Car battery drain..?

Primus

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Hi, just need your opinion on this fault with my car,
I keep getting the “ system off to save battery” on my car display, now I think that the cars battery is probably faulty, as it was sat in the dealers compound during lockdown, since I’ve had my 900s fitted I’ve noticed this message appears more frequently, I had it professionally installed by an auto electrician , I also had the power magic pro installed as well, with the voltage set at 12v cut off,
is it possible the guy fitted the wires the wrong way round? Would the camera work if he did this, ( I doubt he did as the wires are clearly marked) , could the magic pro be faulty and not cutting off..?, im trying to get any ideas before I call the auto electrician or take it to the dealers..
thanks..
 
12V is a lower cut-off than is generally recommended. How old is your battery?

Phil
 
had the power magic pro installed as well, with the voltage set at 12v cut off,
That is what I have mine set to. If you set it to 12.5V, it will keep switching the cam off at the slightest battery discharge. Also if you set it to 12.5V, be prepared to come back here asking why your camera won't startup. (You will need to start the engine)
is it possible the guy fitted the wires the wrong way round? Would the camera work if he did this,
Not properly. It would work with the ignition switched on, but would shut down a few seconds after turning the ignition off.
 
Car was registered in January 20
 
Cutoff should be set to 12.2V on cars. 50%. Anything below will put a strain on the car's battery and possibly leave you stranded on a cold day. I.E. 12V = 25% battery capacity. FYI: 12.4 = 75%. Unless you have a new battery (12.6) then 12.4 will result in the camera shutting off frequently.
 
On the power magic I think the only dip switch used is the first one ( 12 v ?) , all the others are set off
 
On the power magic I think the only dip switch used is the first one ( 12 v ?) , all the others are set off

Ugh not something I'd use. Your choices are 12.5 (87.5 battery power) and 12 (25% Battery Power). So either you need a brand new battery or you get the option of draining your battery down to unacceptably low levels...
 
@HonestReview It's nice that you tell us all this good stuff, but the Power Magic Pro has two twelve volt settings. 12.0V and 12.5V.
In my limited experience in my brand spanking new 10G Civic (bought Dec19) with the PMP set to 12.5V, the battery quickly discharged to that voltage and the camera switched off after an hour or so. So to keep it on for a sensible length of time I had to set the PMP to 12V.
This performance was maintained for about 6 months without any change. After I had the car about 6 months for a totally unrelated reason, the dealer changed the battery under guarantee, as his battery tester told him to.

I subsequently did some more tests on the PMP with the new battery (that's two new batteries now) with identical results and 2.5 years later. Incidentally, I have never had any problems starting the car after giving the battery this 'horrendous abuse' of continually discharging it to 12V
 
@HonestReview It's nice that you tell us all this good stuff, but the Power Magic Pro has two twelve volt settings. 12.0V and 12.5V.
In my limited experience in my brand spanking new 10G Civic (bought Dec19) with the PMP set to 12.5V, the battery quickly discharged to that voltage and the camera switched off after an hour or so. So to keep it on for a sensible length of time I had to set the PMP to 12V.
This performance was maintained for about 6 months without any change. After I had the car about 6 months for a totally unrelated reason, the dealer changed the battery under guarantee, as his battery tester told him to.

I subsequently did some more tests on the PMP with the new battery (that's two new batteries now) with identical results and 2.5 years later. Incidentally, I have never had any problems starting the car after giving the battery this 'horrendous abuse' of continually discharging it to 12V

You're like @Nigel here. The UK doesn't get freezing cold or extremely hot. So yes, it is unlikely you'd run into an issue. You don't get a lot of -10C days and 30C summers. You're pretty much 8-20C year round. So your battery getting drained to 12V (25%) isn't going to pose a problem. Such a low voltage is a danger on a cold winter day. Something you won't experience.


I realize OP is in the UK, too, or at least his insigna says so. But I pointed out the 12V issue in case that isn't true.
 
Just checked the pmp setting and it is just the first dip switch set to on, the other three are all off,
incidentally, the last two settings ( 3&4) seem to be for larger vehicles with a bigger battery, so afaik
mine is set to the correct setting, ( cut off at 12v)
 
The PMP is something of "old tech" now but in it's day was often necessary for those wanting parking protection. Most of today's better cams have a HWK (or you can get one at a small cost) which does the same thing, but with more voltage settings available, usually 12.4, 12.2, 12.0. 11.8, and sometimes more. Some HWK's do not have adjustable voltage- these are usually set to 11.8 or 11.6 at the factory which many feel is too low. Dropping below 12.2 to 12.4 on a regular basis is harder on the car's battery than it was designed for so you will lose some service life, but how much and at what cost varies by car and battery quality.

