Can a dashcam have "constant power" and NOT RECORD until it detects motion ?

[Ant]

Hello Forum ,

I purchased a VIOFO A119 (V3)

NOTE : The Dashcam that was installed has " constant power " with the car's fuse box .

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1 ) - If the dashcam is wired for " constant power ", is it EVEN POSSIBLE for it to " stay asleep " so that it does NOT RECORD until it detects motion ?

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2 ) - If yes, what are the " typical " settings so that the dashcam will " stay asleep " so that it does NOT RECORD until it detects motion ?

Currently, it just KEEPS recording 24/7 .


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Thanks in advance.

~ Anthony

 

[DT MI]

In a word - NO.

What you're looking for is a feature called 'motion detection' where the camera will only record when it, well, detects motion. Unfortunately it can't do that if it's asleep. It has to be awake and analyzing what's happening in front of the lens in order to determine whether or not to record the video. The difference in power consumption between recording everything and recording only 'motion' events is minimal so if your interest is saving battery power that's not a solution for you, you'll have to change the power source to a circuit that's 'on' with the ignition versus constant.

Making things more 'iffy' is motion detection is a feature on many cameras but generally works with varying degrees of success ranging from 'totally useless' to 'barely marginal under some conditions'.

There may be some cameras that use technology other than video analysis (radar, sonar, etc.) but they still have to be 'awake' in order to function so power saving isn't going to be substantial just by not writing video to the memory card.

 

[SawMaster]

If you're wired to "always on" power then you'll have to switch between parking and driving modes manually, ditto for turning the cam off entirely.

For switching in and out of parking mode to occur automatically requires the use of a 3-wire hardwire kit.

DT MI is on target about power consumption and motion-detect functioning

Phil

 

[Ant]

Thank you very much for the reply.

In fact I apologize for not stating the reason for my question.

Here is a clearer post of my question ...

1) - I am wanting to conserve the STORAGE on the card so that it is not recording " useless " footage when the car is sitting in my garage.

Additionally, if footage is constantly being written onto the card, then . . .

( A ) - The SD Card is going to wear out faster


( B ) - I will only have about 2 days to retrieve the footage before the " evidence " gets written over .
( This would not be good in the event my car is at an airport parking lot or if I am in a car wreck and in the hospital while the car is in a tow yard ) .


( C ) - I also would not be able to rely on the G-Shock sending the footage to a "special" folder if the car is merely vandalized with paint, etc.
( Kids with nothing to do do creative things when bored )

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2) - So the dashcam does not operate like how a "motion detector" does like in a home ( IE - using a PIR - Passive infrared sensor ).

But rather, it " detects motion ' via the constant video footage it is taking .

And there is NO way to make it stop taking footage while " standing guard "; waiting for some motion to THEN start capturing footage


Is my understanding correct ?


_________________________________________________


So according to your reply I only have two options . . .


OPTION 1 - I can keep the dashcam on "constant power", but will wear out my SD card faster - AND - only have a short amount of time to retrieve the " evidence " footage .

And this is because the camera HAS to keep recording footage in order to "detect" motion.


OR . . .



OPTION 2 - Make it so that the dashcam ONLY operates when the ignition is "on", and ONLY capture footage when I am on the road, and HOPE that the
G-Shock MIGHT capture something relevant when the car ignition is "off" and parked.


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But I cannot do both options , correct ?

It seems that no matter which option I choose, I am going to have to give up one benefit or the other, correct ?


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Look forward to your reply.

Thanks in advance.

 

[kamkar]

This seem to be hard for dashcams to do, on the other hand CCTV cameras seem more successful in this front.
In general motion detect in dashcams are always wayyyyyy too sensitive, and in a very very few not sensitive enough, and there seem to be no middle ground.

I am using low bitrate constant recording, as i recall 3 minutes from a 1080p camera are 115 MB, this way i miss nothing due to a sensor.
But of course i just do that for 1 hour every time i park my car, i have no need for doing parking mode for hours on end.

