Blackvue Battery Pack/970x Camera upgrade install - odd issue

[flint350]

When I had my old Blackvue 900s and Battery 124 professionally installed in my Mercedes by a custom audio shop, the install included an on/off switch for overnight garage parking, etc. The switch was wired to the BlkVue battery in the trunk which is tricky to accomplish well and why I didn't try it. It worked flawlessly until the front camera died, requiring a replacement. The battery was still holding charge fine and hardwired to the system, so all I replaced was the camera with the new 970x. However, this required replacing the wiring as the new cameras use a 3 wire setup not supported by the old wiring.

I had this wiring replaced by a Best Buy shop and the tech said the on/off would work as before and the new wiring for the cameras was replaced as required. Once I got home and tried the on/off switch, my problems began. The on/off switch now gets the camera to say "parking mode on" or "parking mode off." I can't get it to shut down the camera, no matter how often I push it or hold it, it just responds with the parking mode. Best Buy has no answer and says it should work as before, but it doesn't. I don't know what has changed and really hate having to unplug the camera every day. That can't be good over a long time for the plug or camera. Sorry for length but I wanted to be clear as to what changed and why. Any ideas on this other than going somewhere else (like a car audio shop)?

 

[rcg530]

The older DR900S had a 2-wire power cable and it relied solely on the motion of the vehicle to enter/exit parking mode. The switch was turning off the power to the dash camera by turning off the constant battery power which fully powered down the operations of the DR900S.

The DR970X has a 3-wire hardwire power cable. That cable has a constant battery power wire (which powers the operations of the dash camera), an accessory power wire which is used by the dash camera to know when to immediately enter/exit parking mode and a ground wire. Based on your description of how the DR970X is operating, the switch is turning off the accessory power to the dash camera and leaving the constant battery power on. If your objective is to fully power down the dash camera, the switch needs to be put in the constant battery power wire to the dash camera, not the accessory power wire.

In my car, I actually use a DPST (dual pole, single throw) switch. That switch turns off both the constant battery power and the accessory power feed to the dash camera. I've had people comment on my DPST setup that I could put a SPST (single pole, single throw) switch in the ground wire which would effectively turn off both by removing the ground portion of the circuit.

Moving the switch you have to the constant battery power wire or the ground wire will achieve the desired behavior of fully powering down the dash camera.