I've never bothered with this as I simply run my primary cam 24/7 and drive every day sufficient to keep the battery charged. Having run this type of vehicle for over 20 years it's my best estimate that I'm losing about 20% of my battery's service life. Given the cost I'm fine with that. It's never been a problem except when I forget to turn off my many secondary cams or go longer than 24 hours between drives. Mine is an 80A battery which is larger than many cars have and I've never measured voltages so I can't say what those are. All I can say is this works for me. If you're going to try my method I'd recommend you swap to an AGM battery as they are designed to be more tolerant of this kind of usage and will be far less affected.
.
Phil
 
Just checked the pmp setting and it is just the first dip switch set to on, the other three are all off,
incidentally, the last two settings ( 3&4) seem to be for larger vehicles with a bigger battery, so afaik
mine is set to the correct setting, ( cut off at 12v)

Rightfully so, @SawMaster's advice of a hardwiring kit is far more practical than the pmp. Most hardwiring kits afford more selection on voltage cutoffs. Even if you don't experience any starting issues, running the battery to 12V is very hard on it. So basically, if you leave your car outside on a regular basis for extended periods, your battery will take a beating. Just be prepared to replace it more often.
 
I've never bothered with this as I simply run my primary cam 24/7 and drive every day sufficient to keep the battery charged. Having run this type of vehicle for over 20 years it's my best estimate that I'm losing about 20% of my battery's service life.
Do I note that you have not fallen into the trap of shelling out a huge amount of cash on a B124 et. al. but just accept a possibly shortened life of your primary battery, along with the consequential huge cash saving?
 
B124, Cellink Neo etc are the ideal solution for vehicles that have issues with aftermarket electronics, recent Merc, BMW, Porsche etc that will start throwing codes or disabling circuits, for everyone else though the numbers don't stack up, cheaper to live with the decreased vehicle battery life and replace it a year or two earlier
 
well you can have a 11.8V cut off just fine,,,,,, IF ! you dont hit it all the time or often. ( or live in a cold place where you need more cranking power )
Thats why i am ever so happy my main camera have a timer too, which is what i rely on, the low voltage cut off, it is just a safety in my eyes.

But of course i can see the challenges for people wanting to use parking guard a lot, no doubt it present a new set of challenges, to the power supply, and the camera.
 
Do I note that you have not fallen into the trap of shelling out a huge amount of cash on a B124 et. al. but just accept a possibly shortened life of your primary battery, along with the consequential huge cash saving?

Yep. My battery is relatively inexpensive so some shortening of it's life isn't costly. Some cars use batteries costing 2-3 times as much as mine and for those my method might not be the best choice there.

When I began recording 24/7 I could not find anyone who had done it. There were lots of "doom and gloom" responses to my proposed actions both for my battery and the cam. At the time I couldn't afford a Cellink, PMP, powerbank, or even a HWK with low-voltage cutoff. I had a new battery in the van and another good used one I kept from the last vehicle so I figured I might as well try. The chance of toasting my cam was risky; it might be 2-3 months before I could replace it, but there was only one way to know so forward I went. The sky didn't fall and the earth didn't open up and swallow me and my cam, so I kept going. The Mobius didn't die nor did the battery. Something over 3 years later the battery had become weak; normal service life is around 4 years based on much experience with this type of vehiccle. I did the math and my recording cost me about $0.25 per day- not a bad price to pay for the peace of mind I got in return. Life costs more now but I'm still under $0.50 per day, none of the several cams I've ran like htis has died, and I'm still happy :)

Do I recommend it?: No- you will lose battery service life and it is hard on the cams. You will void your cam warranty doing this. There are better ways to do this. But it does work for me so it might work for someone else. I do recommend some kind of low-voltage cut-off at a reasonable level or some kind of powerbank and use of parking modes which the cam is designed to do. That's the best way to go :cool:

Phil
 
Cars that shut themselves off when stopped seem to be the rage. I don't know for sure, but maybe some components like starter and battery are upgraded if you have a car that does this. My MINI has this, but I've turned it off.

I got a volt/ammeter w/usb that plugs into the cigar lighter socket. It seems to work well but I have to bend down to see it, since it's just out of view. Maybe I'll look for one with a lower display. It read 12.5v just now when I went to the garage to look.

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Computer-controlled power schemes are rapidly becoming the norm with new cars, and each make (and sometimes each model) behaves differently. That can make wiring a cam for parking mode use a challenge.

Phil
 
well you can have a 11.8V cut off just fine,,,,,, IF ! you dont hit it all the time or often. ( or live in a cold place where you need more cranking power )
Thats why i am ever so happy my main camera have a timer too, which is what i rely on, the low voltage cut off, it is just a safety in my eyes.

But of course i can see the challenges for people wanting to use parking guard a lot, no doubt it present a new set of challenges, to the power supply, and the camera.
The new firmware on the a119v3 has a parking mode timer. I think I'm going to try an hour, to see if it works and check on the voltage meter. I have the hk3 set to 12.2v.
Edit: Actually I'm trying 2 hours. Haven't hit it yet.
 
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Well, went to the garage to get the battery ( car) checked out and they could find nothing wrong, so,
I have had the pmp parking mode switched off but the green light is still on, is that right?
if I just use the dash cam powered by the cars power outlet and totally bypass the pmp as I understand it the dash cam will power down when the ignition is off so shouldn’t be drawing any current, is that correct?
im trying to eliminate why my cars battery runs down after a few days and want to explore different options before I call out the auto electrician who fitted it, unless somebody can think of something else..
 
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