Brand I have never Heard of Question - Focuway T5

[jsmith]

Yes, that would be the correct way.
A little math on the battery load...
Assume that parking mode is used for the max possible 24 hours before it shuts down, that's 0.3A x 24 hr, so 7.2 Ah. I think that the average car battery is 50 Ah (I know that some are 100+ Ah, mine is). So if it started at 100% charge, it would be at 85% charge after one day of parking mode. (I am allowing for a little drain from the car itself.)
I think that concern that parking mode will run the battery down is largely unfounded here.

The concern would be if someone leaves their car parked for an extended period of time, but I guess this depends on how the Focuway works.

I know cameras like Street Guardian and Viofo use a low bitrate parking mode, if you so choose, which means a constant energy draw. Blackvue and Thinkware can do a 1 or 2 FPS timelapse if wanting "real time" capture.
However, the FOCUWAY T5 only uses Motion or Event Activated Parking Mode.

Would the Focuway be using .03A an hour if not being activated or a lot less than .3A per hour since it only turns on in motion or event (car is hit or knocked)?

None the less, I presume if the car were to sit for 4-5 days of not being used, there's a chance the battery could get low. Likewise, as batteries age, they lose charge and don't hold 100% as time progresses.

 

[joegr]

The concern would be if someone leaves their car parked for an extended period of time, but I guess this depends on how the Focuway works.

I know cameras like Street Guardian and Viofo use a low bitrate parking mode, if you so choose, which means a constant energy draw. Blackvue and Thinkware can do a 1 or 2 FPS timelapse if wanting "real time" capture.
However, the FOCUWAY T5 only uses Motion or Event Activated Parking Mode.

Would the Focuway be using .03A an hour if not being activated or a lot less than .3A per hour since it only turns on in motion or event (car is hit or knocked)?

None the less, I presume if the car were to sit for 4-5 days of not being used, there's a chance the battery could get low. Likewise, as batteries age, they lose charge and don't hold 100% as time progresses.

From my brief measurements (over a few days) before installing the Focuway...
Power drain in parking mode is 300mA whether on not it is actively recording something. This is approximate. It may be a few mA more or less depending on what it is doing, but the average was 300 or just under.
The maximum time it would stay in parking mode was 24 hours, so there's no concern about it being left for days, as it shuts itself down. Once shut down, consumption was less than 3mA.

 

[jsmith]

From my brief measurements (over a few days) before installing the Focuway...
Power drain in parking mode is 300mA whether on not it is actively recording something. This is approximate. It may be a few mA more or less depending on what it is doing, but the average was 300 or just under.
The maximum time it would stay in parking mode was 24 hours, so there's no concern about it being left for days, as it shuts itself down. Once shut down, consumption was less than 3mA.

OK. So the parking mode will shut itself off after 24 hours of record? I can't remember all the settings as I don't own it.

I'm surprised someone else on here owns a Focuway. It seems like a brand that very few people would own or know.

 

[Wolfer]

Has anyone ever heard of this brand?

https://focuway.com/products/t5

This is not something I would personally buy, but a acquaintance found this on Amazon and asked me to install in their vehicle. I'm guessing this is an upscaled 1080p ---> 4K Chinese Productt (some reviews claim that anyway?)

Has anyone ever tested these cams? Are they reliable or just junk?

It seems the hardwire parking kit for this camera only shuts off at 11.6 volts? Which would completely drain your battery? Can that be right?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B0BG5DM5CL

A few months ago I bought the Focuway D4 Duo. (https://www.amazon.ca/gp/B0D97JF4WR) Like everyone else I'd never heard of this make before. Reviews were pretty good but I think we all know how amazon reviews go. However, as far as the camera goes it has excellent forward camera and night vision is excellent. Rear view not as good and it isn't a back up camera just monitors rear view. It has GPS which is the main reason I bought it. When the screen goes to screen saver mode, it shows the time and the GPS speed which I found very accurate. All in all it seemed like a good camera. However (and there seems to always be a however) this dash cam has one bad flaw.

I installed the original in the car and within I believe it was a week I noticed a chip in the screen that wasn't there before. I removed the camera and also found a crack that ran from about midway up the right side of the screen where the chip was to the bottom of the screen to approximately midway across the screen. I contacted the seller immediately and they sent me a replacement and told me to keep the old one. I installed the replacement and it worked really well until about 2 weeks later. It started shutting off and turning back on randomly. Power was constant so I have no idea why it was doing this. Again I went to remove it and again I found a chip in the screen even before I started to remove it. When I removed it I again found a crack which ran from the chip all the way across the screen.

When I originally contacted the seller he said that the camera running a little warm (I think he meant hot because it does get somewhat hot, not overly but a little more than warm) wouldn't cause the screen to chip or crack. If it gets to "warm" the screen would go blank until it cooled down and then it would display again but that was rare. That alone got me wondering. I'm in the process of contacting the seller again but I expect him to tell me to go piss up a rope. It was delivered on Sept 09, 2024 so it's outside the return window. It also cost $179.99 but had a coupon for $40 off. Total price delivered to the door with tax $158.19. I may be out that money. I won't know until I hear back from the seller. I also can't even do a review on amazon and they haven't told me why. The only reason I can think of is because I called out a seller for using ebay practices of trying to get you to accept a pittance back and you keep the broken item. I actually called him "an ebay wannabe selling on amazon". That's the only reason I can think of. I guess he was butt hurt over that accusation but I was telling the truth and I guess he didn't like that. I used to buy on ebay but finally got tired of all the scammers and closed my account never to return.

I've been using dash cams for a few years now and have never had a problem with any of my previous cams. They all still work good. I just upgrade occasionally. I believe this is my 4th or 5th dash cam.

I don't know if this will help anyone but it's my honest opinion on the Focuway cameras and I think someone here got it right Foc U. LOL

Take care and have a great day