 

[DT MI]

OPTION 2 - Make it so that the dashcam ONLY operates when the ignition is "on", and ONLY capture footage when I am on the road, and HOPE that the
G-Shock MIGHT capture something relevant when the car ignition is "off" and parked.

No function of the camera will be available without a power source. If it's wired to an 'ignition on' circuit when the ignition is off it's no different than the camera being unplugged - no power = no functionality.

 

[Ant]

I want to thank EVERYONE who replied.

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I was under the impression that a Dashcam detected in the same way a HOME motion detector works ( IE - using a PIR - Passive infrared sensor ).

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Apparently it does not.

According to @DT MI - A dashcam HAS to continually record footage in order to "detect" anything which would cause more wear-and-tear on the SD card .

And . . .

According to @kamkar1 - The motion detection is not always that reliable anyway. And at 115MB per 3 minutes, that would only leave me about 2 or 3 days to retrieve the footage before it gets over written while I am in the hospital in a coma.

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So the ONLY reason I wanted the motion detection was for that RARE moment if the car were hit in a parking lot or any kind of non-impact vandalism

1) - Aside from what I mentioned is there ANY OTHER reason or benefit for the motion detection feature ?

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I originally got the dashcam because someone crossed into traffic and just kept going, sending me into on-coming traffic

My current situation, is that I work from home, the car is garage-kept and driven locally on the weekends or for some errands.

So I am thinking " OPTION 2 " is going to be the better gamble for me .

OPTION 2 - Make it so that the dashcam ONLY operates when the ignition is "on", and ONLY capture footage when I am on the road, and HOPE that the
G-Shock MIGHT capture something relevant when the car ignition is "off" and parked.

Please let me know if you dis-agree

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Can you please share your "optimal" settings / configurations for the dashcam that is powered when the ignition is "on" ?

NOTE 1 : My dashcam is the " VIOFO A119 (V3) "

NOTE 2 : My SD card is a " Lexar High-Performance 633x 64GB MicroSDXC UHS-I "


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Thanks very much for your detailed input.

Sincerely look forward to your reply.

 

[Velvetfoot]

If you have it hardwired with the 3 wire HK3 kit from Viofo, the unit has constant power and signal power from an accessory circuit that tell the unit when the car is parked (ACC off). Then, you can set parking mode to record after motion, time lapse, or low bitrate-plus I think it will protect the file from overwriting if the G-shock sensor is tripped. The thing is, parking mode is buffered, so it's always recording so there's video before the event, so I supposed it's using up the SD's life. It uses the same amount of power parked than when going down the road. The manual isn't great, but it's a start. https://support.viofo.com/support/solutions/articles/19000101285-a119-v3-car-dash-camera-manual

 

[badbob001]

The hardware could be designed so that video is recorded directly to memory and then for every time segment (like 1 minute), decide if there is enough movement in that segment to write the video to flash. But this feature is more related to premise security, where the system is designed to evaluate movement in the video.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

If you have constant power to the camera and are using a GPS mount and have parking mode set to Auto Event Detection Mode, then the camera should enter parking mode after about 5 minutes of no sensed movement or g-sensor activity. The REC button will flash when the camera has entered this state and turn solid again when motion is sensed or g-sensor is activated. When the REC button is flashing, it's not writing to the card, but to onboard memory. Once motion is detected or g-sensor is triggered, then it will switch to writing to the card and will write the last 15 seconds of footage from the onboard memory to the memory card (buffered recording).

Some firmware versions had trouble with Parking Mode without the Viofo 3-wire kit, so I would try the beta V2.0, which should be OK. A link to this firmware should be available somewhere on this site. PM me if you'd like me to send it to you. It's still best to use the Viofo 3-wire kit as it's reliable and automatic once the car shuts off. Without the kit, which has the low voltage cutoff, you risk depleting your battery.

 

[kamkar]

No Dashcams dont have a pir sensor, not rvrn sure those work thru glass ?

