to start the car and it would just click (this was a very cold day in winter). I replaced the battery in the car and noticed the camera stay in parking mode longer than before. I thought all was good, but this was only because it was a new battery with a fresh charge. After about 3-4 days the same problem started occuring again.

I brought the car to a electrical shop today and they said the camera is drawing 300mAh, and should usually only be 80mAh. Does anyone have any suggestions on what might be the issue / what to do? I periodically will let my car sit for 9+ hours and notice that the discharge unit has cut off the camera. It starts back up when the car is started.
 
How does the shop know how much current (mA, not mAh) the camera is suppressed to draw in parking mode? Also hour big is your car battery? The tiny one in my wife's Toyota Highlander hybrid doesn't run the camera in parking mode (cutoff set at 12.2v) for more than an hour sometimes. Yet with the same camera and bdp device in her previous car, which had a battery physically twice as large, parking mode would run all night no problem.
 
11.8v is way too low for your cut-off, unless its a Starter+Deep Cycle battery, most are just Starter types. If you keep allowing your battery to drop to 11.8v (which is classed as a deep cycle of the battery) you will get what is known as a sulfated battery, which can supposedly be cured by a desulfator unit (well known ones are not that cheap). Best cut-off is 12.4v on normal Starter type batteries. Also, in winter/colder temperatures, the same level of charge carries a lower voltage. For example, let's say 75% charge in summer is 12.3v, 75% charge in winter might be 12.16v. There is a proper document about it here on DCT and it is worth a read.

https://dashcamtalk.com/battery-discharge-prevention/
 
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