 

[Velvetfoot]

When the REC button is flashing, it's not writing to the card, but to onboard memory. Once motion is detected or g-sensor is triggered, then it will switch to writing to the card and will write the last 15 seconds of footage from the onboard memory to the memory card (buffered recording).

So the buffering doesn't use the SD card. Nice.

 

[DT MI]

According to @DT MI - A dashcam HAS to continually record footage in order to "detect" anything which would cause more wear-and-tear on the SD card .

Probably a poor explanation on my part. In order to detect motion the camera has to capture video so it can compare the content on a frame-by-frame basis and deduce that there's sufficient change to be considered 'motion', but it's not necessary to actually write the video to the SD card for that to happen as internal memory buffers will suffice.

 

[kuoh]

My old Blacksys CF-100 does this, but it's only 1080p+720p. The parking mode will only record to SD if it detects motion in the front camera or a G sensor trigger. The rear camera does not trigger on motion. Be aware though in extremely high heat environments like 95F and all day sun, it will keep recording and heating up until it eventually deforms the casing and/or causes a permanent focus shift. If you're main use is in a covered area then it probably won't be an issue.

KuoH

1 ) - If the dashcam is wired for " constant power ", is it EVEN POSSIBLE for it to " stay asleep " so that it does NOT RECORD until it detects motion ?

==============

2 ) - If yes, what are the " typical " settings so that the dashcam will " stay asleep " so that it does NOT RECORD until it detects motion ?

 

[Ant]

@DT MI You mentioned . . .

" In order to detect motion the camera has to capture video so it can compare the content on a frame-by-frame basis and deduce that there's sufficient change to be considered 'motion', but it's not necessary to actually write the video to the SD card for that to happen as internal memory buffers will suffice. "

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So is there a way to get the camera to continue recording WITHOUT writing to the SD card UNLESS the dashcam detects motion ?

If yes, what would be the exact settings / configuration for the VIOFO A119 (V3) ?

 

[DT MI]

@DT MI You mentioned . . .

" In order to detect motion the camera has to capture video so it can compare the content on a frame-by-frame basis and deduce that there's sufficient change to be considered 'motion', but it's not necessary to actually write the video to the SD card for that to happen as internal memory buffers will suffice. "

====================

So is there a way to get the camera to continue recording WITHOUT writing to the SD card UNLESS the dashcam detects motion ?

If yes, what would be the exact settings / configuration for the VIOFO A119 (V3) ?

OK, looks like we're running into an issue with semantics here. 'Recording' is the process of preserving data on some medium (in this case a video segment) which is different than capturing. If it's writing to the SD then it's recording, if it's not writing it's not recording. As to what you want to do I can't help specifically because I don't have a VIOFO camera. I suggest you go through the menu options and look for something labeled 'motion detection' or similar then check the manual to see what the various options will do if there are any.

Edit: I found a copy online but don't know how current it is but it appears your camera does have the feature (how good it is is a different matter). From the manual I found on-line:

5) Motion Detectioin

If turned ON, the camera will start recording on detecting any movement within its FOV (field of view). Once the camera does not detect any movement for 60 seconds, it will stop recording and go back to ‘Motion-Detection’ mode. A recording will resume if any new movement is detected.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

NOTE 2 : My SD card is a " Lexar High-Performance 633x 64GB MicroSDXC UHS-I "

You may want to find another card, Lexar cards are not a good choice in dash cameras since the business was sold to a Chinese company. They are fairly unreliable in dash cameras.

 

[Ant]

Thank you for the reply.

I already read the manual

It does not mention " optimal " settings.

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[Ant]

If anyone here has a VIOFO A119 . . .


Can you please share your "optimal" settings / configurations for the dashcam that is powered when the ignition is "on" ?



============

Thanks very much for your detailed input.

Sincerely look forward to your reply.

 

[LateralNW]

@Ant I have a V3. I’ll post my preferred settings in the next couple of hours. I have to check it.